Cinema in the 1950s

Writer-director of the Oscar-winning All About Eve

Stars as Addison DeWitt in All About Eve

Directs Dance Hall

Heston earned recognition for his appearance in his first professional movie, Dark City, a 1950 film noir

Has a bit part in the Marx Brothers film Love Happy. Appears in six films released in 1950. She had bit parts in Love Happy, A Ticket to Tomahawk, Right Cross and The Fireball, but also made minor appearances in two critically acclaimed films: John Hustons crime film The Asphalt Jungle and Joseph Mankiewiczs drama All About Eve

Kurosawas Scandal. Kurosawas Rashomon

Taylors first picture under her new salary of $2,000 per week was The Big Hangover. Her first box office success in an adult role came as Kay Banks in the romantic comedy Father of the Bride alongside Spencer Tracy and Joan Bennett

Voted the most popular film actor in Britain in a national cinema poll. Stas in The Happiest Days of Your Life

Directs Die Sunderin, a controversial West German melodrama starring Hildegard Knef.

Birth of Michael Keaton, Michael John Douglas

A Place in the Sun, directed by George Stevens from a screenplay by Harry Brown and Michael Wilson, and stars Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters, Anne Revere, and Raymond Burr

A Place in the Sun, directed by George Stevens from a screenplay by Harry Brown and Michael Wilson, and stars Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters, Anne Revere, and Raymond Burr

A Place in the Sun is a 1951 American drama film based on the novel An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser and the play, also titled An American Tragedy, which was adapted by Patrick Kearney from the novel

A Place in the Sun is a 1951 American drama film based on the novel An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser and the play, also titled An American Tragedy, which was adapted by Patrick Kearney from the novel

A Place in the Sun, directed by George Stevens from a screenplay by Harry Brown and Michael Wilson, and stars Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters, Anne Revere, and Raymond Burr

A Place in the Sun, directed by George Stevens from a screenplay by Harry Brown and Michael Wilson, and stars Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters, Anne Revere, and Raymond Burr

A Place in the Sun is a 1951 American drama film based on the novel An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser and the play, also titled An American Tragedy, which was adapted by Patrick Kearney from the novel. A Place in the Sun, directed by George Stevens from a screenplay by Harry Brown and Michael Wilson, and stars Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters, Anne Revere, and Raymond Burr

A Place in the Sun, directed by George Stevens from a screenplay by Harry Brown and Michael Wilson, and stars Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters, Anne Revere, and Raymond Burr

Laurel and Hardy make their final film. Atoll K (also known as Utopia)

Laurel and Hardy make their final film. Atoll K (also known as Utopia)

Gives a heart-breaking performance in "Close to my Heart" starring opposite Gene Tierney as a couple trying to adopt a child

Stars in, "Fourteen Hours"

Awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for Rashomon

Has supporting roles in four low-budget films released in 1951, in the MGM drama Home Town Story, and in three moderately successful comedies for Fox, As Young as You Feel, Love Nest, and Lets Make It Legal

Honorary Academy Award: Best Foreign Language Film for Rashomon

Stas in Laughter in Paradise. Most celebrated performance playing the title role of Scrooge in a film adaptation of Charles Dickenss A Christmas Carol

Directs The Lavender Hill Mob

Sellers appears as Cedric in the revue-style short film Let's Go Crazy.

Sellers portrays Crystal Jollibottom in the short film Let's Go Crazy.

Sellers takes the part of Giuseppe in the multi-character short Let's Go Crazy.

Sellers adds the character Gozzunk to his range of parts in Let's Go Crazy.

Sellers performs a Groucho-style character in the short comedy Let's Go Crazy.

Sellers plays Izzy as one of several comic identities in Let's Go Crazy.

Sellers appears in the British entertainment film London Entertains.

Marries Frank Sinatra

Laurel and Hardy make their final film. Atoll K (also known as Utopia)

Laurel and Hardy make their final film. Atoll K (also known as Utopia)

Stars in Pandora and the Flying Dutchman

Directs Pandora and the Flying Dutchman

Sellers also portrays Arnold Fringe in Penny Points to Paradise.

Sellers plays the Major in the comedy Penny Points to Paradise.

Stars in, "The Day the Earth Stood Still"

Stars in The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel. Stars in Pandora and the Flying Dutchman

Kurosawas The Idiot

First major comedy role in The Lavender Hill Mob

Starts in "The Man in the White Suit". Starts in "The Lavender Hill Mob"

Bronsons first film role, an uncredited one, is as a sailor in Youre in the Navy Now

Directs Clash by Night.

Birth of Patrick Swayze

Winner of the best male actor for "The African Queen"

Winner of a BAFTA for best actress for her part in A Streetcar Named Desire

Wins the BAFTA Award for Best British Actor for The Sound Barrier

Stars in, "Bend of the River"

Appears Fritz Langs drama Clash by Night, for which she was loaned to RKO and featured in an atypical role as a fish cannery worker, allowing her to show more of her acting range.

Film debut in Dont Bother to Knock

Sellers plays Major Bloodnok in the Goon-related comedy Down Among the Z Men.

It was one of the first films to feature her as a "dumb, childish blonde, innocently unaware of the havoc her sexiness causes around her", marking the beginning of typecasting in her career.

Monroe received positive reviews for her performance: The Hollywood Reporter stated that "she deserves starring status with her excellent interpretation", and Variety wrote that she "has an ease of delivery which makes her a cinch for popularity"

Stars in, "High Noon"

Stars in, "High Noon"

Directs, "High Noon"

Directs Hunted

Stars as Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert in the 1952 film Ivanhoe, dying in a duel with Robert Taylor while professing his love for Jewish maiden Rebecca, played by Elizabeth Taylor

Directs, "Limelight"

Plays a secretary opposite Cary Grant in Howard Hawks screwball comedy Monkey Business.

His breakthrough came when Cecil B. DeMille cast him as a circus manager in The Greatest Show on Earth, which was named by the Motion Picture Academy as the best picture of 1952

Kenji Mizoguchi directs The Life of Oharu (Saikaku Ichidai Onna)

Stars in The Prisoner of Zenda

Stars in, "The Thief", nominated for a Golden Globe

Kurosawas To Live

Monroe continued to attract attention with her revealing outfits in publicity events, most famously at the Photoplay awards in January 1953, where she won the "Fastest Rising Star" award

Directs The Blue Gardenia.

Birh of Pierce Brendan Brosnan

The first Playboy magazine is published, Marilyn Monroe is on the cover

The first Playboy magazine is published, Marilyn Monroe is on the cover

Directs Die Geschichte vom kleinen Muck for DEFA.

Winner of the best male actor for "Hign Noon"

Winner of a BAFTA for best actress for her part in Roman Holiday

Makes his feature directing debut with the independently produced war drama Fear and Desire.

Monroe continued to attract attention with her revealing outfits in publicity events, most famously at the Photoplay awards in January 1953, where she won the "Fastest Rising Star" award.

From Here to Eternity, a drama film directed by Fred Zinnemann and based on the novel of the same name by James Jones

From Here to Eternity is a 1953 drama film directed by Fred Zinnemann and based on the novel of the same name by James Jones

It featured Monroe in the role of a naive model who teams up with her friends to find rich husbands, thus repeating the successful formula of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

The second film of the year, musical comedy Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, established her star image as a "dumb blonde". Monroe starred in three films released in 1953, emerging as a major sex symbol and one of Hollywoods most bankable stars.

After playing Madge Owens in Picnic opposite William Holden, Novak won a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer and for World Film Favorite

Her third film of the year, How to Marry a Millionaire, co-starred Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall and was released in November.

Directs Julius Caesar, an adaptation of Shakespeares play

Starts in "Malta Story"

Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her work in Mogambo

Stars in, "Mogambo"

The first of these was the Technicolor film noir Niagara, in which she played a femme fatale scheming to murder her husband, played by Joseph Cotten.

Directs, Roman Holiday

Sellers appears in the comedy film Super Secret Service.

