1939 in film

The top ten 1939 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:

• Film historians often rate 1939 as "the greatest year in the history of Hollywood".[8][9] Hollywood films produced in Southern California were at the height of their Golden Age (in spite of many cheaply made or undistinguished films' also being produced, something to be expected with any year in commercial cinema), and during 1939 there are the premieres of an outstandingly large number of exceptional motion pictures, many of which become honored as all-time classic films.
  • June 10 – MGM's first successful animated character, Barney Bear, made his debut in The Bear That Couldn't Sleep.
  • August 15 – The Wizard of Oz premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles.
  • October 17 – Mr. Smith Goes to Washington premiered in Washington, D.C.
  • December 15 – Gone with the Wind premiered in Atlanta, Georgia, with a three-day-long festival.
  • March 31 – Release of the 20th Century Fox film version of The Hound of the Baskervilles, first of a Sherlock Holmes film series starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson.
• Canada established a National Film Commission, predecessor of the National Film Board of Canada, with John Grierson as first Commissioner.

The year 1939 was one in which the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominated ten films for Best Picture:

• Dark Victory
• Gone with the Wind (Best Picture winner)
• Goodbye, Mr. Chips
• Love Affair
• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
• Ninotchka
• Of Mice and Men
• Stagecoach
• The Wizard of Oz
• Wuthering Heights

These films came from a wide variety of film genres and sources for their stories and settings, including: historical fiction (Gone with the Wind), contemporary affairs (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Of Mice and Men), love stories, classic novels (Wuthering Heights), fantasies/musicals, (The Wizard of Oz), tragic plays (Dark Victory), westerns (Stagecoach), and comedies (Ninotchka).

Each of the five nominees for Best Director of 1939 were or went on to become a legendary film director with multiple acclaimed films to his credit: Frank Capra (previous winner of the award), Victor Fleming, John Ford (who won a record four Best Director awards), Sam Wood, and William Wyler (who leads all directors in nominations with 11 while having three wins).

• Best Picture: Gone with the Wind – David O. Selznick; Selznick International, MGM
• Best Director: Victor Fleming – Gone with the Wind
• Best Actor: Robert Donat – Goodbye, Mr. Chips
• Best Actress: Vivien Leigh – Gone with the Wind
• Best Supporting Actor: Thomas Mitchell – Stagecoach
• Best Supporting Actress: Hattie McDaniel – Gone with the Wind

United States

United States unless stated

• Buck Rogers, starring Buster Crabbe
• Dick Tracy's G-Men, starring Ralph Byrd
• Daredevils of the Red Circle, starring Herman Brix and Charles B. Middleton
• Flying G-Men
• The Lone Ranger Rides Again
• Mandrake the Magician, starring Warren Hull
• The Oregon Trail
• Overland with Kit Carson
• The Phantom Creeps, starring Bela Lugosi
• Scouts to the Rescue
• Zorro's Fighting Legion, starring Reed Hadley

• Charlie Chaplin (1914–1940)
• Lupino Lane (1915–1939)
• Buster Keaton (1917–1944)
• Laurel and Hardy (1927–1945)
• Our Gang (1922–1944)
• The Marx Brothers (1929–1946)
• The Three Stooges (1933–1962)

• Krazy Kat (1925–1940)
• Mickey Mouse (1928–1953)
• Silly Symphonies (1929–1939)
  • The Practical Pig
  • The Ugly Duckling
• Looney Tunes (1930–1969)
• Terrytoons (1930–1964)
• Merrie Melodies (1931–1969)
• Scrappy (1931–1941)
• Betty Boop (1932–1939)
• Popeye (1933–1957)
• Color Rhapsodies (1934–1949)
• Donald Duck (1937–1956)
• Barney Bear (1939–1954)
• Walter Lantz Cartunes (also known as New Universal Cartoons or Cartune Comedies) (1938–1942)
• The Captain and the Kids (1938–1939)
• Goofy (1939–1955)
• Andy Panda (1939–1949)
• Nertsery Rhyme Cartoons (1939 only)
• Crackpot Cruise Cartoons (1939 only)
• Lil' Eightball (1939 only)
• Count Screwloose and J.R. (1939 only)

