1959 in film

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The year 1959 in film involved some significant events.

Events

• The Three Stooges make their 180th and last short film, Sappy Bullfighters.
• September 18 - The Marx Brothers' Zeppo Marx marries his second wife, Barbara Blakely.
• November 18 - William Wyler's film Ben-Hur premieres at Loew's Theater in New York City.
• Sammy Davis, Jr. and May Britt start dating.

Top grossing films

North America

1. Ben-Hur
2. Auntie Mame
3. The Shaggy Dog
4. Some Like It Hot, starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon
5. Pillow Talk
6. Imitation of Life
7. The Nun's Story
8. tie Anatomy of a Murder and North by Northwest, by Alfred Hitchcock
9. (see above)
10. Sleeping Beauty
11. Rio Bravo

Awards

Academy Awards:

Best Picture: Ben-Hur - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Best Director: William Wyler - Ben-Hur

Best Actor: Charlton Heston - Ben-Hur

Best Actress: Simone Signoret - Room at the Top

Best Supporting Actor: Hugh Griffith - Ben-Hur

Best Supporting Actress: Shelley Winters - The Diary of Anne Frank

Best Foreign Language Film: Black Orpheus (Orfeu Negro), directed by Marcel Camus, Brazil / France / Italy

Golden Globe Awards:

Drama:

Best Picture: Ben-Hur

Best Actor: Anthony Franciosa - Career

Best Actress: Elizabeth Taylor - Suddenly, Last Summer

Musical or comedy:

Best Picture (tie): Some Like It Hot

Best Picture (tie): Porgy and Bess

Best Actor: Jack Lemmon - Some Like It Hot

Best Actress: Marilyn Monroe - Some Like It Hot

Other

Best Director: William Wyler - Ben-Hur

Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival):

Black Orpheus (Orfeu Negro), directed by Marcel Camus, France

Golden Lion (Venice Film Festival):

Il Generale della Rovere (General della Rovere), directed by Roberto Rosselini, Italy / France

La grande guerra (The Great War), directed by Mario Monicelli, Italy / France

Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival):

Les cousins (The Cousins), directed by Claude Chabrol, France

Films released in 1959

• The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock
• The 39 Steps
• 4D Man
• The 400 Blows
• Anatomy of a Murder
• The Angry Red Planet
• Apur Sansar (The World of Apu)
• The Atomic Submarine
• Ballad of a Soldier (Ballada o soldate)
• Ben-Hur
• Beyond This Place (also known as Web of Evidence)
• Black Orpheus Palme d'Or winner
• Career
• Carry On Teacher
• La Casa del Terror
• Les Cousins
• A Date with Death
• The Diary of Anne Frank
• Donald in Mathmagic Land (short subject)
• Don't Give Up The Ship
• Fires on the Plain
• The Giant Behemoth
• Il Generale della Rovere
• Gidget
• La grande guerra (The Great War)
• Happy Anniversary
• Hercules and the Queen of Lydia (also known as Ercole e la regina di Lidia and Hercules Unchained)
• Hiroshima Mon Amour
• The Horse Soldiers
• Imitation of Life
• The Jazz Singer (performance)
• Journey to the Center of the Earth
• John Paul Jones
• Kapò
• Killer Shrews
• The Miracle
• Mise Éire
• North by Northwest
• The Nun's Story
• Operation Petticoat
• On the Beach
• Pillow Talk
• Porgy and Bess
• Pork Chop Hill
• Rio Bravo
• Room at the Top
• Sampo (The Day the Earth Froze)
• Sapphire
• The Shaggy Dog
• Sleeping Beauty (Walt Disney animation)
• Some Like It Hot
• It Started with a Kiss
• Suddenly, Last Summer
• Terror is a Man
• The World, the Flesh and the Devil

Short Film Series

• Looney Tunes (1930-1969)
• Terrytoons (1930-1964)
• Merrie Melodies (1931-1969)
• Bugs Bunny (1940-1962)
• Yosemite Sam (1945-1963)
• Speedy Gonzales (1953-1968)
• The Three Stooges (1934-1959)

Births

• January 22 - Linda Blair, actress
• March 18 - Irene Cara, actress, singer
• April 15 - Emma Thompson, British actor
• July 29 - Sanjay Dutt, Indian actor
• October 21 - Ken Watanabe, Japanese actor
• November 14 - Paul McGann, British actor
• December 31 - Val Kilmer, American actor

Deaths

• February 1 - Madame Sul-Te-Wan, actress
• February 4 - Una O'Connor, actress
• March 3 - Lou Costello, comedian and actor, half of Abbott and Costello comedy team
• February 5 - Gwili Andre, actress
• June 16 - George Reeves, actor
• June 18 - Ethel Barrymore, actress
• October 14 - Errol Flynn, actor
• October 23 - Gerda Lundequist, actress
• November 20 – Sylvia Lopez, European actress
• November 25 - Gérard Philipe, French actor

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