1969 in film

The year 1969 in film involved some significant events, with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid dominating the U.S. box office and becoming one of the highest-grossing films of all time and Midnight Cowboy, a film rated X, winning the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Events

 * Last year for prize giving at the Venice Film Festival until it is revived in 1980. From 1969 to 1979, the festival is non-competitive.
 * Al Pacino's film debut (Me, Natalie)
 * Elvis Presley's film career ends with the release of Change of Habit.
 * On August 9, Sharon Tate, the 26-year-old actress, model and Roman Polanski's wife, is murdered by Charles Manson's followers
 * On June 22, Judy Garland dies at age 47 of a drug overdose in London.

Action films released in 1969

 * Goyokin
 * Hitokiri
 * On Her Majesty's Secret Service
 * Return of the One-Armed Swordsman

Actor's debuts

 * Bob Balaban – Midnight Cowboy
 * Sam Elliott – Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
 * Farrah Fawcett – Love Is a Funny Thing
 * Melanie Griffith – Smith!
 * Ian McKellen – Thank You All Very Much
 * Al Pacino – Me, Natalie
 * Arnold Schwarzenegger – Hercules in New York
 * M. Emmet Walsh – Midnight Cowboy

Awards
Academy Awards:


 * Best Picture: Midnight Cowboy - Hellman-Schlesinger, United Artists
 * Best Director: John Schlesinger, Midnight Cowboy
 * Best Actor: John Wayne – True Grit
 * Best Actress: Maggie Smith – The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
 * Best Supporting Actor: Gig Young, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
 * Best Supporting Actress: Goldie Hawn, Cactus Flower
 * Best Foreign Language Film: Z, directed by Costa-Gavras, Algeria

Golden Globe Awards:


 * Drama:


 * Best Picture: Anne of the Thousand Days
 * Best Actor: John Wayne – True Grit
 * Best Actress: Geneviève Bujold – Anne of the Thousand Days


 * Musical or comedy:


 * Best Picture: The Secret of Santa Vittoria
 * Best Actor: Peter O'Toole – Goodbye, Mr. Chips
 * Best Actress: Patty Duke – Me, Natalie


 * Other
 * Best Director: Charles Jarrott – Anne of the Thousand Days

Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival):
 * If...., directed by Lindsay Anderson, United Kingdom

Golden Lion (Venice Film Festival): Not awarded

Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival):
 * Rani Radovi (Early Works), directed by Želimir Žilnik, Yugoslavia

Births

 * January 1 – Mr. Lawrence, American voice actor, comedian, writer, storyboard artist, animator and director
 * January 14 – Jason Bateman, American actor
 * January 17 – James Waterston, American actor
 * February 8
 * Brian Krause, American actor
 * Mary McCormack, American actress
 * February 11 – Jennifer Aniston, American actress
 * March 1 – Javier Bardem, Spanish actor
 * April 2 – Ajay Devgan, Indian actor
 * April 6 – Paul Rudd, American actor
 * April 23 – Byron Thames, American actor
 * April 25 – Renée Zellweger, American actress
 * May 14 – Cate Blanchett, Australian actress
 * May 25 – Anne Heche, American actress
 * June 1 – Teri Polo, American actress
 * June 28 – Tichina Arnold, American actress
 * July 21 – Godfrey, American actor, comedian
 * July 24 – Jennifer Lopez, American actress, singer
 * August 4 – Vlad Ivanov, Romanian actor
 * August 18
 * Christian Slater, American actor
 * Edward Norton, American actor
 * August 28 – Jack Black, American actor, comedian, musician
 * September 25 – Catherine Zeta-Jones, Welsh actress
 * September 29 – Erika Eleniak, American actress
 * October 15 – Dominic West, English actor
 * October 19 – Trey Parker, American actor, creator of South Park
 * November 4 – Matthew McConaughey, American actor
 * November 13 - Gerard Butler, Scottish actor
 * December 21 – Julie Delpy, French actress

Deaths

 * January 1 – Barton MacLane, 66, American actor, The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
 * January 3 – Howard McNear, 63, American actor, Anatomy of a Murder, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
 * January 4 – Violet and Daisy Hilton, 60, English conjoined twins, actresses, appeared in film Freaks
 * January 8 – Leslie Goodwins, 69, English director, The Mummy's Curse, Mexican Spitfire
 * February 2 – Boris Karloff, 81, English actor, Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Frankenstein
 * February 5 – Thelma Ritter, 66, American actress, Rear Window, All About Eve
 * February 9 – Gabby Hayes, 83, American actor, The Man from Utah, In Old Oklahoma
 * February 11 – James Lanphier, 48, American actor, The Pink Panther, The Party
 * February 27 – John Boles, 73, American actor, Frankenstein, Stella Dallas
 * March 18 – Barbara Bates, 43, American actress, The Caddy, All About Eve
 * April 23 – Krzysztof Komeda, 37, Polish composer, Rosemary's Baby, The Fearless Vampire Killers
 * May 24 – Mitzi Green, 48, American actress, Lost in Alaska, Skippy
 * March 25 – Alan Mowbray, 72, British actor, Terror by Night, My Darling Clementine
 * May 27 – Jeffrey Hunter, 42, American actor, The Searchers, King of Kings
 * June 2 – Leo Gorcey, 51, American actor, Ghost Chasers, Spook Busters
 * June 8 – Robert Taylor, 57, American actor, Quo Vadis, Ivanhoe
 * June 10 – Frank Lawton, 64, English actor, A Night to Remember, The Devil-Doll
 * June 13 – Martita Hunt, 70, English actress, Becket, Great Expectations
 * June 19 – Natalie Talmadge, 73, American silent screen actress, Our Hospitality, Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
 * June 20 – Rudolf Schwarzkogler, 29, Austrian experimental filmmaker, Satisfaction
 * June 22 – Judy Garland, 47, American actress, The Wizard of Oz, Meet Me in St. Louis
 * July 5 – Leo McCarey, 72, American director, An Affair to Remember, Going My Way
 * July 7 - Erskine Sanford, 83, American actor, Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons
 * July 8 – Gladys Swarthout, 68, American singer, Romance in the Dark, Give Us This Night
 * August 1 – Donald Keith, 65, American actor, The Plastic Age, Parisian Love
 * August 9 – Sharon Tate, 26, American actress, The Fearless Vampire Killers, Valley of the Dolls
 * August 14 – Sigrid Gurie, 58, American actress, Algiers, The Adventures of Marco Polo
 * August 15 – William Goetz, 66, American producer, studio executive, Sayonara, Les Misérables
 * August 26 – Martin Miller, 69, Czech actor, 55 Days at Peking, The Pink Panther
 * October 12 – Sonja Henie, 57, Norwegian actress, former Olympic ice skater, Sun Valley Serenade, One in a Million
 * October 15 – Rod La Rocque, 70, American actor, Meet John Doe, The Shadow Strikes
 * November 5 – Lloyd Corrigan, 69, American actor, Son of Paleface, The Thin Man Goes Home
 * December 16 – Luis Enrique Vergara, 47, Mexican filmmaker, House of Evil, Isle of the Snake People
 * December 22 – Ilse Steppat, 52, German actress, On Her Majesty's Secret Service