• January 10 – Sal Mineo, American actor (died 1976)
• January 26 – Scott Glenn, American actor
• January 30 – János Zsombolyai, Hungarian cinematographer, film director and screenwriter (d. 2015)
• February 3 – Michael Cimino, director; producer; screenwriter (died 2016)
• February 9 – Janet Suzman, South African actress and director
• February 24 – Marisa Mell, Austrian actress (d. 1992)
• February 28 – Tommy Tune, American dancer, choreographer and actor
• March 4 – Robert Shaye, American actor and producer
• March 5
  • Samantha Eggar, English actress
  • Benyamin Sueb, Indonesian actor, comedian and singer (d. 1995)
• March 14 - Héctor Bonilla, Mexican actor
• March 28 – Vic Vargas, Filipino actor (d. 2003)
• April 1 – Ali MacGraw, American actress
• April 7 – Francis Ford Coppola, director; producer; screenwriter
• April 9 – Romeo Vasquez, Filipino actor (died 2017)
• April 13 – Paul Sorvino, American actor
• May 4 – Paul Gleason, American actor (died 2006)
• May 13 – Harvey Keitel, American actor
• May 15 – Barbara Hammer, American filmmaker (died 2019)
• May 19 – James Fox, English actor
• May 22 – Paul Winfield, American actor (died 2004)
• May 23 – Reinhard Hauff, German film director
• May 25 – Ian McKellen, English actor
• May 30 – Michael J. Pollard, American actor (died 2019)
• June 4 – Henri Pachard, American film director (died 2008)
• June 25 – Barbara Montgomery, American actress and director
• July 1 – Ines Aru, Estonian actress
• July 15 – Abdulhussain Abdulredha, Kuwaiti actor (died 2017)
• July 16 – Corin Redgrave, British actor, political activist (died 2010)
• July 22 – Terence Stamp, English actor
• July 30 – Peter Bogdanovich, American director; producer; screenwriter
• July 31 – France Nuyen, French actress
• August 2 – Wes Craven, American director; producer; screenwriter (died 2015)
• August 4 – Mapita Cortés, Mexican actress (died 2006)
• August 9 – Bulle Ogier, French actress
• August 12 – George Hamilton, American actor
• August 20 – Fernando Poe Jr., Filipino actor (died 2004)
• August 23 – Fernando Luján, Mexican actor (died 2019)
• August 25 – John Badham, English-American director
• August 29 – Joel Schumacher, American film director, producer and screenwriter (died 2020)
• August 30 – Elizabeth Ashley, American actress
• September 1 – Lily Tomlin, American actress; comedian; producer
• September 5 – George Lazenby, Australian actor
• September 18
  • Frankie Avalon, American singer and actor
  • Fred Willard, American actor
• September 23 – Janusz Gajos, Polish actor
• September 27 – Garrick Hagon, Canadian film, stage, television and radio actor
• October 8 – Paul Hogan, Australian comedian and actor
• October 18 – Salme Poopuu, Estonian actress and filmmaker (died 2017)
• October 22 – Tony Roberts, American actor
• October 24 – F. Murray Abraham, American actor
• October 25 – Nikos Nikolaidis, Greek film director (died 2007)
• October 27 – John Cleese, English actor, comedian and producer
• October 28 – Jane Alexander, American actress
• November 10 – Anton Gorchev, Bulgarian actor (died 2000)
• November 15 – Yaphet Kotto, American actor
• November 22 – Allen Garfield, American actor

• January 25 – Helen Ware, 61, American actress, Morning Glory, Abraham Lincoln
• February 22 – Joe Brandt, 56, American film producer and co-founder of C.B.C. which became Columbia Pictures
• April 22 – Ann Murdock, 48, American actress, Outcast, Please Help Emily
• May 5 – Clara Schønfeld, 82, Danish actress, Master of the House, Praesten i Vejlby
• June 9 – Owen Moore, 54, Irish actor, A Star is Born, She Done Him Wrong, The Red Mill, Cinderella
• August 23 – Sidney Howard, 48, American writer, Gone with the Wind, Dodsworth, Arrowsmith, A Lady to Love
• September 24 – Carl Laemmle, 72, German producer, Frankenstein, Dracula, Bride of Frankenstein, The Phantom of the Opera
• October 13 – Ford Sterling, 55, American actor, Tango Tangles, The Show-Off, Between Showers
• October 23 – Zane Grey, 67, American writer, Fighting Caravans, Riders of the Purple Sage, Western Union, Born to the West
• October 28 – Alice Brady, 46, American actress, My Man Godfrey, Young Mr. Lincoln, The Gay Divorcee, In Old Chicago
• November 7 – Kirsti Suonio, 67, Finnish stage and film actress, Substitute Wife
• November 13 – George Nicholls, Jr., 42, American director, Anne of Green Gables, Man of Conquest
• December 12 – Douglas Fairbanks, 56, American actor, The Thief of Bagdad, The Black Pirate, Robin Hood, Mr. Robinson Crusoe, and the father of Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.

• Dirk Bogarde – Come on George!
• Richard Conte – Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence
• Peter Cushing – The Man in the Iron Mask
• Linda Darnell – Hotel for Women
• Peggy Ann Garner – In Name Only
• Greer Garson – Goodbye, Mr. Chips
• Anne Gwynne – Unexpected Father
• Jennifer Jones – New Frontier
• Veronica Lake – Sorority House
• Marcello Mastroianni – Marionette
• Victor Mature – The Housekeeper's Daughter
• Gene Nelson – Second Fiddle
• Edmond O'Brien – The Hunchback of Notre Dame