Cinema 1975: You Must Remember This–Movies, Events, Stars, Hollywood, Pop Culture

Cineliteracy: What You Need to Know about 1975 as Movie Year

My Oscar Book:

Top-Grossing Films of 1975

Rank Title Distributor Domestic rentals

1 Jaws Universal $133,400,000

2 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest United Artists $59,200,000

3 The Rocky Horror Picture Show 20th Century Fox $50,420,000*

4 Shampoo Columbia $23,822,000

5 Dog Day Afternoon Warner Bros. $22,500,000

6 The Return of the Pink Panther United Artists $20,017,000

7 Three Days of the Condor Paramount $20,014,000

8 Funny Lady Columbia $19,313,000

9 The Other Side of the Mountain Universal $18,012,000

10 Tommy Columbia $17,793,000

Because of long lifespan, the figure for The Rocky Horror Picture Show is not accurate.

Events

March 26: film version of The Who’s Tommy premieres in London.

May 26: Star Wars, George Lucas forms Industrial Light and Magic.

June 20: Jaws is released, the highest-grossing movie of the year and the first movie to earn $100 million in US theatrical rentals, setting standard for future blockbusters.

August 14: The cult film The Rocky Horror Picture Show premieres in London.

Nov 2: Italian director Pasolini is brutally murdered in Ostia (Rome).

November 23: Sneak Previews, first US review show, premieres, launching the careers of critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert. They remained as team, and staple film critics, through various programs for the next 24 years.

December: Warner reorganizes after John Calley’s steps down as president-COO. Frank Wells returns as president and shares CEO duties with Ted Ashley, who also returns as chairman.

Awards

March 29, 1976, Academy (Oscar) Awards

Palme d’Or (Cannes Film Fest): Chronicle of the Years of Fire (Chronique des années de braise)
Golden Bear (Berlin Film Fest): Adoption (Örökbefogadás)

Best Film: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Best Director: Miloš Forman, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Best Actor: Jack Nicholson, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Best Actress: Louise Fletcher, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Best Supporting Actor: George Burns, The Sunshine Boys
Best Supporting Actress: Lee Grant, Shampoo
Best Screenplay, Adapted One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman

Best Screenplay, Original Dog Day Afternoon, Frank Pierson
Best Original Score: John Williams, Jaws

Best Original Song “I’m Easy”, Nashville N/A “I’m Easy”
Nashville
Best Foreign Language Film: Dersu Uzala

Deaths

January

9 Pierre Fresnay 77 France Actor
La Grande IllusionLe Corbeau
18 Gertrude Olmstead 77 US Actress, The Boob, The Monster
21 Marie Lohr 84 Australia Actress
The Winslow Boy, Great Catherine
24 Larry Fine 72 US Actor
The Three Stooges4 for Texas
27 Bill Walsh 61 US Screenwriter, Producer
Mary PoppinsBedknobs and Broomsticks