Stars in The Desert Rats

Stars in, "The Glenn Miller Story"

Plays Molly in The Man with the Golden Arm with Frank Sinatra

Appears in the The Titfield Thunderbolt

Appears in the The Titfield Thunderbolt

Appears in the The Titfield Thunderbolt

Appears in the The Titfield Thunderbolt

Directs The Titfield Thunderbolt

Kenji Mizoguchi directs Ugetsu (Ugetsu Monogatar)

Stars in Billy Wilders comedy The Seven Year Itch, in which she starred opposite Tom Ewell as a woman who becomes the object of her married neighbors sexual fantasies

Directs Canaris, a West German film about Admiral Wilhelm Canaris.

Stars in A Star is Born with Judy Garland, bringing him the first of three Oscar nominations

Winner of the best male actor for "Stalag 17"

Stas in An Inspector Calls. Plays Miss Fritton, in two of the St Trinians film comedies, principally the first, The Belles of St Trinians in which he also played her shady brother, Clarence Fritton

Stars opposite Grace Kelly in Alfred Hitchcocks Dial M for Murder

Directs The Divided Heart

Makes a strong impact in Drum Beat supporting Alan Ladd

Studied Drama at Yale University, graduating in 1954

Ishiro Honda releases the anti-nuclear horror film Gojira, which was translated in the West as Godzilla

Ishiro Honda releases the anti-nuclear horror film Gojira, which was translated in the West as Godzilla

During the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) proceedings, he changed his surname from Buchinsky to Bronson as Eastern European names sounded suspicious in an era of anti-Soviet sentiment

Directs An Inspector Calls

Dickinsons film career begins with a small role in Lucky Me

Sellers plays Private Goffin in Orders Are Orders.

Stars in, "Rear Window"

Kurosawas Seven Samurai

Winner of the Silver Bear at the Venice Film Festival for Ugetsu

Stars in The Barefoot Contessa

Writer & Diector of The Belles of St Trinians

First film role was in The Belles of St Trinians

Appears in The Colditz Story

Stars in, "The Country Girl". Stars in, "The Bridges at Toko-Ri". Stars in, "Rear Window". Stars in, "Green Fire". Stars in, "Dial M for Murder"

Stars in The High and the Mighty

First movie for Hollywood is "The Silver Chalice"

Signs with Universal-International and begins small film and television roles.

Directs Moonfleet.

Death of James Dean

Directs & Stars in, "A Man Alone"

Appears in Above Us the Waves

Winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor in Marty

Winner of the best male actor for "On The Waterfront"

Katie Johnson wins the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her part in The Ladykillers

Winner of a BAFTA for best actress for her part in The Divided Heart

Writes the screenplay for The Ladykillers, for which he is nominated for an Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay and wins the BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay

Appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)

Hiroshi Inagaki wins an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film for Part I of his Samurai Trilogy

Appears in Francis in the Navy during his early period of small studio roles.

Kurosawas I Live in Fear

Sellers portrays Police Constable Diamond in John and Julie.

Appears in Lady Godiva of Coventry while working under his early studio contract.

Directs The Ladykillers

Monroe began a new Battle for control over her career and left Hollywood for the East Coast, where she and photographer Milton Greene founded their own production company, Marilyn Monroe Productions (MMP)

Winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor in Marty

Produces, "Mr. Arkadin"

Directs, "Mr. Arkadin"

Directs, "Oklahoma!"

Directs, Marty

Orson Welles film Othello wins the Palme dOr

Makes an uncredited acting debut as a laboratory assistant in the film Revenge of the Creature.

Awarded the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival for Seven Samurai

Appears in the science-fiction film Tarantula during his early Hollywood career.

Starts in "The Ladykillers"

Appears in The Ladykillers

Writes the screenplay for The Ladykillers, for which he is nominated for an Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay and wins the BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay

Sellers plays Harry Robinson in the Ealing black comedy The Ladykillers.

Stars in, "The Man from Laramie"

Stars in, "To Catch a Thief"

Death of Bela Lugosi

Directs Der Hauptmann von Kopenick.

