Cinema 1972: You Must Remember This–Movies, Events, Stars, Box-Office

Cineliteracy: What You Need to Know about 1972 as a Movie Year

Research in progress, June 20, 2025

Missing: Best Actor, Supp. Actor, Supp. Actress

My Oscar Book:

Highest-Grossing Films of 1972

Rank Title Distributor Domestic rentals

1 The Godfather, Paramount $86,300,000

2 The Poseidon Adventure, 20th Century Fox $42,000,000

3 What’s Up, Doc? Warner Bros. $28,000,000

4 Deliverance $22,500,000

5 Jeremiah Johnson $21,900,000

6 Cabaret Allied Artists $20,250,000

7 Deep Throat Bryanston $20,000,000

8 The Getaway National General $18,000,000

9 Brother of the Wind Sun International $12,000,000

10 Lady Sings the Blues Paramount $9,666,000

Awards

Oscars: 45th Academy Awards, March 27, 1973

Best Film: The Godfather
Best Director: Bob Fosse, Cabaret
Best Actor: Marlon Brando, The Godfather

Best Actress: Liza Minnelli, Cabaret
Best Supporting Actor: Joel Grey, Cabaret
Best Supporting Actress: Cloris Leachman, The Last Picture Show

Best Screenplay, Coppola and Mario Puzo, The Godfather

Best Screenplay, Original Jeremy Larner, The Candidate
Best Original Score Nino Rota, The Godfather Charlie Chaplin, Raymond Rasch and Larry Russell
Limelight
Ralph Burns
Cabaret
Best Original Song “Ben”
Ben N/A “The Morning After”
The Poseidon Adventure
Best Foreign Language Film : The Emigrants
The New Land N/A The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie

Palme d’Or (Cannes Film Fest): The Working Class Goes to Heaven (La classe operaia va in paradiso), Elio Petri, Italy
The Mattei Affair (Il Caso Mattei), directed by Francesco Rosi, Italy

Golden Bear (Berlin Film Fest): The Canterbury Tales (I Racconti di Canterbury), Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italy / France

Births

Deaths
Month Date Name Age Country Profession Notable films

January

Jan 1 Maurice Chevalier, 83 France Actor-Singer, Gigi, Can-Can

8 Wesley Ruggles 82 US Director, Producer, I’m No Angel Arizona
17 Rochelle Hudson 55 US Actress
Rebel Without a CauseLes Miserables
18 George Mitchell 66 US Actor
The Andromeda StrainKid Galahad
19 Richard Fraser 58 Scotland Actor
The Picture of Dorian GrayThe Fatal Witness
22 Alec Coppel 64 Australia Screenwriter
The Captain’s ParadiseVertigo
24 Jerome Cowan 74 US Actor
The Maltese FalconMiracle on 34th Street
27 Herbert Hübner 82 Germany Actor
Storm in a Water GlassRobert and Bertram
29 Hugh McDermott 65 Scotland Actor
David LivingstoneDevil Girl from Mars

February

Feb 2 Jessie Royce Landis 75 US Actress North by Northwest, To Catch a Thief (Hitchcock)
7 Walter Lang 75 US Director, The King and I, The Little Princess

20 Walter Winchell, 74, US Commentator

March

March 3, Harold Young 74 US Director, Editor
The Scarlet PimpernelThe Mummy’s Tomb
19 Albert Mannheimer 59 US Screenwriter
Born YesterdayBloodhounds of Broadway
20 Marilyn Maxwell 51 US Actress
ChampionThe Lemon Drop Kid
29 J. Arthur Rank 83 England Executive
So Well RememberedQuartet
29 Hal Roach Jr. 53 US Director, Producer
One Million B.C.
30 Peter Whitney 55 US Actor
The Big HeatIn the Heat of the Night

April

April 5 Brian Donlevy 71 Ireland Actor
Kiss of DeathWake Island
5 Isabel Jewell 64 US Actress
Gone with the WindLost Horizon
7 Betty Blythe 78 US Actress
The Queen of ShebaShe
13 Dorothy Dalton 78 US Actress
Behind MasksThe Woman Who Walked Alone
20 Jorge Mistral 51 Spain Actor
Andalusia ExpressThe White Sister

25 George Sanders, 65 UK Actor, All About Eve, Rebecca (Hitchcock)

25 Alfred J. Goulding 87 Australia Director
Step LivelyA Chump at Oxford
27 Bobby Howes 76 England Producer, Director
Sweet DevilYes, Madam?
28 Harry Joe Brown 81 US Producer, Director
Captain BloodKnickerbocker Holiday
30 Gia Scala 38 England Actor
The Guns of NavaroneDon’t Go Near the Water

May

May 3 Bruce Cabot 68 US Actor
King KongDiamonds Are Forever
4 Elsa Ratassepp 79 Estonia Actress Libahunt
5 Frank Tashlin 59 US Director
Son of PalefaceArtists and Models
7 Henri Diamant-Berger 76 France Director, producer, screenwriter
Les Trois Mousquetaires, Monsieur Fabre
12 Steve Ihnat 37 Czech Actor, MadiganZig Zag
13 Dan Blocker 43 US Actor
Lady in CementCome Blow Your Horn
15 Nigel Green 47 South Africa Actor
The Ipcress FileZulu
18 Sidney Franklin 79 US Director, Producer, Duel in the Sun, The Good Earth
22 Margaret Rutherford 80 England Actress
The V.I.P.sMurder, She Said
23 Richard Day 76 Canada Art director
How Green Was My ValleyOn the Waterfront

