The year 1966 in film involved some significant events.

Events

Animation legend Walter Disney, well known for his creation of Mickey Mouse, died in 15 December 1966 of acute circulatory collapse following a diagnosis of, and surgery for, lung cancer. He had been a smoker since the 1940s.

Top grossing films (U.S.)

Awards

Academy Awards:

Best Picture: A Man for All Seasons - Highland, Columbia

Best Director: Fred Zinnemann - A Man for All Seasons

Best Actor: Paul Scofield - A Man for All Seasons

Best Actress: Elizabeth Taylor - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Best Supporting Actor: Walter Matthau - The Fortune Cookie

Best Supporting Actress: Sandy Dennis - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Best Foreign Language Film: A Man and a Woman (Un homme et une femme), directed by Claude Lelouch, France

BAFTA Film Awards:

Best Film from any Source: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Best British film: The Spy Who Came In From The Cold

Golden Globe Awards:

Drama:

Best Picture: A Man for All Seasons

Best Actor: Paul Scofield - A Man for All Seasons

Best Actress: Anouk Aim e - A Man and a Woman

Musical or comedy:

Best Picture: The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming

Best Actor: Alan Arkin - The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming

Best Actress: Lynn Redgrave - Georgy Girl

Other

Best Director: Fred Zinnemann - A Man for All Seasons

Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival):

A Man and a Woman (Un homme et une femme), directed by Claude Lelouch, France

Signore & Signori (The Birds, the Bees and the Italians), directed by Pietro Germi, Italy

Golden Lion (Venice Film Festival):

The Battle of Algiers (La Battaglia di Algeri), directed by Gillo Pontecorvo, Algeria / Italy

Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival):

Cul-de-sac, directed by Roman Polanski, United Kingdom

Films released in 1966

U.S.A. unless stated

#

• 7 Women, the last film of John Ford, starring Anne Bancroft

A

• Aakhri Khat (The Last Letter) - (India)
• Agent for H.A.R.M.
• Alfie, directed by Lewis Gilbert, starring Michael Caine, Shelley Winters, Millicent Martin - (U.K.)
• Alvarez Kelly
• Amrapali, starring Vyjayanthimala and Sunil Dutt - (India)
• Andrei Rublev, directed by Andrei Tarkovsky - (U.S.S.R.)
• The Appaloosa, starring Marlon Brando
• Arabesque, starring Sophia Loren and Gregory Peck
• L'armata Brancaleone, directed by Mario Monicelli - (Italy)
• Around the World Under the Sea, starring Lloyd Bridges
• Au hasard Balthazar (Chosen by Lot Balthazar), directed by Robert Bresson - (France/Sweden)
• Aybolit-66 - (U.S.S.R.)

B

• Bariera (Barrier), directed by Jerzy Skolimowski - (Poland)
• Batman, starring Adam West and Burt Ward
• The Battle of Algiers, directed by Gillo Pontecorvo - Golden Lion winner - (Italy/Algeria)
• Beregis Avtomobilya (Beware of the Automobile) - (U.S.S.R.)
• The Bible: In The Beginning, directed by John Huston, starring Stephen Boyd, Ava Gardner, Richard Harris
• The Big Gundown (La resa dei conti) - (Italy)
• A Big Hand for the Little Lady, starring Henry Fonda, Joanne Woodward, Jason Robards
• The Birds, the Bees and the Italians (Signore & Signori) - (Italy)
• Black Girl (La Noire de...), directed by Ousmane Semb ne - (France/Senegal)
• Blowup, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, starring David Hemmings, Vanessa Redgrave -- winner of Palme d'Or, 1967 Cannes Film Festival - (Italy/U.K./U.S.)
• The Blue Max, starring George Peppard - (U.K.)
• Born Free, starring Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers - (U.K.)
• Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number!, starring Bob Hope
• A Bullet for the General (El Chucho, qui n sabe?), starring Gian Maria Volonte and Klaus Kinski - (Italy)

C

• Carry On Screaming! - (U.K.)
• Chappaqua, featuring William S. Burroughs
• The Chase, directed by Arthur Penn, starring Marlon Brando, Jane Fonda, Angie Dickinson, Robert Redford
• Chelsea Girls, directed by Andy Warhol, starring Nico
• Closely Watched Trains (Ost e sledovan vlaky), directed by Ji Menzel - Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film (1967) - (Czechoslovakia)
• Come Drink With Me - (Hong Kong)
• Cul-de-sac, directed by Roman Polanski, starring Donald Pleasence and Fran oise Dorl ac - Golden Bear winner - (U.K.)

D

• Daimajin - (Japan)
• Daisies (Sedmikr sky) - (Czechoslovakia)
• Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD - (U.K.)
• The Daydreamer
• Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round, starring James Coburn
• The Deadly Affair, directed by Sidney Lumet - (U.K.)
• Death of a Bureaucrat (La Muerte de un Bur crata) - (Cuba)
• Django - (Italy/Spain)
• Don't Look Now, We're Being Shot At (La grande vadrouille) - (France/U.K.)
• Le deuxieme souffle, directed by Jean-Pierre Melville - (France
• Dracula: Prince of Darkness, starring Christopher Lee - (U.K.)
• Duel at Diablo, starring James Garner

E

• The Elusive Avengers - (U.S.S.R.)