February

Feb 1 Richard Wattis 62 UK Actor
The Longest DayThe Man Who Knew Too Much
11 Maria Balcerkiewiczówna 71 Poland Actress
Vampires of WarsawAugustus the Strong
17 George Marshall 83 US Director
How the West Was WonDestry Rides Again
20 Robert Strauss 61 US Actor
Stalag 17The Seven Year Itch
20 Lillian Fontaine 88 UK Actress
The LocketThe Lost Weekend
March 3 Edward H. Griffith 86 US Director
Honeymoon in BaliVirginia
3 Therese Giehse 76 Germany Actress
Mädchen in Uniform Black Moon
4 Renée Björling 76 Sweden Actress
Summer InterludeA Lesson in Love
7 Ben Blue 73 Canada/US Actor
The Big Broadcast of 1938The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming
8 George Stevens 70 US Director, Producer
A Place in the SunGiant
9 Shirley Ross 62 US Actress
The Big Broadcast of 1938Thanks for the Memory
14 Susan Hayward 57 US Actress
I Want to Live!The Snows of Kilimanjaro
15 John H. Auer 68 Hungary Director, Producer
Johnny TroubleCity That Never Sleeps
15 Arthur Crabtree 74 UK Director, Screenwriter
CaravanLilli Marlene
19 Harry Lachman 88 US Director
Charlie Chan in RioIt Happened in Hollywood
22 Cass Daley 59 US Actress, Singer
Riding HighLadies’ Man
25 Michele Girardon 36 France Actress
The LoversHatari!
April 3 Mary Ure 42 UK Actress
Where Eagles DareLook Back in Anger
5 Inez Courtney 67 US Actress
ClarenceThe 13th Man
10 Marjorie Main 85 US Actress
Meet Me in St. LouisMa and Pa Kettle
13 Larry Parks 60 US Actor
The Jolson StoryDown to Earth
14 Fredric March 77 US Actor
The Best Years of Our LivesA Star Is Born
15 Richard Conte 65 US Actor
The GodfatherOcean’s 11
15 William Hartnell 67 UK Actor
Hell DriversCarry On Sergeant
22 Mary Philips 74 US Actress
A Farewell to ArmsLeave Her to Heaven
May 4 Moe Howard 77 US Actor
The Three StoogesMen in Black
9 Philip Dorn 73 Netherlands Actor
Random HarvestI Remember Mama
22 Torben Meyer 90 Germany Actor
RobertaTill We Meet Again
30 Michel Simon 80 Switzerland Actor
L’AtalanteThe Train
June 3 Ozzie Nelson 69 US Actor
Sweetheart of the CampusThe Impossible Years
4 Evelyn Brent 75 US Actress
UnderworldThe Last Command
6 Larry Blyden 49 US Actor
On a Clear Day You Can See ForeverKiss Them for Me
11 Jane Griffiths 45 UK Actress
The Million Pound NoteThe Durant Affair
28 Rod Serling 50 US Screenwriter
Seven Days in MayPlanet of the Apes
July 2 James Robertson Justice 68 UK Actor
The Guns of NavaroneMoby Dick
20 Richard Gaines 70 US Actor
Double IndemnityThe More the Merrier
28 Alfred L. Werker 78 US Director
The Adventures of Sherlock HolmesRepeat Performance
August 2 Jean Yarbrough 73 US Director
Inside JobShed No Tears
7 Phyllis Povah 82 US Actress
The WomenPat and Mike
11 Howard Wendell 67 US Actor
The Fighting ChanceThe Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake
23 Sidney Buchman 73 US Screenwriter
Mr. Smith Goes to WashingtonHere Comes Mr. Jordan
23 Hank Patterson 86 US Actor
The Arizona KidTarantula
25 Joseph Kane 81 US Director
King of the CowboysFlame of Barbary Coast
29 Bob Baker 64 US Actor
The Singing OutlawThe Phantom Stage
31 Pierre Blaise 20 France Actor
Lacombe, LucienDown the Ancient Staircase
September 9 John McGiver 61 US Actor
The Manchurian CandidateMidnight Cowboy
19 Pamela Brown 58 UK Actress
Lust for LifeBecket
24 Clive Morton 71 UK Actor
The MoonrakerKind Hearts and Coronets
27 Mark Frechette 27 US Actor
Zabriskie PointMany Wars Ago
October 16 Don Barclay 82 US Actor
Man HuntMary Poppins
18 Al Lettieri 47 US Actor
The GodfatherThe Getaway
19 Cesare Bettarini 74 Italy Actor
Like the Leaves
24 Martin Boddey 68 UK Actor
Carry on SergeantCarry on Nurse
31 Joseph Calleia 78 Malta/US Actor, Singer
After the Thin ManTouch of Evil
November 2 Pier Paolo Pasolini 53 Italy Director, Screenwriter, Actor
The Hawks and the SparrowsTeorema
4 Sheila Ryan 54 US Actress
Dressed to KillSong of Texas
5 Annette Kellerman 88 Australia Actress
Venus of the South SeasA Daughter of the Gods
17 Kay Johnson 70 US Actress
DynamiteOf Human Bondage
December 7 Hardie Albright 71 US Actor
Three-Cornered MoonThe Scarlet Letter
9 William A. Wellman 79 US Director
WingsBattleground
13 Cyril Delevanti 88 UK Actor
Mary PoppinsSoylent Green
14 Arthur Treacher 81 UK Actor
Thank You, Jeeves!Heidi
17 Frank Sully 67 US Actor
The Grapes of WrathJoe Palooka in the Counterpunch
20 William Lundigan 61 US Actor
The House on Telegraph HillLove Nest
21 Rowland V. Lee 84 US Director
Son of FrankensteinCaptain Kidd
24 Bernard Herrmann 64 US Composer
PsychoTaxi Driver

Film debuts
Jack Angel – Funny Lady
Pernilla August – Giliap
Michael Berryman – Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze
Bruce Boxleitner – Sixpack Annie
Jay Brazeau – The Melting Pot
Bryan Brown – Scobie Malone
Kim Cattrall – Rosebud
Maury Chaykin – Me
George Cheung – The Killer Elite
Tom Conti – Galileo
Robert Costanzo – Dog Day Afternoon
Tim Curry – The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Ken Davitian – Sons of Sassoun
John de Lancie – Legacy
John Debney (film composer) – The Strongest Man in the World
Brad Dourif – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Griffin Dunne – The Other Side of the Mountain
Conchata Ferrell – Deadly Hero
Laurence Fishburne – Cornbread, Earl and Me
Carrie Fisher – Shampoo
M. C. Gainey – Hard Times
Richard Gere – Report to the Commissioner
Patrick Gorman – Three Days of the Condor
Debbie Harry – Deadly Hero
Bernard Hill – It Could Happen to You
Danny Huston – The “Human” Factor
Brion James – Hard Times
James Keane – Three Days of the Condor
Nastassja Kinski – The Wrong Move
Christopher Lloyd – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Mary Stuart Masterson – The Stepford Wives
Richard Masur – Whiffs
Rudy Ray Moore – Dolemite
Chris Mulkey – Loose Ends
Sam Neill – Landfall
Bill Paxton – Crazy Mama
Dennis Quaid – Crazy Mama
Rajinikanth – Apoorva Raagangal
Leo Rossi – Alias Big Cherry
Chris Sarandon – Dog Day Afternoon
Sandra Seacat – Night Moves
Lin Shaye – Hester Street
Don Stark – Switchblade Sisters
Patrick Stewart – Hennessy
John Travolta – The Devil’s Rain
Dee Wallace – The Stepford Wives
Steven Williams – Cooley High
Treat Williams – Deadly Hero