1965 in film

The top ten 1965 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:

• February 15 – George Stevens' production of The Greatest Story Ever Told, a retelling of the account of Jesus Christ, premieres in New York City, New York. It was such a flop with critics and audiences that its failure discouraged production of religious epics for many years. It is considered notable in the 21st century for its astonishing landscapes, powerful and provocative cinematography, Max von Sydow's debut acting performance in an American film, and the final film performance of Claude Rains.
• March 2 – The Rodgers and Hammerstein film adaptation of The Sound of Music, directed by Robert Wise and starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, premieres. It quickly became a worldwide phenomenon and an instant classic. It successfully displaced Gone with the Wind to become, at the time, the highest-grossing film of all-time. The Sound of Music is credited as the film that saved and restored Twentieth Century-Fox from bankruptcy after it suffered from extremely high production costs of Cleopatra two years prior.
• July 1 – Blake Edwards's epic comedy The Great Race, starring Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, Natalie Wood, Peter Falk, and Keenan Wynn, premieres. Initially a flop with critics and audiences, some do admire Edwards' direction, the acting by its ensemble cast, Henry Mancini's music and its climactic pie fight.
• December 22 – David Lean's film adaptation of Boris Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago, starring Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Rod Steiger, and Alec Guinness, premieres and, like The Sound of Music, quickly became a worldwide phenomenon. Its moral story and message of a love and human spirit that defied the communist Soviet Union have made the film a true classic with critics and audiences. It was included among top films by the American Film Institute. In a decade of very difficult times for its studio, Zhivago became the most successful and acclaimed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film since How the West Was Won; it was the greatest MGM film since Ben-Hur.

Academy Awards:

Best Picture: The Sound of Music – Argyle Enterprises, 20th Century Fox

Best Director: Robert Wise – The Sound of Music

Best Actor: Lee Marvin – Cat Ballou

Best Actress: Julie Christie – Darling

Best Supporting Actor: Martin Balsam – A Thousand Clowns

Best Supporting Actress: Shelley Winters – A Patch of Blue

Best Foreign Language Film: The Shop on Main Street (Obchod na korze), directed by Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos, Czechoslovakia

BAFTA Film Awards:

Best Film from Any Source: My Fair Lady

Best British Film: The Ipcress File

Golden Globe Awards:

Drama:

Best Picture: Doctor Zhivago

Best Actor: Omar Sharif – Doctor Zhivago

Best Actress: Samantha Eggar – The Collector

Comedy or Musical:

Best Picture: The Sound of Music

Best Actor: Lee Marvin – Cat Ballou

Best Actress: Julie Andrews – The Sound of Music

Other

Best Supporting Actor: Oskar Werner – The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

Best Supporting Actress: Ruth Gordon – Inside Daisy Clover

Best Director: David Lean – Doctor Zhivago

Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival):

The Knack ...and How to Get It, directed by Richard Lester, United Kingdom

Golden Lion (Venice Film Festival):

Vaghe stelle dell'Orsa (Sandra of a Thousand Delights), directed by Luchino Visconti, Italy

Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival):

Alphaville, directed by Jean-Luc Godard, France / Italy

United States unless stated

United States unless stated

• Looney Tunes (1930–1969)
• Merrie Melodies (1931–1969)
• Speedy Gonzales (1953–1968)
• Goofy (1965)

• January 4 – Julia Ormond, English actress
• January 9 – Joely Richardson, English actress
• January 15 – James Nesbitt, Northern Irish actor
• January 22 – Diane Lane, American actress
• January 27 – Alan Cumming, Scottish actor
• February 1 – Brandon Lee, American actor (d. 1993)
• February 3 – Maura Tierney, American actress
• February 7 – Chris Rock, American actor and comedian
• February 18 – Dr. Dre, American music producer
• February 24 – Kristin Davis, American actress
• March 14 – Aamir Khan, Indian actor
• March 25 – Sarah Jessica Parker, American actress
• March 31 – Steve Bing, American businessman, philanthropist and film producer (suicide 2020)
• April 4 – Robert Downey, Jr., American actor
• April 16
  • Jon Cryer, American actor
  • Martin Lawrence, American actor and comedian
• April 26 – Kevin James, American actor and comedian
• May 23 – Liina Tennosaar, Estonian actress
• May 24 – John C. Reilly, American actor and comedian
• May 31 – Brooke Shields, American actress and model
• June 10 – Elizabeth Hurley, English model and actress
• June 18 – Kim Dickens, American actress
• June 19 – Sean Marshall, American child actor and singer
• June 28 – Sonny Strait, American voice actor
• July 3 – Connie Nielsen, Danish actress
• July 25 – Illeana Douglas, American actress
• July 26 – Jeremy Piven, American actor
• August 11 – Viola Davis, American actress
• August 19 – Kyra Sedgwick, American actress
• August 24 – Marlee Matlin, American actress
• September 3 – Charlie Sheen, American actor
• October 8 – Peter Greene, American actor
• October 10 – Chris Penn, American actor (d. 2006)
• October 11
  • Lennie James, English actor
  • Ivo Uukkivi, Estonian actor, singer and television producer
• October 14 – Steve Coogan, English actor
• October 19 – Merle Jääger, Estonian actress and poet
• November 2 – Shah Rukh Khan, Indian actor
• November 21 – Alexander Siddig, Sudanese-English actor
• November 24 – Shirley Henderson, Scottish actress
• November 30 – Ben Stiller, American actor
• December 7 – Jeffrey Wright, American actor
• December 27 – Salman Khan, Indian actor
• December 31 – Gong Li, Chinese actress

