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v t e

The year 1966 in film involved some significant events.

Events [edit]

Animation legend Walt 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.) [edit]

Awards [edit]

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 Aimée – 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

Notable films released in 1966 [edit]

U.S.A. unless stated

#

• 7 Women, the last film of John Ford, starring Anne Bancroft, Flora Robson, Margaret Leighton, Mildred Dunnock, Anna Lee

A

• Aakhri Khat (The Last Letter) - (India)
• After the Fox
• Alfie, directed by Lewis Gilbert, starring Michael Caine, Shelley Winters, Millicent Martin - (U.K.)
• Alice in Wonderland, a TV film starring John Gielgud, Peter Cook, Peter Sellers - (U.K.)
• Alvarez Kelly, starring William Holden
• An American Dream, starring Stuart Whitman, Janet Leigh, Eleanor Parker
• Amrapali, starring Vyjayanthimala and Sunil Dutt - (India)
• Andrei Rublev, directed by Andrei Tarkovsky - (U.S.S.R.)
• The Appaloosa, starring Marlon Brando
• Arabesque, directed by Stanley Donen, starring Sophia Loren and Gregory Peck
• L'armata Brancaleone (aka For Love and Gold), directed by Mario Monicelli, starring Vittorio Gassman and Gian Maria Volonté - (Italy)
• Around the World Under the Sea, starring Lloyd Bridges
• Assault on a Queen, starring Frank Sinatra, Virna Lisi, Anthony Franciosa
• 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, Burt Ward, Burgess Meredith, Cesar Romero, Lee Meriwether, Frank Gorshin
• 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, Franco Nero, Ava Gardner, Richard Harris, Peter O'Toole
• The Big Gundown (La resa dei conti), starring Lee Van Cleef - (Italy)
• A Big Hand for the Little Lady, starring Henry Fonda, Joanne Woodward, Jason Robards, Burgess Meredith, Kevin McCarthy
• The Birds, the Bees and the Italians (Signore & Signori), directed by Pietro Germi - (Italy)
• Birds Do It, starring Soupy Sales
• Black Girl (La Noire de...), directed by Ousmane Sembène - (France/Senegal)
• Blowup, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, starring David Hemmings and Vanessa Redgrave -- winner of Palme d'Or, 1967 Cannes Film Festival - (Italy/U.K./U.S.)
• The Blue Max, starring George Peppard, James Mason, Ursula Andress - (U.K.)
• Borom Sarret (The Wagoner) - (Senegal)
• Born Free, starring Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers - (U.K.)
• Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number!, starring Bob Hope, Phyllis Diller, Elke Sommer
• A Bullet for the General (El Chucho, quién sabe?), starring Gian Maria Volonte and Klaus Kinski - (Italy)

C

• Cairo 30 (Al-Kahira 30) - (Egypt)
• Carry On Screaming!, starring Harry H. Corbett and Kenneth Williams - (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
• Chimes at Midnight (aka Falstaff), directed by and starring Orson Welles, with Jeanne Moreau, John Gielgud - (France/Spain/Switzerland)
• Circus of Fear, starring Christopher Lee, Leo Genn, Klaus Kinski- (U.K.)

• Closely Watched Trains (Ostře sledované vlaky, directed by Jiří Menzel - Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film (1967) - (Czechoslovakia)
• Come Drink With Me (Da zui xia) - (Hong Kong)
• Cul-de-sac, directed by Roman Polanski, starring Donald Pleasence and Françoise Dorléac - Golden Bear winner - (U.K.)
• Curse of the Swamp Creature, starring John Agar, Francine York

D

• Daimajin - (Japan)
• Daisies (Sedmikrásky) - (Czechoslovakia)
• Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD, starring Peter Cushing - (U.K.)
• The Daydreamer
• Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round, starring James Coburn, Camilla Sparv, Robert Webber, Rose Marie
• The Deadly Affair, directed by Sidney Lumet, starring James Mason - (U.K.)
• Death of a Bureaucrat (La Muerte de un Burócrata) - (Cuba)
• Destination Inner Space, starring Gary Merrill and Sheree North
• Django, starring Franco Nero - (Italy/Spain)
• Don't Look Now, We're Being Shot At (La grande vadrouille), starring Terry-Thomas and Bourvil - (France/U.K.)
• Le deuxieme souffle (aka Second Breath), directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, starring Lino Ventura - (France)
• Dracula: Prince of Darkness, starring Christopher Lee - (U.K.)
• Duel at Diablo, starring James Garner and Sidney Poitier
• Dutchman, starring Al Freeman, Jr. and Shirley Knight

