1936 in film

The following is an overview of 1936 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths. The highest grossing international film of the year was San Francisco, earning more than $5 million worldwide.

Events

• January 9 – Silent screen actor John Gilbert, perhaps best known for his appearances in films such as The Merry Widow and The Big Parade, dies suddenly of a heart attack at his Bel Air home, aged 38.
• February 15 – The first Republic serial, Darkest Africa, is released.
• May 29 – Fritz Lang's first Hollywood film, Fury, starring Spencer Tracy and Bruce Cabot, is released.
• September 14 – Film producer Irving Thalberg, often referred by many as the "Boy Wonder of Hollywood", dies from pneumonia at his home in Santa Monica, aged 37.

Academy Awards

• Best Picture: The Great Ziegfeld – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
• Best Director: Frank Capra – Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
• Best Actor: Paul Muni – The Story of Louis Pasteur
• Best Actress: Luise Rainer – The Great Ziegfeld
• Best Supporting Actor: Walter Brennan – Come and Get It
• Best Supporting Actress: Gale Sondergaard – Anthony Adverse

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

The top ten 1936 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:

Top Ten Money Making Stars

Exhibitors selected the following as the Top Ten Money Making Stars of the Year in Quigley Publishing Company's annual poll.

Top Western stars

A poll of the top Western stars was also published for the first time.

Notable films

United States unless stated.

0–9

• 13 Hours by Air, directed by Mitchell Leisen, starring Fred MacMurray, Joan Bennett and ZaSu Pitts
• 15 Maiden Lane, directed by Allan Dwan, starring Claire Trevor and Cesar Romero

A

• Accused, directed by Thornton Freeland, starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Dolores del Río – (GB)
• Achhoot Kanya (Untouchable Maiden), directed by Franz Osten, starring Ashok Kumar and Devika Rani – (India)
• After the Thin Man, directed by W. S. Van Dyke, starring William Powell, Myrna Loy and James Stewart
• Allá en el Rancho Grande (Out on the Great Ranch), directed by Fernando de Fuentes, starring Tito Guízar and Esther Fernández – (Mexico)
• The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss, directed by Alfred Zeisler, starring Cary Grant and Mary Brian – (GB)
• Anthony Adverse, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, starring Fredric March and Olivia de Havilland
• Anything Goes, directed by Lewis Milestone, starring Bing Crosby, Ethel Merman and Ida Lupino
• Augustus the Strong (August der Starke), directed by Paul Wegener, starring Michael Bohnen – (Germany/Poland)

B

• Black Eyes (Cheshmhay-e Siah), directed by Abdolhossein Sepanta – (Iran)
• Blood on Wolf Mountain (Láng shān dié xuě jì), directed by Fei Mu, starring Li Lili – (China)
• The Bohemian Girl, directed by James W. Horne and Charley Rogers, starring Laurel and Hardy
• The Bold Caballero, directed by Wells Root, starring Robert Livingston
• Born to Dance, directed by Roy Del Ruth, starring Eleanor Powell, James Stewart and Una Merkel
• Broken Blossoms, directed by John Brahm, starring Dolly Haas and Emlyn Williams – (GB)
• Bullets or Ballots, directed by William Keighley, starring Edward G. Robinson, Joan Blondell and Humphrey Bogart
• By the Bluest of Seas (U samogo sinego morya), directed by Boris Barnet – (USSR)