• January 14 – Jeanette MacDonald, 61, American actress, singer, San Francisco, One Hour with You
• February 10 – Arnold Manoff, 50, American screenwriter, No Minor Vices, Casbah
• February 15 – Nat King Cole, 45, American singer and actor, St. Louis Blues, Istanbul
• February 23 – Stan Laurel, 74, British actor, The Flying Deuces, Sons of the Desert
• March 1 – Fred Immler, 84, German actor, Madame Du Barry, Zapata's Gang
• March 6 – Margaret Dumont, 82, American actress, Duck Soup, A Night at the Opera
• March 23 – Mae Murray, 75, American actress, The Merry Widow, The Delicious Little Devil
• March 28
  • Clemence Dane, 77, British screenwriter, Anna Karenina, Perfect Strangers
  • Jack Hoxie, 80, American Western actor, The Last Frontier, Gold
• April 1 – Edna Tichenor, 64, American actress, London After Midnight, The Show
• April 3 – Ray Enright, 69, American director, Alibi Ike, The Spoilers
• April 8 – Lars Hanson, 78, Swedish actor, The Wind, Flesh and the Devil
• April 10 – Linda Darnell, 41, American actress, My Darling Clementine, The Mark of Zorro
• April 24 – Louise Dresser, 85, American actress, A Ship Comes In, The Scarlet Empress
• April 30 – Helen Chandler, 59, American actress, Dracula, The Last Flight
• 5 May – John Waters, 71, screenwriter and director, The Big Country, The Desperate Hours
• June 6 – Lech Owron, 71, Polish actor, Vampires of Warsaw, The Little Eagle
• June 7 – Judy Holliday, 43, American actress, Born Yesterday, Bells Are Ringing
• June 8 – Florence Ryerson, 72, American screenwriter, The Wizard of Oz, The Ice Follies of 1939
• June 15 – Steve Cochran, 48, American actor, The Best Years of Our Lives, White Heat
• June 22 – David O. Selznick, 63, American producer, Gone with the Wind, Rebecca
• June 23 – Mary Boland, 85, American stage and film actress, The Women, Ruggles of Red Gap
• June 27 – Anthony Veiller, 62, American screenwriter, The Stranger, The Killers
• July 11 – Ray Collins, 78, American actor, Citizen Kane, The Kid from Left Field
• July 19 – Clyde Beatty, 62, American actor and animal trainer, Africa Screams, Ring of Fear
• July 24 – Constance Bennett, 60, American actress, Topper, Merrily We Live
• July 28 – Minor Watson, 75, American actor, Woman of the Year, The Jackie Robinson Story
• August 6
  • Everett Sloane, 55, American actor, Citizen Kane, The Lady from Shanghai
  • Nancy Carroll, 61, American actress, The Devil's Holiday, Hot Saturday
• August 30 – Pauline Garon, 64, Canadian actress, The Heart of Broadway, The College Hero
• September 2 – Felix E. Feist, 55, American director, This Woman Is Dangerous, The Big Trees
• September 4 – Isabel Jeans, 93, British actress, Suspicion, Gigi
• September 7
  • Catherine Dale Owen, 70, American actress, Such Men Are Dangerous, Born Reckless
  • Jean Peyrière, 79, French actor, Le roi de Paris, Fanfan la Tulipe
• September 8 – Dorothy Dandridge, 42, American actress, singer, Carmen Jones, Porgy and Bess
• September 27 – Clara Bow, 60, American actress, Wings, It
• September 29 – Eddie Gribbon, 75, American film actor, brother of Harry Gribbon
• October 3 – Zachary Scott, 51, American actor, Mildred Pierce, The Southerner
• October 18 – Henry Travers, 91, British actor, It's a Wonderful Life, Shadow of a Doubt
• October 21 – Marie McDonald, 42, American actress, The Geisha Boy, Living in a Big Way
• October 23 – Janice Logan, 50, American actress, Dr. Cyclops, Opened by Mistake
• October 31 – Rita Johnson, 52, American actress, Here Comes Mr. Jordan, The Major and the Minor
• November 14 – Russell Collins, 68, American actor, Miss Sadie Thompson, Bad Day at Black Rock
• November 26 – Wild Bill Elliott, 61, American actor, The San Antonio Kid, Sudden Danger
• December 5 – Joseph I. Breen, 77, chief administrator of the Motion Picture Production Code of 1930 (Hays Code) from 1934 to 1954
• December 22 – Albert Ritz, 64, American entertainer of the Ritz Brothers, Sing, Baby, Sing, Life Begins in College
• December 29 – Frank S. Nugent, 57, American screenwriter, The Searchers, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

• Woody Allen – What's New Pussycat
• Ed Asner – The Satan Bug
• Sonny & Cher – Wild on the Beach
• Dabney Coleman – The Slender Thread
• Robert De Niro – Encounter and Three Rooms in Manhattan
• Michael Gambon – Othello
• Derek Jacobi – Othello
• Philip Kaufman – director – Goldstein
• George Lucas – director – Look at Life
• Katharine Ross – Shenandoah
• Sam Waterston – The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean