1942 in the movies

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Years in film

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1990s 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
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2020s 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 …

The year of 1942 in film involved some significant events, in particular the release of a film consistently rated as one of the greatest of all time, Casablanca.

Events

January 16 – Actress Carole Lombard is killed in a plane crash west of Las Vegas while returning home to Los Angeles from a War Bond tour.
March 31 – First of the only two screenings of Here Will I Nest, the first dramatic Canadian feature-length film made in colour and the first film to adapt a Canadian play, at a private showing in London, Ontario. It is never commercially released and is mostly lost.^[1]
June 4 – British-set wartime romantic drama Mrs. Miniver, starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon, opens at Radio City Music Hall in New York, in what will become a record-breaking 10-week run. The film becomes MGM's highest-grossing film of the 1940s. At the 15th Academy Awards, Mrs. Miniver wins six awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (for William Wyler), Best Actress (for Greer Garson) and Best Supporting Actress (for Teresa Wright).
August 8 – Walt Disney's animated film Bambi opens in the United Kingdom.
November 11 – Road to Morocco, starring Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Dorothy Lamour, premieres.
November 26 – The film Casablanca premieres at the Hollywood Theatre in New York City. Released nationally in the United States on January 23, 1943, it becomes one of the top-grossing pictures of 1943 and goes on to win the Best Picture and Best Director awards at the 16th Academy Awards.

Academy Awards

Best Picture: Mrs. Miniver – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Best Director: William Wyler – Mrs. Miniver
Best Actor: James Cagney – Yankee Doodle Dandy
Best Actress: Greer Garson – Mrs. Miniver
Best Supporting Actor: Van Heflin – Johnny Eager
Best Supporting Actress: Teresa Wright – Mrs. Miniver
Special Academy Award: In Which We Serve

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

The top ten 1942 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:

Highest-grossing films of 1942
Rank	Title	Distributor	Domestic rentals
1	Mrs. Miniver	MGM	$5,358,000^[2]
2	Random Harvest	MGM	$4,650,000^[2]
3	Yankee Doodle Dandy	Warner Bros.	$4,631,000^[3]
4	Reap the Wild Wind	Paramount	$4,000,000^[4]
5	Road to Morocco		$3,800,000^[5]
6	Holiday Inn		$3,750,000^[6]
7	Wake Island		$3,500,000^[6]
8	The Pride of the Yankees	RKO	$3,332,000^[7]^[8]
9	Kings Row	Warner Bros.	$3,143,000^[3]
10	For Me and My Gal	MGM	$2,894,000^[2]

Films by country/region

Notable films

Films produced in the United States unless stated otherwise

1942 film releases

U.S.A. unless stated

January–March

January 1942
- 1 January
  - The Man Who Came to Dinner
- 6 January
  - Blue, White and Perfect
- 8 January
  - The Black Sheep of Whitehall (GB)
- 10 January
  - All Through the Night
- 19 January
  - The Big Blockade
- 22 January
  - Babes on Broadway
- 23 January
  - O Pátio das Cantigas (Portugal)
- 24 January
  - The Fleet's In
- 29 January
  - Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake
February 1942
- 2 February
  - Kings Row
- 6 February
  - Valley of the Sun
- 16 February
  - The Man Who Wanted to Kill Himself (Spain)
- 19 February
  - To Be or Not to Be
  - Woman of the Year
- 20 February
  - Ride 'Em Cowboy
  - Roxie Hart
- 21 February
  - Captains of the Clouds
March 1942
- 3 March
  - The Great King (Germany)
- 7 March
  - Bullet Scars
- 10 March
  - Un Garibaldino al Convento (Italy)
- 11 March
  - Rio Rita
- 13 March
  - The Ghost of Frankenstein
  - Song of the Islands
- 18 March
  - Reap the Wild Wind
- 20 March
  - Rings on Her Fingers
- 21 March
  - This Was Paris (GB)
- 27 March
  - The Affairs of Jimmy Valentine