C

• Cain and Mabel, directed by Lloyd Bacon, starring Marion Davies and Clark Gable
• Camel Through the Eye of a Needle (Velbloud uchem jehly), directed by and starring Hugo Haas – (Czechoslovakia)
• Camille, directed by George Cukor, starring Greta Garbo, Robert Taylor and Lionel Barrymore
• Captain January, directed by David Butler, starring Shirley Temple
• The Case Against Mrs. Ames, directed by William A. Seiter, starring Madeleine Carroll and George Brent
• Ceiling Zero, directed by Howard Hawks, starring James Cagney and Pat O'Brien
• César, directed by Marcel Pagnol, starring Raimu – (France)
• The Charge of the Light Brigade, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland
• Charlie Chan at the Opera, directed by H. Bruce Humberstone, starring Warner Oland and Boris Karloff
• The Children of Captain Grant (Deti kapitana Granta), directed by Vladimir Vajnshtok – (USSR)
• Circus (Tsirk), directed by Grigori Aleksandrov, starring Lyubov Orlova – (USSR)
• Collegiate, directed by Ralph Murphy, starring Jack Oakie, Frances Langford and Betty Grable
• Come and Get It, directed by Howard Hawks and William Wyler, starring Edward Arnold, Joel McCrea and Walter Brennan
• Craig's Wife, directed by Dorothy Arzner, starring Rosalind Russell and John Boles
• The Crime of Monsieur Lange (Le Crime de Monsieur Lange), directed by Jean Renoir, starring René Lefèvre – (France)
• Crime Over London, directed by Alfred Zeisler, starring Margot Grahame and Paul Cavanagh – (GB)

D

• Daniel Boone, directed by David Howard, starring George O'Brien
• The Desert Island (Lang tao sha), directed by Wu Yonggang – (China)
• Desire, directed by Frank Borzage, starring Marlene Dietrich and Gary Cooper
• Devdas, directed by Pramathesh Barua, starring K. L. Saigal – (India)
• The Devil Doll, directed by Tod Browning, starring Lionel Barrymore and Maureen O'Sullivan
• Dimples, directed by William A. Seiter, starring Shirley Temple and Frank Morgan
• Dodsworth, directed by William Wyler, starring Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton, Mary Astor and David Niven
• Dracula's Daughter, directed by Lambert Hillyer, starring Otto Kruger and Gloria Holden
• Dusty Ermine, directed by Bernard Vorhaus, directed by Bernard Vorhaus, starring Anthony Bushell and Jane Baxter – (GB)

E

• East Meets West, directed by Herbert Mason, starring George Arliss – (GB)
• Empty Saddles, directed by Lesley Selander, starring Buck Jones and Louise Brooks
• Everything Is Thunder, directed by Milton Rosmer, starring Constance Bennett – (GB)

F

• Follow the Fleet, directed by Mark Sandrich, starring Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers and Randolph Scott
• Forget Me Not, directed by Zoltan Korda, starring Beniamino Gigli and Joan Gardner – (GB)
• The Four Musketeers (I quattro moschettieri), directed by Carlo Campogalliani – (Italy)
• Fury, directed by Fritz Lang, starring Sylvia Sidney and Spencer Tracy

G

• The Garden of Allah, directed by Richard Boleslawski, starring Marlene Dietrich and Charles Boyer
• The General Died at Dawn, directed by Lewis Milestone, starring Gary Cooper and Madeleine Carroll
• General Spanky, directed by Fred Newmeyer and Gordon Douglas, starring Spanky McFarland
• Girl Friends (Podrugi), directed by Lev Arnshtam, starring Zoya Fyodorova – (USSR)
• Go West, Young Man, directed by Henry Hathaway, starring Mae West, Warren William and Randolph Scott
• Gold Diggers of 1937, directed by Lloyd Bacon, starring Dick Powell, Joan Blondell and Glenda Farrell
• The Gorgeous Hussy, directed by Clarence Brown, starring Joan Crawford, Robert Taylor, Lionel Barrymore, Franchot Tone, Melvyn Douglas and James Stewart
• The Great Ziegfeld, directed by Robert Z. Leonard, starring William Powell, Myrna Loy, Luise Rainer and Frank Morgan
• Green Pastures, directed by Marc Connelly and William Keighley, starring Rex Ingram and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson

H

• Hearts Divided, directed by Frank Borzage, starring Marion Davies and Dick Powell
• Hearts in Bondage, directed by Lew Ayres, starring James Dunn, David Manners and Mae Clarke
• Home Guardsman Bruggler (Standschütze Bruggler), directed by Werner Klingler – (Germany)
• Hopalong Cassidy Returns, directed by Nate Watt, starring William Boyd