E

• El Dorado, directed by Howard Hawks, starring John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, James Caan
• The Elusive Avengers (Neulovimye mstiteli) - (U.S.S.R.)
• Eye of the Devil, directed by J. Lee Thompson, starring Deborah Kerr, David Niven and Sharon Tate

F

• The Face of Another (Tanin no kao) - (Japan)
• Fahrenheit 451, directed by François Truffaut, starring Julie Christie and 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 and Raquel Welch
• The Fat Spy, starring Phyllis Diller, Jayne Mansfield and Brian Donlevy
• Fighting Elegy (Kenka erejii), directed by Seijun Suzuki - (Japan)
• Fireball 500, starring Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, Fabian
• 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 and Walter Matthau
• Frankie and Johnny, starring Elvis Presley and Donna Douglas
• 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 in the Invisible Bikini, starring Deborah Walley, Tommy Kirk, Nancy Sinatra
• The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, starring Don Knotts
• Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster (Gojira, Ebira, Mosura Nankai no Daikettō) - (Japan)
• Grand Prix, directed by John Frankenheimer, starring James Garner, Yves Montand, Toshiro Mifune, Eva Marie Saint, Jessica Walter
• The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery, starring Frankie Howerd and Dora Bryan - (U.K.)
• The Group, directed by Sidney Lumet, starring Candice Bergen, Shirley Knight, Joan Hackett, Joanna Pettet, Jessica Walter
• Gunpoint, starring Audie Murphy, Joan Staley, Warren Stevens

H

• Harper, starring Paul Newman, Robert Wagner, Lauren Bacall, Pamela Tiffin, Julie Harris, Arthur Hill, Janet Leigh
• Hawaii, directed by George Roy Hill, starring Julie Andrews, Max von Sydow, Richard Harris
• The Hawks and the Sparrows (Uccellacci e uccellini), directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini, starring Totò - (Italy)
• The Hellbenders (I Crudeli), starring Joseph Cotten - (Italy)
• Here's Your Life (Här har du ditt liv) - (Sweden)
• Hold On!, starring Peter Noone and Shelley Fabares
• How To Steal a Million, directed by William Wyler, starring Audrey Hepburn and Peter O'Toole
• Hunger (Sult) - (Denmark/Norway/Sweden)
• The Hunt (La Caza), directed by Carlos Saura - (Spain)

I

• Incompreso (Misunderstood), directed by Luigi Comencini - (Italy)
• Is Paris Burning? (Paris brûle-t-il?), directed by René Clément, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, Charles Boyer, Leslie Caron - (France/U.S.A.)
• Island of Terror , starring Peter Cushing, Edward Judd and Carole Gray
• It Happened Here, starring Sebastian Shaw - (U.K.)

J

• Johnny Reno, starring Jane Russell
• Judith, starring Sophia Loren and Peter Finch - (Israel/U.K./U.S.)

K

• Kaleidoscope, directed by Jack Smight, starring Warren Beatty - (U.K.)
• Khartoum, directed by Basil Dearden, starring Charlton Heston, Laurence Olivier - (U.K.)
• Kill, Baby, Kill, directed by Mario Bava- (Italy)
• King of Hearts (Le Roi de Cœur), directed by Philipe de Broca, starring Alan Bates - (France)
• Kriminal - (Italy/Spain)

L

• Let's Kill Uncle, directed by William Castle
• Lord Love a Duck, starring Roddy McDowall and Tuesday Weld
• Lost Command, directed by Mark Robson, starring Anthony Quinn, George Segal, Alain Delon, Claudia Cardinale
• Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N., starring Dick Van Dyke and Nancy Kwan

