1961 in film

The top ten 1961 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:

The highest-grossing 1961 films from countries outside of North America.

• May 13 – Legendary actor Gary Cooper dies at the age of 60 in Los Angeles from colon and prostate cancer. Best known for his appearances in classic films such as Wings, Meet John Doe, Sergeant York, For Whom the Bell Tolls and High Noon, Cooper was one of the biggest stars of Hollywood's Golden Age and won two Academy Awards for Best Actor.

• October 18 – The film version of the musical West Side Story is released. Directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins and starring Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno and George Chakiris, it becomes the year's highest-grossing film and goes on to win ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (for Wise and Robbins), Best Supporting Actor (for Chakiris) and Best Supporting Actress (for Moreno).

US unless stated

• Looney Tunes (1930–1969)
• Terrytoons (1930–1964)
• Merrie Melodies (1931–1969)
• Goofy (1961)
• Tom and Jerry (1940–1967)
• Noveltoons (1943–1967)
• The Alvin Show (1961–1962)

• January 2 – Todd Haynes, American director
• January 13 – Julia Louis-Dreyfus, American actress
• January 24 – Nastassja Kinski, German actress
• February 11 – Carey Lowell, American actress
• February 21 – Christopher Atkins, American actor
• March 8 – Camryn Manheim, American actress
• March 21 – Kassie DePaiva, American actress and singer
• April 3 – Eddie Murphy, American actor and comedian
• April 6 – Gene Eugene, Canadian actor, lead singer of Adam Again (died 2000)
• April 14 – Robert Carlyle, Scottish actor
• April 23 – Þröstur Leó Gunnarsson, Icelandic actor
• May 6 – George Clooney American actor, writer, director and producer
• May 8 – David Winning, Canadian-American director, producer and screenwriter
• May 14 – Tim Roth, English actor
• May 31 – Lea Thompson, American Actress
• June 5 – Catherine McGille, American actress
• June 9 – Michael J. Fox, Canadian actor
• July 14 – Jackie Earle Haley, American actor
• July 15 – Forest Whitaker, American actor
• July 18 – Elizabeth McGovern, American actress
• July 23 – Woody Harrelson, American actor
• July 30 – Laurence Fishburne, American actor
• August 5 – Janet McTeer, English actress
• August 28 – Jennifer Coolidge, American actress
• September 11 – Elizabeth Daily, American actress
• September 15 - Colin McFarlane, English actor
• September 16 - Jen Tolley, American-Canadian actress, voice actress and singer
• September 18 – James Gandolfini, American actor (died 2013)
• September 22 – Bonnie Hunt, American actress and comedian
• October 25 – Hong Sang-soo, South Korean director
• October 26 – Dylan McDermott, American actor
• October 31 – Peter Jackson, New Zealand director
• November 4 – Ralph Macchio, American actor
• November 14 – D. B. Sweeney, American actor
• November 19 – Meg Ryan, American actress
• November 22 – Mariel Hemingway, American actress
• November 28 – Alfonso Cuarón, Mexican director
• November 29 – Tom Sizemore, American actor