I

• Intermezzo, directed by Gustaf Molander, starring Gösta Ekman and Ingrid Bergman – (Sweden)
• The Invisible Ray, directed by Lambert Hillyer, starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi
• It Had to Happen, directed by Roy Del Ruth, starring George Raft and Rosalind Russell
• It's Love Again, directed by Victor Saville, starring Jessie Matthews and Robert Young – (GB)

J

• The Jungle Princess, directed by Wilhelm Thiele, starring Dorothy Lamour and Ray Milland

K

• Der Kaiser von Kalifornien (The Emperor of California), directed by and starring Luis Trenker – (Germany)
• Klondike Annie, directed by Raoul Walsh, starring Mae West and Victor McLaglen

L

• Laburnum Grove, directed by Carol Reed, starring Edmund Gwenn and Cedric Hardwicke – (GB)
• The Last of the Mohicans, directed by George B. Seitz, starring Randolph Scott
• The Last Outlaw, directed by Christy Cabanne, starring Harry Carey and Hoot Gibson
• The Lawless Nineties, directed by Joseph Kane, starring John Wayne
• Legion of Terror, directed by Charles C. Coleman, starring Bruce Cabot
• Let's Go With Pancho Villa (Vámonos con Pancho Villa), directed by Fernando de Fuentes – (Mexico)
• Libeled Lady, directed by Jack Conway, starring Jean Harlow, William Powell, Myrna Loy and Spencer Tracy
• Limelight, directed by Herbert Wilcox, starring Anna Neagle – (GB)
• Little Lord Fauntleroy, directed by John Cromwell, starring Freddie Bartholomew and Dolores Costello
• Lloyd's of London, directed by Henry King, starring Freddie Bartholomew, Madeleine Carroll and Tyrone Power
• Love Before Breakfast, directed by Walter Lang, starring Carole Lombard, Preston Foster and Cesar Romero
• Love in Exile, directed by Alfred L. Werker, starring Clive Brook and Helen Vinson – (GB)
• Love on the Run, directed by W. S. Van Dyke. starring Joan Crawford, Clark Gable and Franchot Tone
• The Lower Depths (Les Bas-fonds), directed by Jean Renoir, starring Jean Gabin – (France)

M

• The Man Who Changed His Mind, directed by Robert Stevenson, starring Boris Karloff – (GB)
• Mayerling, directed by Anatole Litvak starring Charles Boyer and Danielle Darrieux – (France)
• Men Are Not Gods, directed by Walter Reisch, starring Miriam Hopkins and Gertrude Lawrence – (GB)
• A Message to Garcia, directed by George Marshall, starring Wallace Beery, Barbara Stanwyck and John Boles
• The Milky Way, directed by Leo McCarey, starring Harold Lloyd and Adolphe Menjou
• Modern Times, a Charlie Chaplin film, with Paulette Goddard
• The Moon's Our Home, directed by William A. Seiter, starring Margaret Sullavan, Henry Fonda and Walter Brennan
• Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, directed by Frank Capra, starring Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur
• My Man Godfrey, directed by Gregory La Cava, starring William Powell and Carole Lombard

N

• Next Time We Love, directed by Edward H. Griffith, starring Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart and Ray Milland
• Night Mail, documentary directed by Harry Watt and Basil Wright – (GB)

O

• The Only Son (Hitori musuko), directed by Yasujirō Ozu – (Japan)
• Osaka Elegy (Naniwa erejÄ«), directed by Kenji Mizoguchi, starring Isuzu Yamada – (Japan)
• Our Relations, directed by Harry Lachman, starring Laurel and Hardy

P

• Palm Springs, directed by Aubrey Scotto, starring Frances Langford, Guy Standing and David Niven
• Paradise Road (Ulička v ráji), directed by Martin Frič, starring Hugo Haas – (Czechoslovakia)
• Pennies from Heaven, directed by Norman Z. McLeod, starring Bing Crosby, Madge Evans and Louis Armstrong
• The Petrified Forest, directed by Archie Mayo, starring Leslie Howard, Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart
• The Plainsman, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur and Charles Bickford
• Poor Little Rich Girl, directed by Irving Cummings, starring Shirley Temple, Alice Faye and Gloria Stuart
• Poppy, directed by A. Edward Sutherland, starring W. C. Fields
• The Prisoner of Shark Island, directed by John Ford, starring Warner Baxter and Gloria Stuart
• Private Number, directed by Roy Del Ruth, starring Loretta Young, Robert Taylor and Basil Rathbone

