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1980 in film

The following is an overview of events in 1980 in film, including the highest-grossing films, award ceremonies and festivals, a list of films released and notable deaths.

Highest-grossing films (U.S.)
The top ten 1980 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:

Worldwide gross revenue
The following table lists known worldwide gross revenue figures for several high-grossing films that originally released in 1980. Note that this list is incomplete and is therefore not representative of the highest-grossing films worldwide in 1980.

Events

 * April 29 – Sir Alfred Hitchcock, known as "the Master of Suspense", dies at his home in Bel Air, California, at the age of 80.
 * May 21 – The Empire Strikes Back is released and is the highest-grossing film of the year (just as its predecessor, Star Wars, was three years prior).
 * June 9 – Richard Pryor sets himself on fire while free-basing cocaine and drinking 151-proof rum. Pryor ran down his street in Northridge, California, until subdued by police.
 * June 20 – The Blues Brothers is released, and in addition to becoming one of the top-grossing films of the year, it also became the first feature film to be based on characters created on Saturday Night Live.
 * November 4 – Former Screen Actors Guild president and film actor Ronald Reagan wins the 1980 United States presidential election in a landslide victory.
 * November 19 – Heaven's Gate becomes one of the biggest box office bombs of all-time and its colossal failure bankrupts United Artists.
 * Allied Artists is sold to Lorimar Productions.

Context
Industry professionals predicted comedy films and upbeat entertainment to dominate theaters in 1980. This was a response to poor morale in a nation suffering through economic recession, which generally increased theatrical visits as audiences sought escapism and ignored romantic films and depictions of blue-collar life. The financial success and low cost of production cost of comedies such as Blazing Saddles (1974) and Animal House (1978), had further driven demand for comedies; Airplane!, The Blues Brothers, Caddyshack, and The Jerk, were all scheduled for release that year. The average cost of making films had risen to $6million which had reduced the number of films being made for niche audiences. Some studios continued to release a wide variety of films, hoping that few significant successes would compensate for other failures.

A surge of interest in science-fiction following Star Wars' release had led to many low-budget entries in the genre attempting to profit by association, and big budget entries such as Star Trek: The Motion Picture and The Black Hole, both of which were released in late 1979, just months before The Empire Strikes Back.

Awards
Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival):
 * All That Jazz, directed by Bob Fosse, United States
 * Kagemusha, 影武者 (Shadow Warrior), directed by Akira Kurosawa, Japan

Golden Lion (Venice Film Festival):
 * Atlantic City, directed by Louis Malle, US / Canada / France
 * Gloria, directed by John Cassavetes, United States

Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival):
 * Heartland, directed by Richard Pearce, United States
 * Palermo or Wolfsburg (Palermo oder Wolfsburg), directed by Werner Schroeter, West Germany

By country/region

 * List of American films of 1980
 * List of Argentine films of 1980
 * List of Australian films of 1980
 * List of Bangladeshi films of 1980
 * List of British films of 1980
 * List of Canadian films of 1980
 * List of French films of 1980
 * List of Hong Kong films of 1980
 * List of Indian films of 1980
 * List of Hindi films of 1980
 * List of Kannada films of 1980
 * List of Malayalam films of 1980
 * List of Marathi films of 1980
 * List of Tamil films of 1980
 * List of Telugu films of 1980
 * List of Japanese films of 1980
 * List of Mexican films of 1980
 * List of Pakistani films of 1980
 * List of South Korean films of 1980
 * List of Soviet films of 1980
 * List of Spanish films of 1980

By genre/medium

 * List of action films of 1980
 * List of animated feature films of 1980
 * List of avant-garde films of 1980
 * List of comedy films of 1980
 * List of drama films of 1980
 * List of horror films of 1980
 * List of science fiction films of 1980
 * List of thriller films of 1980
 * List of western films of 1980