M

• Madame X, starring Lana Turner
• Made in Paris, starring Ann-Margret, Louis Jourdan, Chad Everett, Edie Adams
• Made in U.S.A., directed by Jean-Luc Godard, starring Anna Karina and Jean-Pierre Léaud - (France)
• 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 Aimée, Jean-Louis Trintignant -- Palme d'Or winner - (France)
• The Man Called Flintstone, directed by Joseph Barbera and William Hanna
• 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.)
• A Man Could Get Killed, starring James Garner and Sandra Dee
• Masculine-Feminine by Jean-Luc Godard, starring Jean-Pierre Léaud - (France)
• Mera Saaya (My Shadow), starring Sunil Dutt and Sadhana - (India)
• Mission to Death
• Mister Buddwing, directed by Delbert Mann, starring James Garner, Jean Simmons, Angela Lansbury, Suzanne Pleshette, Katharine Ross
• Modesty Blaise, starring Monica Vitti and Terence Stamp - (U.K.)
• Morgan! (aka Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment), directed by Karel Reisz - (U.K.)
• Munster, Go Home!, starring Fred Gwynne, Yvonne De Carlo, Al Lewis
• Murderers' Row, starring Dean Martin (as Matt Helm), with Karl Malden, Camilla Sparv, Ann-Margret

N

• The Naked Prey, directed by and starring Cornel Wilde - (U.S./South Africa)
• Navajo Joe, starring Burt Reynolds - (Italy/Spain)
• Nayak, directed by Satyajit Ray - (India)
• Nevada Smith, starring Steve McQueen, Karl Malden, Martin Landau, Suzanne Pleshette, Arthur Kennedy
• Nobody Wanted to Die (Niekas nenorėjo mirti) - (U.S.S.R.)
• Not with My Wife, You Don't!, starring Tony Curtis, George C. Scott, Virna Lisi
• The Nun (La Religieuse), directed by Jacques Rivette, starring Anna Karina - (France)

O

• Once Before I Die, starring Ursula Andress and John Derek
• One Million Years B.C., starring Raquel Welch - (U.K.)
• Operazione San Gennaro (aka The Treasure of San Gennaro), starring Nino Manfredi and Senta Berger - (Italy)
• The Oscar, starring Stephen Boyd, Elke Sommer, Jill St. John, Tony Bennett
• Our Man Flint, starring James Coburn
• Our Man in Marrakesh, aka Bang! Bang! You're Dead!, starring Tony Randall

P

• Paradise, Hawaiian Style, starring Elvis Presley
• Penelope, starring Natalie Wood, Peter Falk, Dick Shawn, Jonathan Winters, Ian Bannen, Arlene Golonka
• Le Père Noël a les yeux bleus (Father Christmas Has Blue Eyes), starring Jean-Pierre Léaud - (France)
• Persona, directed by Ingmar Bergman, starring Bibi Andersson, Liv Ullmann - (Sweden)
• Pharaoh (Faraon) - (Poland)
• Phool Aur Patthar, starring Dharmendra - (India)
• Picture Mommy Dead, starring Don Ameche and Zsa Zsa Gabor
• The Plague of the Zombies, starring André Morell - (U.K.)
• The Plainsman, starring Don Murray, Abby Dalton, Leslie Nielsen
• The Poppy Is Also a Flower, directed by Terence Young, starring Senta Berger, Stephen Boyd, Rita Hayworth, Yul Brynner, Angie Dickinson
• The Pornographers (aka Erogotoshitachi yori Jinruigaku nyumon), directed by Shōhei Imamura - (Japan)
• The Priest and the Girl (O Padre e a Moça) - (Brazil)
• The Professionals, directed by Richard Brooks, starring Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan, Woody Strode, Jack Palance, Claudia Cardinale

Q

• Queen of Blood, starring John Saxon, Basil Rathbone, Dennis Hopper
• The Quiller Memorandum, starring George Segal, Alec Guinness, Max von Sydow, Senta Berger - (U.K./U.K.)

R

• Rage, starring Glenn Ford, Stella Stevens
• The Rare Breed, starring James Stewart, Maureen O'Hara, Brian Keith, Juliet Mills
• A Report on the Party and the Guests (O slavnosti a hostech), directed by Jan Němec - (Czechoslovakia)
• The Reptile, starring Noel Willman, Ray Barrett, Jennifer Daniel- (U.K.)