April–June

April 1942
- 1 April
  - There Was a Father (Japan)
- 2 April
  - Alias Boston Blackie
  - My Favorite Blonde
- 3 April
  - Jungle Book
- 4 April
  - The Male Animal
- 19 April
  - Hatter's Castle (GB)
- 22 April
  - Saboteur
- 24 April
  - Larceny, Inc.
- 29 April
  - The Great Man's Lady
- 30 April
  - My Gal Sal
May 1942
- 8 May
  - The Corpse Vanishes
  - In This Our Life
  - The Spoilers
- 12 May
  - This Above All
- 13 May
  - This Gun for Hire
- 21 May
  - Pacific Rendezvous
  - Tortilla Flat
- 22 May
  - Syncopation
- 29 May
- 31 May
  - In Old California
June 1942
- 13 June
  - The Big Shot
  - Flying Fortress (GB)
  - Tombstone, the Town Too Tough to Die
- 15 June
  - The Next of Kin (GB)
- 16 June
  - Eagle Squadron
- 22 June
  - The Foreman Went to France(GB)
- 26 June
  - Ten Gentlemen from West Point
  - There's One Born Every Minute
- 27 June
  - One of Our Aircraft is Missing

July–September

July 1942
- 2 July
  - Sons of the Pioneers
- 8 July
  - The Murderer Lives at Number 21 (France)
- 9 July
  - I Married an Angel
- 10 July
  - The Magnificent Ambersons
- 16 July
  - Her Cardboard Lover
- 22 July
  - Mrs. Miniver
- 29 July
  - The Kids Grow Up (Argentina)
- 31 July
  - Invisible Agent
August 1942
- 4 August
  - Holiday Inn
- 5 August
  - Tales of Manhattan
- 7 August
  - A-Haunting We Will Go
  - Pardon My Sarong
- 10 August
  - Alibi (GB)
- 18 August
  - The Pride of the Yankees
- 20 August
  - The Talk of the Town
- 21 August
  - Bambi
  - The Pied Piper
- 24 August
  - Uncensored (GB)
- 25 August
  - Attack on Baku (Germany)
- 28 August
  - The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe
- 31 August
  - A Pistol Shot
September 1942
- 1 September
  - Wake Island
- 4 September
  - Across the Pacific
  - The Big Street
- 14 September
  - The First of the Few (GB)
- 15 September
  - Ala-Arriba! (Portugal)
- 16 September
  - The Major and the Minor
- 17 September
  - In Which We Serve (GB)
- 18 September
  - Kokoda Front Line! (Australia)
  - Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror
- 21 September
  - The Young Mr. Pitt (GB)
- 25 September
  - Desperate Journey

October–December

October 1942
- 1 October
  - Somewhere I'll Find You
- 8 October
  - Flying Tigers
  - A Yank at Eton
- 16 October
  - Eyes in the Night
- 21 October
  - For Me and My Gal
- 23 October
  - The Glass Key
  - The Mummy's Tomb
- 24 October
  - Northwest Rangers
- 30 October
  - I Married a Witch
- 31 October
  - Now, Voyager
November 1942
- 6 November
  - Springtime in the Rockies
  - Who Done It?
- 9 November
  - The Great Mr. Handel (GB)
- 10 November
  - Road to Morocco
- 19 November
  - You Were Never Lovelier
- 20 November
  - The Gaucho War (Argentina)
  - 'Neath Brooklyn Bridge
- 25 November
  - Gentleman Jim
- 27 November
  - The Undying Monster
- 28 November
  - George Washington Slept Here
December 1942
- 4 December
  - The Black Swan
  - Thunder Rock (GB)
- 5 December
  - Whom the Gods Love (Germany-Austria)
- 6 December
  - Cat People
- 7 December
  - Went the Day Well? (GB)
- 9 December
  - Johnny Eager
- 11 December
  - American Empire
  - Pittsburgh
- 17 December
  - Random Harvest
- 18 December
  - Aniki-Bóbó (Portugal)
  - The Great Impersonation
- 23 December
  - Four Steps in the Clouds (Italy)
- 24 December
  - Time to Kill
- 25 December
  - Arabian Nights
  - Reunion in France
- 30 December
  - Commandos Strike at Dawn

Serials

Captain Midnight, starring Dave O'Brien, directed by James W. Horne
Don Winslow of the Navy
Gang Busters
Junior G-Men of the Air, starring the Dead End Kids
King of the Mounties, starring Allan Lane, directed by William Witney
Overland Mail
Perils of Nyoka, starring Kay Aldridge & Clayton Moore, directed by William Witney
Perils of the Royal Mounted, directed by James W. Horne
The Secret Code, directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet
Spy Smasher, starring Kane Richmond, directed by William Witney
The Valley of Vanishing Men, directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet

Short film series

Animated short film series

Mickey Mouse (1928–1953)
Looney Tunes (1930–1969)
Terrytoons (1930–1964)
Merrie Melodies (1931–1969)
Popeye (1933–1957)
Color Rhapsodies (1934–1949)
Donald Duck (1937–1956)
Pluto (1937–1951)
Walter Lantz Cartune (also known as New Universal Cartoons or Cartune Comedies) (1938-1942)
Goofy (1939–1955)
Andy Panda (1939–1949)
Tom and Jerry (1940–1958)
Woody Woodpecker (1941–1949)
Swing Symphonies (1941–1945)
The Fox and the Crow (1941–1950)

Births

January 3 – John Thaw, English actor (d. 2002)
January 7 - Danny Steinmann, American director (d. 2012)
January 8 – Yvette Mimieux, American actress (d. 2022)
January 10 – Walter Hill, American director, producer and screenwriter
January 11 - Joel Zwick, American director
January 16 - Bradford English, American character actor (d. 2024)
January 17 - Nancy Parsons, American actress (d. 2001)
January 19
- Michael Crawford, English actor and singer
- Raynor Scheine, American actor
January 21 - Michael G. Wilson, American-British screenwriter and producer
January 27 - John Witherspoon, American actor and comedian (d. 2019)
January 29
- Ismael 'East' Carlo, Puerto Rican actor
- Claudine Longet, Franco-American actress and singer
January 31 – Daniela Bianchi, Italian actress
February 1
- Bibi Besch, Austrian-American actress (d. 1996)
- Terry Jones, Welsh comedic actor, director and screenwriter (d. 2020)
February 8 – Robert Klein, American actor and comedian
February 9
- Marianna Hill, American actress
- Ada Lundver, Estonian actress and singer (d. 2011)
February 13 - Carol Lynley, American actress, child model (died 2019)
February 14 - Andrew Robinson, American character actor
February 21 –
- Margarethe von Trotta, German director
- Oliver Wood, British cinematographer (died 2023)
February 24 - Jenny O'Hara, American actress
March 1 - Dennis Lipscomb, American actor (died 2014)
March 2 - Jon Finch, English actor (died 2012)
March 9 - Ralph Peduto, American actor, playwright, writer and director (died 2014)
March 15 - Molly Peters, English actress and model (died 2017)
March 20 - Mews Small, American actress and singer
March 25
- Aretha Franklin, American singer, songwriter and pianist (died 2018)
- Richard O'Brien, English actor and writer
March 27
- Art Evans, American actor (d. 2024)
- Michael York, British actor
March 28 – Mike Newell, English director and producer
March 30 - Kenneth Welsh, Canadian actor (died 2022)
April 2 - Roshan Seth, British-Indian actor, writer and director
April 3
- Marsha Mason, American actress
- Wayne Newton, American singer and actor
April 6
- Barry Levinson, American director, producer and screenwriter
- Anita Pallenberg, Italian-German actress (d. 2017)
April 11 - Matthew Walker, English-Canadian actor
April 17 - David Bradley, English actor
April 21 - Rod Loomis, American actor
April 23 – Sandra Dee, American actress (d. 2005)
April 24 – Barbra Streisand, American actress, singer, director and producer
April 27 - John Shrapnel, English actor (d. 2020)
May 5 - Marc Alaimo, American actor
May 11 - Terry McGovern, American actor and broadcaster
May 17 - Al White, American character actor
May 19 - Flemming Quist Møller, Danish director, cartoonist, screenwriter and actor (d. 2022)
May 23
- Alex Henteloff, American actor
- Beth Porter, American actress and writer (d. 2023)
May 28 - Božidara Turzonovová, Bulgarian-Slovak actress
May 29 - Kevin Conway, American actor and director (d. 2020)
June 5 - Hernán Romero, Peruvian actor (d. 2025)
June 7 - Elizabeth Counsell, English actress
June 18
- Roger Ebert, American film critic (d. 2013)
- Paul McCartney, English musician and composer (The Beatles)
- Nick Tate, Australian actor
June 20 - Chelcie Ross, American character actor