Births

 * January 2 - David Gyasi, British actor
 * January 4
 * June Diane Raphael, American actress and comedian
 * D'Arcy Carden, American actress and comedian
 * Greg Cipes, voice actor
 * January 7
 * Hele Kõrve, Estonian actress and singer
 * Simon Woods, English actor and writer
 * January 8
 * Rachel Nichols, American actress and model
 * Sam Riley, English actor and singer
 * January 10
 * Katie Dippold, American actress, writer and screenwriter
 * Sarah Shahi, American actress and former model
 * January 16 – Lin-Manuel Miranda, American singer-songwriter and actor
 * January 17 – Zooey Deschanel, American singer-songwriter and actress
 * January 18
 * Estelle, British singer, songwriter, record producer and actress
 * Jason Segel, American actor, comedian, screenwriter, singer, songwriter, author and producer
 * January 19
 * Luke Macfarlane, American actor
 * January 21
 * Nana Mizuki, Japanese singer and voice actress
 * Kim Sharma, Indian actress
 * January 29 - Jason James Richter, American actor and musician
 * January 30 – Wilmer Valderrama, American actor
 * February 2 – Zhang Jingchu, Chinese actress
 * February 3 - Ben Turner, British-Iranian actor
 * February 6 - Ben Lawson, Australian actor
 * February 8
 * William Jackson Harper, American actor
 * Sinead Matthews, English actress
 * February 11 – Matthew Lawrence, American actor
 * February 12
 * Christina Ricci, American actress
 * Enver Gjokaj, American actor
 * Sarah Lancaster, American actress
 * February 14 – Michelle Ye, Hong Kong actress and producer
 * February 17 - Jason Ritter, American actor, voice actor and producer
 * February 21 - Brendan Sexton III, American actor
 * February 25
 * Chris Knowings, American actor
 * Christy Knowings, American actress and comedian
 * February 28 - Charles Halford, American actor
 * February 29
 * Steven Cree, Scottish actor
 * Peter Scanavino, American actor
 * March 2 - Rebel Wilson, Australian actress, comedian, writer and producer
 * March 3
 * Meiling Melançon, American actress and screenwriter
 * Katherine Waterston, American actress
 * March 7
 * Laura Prepon, American actress
 * Mart Toome, Estonian actor
 * March 9 – Matthew Gray Gubler, American actor
 * March 13 - Nathan Phillips, Australian actor
 * March 18 - Sophia Myles, English actress
 * March 20 - Mikey Day, American actor and comedian
 * March 23 - Itay Tiran, Israeli actor and director
 * March 25 - Tinsel Korey, Canadian actress and singer-songwriter
 * March 30 - Fiona Gubelmann, American actress
 * March 31
 * Kate Micucci, American actress
 * Maaya Sakamoto, Japanese singer and voice actress
 * April 4 - Collette Wolfe, American actress
 * April 8
 * Carrie Savage, American voice actress
 * Katee Sackhoff, American actress
 * April 10 – Charlie Hunnam, British actor and screenwriter
 * April 11 - Julia Chantrey, Canadian actress
 * April 13
 * Colleen Clinkenbeard, American voice actress
 * Kelli Giddish, American actress
 * April 14
 * Tom Franco, American actor
 * Claire Coffee, American actress
 * April 15 - Arian Moayed, Iranian-born American actor, writer and director
 * April 17
 * Nicholas D'Agosto, American actor
 * Samantha Soule, American actress
 * April 22 - Rodrigo Hilbert, Brazilian television presenter, actor, and former model
 * April 25 - Daniel MacPherson, Australian actor and television presenter
 * April 26
 * Jordana Brewster, American actress
 * Anna Mucha, Polish actress
 * Channing Tatum, American actor
 * April 29
 * Jo Martin, British actress
 * Damien Dante Wayans, American actor, screenwriter, producer and director
 * April 30 - Sam Heughan, Scottish actor
 * May 2 - Ellie Kemper, American actress and comedian
 * May 5 - Zach McGowan, American actor
 * May 8
 * Jasen Fisher, American former child actor
 * Kimberlee Peterson, American actress
 * May 14 - Sérgio Guizé, Brazilian actor
 * May 18 - Matt Long, American actor
 * May 20 - Cauã Reymond, Brazilian actor
 * May 22
 * Nazanin Boniadi, British actress
 * Lucy Gordon, English actress and model (died 2009)
 * Evelin Võigemast, Estonian actress
 * May 23
 * D. J. Cotrona, American actor
 * Chris Gethard, American actor, comedian and writer
 * May 25 - Will Janowitz, American actor
 * May 27 - Ben Feldman, American actor and producer
 * May 29 - Adam Brown, English actor and comedian
 * June 10 - Jessica DiCicco, American film, television and voice actress
 * June 15 - Candace Brown, American actress and comedian
 * June 16 – Sibel Kekilli, German actress
 * June 18 - David Giuntoli, American actor
 * June 19 - Neil Brown Jr., American actor
 * June 20 - Tika Sumpter, American actress, singer, producer, television host and model
 * June 21 - Preeya Kalidas, British singer and actress
 * June 23
 * Heath Freeman, American actor (died 2021)
 * Melissa Rauch, American actress and comedian
 * June 24 – Minka Kelly, American actress
 * June 26 - Jason Schwartzman, American actor, producer and musician
 * July 1 - Fortune Feimster, American writer, comedian and actress
 * July 3 – Olivia Munn, American actress
 * July 4 - Max Elliott Slade, American former child actor
 * July 6 – Eva Green, French actress
 * July 7 - Marika Domińczyk, Polish-American actress
 * July 10
 * James Rolfe, American filmmaker, actor, YouTuber and online personality
 * Jessica Simpson, American singer and actress
 * Thomas Ian Nicholas, American actor
 * Aaron Staton, American actor
 * July 12 - Kristen Connolly, American actress
 * July 15 – Jasper Pääkkönen, Finnish actor and film producer
 * July 17 – Brett Goldstein, British actor and comedian
 * July 18 – Kristen Bell, American actress
 * July 19
 * Mark Webber, American actor, screenwriter and director
 * Chris Sullivan, American actor
 * July 27 - Ewen Leslie, Australian actor
 * July 29 - Rachel Miner, American actress
 * July 30 - April Bowlby, American actress
 * August 3
 * Hannah Simone, Canadian actress
 * Teuku Rifnu Wikana, Indonesian actor
 * August 5 - Sophie Winkleman, English actress
 * August 6
 * Monique Ganderton, Canadian stunt performer and actress
 * Rory Scovel, American actor and comedian
 * August 8 – Marisa Quintanilla, American actress
 * August 9 - Stephen Schneider, American actor
 * August 10
 * Pua Magasiva, New Zealand actor (died 2019)
 * August 11 - Merritt Wever, American actress
 * August 12 - Dominique Swain, American actress and producer
 * August 13 - Álex González, Spanish actor
 * August 15 - Natalie Press, English actress
 * August 18 – Preeti Jhangiani, Indian actress
 * August 19
 * Adam Campbell, English actor
 * Aaron Horvath, American animator, screenwriter, producer and director
 * August 21 - John Brotherton, American actor
 * August 23 - Joanne Froggatt, English actress
 * August 25 – Jackie Tohn, American actress and singer
 * August 26
 * Macaulay Culkin, American actor
 * Chris Pine, American actor
 * August 31 - Leo Bill, English actor
 * September 1 - Lara Pulver, English actress
 * September 7
 * J. D. Pardo, American actor
 * Alex Hassell, English actor
 * September 9 – Michelle Williams, American actress
 * September 12 - Hiroyuki Sawano, Japanese music composer
 * September 13 – Ben Savage, American actor
 * September 13 – Cristiana Capotondi, Italian actress
 * September 18 - Charity Wakefield, English actress
 * September 19 - Benjamin Davies, Scottish actor
 * September 21
 * Kareena Kapoor, Indian actress
 * Autumn Reeser, American actress
 * September 25 - T.I., American actor and rapper
 * September 29
 * Zachary Levi, American actor and singer
 * Chrissy Metz, American actress
 * September 30 - Toni Trucks, American actress
 * October 1 - Sarah Drew, American actress
 * October 3 - Daniel DeSanto, Canadian actor and voice actor
 * October 4
 * Nick Mohammed, English actor, comedian and writer
 * Morgan Spector, American actor
 * October 6
 * David Alpay, Canadian actor, musician and producer
 * Jenny Wade, American actress
 * October 8
 * Nick Cannon, American comedian, rapper and television host
 * Nathan Head, British actor
 * October 14 – Ben Whishaw, English actor
 * October 18
 * Erin Dean, American former actress
 * Natasha Rothwell, American writer, actress and comedian
 * October 19 – Benjamin Salisbury, American actor
 * October 21 - Kim Kardashian, American media personality, model and actress
 * October 23 - Robert Belushi, American actor
 * October 24
 * Casey Wilson, American actress and comedian
 * Monica, American singer-songwriter, producer and actress
 * October 25 - Mehcad Brooks, American actor
 * October 28 - Wes Ball, American film director and artist
 * October 29 – Ben Foster, American actor
 * October 30 - Sarah Carter, Canadian actress
 * October 31
 * Samaire Armstrong, American actress
 * Eddie Kaye Thomas, American actor
 * November 1 - Dani Rovira, Spanish comedian and actor
 * November 2 - Kim So-yeon, South Korean actress
 * November 5 - Luke Hemsworth, Australian actor
 * November 8 - Brooke Lyons, American actress
 * November 9 - Vanessa Lachey, American actress, fashion model and television host
 * November 10 - Alberta Mayne, Canadian actress
 * November 12
 * Ryan Gosling, Canadian actor
 * Gustaf Skarsgård, Swedish actor
 * November 13 - Monique Coleman, American actress
 * November 18 - Mathew Baynton, English actor, writer, comedian, singer and musician
 * November 29 - Jason Griffith, American actor and voice actor
 * December 3
 * Anna Chlumsky, American actress
 * Jenna Dewan, American actress and dancer
 * December 5 - Jessica Paré, Canadian actress
 * December 9 – Simon Helberg, American actor and comedian
 * December 13 - Satoshi Tsumabuki, Japanese actor
 * December 15 - Yuri Kolokolnikov, Russian actor
 * December 16 - Michael Jibson, English actor, director, writer and voice over artist
 * December 18
 * Christina Aguilera, American singer, songwriter, actress and television personality
 * Neil Fingleton, English actor (died 2017)
 * December 19
 * Jake Gyllenhaal, American actor
 * Marla Sokoloff, American actress
 * December 22 - Chris Carmack, American actor
 * December 26 - Jared Van Snellenberg, American former actor
 * December 27 - Elizabeth Rodriguez, American actress
 * December 30 – Eliza Dushku, American actress
 * December 31 – Rosanne Mulholland, Brazilian actress

title: 1980 in film


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Raoul Wallenberg

Raoul Gustaf Wallenberg (4 August 1912 – disappeared 17 January 1945) was a Swedish architect, businessman, diplomat, and humanitarian. He saved thousands of Jews in German-occupied Hungary during the Holocaust from German Nazis and Hungarian fascists during the later stages of World War II. While serving as Sweden's special envoy in Budapest between July and December 1944, Wallenberg issued protective passports and sheltered Jews in buildings which he declared as Swedish territory.

On 17 January 1945, during the Siege of Budapest by the Red Army, agents of SMERSH detained Wallenberg on suspicion of espionage, and he subsequently disappeared. In 1957, 12 years after his disappearance, he was reported by Soviet authorities to have died of a suspected myocardial infarction on 17 July 1947 while imprisoned in the Lubyanka, the prison at the headquarters of the NKVD secret police in Moscow. A document released in 2023 as part of The President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection indicates Vyacheslav Nikonov, a KGB deputy at the time, determined as part of a 1991 inquiry into the circumstances surrounding his disappearance, that he was likely executed by Soviet authorities in late 1947 due to evidence that he may have been associated with people helping not only Jews but also Nazi war criminals escape prosecution. However, there is no conclusive proof of this and his cause and date of death have been disputed ever since, with some people claiming to have encountered men matching Wallenberg's description until the 1980s in Soviet prisons and psychiatric hospitals. The motives behind Wallenberg's arrest and imprisonment by the Soviet government, along with questions surrounding the circumstances of his death and his ties to US intelligence, remain shrouded in mystery and are the subject of continued speculation. In 2016, the Swedish Tax Agency declared him dead in absentia, with the pro forma date of death noted as 31 July 1952.

As a result of his successful efforts to rescue Hungarian Jews, Wallenberg has been the subject of numerous humanitarian honours in the decades following his presumed death. In 1981, US Congressman Tom Lantos, one of those saved by Wallenberg, sponsored a bill making Wallenberg an honorary citizen of the United States, the second person ever to receive this honour. Wallenberg also became an honorary citizen of Canada, Hungary, Australia, the United Kingdom and Israel. In 1963 the Israeli agency Yad Vashem designated Wallenberg one of the Righteous Among the Nations. Numerous monuments have been dedicated to him, and streets have been named after him throughout the world. The Raoul Wallenberg Committee of the United States was founded in 1981 to "perpetuate the humanitarian ideals and the nonviolent courage of Raoul Wallenberg". It gives the Raoul Wallenberg Award annually to recognize persons who carry out those goals. In 2012, Wallenberg was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal by the United States Congress "in recognition of his achievements and heroic actions during the Holocaust." Declassified documents have confirmed that Raoul Wallenberg worked with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the predecessor of the CIA.

Although some have claimed that Wallenberg was responsible for rescuing 100,000 Jews who survived the Holocaust in Hungary, historians regard that figure as an exaggeration;  Yad Vashem estimates the number of people granted protective paperwork as about 4,500 individuals.

Early life

Wallenberg was born in 1912 in Lidingö Municipality, near Stockholm, where his maternal grandparents, Per Johan Wising and his wife Sophie Wising (née Benedicks), had built a summer house in 1882. His paternal grandfather, Gustaf Wallenberg, was a diplomat and envoy to Tokyo, Istanbul, and Sofia.

His parents, who married in 1911, were Raoul Oscar Wallenberg (1888–1912), a Swedish naval officer, and Maria "Maj" Sofia Wising (1891–1979). His father died of cancer three months before he was born, and his maternal grandfather died of pneumonia three months after his birth. His mother and grandmother, now both suddenly widows, raised him together. In 1918, his mother married Fredric von Dardel; they had a son, Guy von Dardel, and a daughter, Nina Lagergren.

After high school and his compulsory eight months in the Swedish military, Wallenberg's paternal grandfather sent him to study in Paris. He spent one year there, and then in 1931 he studied architecture at the University of Michigan in the United States. Although the Wallenberg family was rich, he worked at odd jobs in his free time and joined other young male students as a passenger rickshaw handler at Chicago's Century of Progress. He used his vacations to explore the United States, with hitchhiking being his preferred method of travel. About his experiences, he wrote to his grandfather saying, "When you travel like a hobo, everything's different. You have to be on the alert the whole time. You're in close contact with new people every day. Hitchhiking gives you training in diplomacy and tact."

Wallenberg was aware of his one-sixteenth Jewish ancestry and proud of it. It came from his great-great-grandfather (his maternal grandmother's grandfather) Michael Benedicks, who immigrated to Stockholm in 1780 and converted to Christianity. Ingemar Hedenius (one of the leading Swedish philosophers) recalls a conversation with Raoul dating back to 1930 when they were together in an army hospital during military service: "We had many long and intimate conversations. He was full of ideas and plans for the future. Although I was a good deal older – you could choose when to do your service – I was enormously impressed by him. He was proud of his partial Jewish ancestry and, as I recall, must have exaggerated it somewhat. I remember him saying, 'A person like me, who is both a Wallenberg and half-Jewish, can never be defeated'." Raul Wallenberg's Jewishness is supported also by Sweden researcher Paul A. Levine, who wrote in his monograph about Wallenberg: "There is general agreement that around the end of the eighteen[th] century, a German Jew named Benedicts emigrated to Sweden, establishing the material line of [Raoul's] Wallenberg’s family."

He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1935. Upon his return to Sweden, he found his American degree did not qualify him to practice as an architect. Later that year, his grandfather arranged a job for him in Cape Town, South Africa, in the office of a Swedish company that sold construction material. After six months in South Africa, he took a new job at a branch office of the Holland Bank in Haifa. He returned to Sweden in 1936, securing a job in Stockholm with the help of his father's cousin and godfather, Jacob Wallenberg, at the Central European Trading Company, an export-import company trading between Stockholm and central Europe, owned by Kálmán Lauer, a Hungarian Jew.

World War II
Beginning in 1938, the Kingdom of Hungary, under the regency of Miklós Horthy, passed a series of anti-Jewish measures modeled on the so-called Nuremberg Race Laws enacted in Germany by the Nazis in 1935. Like their German counterparts, the Hungarian laws focused heavily on restricting Jews from certain professions, reducing the number of Jews in government and public service jobs, and prohibiting intermarriage. Because of this, Wallenberg's business associate, Kálmán Lauer, found it increasingly difficult to travel to his native Hungary, which was moving still deeper into the German orbit. Hungary became a member of the Axis powers in November 1940 and later joined the Nazi-led invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. Out of necessity, Wallenberg became Lauer's personal representative. He traveled to Hungary to conduct business on Lauer's behalf and to look in on members of Lauer's extended family who remained in Budapest. He soon learned to speak Hungarian and, from 1941, made increasingly frequent travels to Budapest. Within a year, Wallenberg was a joint owner and the International Director of the company. In this capacity, Wallenberg also made several business trips to Germany and German-occupied France during the early years of World War II. It was during these trips that Wallenberg was able to closely observe the Nazis' bureaucratic and administrative methods—knowledge which proved valuable to him later.