25 Charles C. Coleman 70 US Director
Homicide BureauThe Shadow

June

June 17 Jean Brochard 79 France Actor
The Law Is the LawLes Diaboliques
17 Gale Henry 79 US Actress
Two-Time MamaDarkened Rooms
20 Sidney Lanfield 74 US Director
The Hound of the BaskervillesThe Lemon Drop Kid
22 Paul Czinner 82 Hungary Director, screenwriter
Dreaming LipsAriane, jeune fille russe
25 Nicholas Hannen 74 England Director
The DictatorRichard III
27 Thomy Bourdelle 81 France Actor
The Return of Don CamilloThe Call of Silence

July

July 3 Hal Walker 76 US Director
Sailor BewareAt War with the Army
6 Brandon deWilde 30 US Actor
ShaneHud
10 Emrys Jones 56 England Actor
One of Our Aircraft Is MissingNicholas Nickleby
10 Harmon Jones 61 Canada Director
Pride of St. LouisThe Kid from Left Field
19 Sally Benson 74 US Screenwriter
Shadow of a DoubtViva Las Vegas
28 Helen Traubel 73 US Actress, Singer
Deep in My HeartThe Ladies Man

August

Aug 7 Joi Lansing 43 US Actress
Touch of EvilA Hole in the Head
7 Tom Neal 58 US Actor
Jungle GirlDetour
14 Oscar Levant 65 US Actor
An American in ParisThe Band Wagon
16 Pierre Brasseur 66 France Actor
Les Enfants du ParadisEyes Without a Face
19 Roger Furse 68 England Costume and production designer
Henry VHamlet
24 D. Ross Lederman 77 US Director
Key WitnessThe Body Disappears
27 Gaby André 52 France Actress
Verdi, the King of MelodyHighway 301

September

September 11 Max Fleischer 89 US Animator, Director, Producer
Popeye the SailorBetty Boop for President
12 William Boyd 77 US Actor
Hop-Along CassidyThe Volga Boatman
14 Lane Chandler 73 US Actor
Open RangeThe Cheyenne Cyclone
17 Akim Tamiroff 72 Russia Actor
Touch of EvilOcean’s 11
29 Max Nosseck 70 Germany Director
Black BeautyDillinger
29 Edward Sloman 86 US Actor
Gun SmokeThe Lost Zeppelin
30 Edgar G. Ulmer 68 Austria Director
The Black CatDetour

October

Oct 4 Colin Gordon 61 England Actor
The Pink PantherCasino Royale
9 Miriam Hopkins 69 US Actress
Trouble in ParadiseDr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
16 Leo G. Carroll 85 England Actor
North by NorthwestStrangers on a Train
22 Jack Melford 73 England Actor
A Shot in the DarkLust for a Vampire
24 Claire Windsor 80 US Actor
The BlotCaptain Lash
28 Mitchell Leisen 74 US Director
MidnightKitty

November

Nov5 Reginald Owen 85 England Actor
Mary PoppinsA Christmas Carol
7 Tod Andrews 57 Russia Actor
From Hell It CameBeneath the Planet of the Apes
10 Francis Chagrin 66 Romania Composer
The IntruderThe Colditz Story
16 Vera Karalli 83 Russia Actress
A Woman’s RevengeThe King of Paris
23 Marie Wilson 56 US Actress
Mr. Hobbs Takes a VacationMy Friend Irma
29 Eve Southern 72 US Actress
Clothes Make the WomanMorocco (film)
30 William P. S. Earle 89 US Director
The Way of a MaidLove’s Masquerade

December

Dec 6 Janet Munro 38 England Actress
Swiss Family RobinsonDarby O’Gill and the Little People
9 William Dieterle 79 Germany Director
The Life of Emile ZolaThe Story of Louis Pasteur
9 Louella Parsons 91 US Columnist, Screenwriter, Hollywood Hotel, Starlift

Film debuts
Anne Archer – The Honkers
William Atherton – The New Centurions
Margaret Avery – Cool Breeze
Elya Baskin – Telegramma
Emmanuelle Béart – And Hope to Die
Ned Beatty – Deliverance
Susan Blakely – Savages
Klaus Maria Brandauer – The Salzburg Connection
Jerry Bruckheimer (producer) – The Culpepper Cattle Co.
Robert Carradine – The Cowboys
Dominic Chianese – Fuzz
Candy Clark – Fat City
Allan Corduner – Savage Messiah
Ronny Cox – Deliverance
Blythe Danner – To Kill a Clown
Brian Doyle-Murray – Fuzz
Art Evans – Sisters
Peter Firth – Brother Sun, Sister Moon
Jodie Foster – Napoleon and Samantha
Jackie Earle Haley – The Outside Man
Bob Hoskins – Up the Front
Isabelle Huppert – Faustine et le Bel Été
Samuel L. Jackson – Together for Days
Madeline Kahn – What’s Up, Doc?
Patsy Kensit – For the Love of Ada
Ben Kingsley – Fear Is the Key
Ed Lauter – Dirty Little Billy
John Lithgow – Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues
David Margulies – Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers
Steve Martin – Another Nice Mess
Frank McRae – Cool Breeze
Nick Nolte – Dirty Little Billy
Michele Placido – Il caso Pisciotta
Jürgen Prochnow – Zoff
Kathleen Quinlan – One Is a Lonely Number
Steve Railsback – The Visitors
Alan Silvestri (film composer) – The Doberman Gang
Frank Sivero – The Godfather
Stellan Skarsgård – Strandhugg i somras
Charles Martin Smith – The Culpepper Cattle Co.
Kemal Sunal – Sweet Talker
Jeffrey Tambor – The Summertime Killer
Lily Tomlin – Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers
James Woods – The Visitors
George Wyner – Lady Sings the Blues