June 24 - Michele Lee, American actress, singer, producer and director
June 29 - Tony Vogel, English actor (d. 2015)
June 30
- Terry David Mulligan, Canadian actor
- Friedrich von Thun, Austrian actor
July 1 – Geneviève Bujold, Canadian actress
July 9 – Richard Roundtree, American actor (d. 2023)
July 10 - Tam White, Scottish musician and actor (d. 2010)
July 13 – Harrison Ford, American actor and producer
July 22 - Anthony James, American character actor (d. 2020)
July 23 - Allen Danziger, American former actor
July 24 – Chris Sarandon, American actor
July 27 - Lanny Flaherty, American actor (d. 2024)
July 29 - Tony Sirico, American actor (d. 2022)
July 31 - Chela Matthison, Canadian-British actress
August 1 - Giancarlo Giannini, Italian actor, director and screenwriter
August 4 - Don S. Davis, American character actor (d. 2008)
August 7 – Tobin Bell, actor
August 18 - Lauro António, Portuguese director (d. 2022)
August 19 - Fred Thompson, American politician, attorney, actor and radio personality (d. 2015)
August 20 - Isaac Hayes, American singer and actor (d. 2008)
August 28 - Peter Bartlett, American actor and voice actor
August 29 - Gottfried John, German actor (d. 2014)
September 5 - Werner Herzog, German director, screenwriter and actor
September 6 - Carol Wayne, American actress (d. 1985)
September 11 - Patricia Franklin, English actress
September 17 - Lupe Ontiveros, American actress (d. 2012)
September 19 - Victor Brandt, American actor
September 20 - R. J. Adams, Canadian-American actor, screenwriter and producer
September 24 - Kenneth Tigar, American actor
September 25
- Robert Miano, American actor
- Robyn Nevin, Australian actress and director
September 26 - Kent McCord, American actor
September 28 - Marshall Bell, American character actor
September 29
- Yves Rénier, French actor, voice actor and filmmaker (d. 2021)
- Madeline Kahn, American actress (d. 1999)
- Ian McShane, English actor
October 3 - Steve Susskind, American actor (d. 2005)
October 4 – Christopher Stone, American actor (d. 1995)
October 6 – Britt Ekland, Swedish actress
October 7 - Melinda O. Fee, American actress (d. 2020)
October 11 – Amitabh Bachchan, Indian actor
October 13 – Suzzanna, Indonesian actress (d. 2008)
October 14 - Roberto Della Casa, Italian actor
October 20
- Robert Costanzo, American actor
- Earl Hindman, American actor (d. 2003)
October 22 – Annette Funicello, American actress and singer (d. 2013)
October 25 - Orso Maria Guerrini, Italian actor
October 26
- Bob Hoskins, English actor and director (d. 2014)
- Eili Sild, Estonian actress
October 28 - Terence Donovan, English-Australian actor
October 30 - Larry Block, American actor (d. 2012)
October 31 – David Ogden Stiers, American actor (d. 2018)
November 1
- Marcia Wallace, American actress and comedian (d. 2013)
- Michael Zaslow, American actor (d. 1998)
November 11 - Nancy Linehan Charles, American character actress
November 12 - David Gant, Scottish actor
November 15 – Hans Kaldoja, Estonian actor (d. 2017)
November 17 – Martin Scorsese, American director, producer, screenwriter and actor
November 18 - Susan Sullivan, American actress
November 20 - Bob Einstein, American actor, comedy writer and producer (d. 2019)
November 21 - Michael Cavanaugh, American actor
November 24 – Billy Connolly, Scottish comedian and actor
November 25 – Rosa von Praunheim, German filmmaker and pioneer of queer cinema (d. 2025)
November 30 - Chuck Shamata, Canadian actor
December 3 - Lynn Farleigh, English actress
December 4 – Gemma Jones, English actress
December 12 - Fatma Girik, Turkish actress (d. 2022)
December 14 - Juan Diego, Spanish actor (d. 2022)
December 27 - Charmian Carr, American actress and singer (d. 2016)
December 30 - Fred Ward, American actor and producer (d. 2022)