Meanwhile, the situation in Hungary had begun to deteriorate as the tide of the war began to turn decisively against Germany and its allies. Following the catastrophic Axis defeat at the Battle of Stalingrad (in which Hungarian troops fighting alongside German forces suffered a staggering 84% casualty rate), the Horthy regime began secretly pursuing peace talks with the United States and the United Kingdom. Upon learning of Horthy's duplicity, Adolf Hitler ordered the occupation of Hungary by German troops in March 1944. The Wehrmacht quickly took control of the country and placed Horthy under house arrest. A pro-German puppet government was installed in Budapest; actual power rested with the German military governor, SS-Brigadeführer Edmund Veesenmayer. With the Nazis now in control, the relative security from the Holocaust enjoyed by the Jews of Hungary came to an end. In April and May 1944, the Nazi regime and its accomplices began the mass deportation of Hungary's Jews to extermination camps in German-occupied Poland. Under the personal leadership of SS-Obersturmbannführer Adolf Eichmann, who was later tried and hanged in Israel for his role in the implementation of the Nazis' Final Solution, deportations took place at a rate of 12,000 people per day.

"Pimpernel" Smith screening
Wallenberg was directly inspired by "Pimpernel" Smith, a 1941 British anti-Nazi propaganda thriller. The film had been banned in Sweden, but Wallenberg and his sister, Nina, were invited to a private screening at the British Embassy in Stockholm. Enthralled by Professor Smith (played by Leslie Howard), who saved twenty-eight Jews from the Nazis, Nina stated, "We thought the film was amazing. When we got up from our seats, Raoul said, ‘that is the kind of thing I would like to do’".

Recruitment by the War Refugee Board
At the end of May 1944, George Mantello received and immediately publicized two important reports given to him by Romanian diplomat Florian Manilou, who had returned from a fact-finding trip to Romania and Budapest at Mantello's request. Manilou received material from Miklos "Moshe" Krausz in Budapest, who worked with Carl Lutz to rescue Jews. One of the reports was probably Rabbi Chaim Michael Dov Weissmandl's abridged version of the 33-page Auschwitz Protocols (i.e., the Vrba-Wetzler and Rosin-Mordowicz reports). The reports described in detail the operations of the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp. The second was a six-page Hungarian report that detailed the ghettoization and deportation of 435,000 Hungarian Jews, as updated to 19 June 1944, by towns, to Auschwitz.

Mantello publicized the reports' findings immediately upon receipt. This resulted in large-scale grassroots protest in Switzerland against the unprecedented barbarism against Jews and led to Horthy being threatened by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill. In a letter, Churchill wrote, "There is no doubt that this persecution of Jews in Hungary and their expulsion from enemy territory is probably the greatest and most horrible crime ever committed in the whole history of the world...."

Following the report's publication, the Roosevelt administration turned to the newly-created War Refugee Board (WRB) in search of a solution to the genocide against Jews. US Treasury Department official Iver C. Olsen was dispatched to Stockholm as a representative of the WRB and tasked with putting together a plan to rescue the Jews of Hungary. In addition to his duties with the WRB, Olsen was also secretly employed as the chief of "Currency Operations" for the Stockholm station of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the United States' wartime espionage service.

In search of someone willing and able to go to Budapest to organize a rescue program for the nation's Jews, Olsen established contact with a relief committee composed of many prominent Swedish Jews led by the Swedish Chief Rabbi Marcus Ehrenpreis to locate an appropriate person to travel to Budapest under diplomatic cover and lead the rescue operation. One member of the committee was Wallenberg's business associate Kálmán Lauer.

The committee's first choice to lead the mission was Count Folke Bernadotte, the vice-chairman of the Swedish Red Cross and a member of the Swedish Royal Family. When Bernadotte's proposed appointment was rejected by the Hungarians, Lauer suggested Wallenberg as a potential replacement. Olsen was introduced to Wallenberg by Lauer in June 1944 and came away from the meeting impressed and, shortly thereafter, appointed Wallenberg to lead the mission. Olsen's selection of Wallenberg met with objections from some US officials who doubted his reliability, in light of existing commercial relationships between businesses owned by the Wallenberg family and the German government. These differences were eventually overcome and the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs agreed to the American request to assign Wallenberg to its legation in Budapest as part of an arrangement in which Wallenberg's appointment was granted in exchange for a lessening of American diplomatic pressure on neutral Sweden to curtail the nation's free-trade policies toward Germany.

Mission to Budapest
When Wallenberg reached the Swedish legation in Budapest on July 9, 1944, the intense Nazi campaign to deport the Jews of Hungary almost entirely to Auschwitz had already been under way for several months. The transports from Hungary were halted with few exceptions by Miklós Horthy two days earlier in large part because he was warned by Roosevelt, Churchill, the King of Sweden and even the Pope after the very vocal Swiss grass roots protests against the mass murder in Auschwitz. Between May and early July 1944, Eichmann and his associates had deported more than 400,000 Jews by freight train. All but 15,000 were sent directly to the German Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in southern Poland. By the time of Wallenberg's arrival there were only 230,000 Jews remaining in Hungary. With fellow Swedish diplomat Per Anger, and Miklos "Moshe" Krausz, they issued "protective passports" (German: Schutz-Pass), which identified the bearers as Swedish subjects awaiting repatriation and thus prevented their deportation. Although not legal, these documents looked official and were generally accepted by German and Hungarian authorities, who sometimes were also bribed. The Swedish legation in Budapest also succeeded in negotiating with the German authorities so that the bearers of the protective passes would be treated as Swedish citizens and be exempt from having to wear the yellow badge required for Jews. When the German government said the travel passes were invalid, Wallenberg appealed for help from Baroness Elisabeth Kemény, wife of Baron Gábor Kemény, Hungarian Minister for Foreign Affairs in Budapest. She convinced her husband to have 9,000 passes honoured.

With the money mostly raised for the War Refugee Board by American Jews, Wallenberg rented 32 buildings in Budapest and declared them to be extraterritorial, protected by diplomatic immunity. He put up signs such as "The Swedish Library" and "The Swedish Research Institute" on their doors and hung oversized Swedish flags on the front of the buildings to bolster the deception. The buildings eventually housed almost 10,000 people.

Sandor Ardai, one of the drivers working for Wallenberg, recounted what Wallenberg did when he intercepted a trainload of Jews about to leave for Auschwitz:

"... he climbed up on the roof of the train and began handing in protective passes through the doors which were not yet sealed. He ignored orders from the Germans for him to get down, then the Arrow Cross men began shooting and shouting at him to go away. He ignored them and calmly continued handing out passports to the hands that were reaching out for them. I believe the Arrow Cross men deliberately aimed over his head, as not one shot hit him, which would have been impossible otherwise. I think this is what they did because they were so impressed by his courage. After Wallenberg had handed over the last of the passports he ordered all those who had one to leave the train and walk to the caravan of cars parked nearby, all marked in Swedish colours. I don't remember exactly how many, but he saved dozens off that train, and the Germans and Arrow Cross were so dumbfounded they let him get away with it."

At the height of the program, more than 350 people were involved in the rescue of Jews. Sister Sára Salkaházi was caught sheltering Jewish women and was killed by members of the Arrow Cross Party.

Tibor Baranski was a 22-year-old religious student who was recruited by Papal Nuncio Monsignor Angelo Rotta to help save Jews. Baranski, who posed as a Vatican representative, saved about 3,000 Jews. He collaborated with diplomats, including Wallenberg. He met with and talked with Wallenberg on the phone several times. Baranski described Wallenberg's motivation as "divinely human love." "We knew in a second we shared the same opinion … the same recklessness, the same determination, all through," said Baránszki.

Swiss diplomat Carl Lutz also issued protective passports from the Swiss embassy in the spring of 1944; and Italian businessman Giorgio Perlasca posed as a Spanish diplomat and issued forged visas. Portuguese diplomats Sampaio Garrido and Carlos de Liz-Texeira Branquinho rented houses and apartments to shelter and protect refugees from deportation and murder and issued safe conducts to approximately 1,000 Hungarian Jews. Berber Smit (Barbara Hogg), the daughter of Lolle Smit (1892–1961), director of N.V. Philips Budapest and a Dutch spy working for the British MI6, later claimed to have been his girlfriend, also assisted Wallenberg, as did her son. However, she was temporarily engaged to Wallenberg's colleague Lars Berg, and later married a Scottish officer; which has not dispelled claims that Wallenberg was homosexual.

Wallenberg started sleeping in a different house each night, to guard against being captured or killed by Arrow Cross Party members or by Adolf Eichmann's men. Two days before the Soviet Army occupied Budapest, Wallenberg negotiated with Eichmann and with Major-General Gerhard Schmidthuber, the supreme commander of German forces in Hungary. Wallenberg bribed Arrow Cross Party member Pál Szalai to deliver a note in which Wallenberg persuaded the occupying Germans to prevent a Fascist plan to blow up the Budapest ghetto and murder an estimated 70,000 Jews. The note also persuaded the Germans to cancel a final effort to organize a death march of the remaining Jews in Budapest by threatening to have them prosecuted for war crimes once the war was over.