F

• The Face of Another (Tanin no kao) - (Japan)
• Fahrenheit 451, directed by Fran ois Truffaut, starring Julie Christie, Oskar Werner - (U.K.)
• The Family Way, a Boulting Brothers film, starring Hayley Mills and Hywel Bennett - (U.K.)
• Fantastic Voyage, directed by Richard Fleischer, starring Stephen Boyd, Raquel Welch
• Fighting Elegy ( ), directed by Seijun Suzuki - (Japan)
• Follow Me, Boys!, directed by Norman Tokar, starring Fred MacMurray, Vera Miles, Kurt Russell
• The Fortune Cookie (a.k.a. Meet Whiplash Willie), directed by Billy Wilder, starring Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau
• Frankie and Johnny, starring Elvis Presley
• Funeral in Berlin, starring Michael Caine - (U.K.)
• A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, directed by Richard Lester, starring Zero Mostel, Jack Gilford, Phil Silvers, Michael Crawford - (U.S./U.K.)

G

• Gambit, starring Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine
• Gamera vs. Barugon - (Japan)
• Georgy Girl, directed by Silvio Narizzano, starring Lynn Redgrave, James Mason, Alan Bates - (U.K.)
• The Ghost and Mr. Chicken starring Don Knotts
• Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster - (Japan)
• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, directed by Sergio Leone, starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Eli Wallach - (Italy)
• The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery - (U.K.)
• The Group, starring Candice Bergen, Joan Hackett, Jessica Walter

H

• Harper, starring Paul Newman, Robert Wagner, Lauren Bacall, Pamela Tiffin, Julie Harris, Janet Leigh
• Hawaii, directed by George Roy Hill, starring Julie Andrews, Max von Sydow, Richard Harris
• Here's Your Life (H r har du ditt liv) - (Sweden)
• How To Steal a Million, directed by William Wyler, starring Audrey Hepburn, Peter O'Toole
• Hunger - (Denmark/Norway/Sweden)
• The Hunt (La Caza), directed by Carlos Saura - (Spain)

I

• Is Paris Burning? (Paris br le-t-il?), directed by Rene Clement, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, Charles Boyer, Leslie Caron - (France/U.S.A.)
• It Happened Here - (U.K.)

J

• Johnny Reno, starring Jane Russell
• Judith - (Israel/U.K./U.S.)

K

• Khartoum, directed by Basil Dearden, starring Charlton Heston, Laurence Olivier - (U.K.)
• King of Hearts (Le Roi de C ur), directed by Philipe de Broca, starring Alan Bates - (France)
• Kriminal - (Italy/Spain)

L

• Let's Kill Uncle
• Lord Love a Duck
• Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N., starring Dick Van Dyke, Nancy Kwan

M

• Madame X
• Mademoiselle, directed by Tony Richardson, starring Jeanne Moreau - (France/U.K.)
• Mamta, starring Ashok Kumar - (India)
• A Man and a Woman, directed by Claude Lelouch, starring Anouk Aim e, Jean-Louis Trintignant -- Palme d'Or winner - (France)
• The Man Called Flintstone
• A Man for All Seasons, directed by Fred Zinnemann, starring Paul Scofield, Robert Shaw, Orson Welles - winner of 6 Academy Awards and 5 BAFTAs - (U.K.)
• "Manos" The Hands of Fate
• Masculine-Feminine by Jean-Luc Godard - (France)
• Mera Saaya, starring Sunil Dutt - (India)
• Mission to Death
• Morgan! (aka Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment), directed by Karel Reisz - (U.K.)
• Murderers' Row, starring Dean Martin

N

• The Naked Prey, starring Cornel Wilde - (U.S./South Africa)
• Nayak, directed by Satyajit Ray - (India)
• Nevada Smith, starring Steve McQueen, Karl Malden, Martin Landau, Suzanne Pleshette, Brian Keith
• Nobody Wanted to Die - (U.S.S.R.)
• The Nun (La Religieuse), directed by Jacques Rivette, starring Anna Karina - (France)

O

• One Million Years B.C., starring Raquel Welch - (U.K.)
• The Oscar, starring Stephen Boyd, Elke Sommer, Jill St. John, Tony Bennett
• Our Man Flint, starring James Coburn

P

• Paradise, Hawaiian Style, starring Elvis Presley
• Penelope, starring Natalie Wood
• Persona, directed by Ingmar Bergman, starring Bibi Andersson, Liv Ullman - (Sweden)
• Pharaoh - (Poland)
• The Plague of the Zombies - (U.K.)
• The Pornographers, directed by Shohei Imamura - (Japan)
• The Priest and the Girl (O Padre e a Mo a) - (Brazil)
• The Professionals, starring Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, Jack Palance, Claudia Cardinale

