1961 in film



The year 1961 in film involved some significant events, with West Side Story winning 10 Academy Awards.

Awards
Academy Awards:


 * Best Picture: West Side Story - Mirisch-B&P Enterprises, United Artists
 * Best Director: Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins - West Side Story
 * Best Actor: Maximilian Schell - Judgment at Nuremberg
 * Best Actress: Sophia Loren - Two Women
 * Best Supporting Actor: George Chakiris - West Side Story
 * Best Supporting Actress: Rita Moreno - West Side Story
 * Best Foreign Language Film: Through a Glass Darkly (Såsom i en spegel), directed by Ingmar Bergman, Sweden

Golden Globe Awards:


 * Drama:
 * Best Picture: The Guns of Navarone
 * Best Actor: Maximilian Schell - Judgment at Nuremberg
 * Best Actress: Geraldine Page - Summer and Smoke


 * Musical or comedy:
 * Best Picture (tie): A Majority of One
 * Best Picture (tie): West Side Story
 * Best Actor: Glenn Ford - Pocketful of Miracles
 * Best Actress: Rosalind Russell - A Majority of One


 * Other
 * Best Director: Stanley Kramer - Judgment at Nuremberg

Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival):
 * The Long Absence (Une aussi longue absence), directed by Henri Colpi, France
 * Viridiana, directed by Luis Buñuel, Spain

Golden Lion (Venice Film Festival):
 * Last Year at Marienbad (L'année dernière à Marienbad), directed by Alain Resnais, France

Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival):
 * La Notte (The Night), directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, Italy

Christmas films released in 1961

 * 1) Plácido
 * 2) A Night Before Christmas

Short film series

 * Looney Tunes (1930–1969)
 * Terrytoons (1930–1964)
 * Merrie Melodies (1931–1969)
 * Goofy (1961)
 * Tom and Jerry (1940–1967)
 * Noveltoons (1943–1967)

Births

 * January 2 - Todd Haynes, American film 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
 * February 24 - Lynette Gillis, Canadian actress
 * 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 5 - Sarah Zivale, American actress and singer
 * May 6 - George Clooney American actor, writer, director, producer
 * May 8 - David Winning, Canadian-American director, producer, and screenwriter
 * May 14 - Tim Roth, English actor
 * June 5 - Catherine McGille, American actress
 * June 9 - Michael J. Fox, Canadian actor
 * July 15 - Forest Whitaker, American actor
 * July 18 - Elizabeth McGovern, American actress
 * July 30 - Laurence Fishburne, American actor
 * August 2 - Bruce Mahoney, Irish-American actor and film director
 * August 5 - Janet McTeer, English actress
 * September 11 - Elizabeth Daily, actress
 * September 16 - Jen Tolley, American-Canadian actress
 * September 18 - James Gandolfini, American actor (died 2013)
 * 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 29 - Tom Sizemore, American actor

Film debuts

 * Ann-Margret - Pocketful of Miracles
 * Warren Beatty - Splendor in the Grass
 * Louis Gossett, Jr. - A Raisin in the Sun
 * Gene Hackman - Mad Dog Coll
 * Joe Pesci - Hey, Let's Twist!
 * Burt Reynolds - Angel Baby