1953 in film

The top ten 1953 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:

• January 16 – A new Warner Bros. Pictures Inc. is incorporated following a Consent Judgment to divest their Stanley Warner Theaters.
• February 5 – Walt Disney's production of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, starring Bobby Driscoll and Kathryn Beaumont, premieres to astounding acclaim from critics and audiences and quickly becomes one of the most beloved Disney films.
• July 1 – Stalag 17, directed by Billy Wilder and starring William Holden, premieres and is considered by the critics and audiences to be one of the greatest WWII Prisoner of War films ever made.
• August 5 – Fred Zinnemann's romantic and war masterpiece From Here to Eternity, starring Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Frank Sinatra, and Donna Reed, premieres.
• August 27 – William Wyler's immortal romantic tale of Roman Holiday, starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn, premieres and propels Hepburn to super stardom.
• September 16 – Religious epic The Robe, starring Richard Burton and Jean Simmons, debuts as the first widescreen anamorphic film in cinema history, filmed in CinemaScope grossing a record $36,000 for a single theatre in its first day. It went on to gross a record (for a single theater) $264,428 in its first week.
• November 21 – Monogram Pictures, which had stopped releasing pictures under that banner from the start of the year, changes its name to Allied Artists Pictures Corporation.

United States unless stated

• Canadian Mounties vs Atomic Invaders, starring Bill Henry
• The Great Adventures of Captain Kidd, starring Richard Crane
• Jungle Drums of Africa, starring Clayton Moore and Phyllis Coates
• The Lost Planet, starring Judd Holdren

• Mickey Mouse (1928)-(1953)
• Looney Tunes (1930–1969)
• Terrytoons (1930–1964)
• Merrie Melodies (1931–1969)
• Popeye (1933–1957)
• Donald Duck (1934)-(1956)
• The Three Stooges (1934–1959)
• Goofy (1939)-(1953)
• Tom and Jerry (1940–1958)
• Bugs Bunny (1940)-(1962)
• Chip and Dale (1943–1956)
• Droopy (1943–1958)
• Sylvester the Cat (1944–1966)
• Yosemite Sam (1945–1963)
• Speedy Gonzales (1953–1968)

• January 30: Steven Zaillian, director
• February 8: Mary Steenburgen, actress
• February 11: Philip Anglim, actor
• February 19: Massimo Troisi, actor (died 1994)
• March 2: Ezra Swerdlow, film producer (died 2018)
• March 4:
  • Scott Hicks, director
  • Agustí Villaronga, Spanish director
• March 16: Isabelle Huppert, French actress
• April 16: Jay O. Sanders, actor
• April 18: Rick Moranis, Canadian actor & comedian
• May 16: Pierce Brosnan, Irish actor
• May 24: Alfred Molina, British-born American actor
• May 30: Colm Meaney, Irish actor
• June 13: Tim Allen, actor
• June 26: Peng Xiaolian, director (died 2019)
• July 11: Mindy Sterling, actress
• August 11: Hulk Hogan, wrestler
• August 14: James Horner, composer (died 2015)
• August 27: Peter Stormare, Swedish actor
• September 10: Amy Irving, actress
• October 9: Tony Shalhoub, actor
• October 26: Maureen Teefy, actress
• October 31: Michael J. Anderson, actor
• November 3: Kate Capshaw, actress
• November 6: Ron Underwood, director
• December 6: Tom Hulce, actor
• December 8
  • Kim Basinger, actress
  • Sam Kinison, stand-up comedian (died 1992)
• December 9: John Malkovich, actor
• December 17: Bill Pullman, actor
• December 31: James Remar, actor

• February 2: Alan Curtis, 43, American actor, High Sierra, Buck Privates
• February 27: Jessie Coles Grayson, 66, African-American contralto and actress, Cass Timberlane
• March 5: Herman J. Mankiewicz, 55, American screenwriter, Citizen Kane, The Pride of the Yankees, Dinner at Eight, Man of the World
• March 19: Irene Bordoni, 68, Corsican-American actress and singer, Paris, Louisiana Purchase
• April 26: Rian James, 53, American screenwriter, 42nd Street, The Housekeeper's Daughter
• May 30: Dooley Wilson, 67, American actor, Casablanca, Stormy Weather
• June 5: Roland Young, 65, British actor, Topper, Ruggles of Red Gap, The Philadelphia Story, And Then There Were None
• June 30: Vsevolod Pudovkin, Soviet film director (born 1893)
• July 3: Irving Reis, 47, American director, The Big Street, All My Sons
• August 6
  • John Reinhardt, Austrian director, Sofia, Chicago Calling
  • Houseley Stevenson, American actor, Dark Passage, Kidnapped
• August 9: Henri Étiévant, French actor, director (born 1870)
• September 12: Lewis Stone, American actor (born 1879), Andy Hardy film series, The Prisoner of Zenda, Grand Hotel
• October 6: Porter Hall, American actor (born 1888), Double Indemnity, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Going My Way, Miracle on 34th Street
• October 8: Nigel Bruce, British actor (born 1895), Sherlock Holmes film series, Suspicion, Rebecca, The Rains Came, Treasure Island
• October 13: Millard Mitchell, American character actor (born 1903), Singin' in the Rain, Winchester '73, The Gunfighter, The Naked Spur, Twelve O'Clock High
• November 29: Sam De Grasse, Canadian actor (born 1875), Robin Hood, Blind Husbands
• December 29: Violet MacMillan, American actress (born 1887), The Magic Cloak of Oz, Violet's Dreams

• Carroll Baker – Easy to Love
• Harry Belafonte – Bright Road
• Stanley Kubrick (director) – Fear and Desire
• Steve McQueen – Girl on the Run
• Geraldine Page – Hondo
• Anthony Perkins – The Actress
• Harry Shearer – Abbott and Costello Go to Mars
• Maureen Stapleton – Main Street to Broadway