R

• The Rare Breed, starring James Stewart and Maureen O'Hara
• A Report on the Party and the Guests (O slavnosti a hostech), directed by Jan N mec - (Czechoslovakia)
• Return of the Seven, starring Yul Brynner
• Roman Candles, directed by John Waters
• Rondo - (Yugoslavia)
• Run, Appaloosa, Run
• The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, directed by Norman Jewison, starring Alan Arkin and Eva Marie Saint

S

• The Sand Pebbles, directed by Robert Wise, starring Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, Candice Bergen
• The Sandwich Man - (U.K.)
• Seconds, directed by John Frankenheimer, starring Rock Hudson
• Shiroi Kyot - (Japan)
• The Shooting, starring Warren Oates, Jack Nicholson
• The Shop on Main Street (U.S. release)
• The Silencers, starring Dean Martin
• The Singing Nun, starring Debbie Reynolds and Greer Garson
• Spinout, starring Elvis Presley
• Suraj, starring Vyjayanthimala and Rajendra Kumar - (India)
• The Sword of Doom (Dai-bosatsu t ge) - (Japan)

T

• Teesri Kasam (Third Oath), starring Raj Kapoor - (India)
• They're a Weird Mob by Powell and Pressburger - (Australia)
• This Property is Condemned, starring Natalie Wood
• Three On A Couch, starring Jerry Lewis
• Torn Curtain, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Paul Newman and Julie Andrews
• The Trap - (U.K./Canada)
• Triple Cross, starring Christopher Plummer, Claudine Auger and Gert Frobe - (U.K./(France)
• The Trouble with Angels, directed by Ida Lupino, starring Rosalind Russell and Hayley Mills
• Trunk to Cairo, directed by Menahem Golan - (Israel)

W

• Walk Don't Run, starring Cary Grant
• The War Is Over (La Guerre est Finie), directed by Alain Resnais, starring Yves Montand and Ingrid Thulin - (France)
• War of the Gargantuas - (Japan)
• Way...Way Out, starring Jerry Lewis
• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, directed by Mike Nichols, starring Elizabeth Taylor, (Best Actress Oscar), Richard Burton, George Segal, Sandy Dennis
• The Wild Angels, starring Peter Fonda, Nancy Sinatra
• Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (animated short)
• The Wrong Box, starring Peter Sellers, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore - (U.K.)

Y

• The Young Rounders
• Young Torless, directed by Volker Schl ndorff - (West Germany)

Short Film Series

• Looney Tunes (1930–1969)
• Merrie Melodies (1931–1969)
• Sylvester the Cat (1944-1966)
• Speedy Gonzales (1953–1968)
• Daffy Duck (1937–1968)

Births

• January 6 - A. R. Rahman, Indian composer
• January 13 - Patrick Dempsey, actor
• February 25 - T a Leoni, actress
• April 8 - Robin Wright Penn, actress
• April 9 - Cynthia Nixon, actress
• May 20 - Helena Bonham Carter, actress
• June 28 - John Cusack, actor, brother of actress Joan Cusack
• June 28 - Mary Stuart Masterson, actress
• July 10- A.O. Scott, film critic of The New York Times
• July 11 - Debbe Dunning, actress
• July 15 - Ir ne Jacob, actress
• July 29 - Martina McBride, popular country singer
• August 14 - Halle Berry, actress
• September 2 - Salma Hayek, actress
• September 9 - Adam Sandler, American actor
• November 17 - Sophie Marceau, actress
• November 23 - Vincent Cassel, actor
• December 21 - Kiefer Sutherland, actor

Deaths

• January 14 - Barry Fitzgerald, 72, Irish actor
• January 22 - Herbert Marshall, 75, British actor
• January 31 - Elizabeth Patterson, 90, American actress
• February 1 - Buster Keaton, 70, American actor and film director
• February 1 - Hedda Hopper, 80, American gossip columnist and former actress
• February 9 - Sophie Tucker, 82, Russian-born American singer and actress
• June 5 - Natacha Rambova, 69, American actress
• June 19 - Ed Wynn, 79, American actor
• July 23 - Montgomery Clift, 45, American actor
• July 23 - Douglass Montgomery, 59, American actor
• August 3 - Lenny Bruce, 40, American satirist, Father of modern stand up
• August 15 - Jan Kiepura, 64, Polish tenor and actor
• August 15 - Seena Owen, 71, American actress
• August 23 - Francis X. Bushman, 83, American actor
• October 13 - Clifton Webb, 76, American actor
• October 16 - George O'Hara, 67, American actor
• October 24 - Hans Dreier, 81, German art director of European and American films
• December 14 - Richard Whorf, 60, American actor and director
• December 15 - Walter Disney, 65, American producer and cartoonist
• September 14 - Nikolay Cherkasov, 63, Soviet Actor

Debuts

• Michael Douglas
• Harrison Ford
• Christopher Walken

References

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