The year 1966 in film involved some significant events.
Events
Walt Disney, well known for his creation of Mickey Mouse, died on December 15, 1966 of acute circulatory collapse following a diagnosis of, and surgery for, lung cancer. He had been a smoker since the 1940s.
Top grossing films (U.S.)
| Rank |
Title |
Studio |
Gross |
| 1. |
Hawaii |
Warner Brothers |
$15,553,000 |
| 2. |
The Bible: In the Beginning |
20th Century Fox |
$15,000,000 |
| 3. |
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? |
United Artists |
$14,500,000 |
| 4. |
The Sand Pebbles |
20th Century Fox |
$13,500,000 |
| 5. |
A Man For All Seasons |
Columbia |
$12,750,000 |
| 6. |
Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N. |
Disney |
$10,164,000 |
| 7. |
The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming! |
United Artists |
$9,771,000 |
| 8. |
Grand Prix |
MGM |
$9,389,000 |
| 9. |
The Professionals |
Columbia |
$8,800,000 |
| 10. |
Alfie |
Paramount |
$8,500,000 |
source: http://www.boxofficereport.com/database/1966.shtml
Awards
Academy Awards:
- Best Picture: A Man for All Seasons - Highland, Columbia
- Best Director: Fred Zinnemann - A Man for All Seasons
- Best Actor: Richard Burton - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
- Best Actress: Elizabeth Taylor - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
- Best Supporting Actor: Walter Matthau - The Fortune Cookie
- Best Supporting Actress: Sandy Dennis - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
- Best Foreign Language Film: A Man and a Woman (Un homme et une femme), directed by Claude Lelouch, France
BAFTA Film Awards:
- Best Film from any Source: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
- Best British film: The Spy Who Came In From The Cold
Golden Globe Awards:
- Drama:
- Best Picture: A Man for All Seasons
- Best Actor: Paul Scofield - A Man for All Seasons
- Best Actress: Anouk Aimée - A Man and a Woman
- Musical or comedy:
- Best Picture: The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming
- Best Actor: Alan Arkin - The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming
- Best Actress: Lynn Redgrave - Georgy Girl
- Other
- Best Director: Fred Zinnemann - A Man for All Seasons
Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival):
- A Man and a Woman (Un homme et une femme), directed by Claude Lelouch, France
- Signore & Signori (The Birds, the Bees and the Italians), directed by Pietro Germi, Italy
Golden Lion (Venice Film Festival):
- The Battle of Algiers (La Battaglia di Algeri), directed by Gillo Pontecorvo, Algeria / Italy
Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival):
- Cul-de-Sac, directed by Roman Polanski, United Kingdom
Films released in 1966
- Agent for H.A.R.M.
- Alfie
- Andrei Rublev
- The Appaloosa
- Around the World Under the Sea
- Batman
- The Battle of Algiers, Golden Lion winner
- Beregis Avtomobilya (Beware of the Automobile)
- The Bible: In The Beginning
- A Big Hand for the Little Lady
- Blood Bath
- Blowup
- The Blue Max
- Born Free
- Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number!
- Chappaqua
- Closely Watched Trains (Ostře sledované vlaky), Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film (1967)
- Cul-de-Sac, Golden Bear winner
- Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD
- Fahrenheit 451
- The Family Way
- Follow Me, Boys!
- The Fortune Cookie
- Frankie and Johnny
- A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
- Gamera vs. Barugon
- Georgy Girl
- The Ghost and Mr. Chicken
- Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster
- The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
- The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery
- Hawaii
- How To Steal a Million
- Is Paris Burning? (Paris brûle-t-il?)
- It Happened Here
- Judith
- Johnny Reno
- Khartoum
- Kriminal
- Lt. Robinson Crusoe, USN
- Madame X
- A Man and a Woman Palme d'Or winner
- A Man for All Seasons
- "Manos" The Hands of Fate
- Mission to Death
- Morgan!
- The Naked Prey
- Our Man Flint
- Paradise, Hawaiian Style
- Persona
- The Professionals
- The Rare Breed
- Return of the Seven
- Ride in the Whirlwind
- Run, Appaloosa, Run
- The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming
- The Sand Pebbles
- The Sandwich Man
- Seconds
- The Shooting
- The Shop on Main Street (U.S. release)
- The Singing Nun
- Spinout
- Three On A Couch, starring Jerry Lewis
- Torn Curtain
- Triple Cross
- Trunk to Cairo
- Way...Way Out, starring Jerry Lewis
- Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
- The Wild Angels
- Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (short subject)
- The Wrong Box
Short Film Series
Births
- January 13 - Patrick Dempsey, actor
- February 11 - Stephen Gregory, actor
- February 7 - Chris Rock, actor and comedian
- May 20 - Helena Bonham Carter, actress
- July 11 - Debbe Dunning, actress
- July 15 - Irène Jacob, actress
- July 29 - Martina McBride, popular country singer
- August 14 - Halle Berry, actress
- September 2 - Salma Hayek, actress
- September 9 - Adam Sandler, American actor
- November 17 - Sophie Marceau, actress
- December 21 - Kiefer Sutherland, actor
Deaths
- January 14 - Barry Fitzgerald, 72, Irish actor
- January 22 - Herbert Marshall, 75, British actor
- January 31 - Elizabeth Patterson, 90, American actress
- February 1 - Buster Keaton, 70, American actor and film director
- February 1 - Hedda Hopper, 80, American gossip columnist and former actress
- February 9 - Sophie Tucker, 82, Russian-born American singer and actress
- June 5 - Natacha Rambova, 69, American actress
- June 19 - Ed Wynn, 79, American actor
- July 23 - Montgomery Clift, 45, American actor
- July 23 - Douglass Montgomery, 59, American actor
- August 15 - Jan Kiepura, 64, Polish tenor and actor
- August 15 - Seena Owen, 71, American actress
- August 23 - Francis X. Bushman, 83, American actor
- October 13, Clifton Webb, 76, American actor
- October 16 - George O'Hara, 67, American actor
- October 24 - Hans Dreier, 81, German art director of European and American films
- December 14 - Richard Whorf, 60, American actor and director
- December 15 - Walt Disney, 65, American producer and cartoonist
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