Directs Beyond a Reasonable Doubt.

With her starring role in 1956s Anastasia, Bergman made a triumphant return to the American screen and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for a second time

Appears in Away All Boats as part of his run of minor film roles.

Winner of a BAFTA for best actress for her part in A Town Like Alice

Stars in Bhowani Junction

Appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1956 New Year Honours

Appears opposite Rock Hudson and James Dean in George Stevens epic Giant

First starring role in Gun the Man Down

Upon marrying Rainier III, Prince of Monaco becomes Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, but is generally known as Princess Grace of Monaco

Takes a supporting role in Never Say Goodbye during his early screen career.

Directs, The Silent World (Le monde du silence)

Appears in Privates Progress

1st film as Major Hitchcock in John and Roy Boultings Privates Progress, gave birth to his catchphrase, "youre an absolute shower", and made him a favourite in British comedy films for the next decade

Stars in Sailor Beware

Appears in the western Star in the Dust before his later breakthrough in television westerns.

Appears in The Battle of the River Plate. Appears in Privates Progress

Kon Ichikawa directs the anti-war drama The Burmese Harp

Sellers performs the character Henry Crun in The Case of the Mukkinese Battle Horn.

Sellers portrays Inspector Quilt in The Case of the Mukkinese Battle Horn.

Sellers plays Sid Crimp in the Goon-influenced short The Case of the Mukkinese Battle Horn.

Sellers portrays Sir Jervis Fruit in The Case of the Mukkinese Battle Horn.

Appears in The First Traveling Saleslady, another early studio-era film role.

The Green Man is a 1956 British comedy-drama film based on the play Meet A Body by Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat, who produced and adapted the big-screen version

The Green Man is a 1956 British comedy-drama film based on the play Meet A Body by Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat, who produced and adapted the big-screen version

Directs The Killing, a tightly structured crime film about a racetrack robbery.

Sellers supplies the voice of Winston Churchill in The Man Who Never Was.

Stars in The Prince and the Showgirl, at Pinewood Studios in England, based on Terrence Rattigans The Sleeping Prince, a play about an affair between a show girl and a prince in the 1910s. Stars in Bus Stop, received a Golden Globe for Best Actress nomination for her performance

Appears in, "The Rack". Appears in, "Somebody Up There Likes Me"

Stars in, "The Swan". Stars in, "High Society"

Heston becomes an icon for portraying Moses in the hugely successful film The Ten Commandments

Death of Humphrey Bogart

Directs Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam.

Directs "12 Angry Men"

Directs, "A Hatful of Rain"

Directs, "A King in New York"

Winner of the best male actor for "The King & I"

Winner of a BAFTA for best actress for her part in The Story of Esther Costello

Writer & Diector of Blue Murder at St Trinians

Plays Miss Fritton in Blue Murder at St Trinians

Appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)

Sellers appears in the Bestsellers Series short film Cold Comfort.

Sellers appears in Dearth of a Salesman, one of the Bestsellers Series short films.

Wins a 2nd Golden Globe for World Favorite female actress

Sellers plays salesman Hector Dimwittie in the short film Insomnia Is Good for You.

Stars in, "Love in the Afternoon"

Appears in Lucky Jim

Directs, "Man in the Shadow"

Works with Sinatra again for Pal Joey

Directs, Friendly Persuasion

Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for Raintree County

Starts in "The Bridge on the River Kwai"

Directs The Bridge on the River Kwai, the epic that brings him his first Academy Award for directing.

First film for Hammer inThe Curse of Frankenstein, plays Frankensteins monster. Appears in The Curse of Frankenstein

Kurosawas The Lower Depths. Kurosawas Spider Web Castle

Stars in The Naked Truth alongside Terry Thomas and Peter Sellars

Sellers plays television personality Sonny MacGregor in the comedy The Naked Truth.

Sellers plays cinema projectionist Percy Quill in The Smallest Show on Earth.

Stars in, "The Spirit of St. Louis"

Directs Wir Wunderkinder, a satire of post-war West Germany.