R

• Ramona, directed by Henry King, starring Loretta Young and Don Ameche
• Rebellion, directed by Lynn Shores, starring Tom Keene and Rita Hayworth
• Red River Valley, directed by B. Reeves Eason, starring Gene Autry
• Redes, directed by Fred Zinnemann – (Mexico)
• Reefer Madness, directed by Louis J. Gasnier
• Rembrandt, directed by Alexander Korda, starring Charles Laughton – (GB)
• Road Gang, directed by Louis King, starring Donald Woods
• The Road to Glory, directed by Howard Hawks, starring Fredric March, Warner Baxter and Lionel Barrymore
• Romeo and Juliet, directed by George Cukor, starring Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, John Barrymore and Basil Rathbone
• Rose Marie, directed by W. S. Van Dyke, starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy

S

• Sabotage, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Sylvia Sidney and Oskar Homolka – (GB)
• San Francisco, directed by W. S. Van Dyke, starring Clark Gable, Jeanette MacDonald and Spencer Tracy
• Satan Met a Lady, directed by William Dieterle, starring Bette Davis and Warren William
• Secret Agent, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Madeleine Carroll, Peter Lorre, John Gielgud and Robert Young – (GB)
• Show Boat, directed by James Whale, starring Irene Dunne, Allan Jones and Paul Robeson
• Silly Billies, directed by Fred Guiol, starring Wheeler & Woolsey
• The Singing Kid, directed by William Keighley, starring Al Jolson
• Sisters of the Gion (Gion no kyōdai), directed by Kenji Mizoguchi – (Japan)
• Small Town Girl, directed by William Wellman, starring Janet Gaynor, Robert Taylor, Lewis Stone and James Stewart
• Son of Mongolia (Syn Mongolii), directed by Ilya Trauberg – (Mongolia)
• Sportszerelem (Love of Sport), directed by László Kardos – (Hungary)
• Spy of Napoleon, directed by Maurice Elvey, starring Richard Barthelmess and Dolly Haas – (GB)
• The Story of Louis Pasteur, directed by William Dieterle, starring Paul Muni
• Stowaway, directed by William A. Seiter, starring Shirley Temple, Robert Young and Alice Faye
• Strike Me Pink, directed by Norman Taurog, starring Eddie Cantor and Ethel Merman
• Sutter's Gold, directed by James Cruze, starring Edward Arnold
• ', directed by George King, starring Tod Slaughter – (GB)
• Swing Time, directed by George Stevens, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers

T

• Tarzan Escapes, directed by Richard Thorpe, starring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan
• The Texas Rangers, directed by King Vidor, starring Fred MacMurray, Jack Oakie and Jean Parker
• Theodora Goes Wild, directed by Richard Boleslawski, starring Irene Dunne and Melvyn Douglas
• These Three, directed by William Wyler, starring Miriam Hopkins, Merle Oberon and Joel McCrea
• Things to Come, directed by William Cameron Menzies, starring Raymond Massey, Ralph Richardson and Cedric Hardwicke – (GB)
• Three Godfathers, directed by Richard Boleslawski, starring Chester Morris, Lewis Stone and Walter Brennan
• Till We Meet Again, directed by Robert Florey, starring Herbert Marshall and Gertrude Michael
• Too Many Parents, directed by Robert F. McGowan, starring Frances Farmer
• The Trail of the Lonesome Pine, directed by Henry Hathaway, starring Fred MacMurray, Sylvia Sidney and Henry Fonda
• Tudor Rose, directed by Robert Stevenson, starring Cedric Hardwicke, Nova Pilbeam and John Mills – (GB)