• Return of the Seven, starring Yul Brynner, Robert Fuller, Claude Akins, Warren Oates
• Roman Candles, directed by John Waters
• Rondo - (Yugoslavia)
• Run, Appaloosa, Run, starring Rex Allen
• The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, directed by Norman Jewison, starring Alan Arkin, Jonathan Winters, Carl Reiner, Eva Marie Saint

S

• The Sand Pebbles, directed by Robert Wise, starring Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, Candice Bergen
• The Sandwich Man, starring Michael Bentine and Dora Bryan - (U.K.)
• Seconds, directed by John Frankenheimer, starring Rock Hudson
• The She Beast, starring Barbara Steele, John Karlsen, Ian Ogilvy
• Shiroi Kyotō (The White Tower) - (Japan)
• The Shooting, starring Warren Oates, Jack Nicholson, Millie Perkins
• Shri Krishna Pandaviyam, directed by and starring N. T. Rama Rao - (India)
• The Silencers, starring Dean Martin, Stella Stevens, Daliah Lavi, Cyd Charisse, Nancy Kovack
• The Singing Nun, starring Debbie Reynolds and Greer Garson
• Sound of Horror, starring James Philbrook, Arturo Fernandez, Soledad Miranda
• Spinout, starring Elvis Presley
• Stagecoach, starring Ann-Margret, Bing Crosby, Red Buttons, Alex Cord, Mike Connors, Stefanie Powers
• Suraj, starring Vyjayanthimala and Rajendra Kumar - (India)
• The Swinger, starring Ann-Margret, Tony Franciosa, Yvonne Romain
• The Sword of Doom (Dai-bosatsu tōge) - (Japan)

T

• Tarzan and the Valley of Gold, starring Mike Henry and Nancy Kovack
• Teesri Kasam (Third Oath), starring Raj Kapoor - (India)
• Texas Across the River, starring Dean Martin, Alain Delon, Rosemary Forsyth, Peter Graves, Joey Bishop
• They're a Weird Mob, directed by Powell and Pressburger - (Australia)
• This Property is Condemned, directed by Sydney Pollack, starring Natalie Wood, Robert Redford, Charles Bronson, Kate Reid
• Three On A Couch, directed by and starring Jerry Lewis, with Janet Leigh, Leslie Parrish, Mary Ann Mobley
• Tokyo Drifter (Tōkyō nagaremono), directed by Seijun Suzuki - (Japan)
• Torn Curtain, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Paul Newman and Julie Andrews
• Trace of Stones (Spur der Steine) - (East Germany)
• The Trap, starring Rita Tushingham and Oliver Reed - (U.K./Canada)
• Triple Cross, starring Christopher Plummer, Claudine Auger, 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, starring Audie Murphy - (Israel)

U

• Ukamau (And So it Is) - (Bolivia)

W

• Waco, starring Jane Russell and Howard Keel
• Walk Don't Run, starring Cary Grant (in his final film), Samantha Eggar, Jim Hutton
• The War Is Over (La Guerre est Finie), directed by Alain Resnais, starring Yves Montand and Ingrid Thulin - (France)
• War of the Gargantuas (Furankenshutain no Kaijū: Sanda tai Gaira) - (Japan)
• Way...Way Out, starring Jerry Lewis and Connie Stevens
• What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?, directed by Blake Edwards, starring James Coburn and Dick Shawn
• Who Are You, Polly Maggoo? (Qui êtes vous, Polly Maggoo?) - (France)
• 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 Witches, starring Joan Fontaine
• The Wrong Box, starring John Mills, Michael Caine, Peter Cook, Nanette Newman - (U.K.)

Y

• Young Torless (Der junge Törless), directed by Volker Schlöndorff - (West Germany)

Short Film Series [edit]

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

Births [edit]

• January 6 - A. R. Rahman, Indian composer
• January 13 - Patrick Dempsey, actor
• February 25 - Téa Leoni, actress
• April 8 - Robin Wright Penn, actress
• April 9 - Cynthia Nixon, actress
• May 20 - Helena Bonham Carter, actress
• June 22 - Emmanuelle Seigner, 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 - Irène Jacob, actress
• July 29 - Martina McBride, popular country singer
• August 14 - Halle Berry, actress
• September 2 - Salma Hayek, actress
• September 7 - Toby Jones, British actor
• September 9 - Adam Sandler, American actor
• November 17 - Sophie Marceau, actress
• November 23 - Vincent Cassel, actor
• December 21 - Kiefer Sutherland, actor

Deaths [edit]

• 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
• February 26 - Mientje Kling, 71, Dutch 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 - Walt Disney, 65, American producer and cartoonist
• September 14 - Nikolay Cherkasov, 63, Soviet actor

Debuts [edit]

• Michael Douglas
• Harrison Ford
• Christopher Walken

References [edit]

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