Events

• August 4 - The last film serial, Blazing the Overland Trail from Columbia Pictures, is released.
• November 15 - Elvis Presley's first film, Love Me Tender, opens.

Top grossing films (U.S.)

(*) After theatrical re-issue(s)
source: http://www.boxofficereport.com/database/1956.shtml

Awards

Academy Awards:

Best Picture: Around the World in Eighty Days - Todd, United Artists

Best Director: George Stevens - Giant

Best Actor: Yul Brynner - The King and I

Best Actress: Ingrid Bergman - Anastasia

Best Supporting Actor: Anthony Quinn - Lust for Life

Best Supporting Actress: Dorothy Malone - Written on the Wind

Best Foreign Language Film: La strada, directed by Federico Fellini, Italy

Golden Globe Awards:

Drama:

Best Picture: Around the World in Eighty Days

Best Actor: Kirk Douglas - Lust for Life

Best Actress: Ingrid Bergman - Anastasia

Musical or comedy:

Best Picture: The King and I

Best Actor: Cantinflas - Around the World in Eighty Days

Best Actress: Deborah Kerr - The King and I

Other

Best Director: Elia Kazan - Baby Doll

Best Foreign Film: Before Sundown, West Germany

Best Foreign Film: A Girl In Black, Greece

Best Foreign Film: Richard III, United Kingdom

Best Foreign Film: Roses on the Arm, Japan

Best Foreign Film: War and Peace, Italy

Best Foreign Film: The White Reindeer, Finland

Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival):

The Silent World (Le monde du silence), directed by Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Louis Malle, France

Golden Lion (Venice Film Festival): Not awarded

Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival):

Invitation to the Dance, directed by Gene Kelly, United States

Films released in 1956

• 7 Wonders of the World
• Accused of Murder
• Alexander the Great
• Anastasia
• Around the World in 80 Days
• Baby Doll
• The Bad Seed
• The Battle of the River Plate
• Between Heaven and Hell, directed by Richard Fleischer
• The Birds and the Bees
• The Brave One
• The Bold and the Brave
• Bus Stop
• Carousel
• The Case of the Mukkinese Battle Horn
• The Conqueror
• The Court Jester
• Dance With Me Henry, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
• Diane
• The Eddy Duchin Story
• Elena and Her Men
• Forbidden Planet
• Friendly Persuasion
• Gaby
• Gervaise
• Giant
• Godzilla, King of the Monsters!
• The Great Man
• The Harder They Fall, starring Humphrey Bogart in his final film
• High Society
• Hollywood or Bust, starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis
• The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
• ''Never Say Goodbye
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers
• Invitation to the Dance
• Julie
• The King and I
• The Lady Killers (U.S. release)
• Love Me Tender
• Lust for Life
• The Man Who Knew Too Much
• Moby Dick
• Pardners, starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis
• Private's Progress
• The Proud and Profane
• The Rainmaker
• Ransom!
• Reach for the Sky
• The Red Balloon
• Richard III (U.S. release)
• Rock Around the Clock
• The Solid Gold Cadillac
• Starik Khottabych
• The Searchers
• Seven Samurai (U.S. release)
• The Silent World
• Somebody Up There Likes Me
• La Strada (U.S. release)
• Tea and Sympathy
• The Teahouse of the August Moon
• The Ten Commandments
• A Town Like Alice
• Trapeze
• War and Peace
• Written on the Wind
• The Wrong Man
• X the Unknown

Serials

• Blazing the Overland Trail, starring Lee Roberts and Dennis Moore
• Perils of the Wilderness

Short film series

• Looney Tunes (1930-1969)
• Terrytoons (1930-1964)
• Merrie Melodies (1931-1969)
• Popeye (1933-1957)
• The Three Stooges (1934-1959)
• Bugs Bunny (1940-1962)
• Tom and Jerry (1940-1958)
• Droopy (1943-1958)
• Yosemite Sam (1945-1963)
• Speedy Gonzales (1953-1968)

Ending this year

• Donald Duck (1934-1956)
• Chip and Dale (1943-1956)
• Ranger Don (1953-1956)

Births

• January 3 - Mel Gibson, actor and director
• January 7 - David Caruso, actor
• January 21 - Geena Davis,actress.
• January 27 - Mimi Rogers, actress.
• February 11 - Kathleen Beller, actress.
• July 9 - Tom Hanks, actor

Deaths

• January 12 - Norman Kerry, American actor (b. 1894)
• January 23 - Alexander Korda, Hungarian film director, the founder of London Films
• July 16 - Olof Winnerstrand, Swedish actor
• December 12 - Ewald André Dupont, German director
• August 16- Béla Lugosi, actor best known for Dracula