Stars as Dracula in the film Dracula. Appears in A Tale of Two Cities

Winner of the best male actor for "The Bridge On The River Kwai"

Appears in Ambush at Cimarron Pass, one of his final films before Rawhide made him prominent.

Stars in "Some Like It Hot", wins BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor

Winner of a BAFTA for best actress for her part in Orders To Kill

Directs, The Big Country

Stars in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof". Paul Newman appeares with his wife, Joanne Woodward, in the feature films "The Long, Hot Summer" & "Rally Round the Flag, Boys!"

Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Kon Ichikawa directs the anti-war drama Enjo

Stars in "Some Like It Hot", wins Golden Globe Award for Best Actor

Monroes performance in Some Like it Hot earned her a Golden Globe for Best Actress, and prompted Variety to call her "a comedienne with that combination of sex appeal and timing that just cant be beat"

The Quiet American, an adaptation of Graham Greenes 1955 novel about the seed of American military involvement in what would become the Vietnam War

Appears in I was Montys Double. Appears in Ice Cold in Alex

Appears in Lafayette Escadrille, a war film released before his Rawhide breakthrough.

Cast in his first lead role in Roger Cormans Machine-Gun Kelly, a low-budget, though well received, gangster film

Directs, The Cranes Are Flying

Stars in "Some Like It Hot"

Stars opposite Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis in Billy Wilders comedy Some Like It Hot. Monroes performance in Some Like it Hot earned her a Golden Globe for Best Actress, and prompted Variety to call her "a comedienne with that combination of sex appeal and timing that just cant be beat"

Stas in The Doctors Dilemma

Kurosawas The Hidden Fortress

Paul Newman appeares with his wife, Joanne Woodward, in the feature films "The Long, Hot Summer" & "Rally Round the Flag, Boys!"

Sellers plays the villainous Tony in the fantasy musical Tom Thumb.

Plays a Mexican police officer named Ramon Miguel Vargas in Orson Welless widely acclaimed film noir Touch of Evil

Touch of Evil is a 1958 American crime thriller film, written, directed by, and co-starring Orson Welles

Completion of the film, "Two Men & a Wardrobe"

Sellers portrays Chief Petty Officer Doherty in the naval comedy Up the Creek.

Stas in Vertigo

Stars in, "Vertigo"

Birth of Emma Thompson

Directs Rosen fur den Staatsanwalt.

Death of Errol Flynn

Directs Die Brucke, known in English as The Bridge.

Winner of the Academy Award for Best Direction for Ben-Hur

Stars in, "Anatomy of a Murder"

Stars in "The Apartment", wins the BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor

Directs The Battle of the Sexes

Directs, Ben-Hur

Sellers plays Prime Minister Amphibulos in the political satire Carlton-Browne of the F.O.

Kon Ichikawa directs the anti-war drama Fires On The Plain

Stars in "The Apartment", wins the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor

Sellers plays trade-union official Fred Kite in the industrial satire I'm All Right Jack.

Appears in Im All Right Jack

Appears again as Major Hitchcock in Im All Right Jack

Retuns to Hollywood to star in the musical comedy Lets Make Love, about an actress and a millionaire who fall in love when performing in a satirical play

Stars in North by Northwest. Stars in Journey to the Center of the Earth

Stars in On the Beach

Directs, Black Orpheus (Orfeu Negro)

Appears in Howard Hawks Rio Bravo, in which she played a flirtatious gambler called "Feathers" who becomes attracted to the town sheriff played by Dickinsons childhood idol John Wayne

Rio Bravo is a 1959 American Western film, directed by Howard Hawks

Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for Suddenly, Last Summer

Stars in "The Apartment"

Stars in "The Battle of the Sexes "

Appears in "The Battle of the Sexes"

Sellers performs Count Rupert Mountjoy as a third principal role in The Mouse That Roared.

Sellers plays Grand Duchess Gloriana XII in The Mouse That Roared.

Sellers portrays Tully Bascombe in The Mouse That Roared.

Appears in The Mummy

Directs, "The Nuns Story"

Sellers produces the surreal short The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film.

Stars in "The Young Philadelphians"