W

• The Walking Dead, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Boris Karloff, Ricardo Cortez and Edmund Gwenn
• Where There's a Will, directed by William Beaudine, starring Will Hay and Graham Moffatt – (GB)
• Whom the Gods Love, directed by Basil Dean, starring Stephen Haggard – (GB)
• Wife vs. Secretary, directed by Clarence Brown, starring Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Myrna Loy and James Stewart
• Windbag the Sailor, directed by William Beaudine, starring Will Hay, Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt – (GB)
• A Woman Rebels, directed by Mark Sandrich, starring Katharine Hepburn and Herbert Marshall

Y

• Yiddle with his Fiddle (Yidl Mitn Fidl), directed by Joseph Green, starring Molly Picon – (Poland)

1936 film releases

United States unless stated.

January–March

• January 1936
• 16 January
• Ceiling Zero
• Strike Me Pink
• 17 January
• Augustus the Strong (Germany/Poland)
• 20 January
• The Invisible Ray
• 22 January
• Collegiate
• 24 January
• Anything Goes
• 28 January
• Rose Marie
• 30 January
• Next Time We Love
• February 1936
• 6 February
• The Petrified Forest
• 7 February
• The Milky Way
• 14 February
• The Bohemian Girl
• It Had to Happen
• 15 February
• The Lawless Nineties
• 19 February
• Girl Friends (U.S.S.R.)
• 20 February
• Follow the Fleet
• Things to Come (GB)
• 22 February
• The Story of Louis Pasteur
• 25 February
• Modern Times
• 28 February
• The Prisoner of Shark Island
• Wife vs. Secretary
• 29 February
• Mayerling (France)
• The Walking Dead
• March 1936
• 1 March
• Sutter's Gold
• 2 March
• Man of the Frontier
• 6 March
• Little Lord Fauntleroy
• Three Godfathers
• 9 March
• Love Before Breakfast
• 13 March
• The Trail of the Lonesome Pine
• 18 March
• These Three
• 20 March
• Silly Billies
• 22 March
• The Great Ziegfeld
• 28 March
• Road Gang
• 30 March
• Too Many Parents

April–June

• April 1936
• 4 April
• Till We Meet Again
• 10 April
• A Message to Garcia
• The Moon's Our Home
• Small Town Girl
• 11 April
• Desire
• The Singing Kid
• 16 April
• Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
• 20 April
• By the Bluest of Seas (U.S.S.R.)
• 24 April
• Captain January
• 30 April
• Thirteen Hours by Air
• May 1936
• 6 May
• It's Love Again (GB)
• 8 May
• The Case Against Mrs. Ames
• 11 May
• Dracula's Daughter
• 17 May
• Show Boat
• 19 May
• Love in Exile (GB)
• 20 May
• Broken Blossoms (GB)
• 26 May
• Hearts in Bondage
• 28 May
• Osaka Elegy (Japan)
• 29 May
• Fury
• June 1936
• 5 June
• Private Number
• 6 June
• Bullets or Ballots
• 14 June
• The Last Outlaw
• 15 June
• Secret Agent (GB)
• 17 June
• Poppy
• 20 June
• Hearts Divided
• 26 June
• San Francisco

July–September

• July 1936
• 10 July
• The Devil-Doll
• 16 July
• Green Pastures
• 22 July
• Satan Met a Lady
• 24 July
• Poor Little Rich Girl
• 28 July
• The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss (GB)
• 29 July
• Anthony Adverse
• August 1936
• 10 August
• Where There's a Will (GB)
• 20 August
• Romeo and Juliet
• 26 August
• East Meets West (UK)
• 27 August
• Swing Time
• 28 August
• The Gorgeous Hussy
• Militiaman Bruggler (Germany)
• The Texas Rangers
• September 1936
• 1 September
• Tudor Rose
• 2 September
• The General Died at Dawn
• 4 September
• The Last of the Mohicans
• The Road to Glory
• 6 September
• My Man Godfrey
• 9 September
• Spy of Napoleon (GB)
• 10 September
• Dusty Ermine (UK)
• 11 September
• The Man Who Changed His Mind (GB)
• 15 September
• The Children of Captain Grant
• 23 September
• Dodsworth
• 25 September
• Craig's Wife
• Ramona
• 26 September
• Cain and Mabel
• 30 September
• Yiddle with his Fiddle (Poland/U.S.)