• January 13 – Blanche Ring, 89, American singer and actress, The Yankee Girl, It's the Old Army Game
• January 14 – Barry Fitzgerald, 72, Irish actor, Going My Way, The Quiet Man
• February 2 – Anna May Wong, 56, American actress, Shanghai Express, The Thief of Bagdad
• February 17 – Nita Naldi, 66, American actress, Blood and Sand, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• February 26 – Harry Bannister, 71, American actor, The Girl of the Golden West
• March 6 – George Formby, 56, British actor, entertainer, It's in the Air, Off the Dole
• March 12 – Belinda Lee, 25, British actress, Long Night in 1943, The Goddess of Love
• March 29 – Fritzi Ridgeway, 62, American actress, Ruggles of Red Gap, This Is Heaven
• April 27 – Roy Del Ruth, 67, American director, The Maltese Falcon, Broadway Melody of 1938
• May 4 – Anita Stewart, 66, American silent-film actress, The Combat, The Suspect
• May 13 – Gary Cooper, 60, American actor, High Noon, Meet John Doe, The Pride of the Yankees, Sergeant York
• May 18 – Henry O'Neill, 69, American actor, Shadow of the Thin Man, Anchors Aweigh
• May 19 – Ben Corbett, 69, American actor, The Fighting Renegade, Six-Gun Trail
• May 22
  • Joan Davis, 53, American actress, Hold That Ghost, If You Knew Susie
  • Edward F. Cline, 69, American director, You Can't Cheat an Honest Man, Never Give a Sucker an Even Break
• June 2 – George S. Kaufman, 71, American playwright, A Night at the Opera
• June 10 – Vivienne Osborne, 64, American actress, Supernatural, Luxury Liner
• June 14 – Eddie Polo, 86, Austrian-American actor, The Vanishing Dagger
• June 15 – Luther Reed, 72, American director, Rio Rita, Hit the Deck
• June 17 – Jeff Chandler, 42, American actor, Broken Arrow, Merrill's Marauders
• June 27 – Paul Guilfoyle, 58, American actor, Winterset, The Grapes of Wrath
• June 30 – Lee de Forest, 87, American inventor of Phonofilm
• July 4 – Franklyn Farnum, 83, American actor, The Life of Emile Zola, The Lost Weekend, The Greatest Show on Earth
• July 9 – Alan Marshal, 52, Australian actor, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, House on Haunted Hill
• July 23 – Valentine Davies, 55, American screenwriter and director, The Glenn Miller Story, The Benny Goodman Story
• July 28 – Harry Gribbon, 76, American silent comedy actor, Fatty and Mabel at the San Diego Exposition, Down on the Farm, A Small Town Idol, The Cameraman
• August 4 – Maurice Tourneur, 85, French director, The Last of the Mohicans, The Poor Little Rich Girl
• August 17 – Violet Kemble-Cooper, 74, British actress, The Invisible Ray, David Copperfield
• August 20 – Dorothy Burgess, 54, American actress, In Old Arizona, Black Moon
• August 27 – Gail Russell, 36, American actress, Angel and the Badman, Seven Men from Now
• August 30 – Charles Coburn, 84, American actor, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The Lady Eve
• September 10 – Leo Carrillo, 81, American actor, Viva Villa!, Phantom of the Opera
• September 22 – Marion Davies, 64, American actress, Show People, Cain and Mabel
• September 23
  • John Eldredge, 57, American actor, The Woman in Red, His Brother's Wife
  • Billy House, 72, American actor, Rogues of Sherwood Forest, Bedlam
• September 25 – Frank Fay, 69, American actor, Under a Texas Moon, The Matrimonial Bed
• September 26 – Juanita Hansen, 66, American actress, The Magic Cloak of Oz, The Phantom Foe
• October 1 – Donald Cook, 60, American actor, The Public Enemy, Baby Face
• October 11 – Chico Marx, 74, American actor, member of the Marx Brothers, A Night at the Opera, Duck Soup
• October 13
  • Maya Deren, 44, American experimental filmmaker, Meshes of the Afternoon, At Land
  • Zoltan Korda, 66, Hungarian director, The Four Feathers, Cry, the Beloved Country
• October 18 – Tsuru Aoki, 69, Japanese-born American actress, The Dragon Painter
• October 22 – Joseph Schenck, 82, Russian-born American pioneer motion picture executive, The General, Sherlock Jr.
• October 29 – Astrid Holm, 68, Danish actress, The Phantom Carriage, Häxan
• November 15
  • Elsie Ferguson, 78, American actress, The Witness for the Defense, Scarlet Pages
  • Douglas Walton, 51, Canadian actor, Bride of Frankenstein, Murder, My Sweet
• November 24 – Ruth Chatterton, 68, American actress, Dodsworth, Female
• December 20 – Moss Hart. 57, American playwright, Gentleman's Agreement, A Star Is Born
• December 27 – Bernard McConville, 74, American screenwriter, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, The Phantom of the Opera

• Ann-Margret – Pocketful of Miracles
• Warren Beatty – Splendor in the Grass
• Sandy Dennis – Splendor in the Grass
• Louis Gossett Jr. – A Raisin in the Sun
• Gene Hackman – Mad Dog Coll
• Lance Henriksen – The Outsider
• Ron Howard – Five Minutes to Live
• George Kennedy – The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come
• Dudley Moore – The Third Alibi
• Mary Tyler Moore – X-15
• Joe Pesci – Hey, Let's Twist!
• Burt Reynolds – Angel Baby
• George Segal – The Young Doctors