Deaths

January 16 – Carole Lombard, 33, American actress, To Be or Not to Be, My Man Godfrey, Made for Each Other, Nothing Sacred
January 31 – Rolf Wenkhaus, 24, German actor, Emil and the Detectives, S.A.-Mann Brand
April 10 – Carl Schenstrøm, 60, Danish actor, Cocktails, The Last Laugh
May 19 – Hale Hamilton, 62, American actor, writer, director, The Great Lover, Love Affair, Parole Girl, The Girl from Missouri
May 29 – John Barrymore, 60, American actor, Grand Hotel, Twentieth Century, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dinner at Eight
June 4 – Virginia Lee Corbin, 31, American actress, Hands Up!, X Marks the Spot
July 5 – Karin Swanström, 69, Swedish actress, director, His English Wife, Black Roses
August 12 – Phillips Holmes, 35, American actor, Night Court, Men Must Fight
August 14 – Rafaela Ottiano, 54, Italian-born American actress, Grand Hotel, She Done Him Wrong, The Devil-Doll, Curly Top
October 20 – May Robson, 84, Australian-born American stage & film actress, Bringing Up Baby, A Star is Born, Lady for a Day, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
October 22 – Olga Svendsen, 59, Danish actress, Kidnapped
October 24 – James C. Morton, 58, American actor, Public Cowboy No. 1, Lucky Legs
November 5 – George M. Cohan, 64, American actor, songwriter, entertainer, The Phantom President, Broadway Jones, subject of Yankee Doodle Dandy
November 9 – Edna May Oliver, 59, American stage & film actress, David Copperfield, Drums Along the Mohawk, Little Women, A Tale of Two Cities
November 12 – Laura Hope Crews, 62, American stage & screen actress, Gone with the Wind, Camille, Angel, The Blue Bird
November 15 – Sidney Fox, 30, American actress, Murders in the Rue Morgue, Bad Sister, Six Cylinder Love
December 12 – Helen Westley, 67, American stage & screen actress, Heidi, Roberta, All This, and Heaven Too, Alexander's Ragtime Band

Film debuts

Ernest Anderson – In This Our Life
Richard Attenborough – In Which We Serve
Victor Beaumont – The Next of Kin
Ulrich Beiger – Kleine Residenz
Liliane Bert – Patricia
Anita Björk – The Heavenly Play
Bourvil – Croisières sidérales
Wally Cassell – Fingers at the Window
André Charlot – The Falcon's Brother
Jim Davis (actor) – Cairo
Jeff Donnell – My Sister Eileen
Valentine Dyall – The Missing Million
Blake Edwards – Ten Gentlemen from West Point
Dale Evans – Orchestra Wives
Aldo Fabrizi – Before the Postman
Gabriele Ferzetti – Street of the Five Moons
Harry Fowler – Those Kids from Town
Thomas Gomez – Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror
Walter Gotell – The Day Will Dawn
Thora Hird – The Black Sheep of Whitehall
Holger Höglund – Take Care of Ulla
Arthur Hunnicutt – Wildcat
Betty Hutton – The Fleet's In
Gordon Jackson – The Foreman Went to France
Anne Jeffreys – Billy the Kid Trapped
Gene Kelly – For Me and My Gal
Keiju Kobayashi – Fear of the Fifth Column
Norman Lloyd – Saboteur
Harry Locke – The Day Will Dawn
Audrey Long – The Male Animal
Teala Loring – The Fleet's In
George Macready – Commandos Strike at Dawn
Madhubala – Basant
Richard Martin – Call Out the Marines
Marilyn Maxwell – Stand by for Action
Charles McGraw – The Undying Monster
Stephen McNally – Grand Central Murder
Kay Medford – Maisie Gets Her Man
Ricardo Montalbán – The Three Musketeers
Harry Morgan – To the Shores of Tripoli
Barry Morse – The Goose Steps Out
George N. Neise – They Raid by Night
Eleanor Parker – The Big Shot
Gisèle Pascal – L'Arlésienne
Mala Powers – Tough as They Come
Wolfgang Preiss – The Great Love
Frances Rafferty – Fingers at the Window
Grandon Rhodes – Ship Ahoy
Janette Scott – Went the Day Well?
Simone Signoret – Bolero
William Smith – The Ghost of Frankenstein
Robert Strauss – Native Land
Elizabeth Taylor – There's One Born Every Minute
Raf Vallone – We the Living
John Williams (actor) – The Next of Kin
Keenan Wynn – Somewhere I'll Find You

References

Turner, D. John, ed. (1987). Canadian Feature Film Index: 1913-1985. Canadian Film Institute. p. 24. ISBN 0660533642.
The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
Warner Bros financial information in The William Schaefer Ledger. See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1-31 p 23 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551
Finler, Joel Waldo (2003). The Hollywood Story. Wallflower Press. pp. 358–359. ISBN 978-1-903364-66-6.
"All-time Film Rental Champs". Variety. October 15, 1990.
"101 Pix Gross in Millions" Variety 6 Jan 1943 p 58
Jewell, Richard B. (1994). "RKO Film Grosses, 1929-1951: the C.J. Tevlin ledger". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 14 (1): 37–49. doi:10.1080/01439689400260031.
Jewell, Richard B. (1994). "Appendix 1". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 14 (S1): 1–11. doi:10.1080/01439689408604545.