October–December

• October 1936
• 1 October
• Everything Is Thunder (UK)
• 6 October
• Allá en el Rancho Grande (Mexico)
• 9 October
• Libeled Lady
• 15 October
• The Garden of Allah
• Sisters of the Gion (Japan)
• 16 October
• 15 Maiden Lane
• Daniel Boone
• Dimples
• Hopalong Cassidy Returns
• 20 October
• The Charge of the Light Brigade
• 22 October
• Crime Over London (GB)
• 27 October
• César (France)
• Rebellion
• 30 October
• Our Relations
• November 1936
• 1 November
• Legion of Terror
• 6 November
• Come and Get It
• Rembrandt (GB)
• Tarzan Escapes
• A Woman Rebels
• 12 November
• Theodora Goes Wild
• 13 November
• Go West, Young Man
• 16 November
• Intermezzo (Sweden)
• Laburnum Grove (GB)
• The Plainsman
• 20 November
• Love on the Run
• 25 November
• Lloyd's of London
• Pennies from Heaven
• 26 November
• Men Are Not Gods (GB)
• 27 November
• Born to Dance
• December 1936
• 1 December
• The Bold Caballero
• 2 December
• Sabotage (GB)
• 11 December
• General Spanky
• Les bas-fonds (France)
• 12 December
• Camille
• 20 December
• Empty Saddles
• 21 December
• Forget Me Not (UK)
• 24 December
• The Jungle Princess
• 25 December
• After the Thin Man
• Stowaway
• 26 December
• Gold Diggers of 1937
• 31 December
• Let's Go With Pancho Villa (Mexico)

Serials

• Ace Drummond, starring John (Dusty) King
• The Adventures of Frank Merriwell
• '
• The Clutching Hand
• Custer's Last Stand
• Darkest Africa, starring Clyde Beatty
• Flash Gordon, starring Buster Crabbe
• The Phantom Rider
• Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island, starring Ray Mala
• Shadow of Chinatown
• Undersea Kingdom, starring Ray Corrigan
• The Vigilantes Are Coming

Comedy film series

• Harold Lloyd (1913–1938)
• Charlie Chaplin (1914–1940)
• Lupino Lane (1915–1939)
• Buster Keaton (1917–1928)
• Laurel and Hardy (1927–1940)
• Our Gang (1922–1944)
• Harry Langdon (1924–1936)
• Wheeler & Woolsey (1929–1937)
• The Marx Brothers (1929–1946)
• The Three Stooges (1934–1959)

Animated short film series

• Felix the Cat (1919-1936)
• Krazy Kat (1925–1940)
• Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (1927–1938)
• Mickey Mouse (1928–1953)
• Silly Symphonies
• Elmer Elephant
• Three Little Wolves
• Toby Tortoise Returns
• Three Blind Mousketeers
• The Country Cousin
• Mother Pluto
• More Kittens
• Screen Songs (1929–1938)
• Looney Tunes (1930–1969)
• Terrytoons (1930–1964)
• Merrie Melodies (1931–1969)
• Scrappy (1931–1941)
• Betty Boop (1932–1939)
• Popeye (1933–1957)
• ComiColor Cartoons (1933-1936)
• Happy Harmonies (1934–1938)
• Color Rhapsodies (1934–1949)
• Rainbow Parades (1935-1936)
• Meany, Miny, and Moe (1936–1937)

Births

• January 9 – K Callan, American author and actress
• January 18 – Tim Barlow, English actor (d. 2023)
• January 22 – Nyree Dawn Porter, English actress (d. 2001)
• January 27 – Troy Donahue, American actor (d. 2001)
• January 28 – Alan Alda, American actor
• February 3 – Jeanine Basinger, American film historian
• February 4 – Gary Conway, American actor and screenwriter
• February 11 – Burt Reynolds, American actor (d. 2018)
• February 12
• Joe Don Baker, American actor (d. 2025)
• Paul Shenar, American actor (d. 1989)
• February 14
• Joan O'Brien, American actor, singer (d. 2025)
• Andrew Prine, American actor (d. 2022)
• February 17 – Jim Brown, American actor (d. 2023)
• February 29 – Alex Rocco, American actor (d. 2015)
• March 1 – Georgina Spelvin, born Shelley Graham, American pornographic film actress
• March 5 – Dean Stockwell, American actor (d. 2021)
• March 8 – Sue Ane Langdon, American actress
• March 9 – Marty Ingels, American actor, comedian, comedy sketch writer and theatrical agent (d. 2015)
• March 19 – Ursula Andress, Swiss actress
• March 23 – Luisa Mattioli, Italian actress (d. 2021)
• April 9 – Avery Schreiber, American actor and comedian (d. 2002)
• April 12 – Charles Napier, American actor (d. 2011)
• April 19 – Andy Romano, American actor (d. 2022)
• May 1 – Danièle Huillet, French director (d. 2006)
• May 4 – Eleanor Coppola, American documentary filmmaker, artist, and writer (d. 2024)
• May 9
• Albert Finney, English actor (d. 2019)
• Glenda Jackson, English actress and politician (d. 2023)
• May 12 – Millie Perkins, American former actress
• May 14 – Bobby Darin, American singer, songwriter, actor (d. 1973)
• May 17 – Dennis Hopper, American actor and performance artist (d. 2010)
• May 20 – Anthony Zerbe, American actor
• May 23 – Charles Kimbrough, American actor (d. 2023)
• May 27 – Louis Gossett Jr., American actor (d. 2024)
• May 28 – John Wilder, American producer, writer and former actor
• May 30 – Keir Dullea, American actor
• June 3 – Larry McMurtry, American novelist and screenwriter (d. 2021)
• June 4 – Bruce Dern, American actor
• June 8 – James Darren, American actor, director and singer (d. 2024)
• June 19 - Takeshi Aono, Japanese voice actor and narrator (d. 2012)
• June 22 – Kris Kristofferson, American actor, musician and songwriter (d. 2024)
• June 24
• Robert Downey Sr., American actor and director (d. 2021)
• Paul L. Smith, American-Israeli actor and director (d. 2012)
• June 27 – Shirley Anne Field, English actress (d. 2023)
• July 1 – Ron Masak, American actor (d. 2022)
• July 5 – Shirley Knight, American actress (d. 2020)
• July 8 - William Cort, American actor (d. 1993)
• July 9
• Dick Richards, American director, producer and screenwriter
• Richard Wilson, Scottish actor, theatre director and broadcaster
• July 24
• Ruth Buzzi, American actress, comedian and singer (d. 2025)
• Mark Goddard, American actor (d. 2023)
• July 25 - August Schellenberg, Canadian actor (d. 2013)
• August 5 - John Saxon, American actor (d. 2020)
• August 15 - Pat Priest, American actress
• August 16 - Anita Gillette, American actress
• August 17 – Floyd Westerman, American musician, political activist and actor (d. 2007)
• August 18 – Robert Redford, American actor and director (d. 2025)
• August 20
• Míriam Colón, Puerto Rican actress (d. 2017)
• Philip Voss, British actor (d. 2020)
• August 25 – Hugh Hudson, English director (d. 2023)
• September 7 – Bruce Gray, Canadian actor (d. 2017)
• September 11 - Charles Dierkop, American actor (d. 2024)
• September 14 - Walter Koenig, American actor and screenwriter
• September 19 - Anna Karen, British-South African actress (d. 2022)
• September 20
• Andrew Davies, Welsh writer
• Pepper Martin, Canadian-American actor (d. 2022)
• September 21 - Burr DeBenning, American actor (d. 2003)
• September 24 - Jim Henson, American puppeteer, animator, actor, director and screenwriter (d. 1990)
• October 8 - Leonid Kuravlyov, Russian actor (d. 2022)
• October 9 – Brian Blessed, English actor
• October 16
• Peter Bowles, English actor (d. 2022)
• Irina Demick, French actress (d. 2004)
• October 19 - Tony Lo Bianco, Italian-American actor (d. 2024)
• October 23 - Philip Kaufman, American director and screenwriter
• October 24 – David Nelson, American actor, director and producer (d. 2011)
• October 26 - Shelley Morrison, American actress (d. 2019)
• October 28 - Joe Spinell, American actor (d. 1989)
• November 4 - Jan Tříska, Czech actor (d. 2017)
• November 9 – Teddy Infuhr, American child actor (d. 2007)
• November 19 - Dick Cavett, American television personality, comedian and former talk show host
• November 25 - Matt Clark, American actor (d. 2026)
• November 27 – Joel Barcellos, Brazilian actor (d. 2018)
• December 1 - Melissa Jaffer, Australian actress
• December 3
• Mary Alice, American actress (d. 2022)
• Sir Horace Ové, Trinidadian-born British filmmaker (d. 2023)
• December 5 - John Erwin, American voice actor (d. 2024)
• December 6 - David Ossman, American writer and comedian
• December 8 – David Carradine, American actor and martial artist (d. 2009)
• December 10 – Howard Smith, American journalist, director and producer (d. 2014)
• December 13 - Cliff Emmich, American actor (d. 2022)
• December 18 - Gary Gray, American child actor (d. 2006)
• December 22 – Hector Elizondo, American actor
• December 23
• Frederic Forrest, American actor (d. 2023)
• James Stacy, American actor (d. 2016)
• December 25 – Ismail Merchant, Indian film producer (d. 2005)
• December 29 – Mary Tyler Moore, American actress (d. 2017)

Deaths

• January 9
• John Gilbert, American actor (b. 1897)
• Frank Rice, American actor (b. 1892)
• January 24 – Harry T. Morey, American actor (b. 1873)
• February 7 – O. P. Heggie, Australian actor (b. 1877)
• February 17 – Alexander Pantages, Film producer and theater owner (b. 1867)
• February 20 – Max Schreck, German actor (b. 1879)
• February 28 – Justus Hagman, Swedish actor (b. 1859)
• April 6
• Edmund Breese, American actor (b. 1871)
• Väinö Lehmus, Finnish actor (b. 1886)
• April 7 – Marilyn Miller, American actress (b. 1898)
• April 21 – Alexandra Carlisle, English actress (b. 1886)
• April 26 – Tammany Young, American actor (b. 1886)
• May 17 – Sir Philip Ben Greet, British actor (b. 1857)
• May 29 – Norman Chaney, American actor (b. 1914)
• June 7 - Jobyna Howland, American actress (b. 1880)
• June 17 – Henry B. Walthall, American actor (b. 1878)
• July 8 - Thomas Meighan, American actor (b. 1879)
• July 11 - James Murray, American actor (b. 1901)
• July 16 - Alan Crosland, American actor and director (b. 1894)
• July 17 - Stephen Roberts, American director (b. 1894)
• August 15 - John B. O'Brien, American actor and director (b. 1884)
• September 14 – Irving Thalberg, American film producer (b. 1899)
• September 20 – Edward Salisbury Field, American playwright and screenwriter (b. 1878)
• October 5 – Bernard Granville, American actor (b. 1888)
• October 10 - William H. Tooker, American actor (b. 1869)
• October 17 – Suzanne Bianchetti, French actress (b. 1889)
• October 30
• Hugh Buckler, British actor (b. 1881)
• John Buckler, British actor (b. 1906)
• November 2 – Laird Doyle, American screenwriter (b. 1907)
• November 7 – Sam Livesey, Welsh actor (b. 1873)
• November 18 – Fay Webb, American actress (b. 1907)
• November 27 – Chester A. Lyons, American cinematographer (b. 1885)
• December 8 – David Freedman, American writer (b. 1898)
• December 9 – Lottie Pickford, American actress (b. 1893)
• December 24 – Irene Fenwick, American actress (b. 1887)

Film debuts

Notes

External links

• List of 1936 films at IMDb
• List of 1936 deaths at IMDb
• List of 1936 births at IMDb