According to Giorgio Perlasca, who posed as the Spanish consul-general to Hungary in the winter of 1944 and saved 5,218 Jews, Pál Szalai lied to save his life during his criminal trial, and the history of the saving is different. Wallenberg (who was already dead at the time of Szalai's deposition) saved hundreds of people but was not directly involved in the plan to save the ghetto. While Perlasca was posing as the Spanish consul-general, he learned of the intention to burn down the ghetto. Shocked and incredulous, he asked for a direct hearing with the Hungarian interior minister Gábor Vajna, in the basement of the Budapest City Hall where he had his headquarters, and threatened legal and economic measures against the "3000 Hungarian citizens" (in fact, a much smaller number) declared by Perlasca as residents of Spain, and similar treatment to Hungarian residents in two Latin American republics, to force the minister to withdraw the project. This actually happened in the following days.

People saved by Wallenberg include biochemist Lars Ernster, who was housed in the Swedish embassy, and Tom Lantos, later a member of the United States House of Representatives, who lived in one of the Swedish protective houses.

The Swedish consulate building still exists as of 2019, on the hill behind the Hotel Gellért, with a reference to Wallenberg at the front.

Disappearance
On 29 October 1944, elements of the 2nd Ukrainian Front under Marshal Rodion Malinovsky launched an offensive against Budapest. By late December, the city had been encircled by Soviet forces. Despite this, the German commander of Budapest, SS Lieutenant General Karl Pfeffer-Wildenbruch, refused all offers to surrender, setting in motion a protracted and bloody siege of Budapest. At the height of the fighting, on 17 January 1945, Wallenberg was called to General Malinovsky's headquarters in Debrecen to answer allegations that he was engaged in espionage. According to the wife of Géza Soós, a ringleader of the Hungarian resistance who worked with Wallenberg, he used the opportunity to try to transport copies of the Auschwitz Report to the interim Hungarian government in Debrecen. Wallenberg's last recorded words were, "I'm going to Malinovsky's ... whether as a guest or prisoner I do not know yet." Documents recovered in 1993 from previously secret Soviet military archives and published in the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet show that an order for Wallenberg's arrest was issued by Deputy Commissar for Defence (and future Soviet Premier) Nikolai Bulganin and transmitted to Malinovsky's headquarters on the day of Wallenberg's disappearance. In 2003, a review of Soviet wartime correspondences indicated that Vilmos Böhm, a Hungarian politician who was also a Soviet intelligence agent, may have provided Wallenberg's name to SMERSH as a person to detain for possible involvement in espionage.

Information about Wallenberg after his detention is mostly speculative; there were many who claimed to have met him during his imprisonment. Wallenberg was transported by train from Debrecen, through Romania, to Moscow. The Soviet authorities may have moved him to Moscow in the hope of exchanging him for defectors in Sweden. Vladimir Dekanozov notified the Swedish government on 16 January 1945 that Wallenberg was under the protection of Soviet authorities. On 21 January 1945, Wallenberg was transferred to Lubyanka prison and held in cell 123 with fellow prisoner Gustav Richter, who had been a police attaché at the German embassy in Romania. Richter testified in Sweden in 1955 that Wallenberg was interrogated once for about an hour and a half, in early February 1945. On 1 March 1945, Richter was moved from his cell and never saw Wallenberg again.

On 8 March 1945, Soviet-controlled Hungarian radio announced that Wallenberg and his driver had been murdered on their way to Debrecen, suggesting that they had been killed by the Arrow Cross Party or the Gestapo. Sweden's foreign minister, Östen Undén, and its ambassador to the Soviet Union, Staffan Söderblom, wrongly assumed that they were dead. In April 1945, W. Averell Harriman, then of the US State Department, offered the Swedish government help in inquiring about Wallenberg's fate, but the offer was declined. Söderblom met with Vyacheslav Molotov and Stalin in Moscow on 15 June 1946. Söderblom, still believing Wallenberg to be dead, ignored talk of an exchange for Russian defectors in Sweden.

Death
On 6 February 1957, the Soviet government released a document dated 17 July 1947 that stated: "I report that the prisoner Wallenberg who is well-known to you, died suddenly in his cell this night, probably as a result of a heart attack or heart failure. Pursuant to the instructions given by you that I personally have Wallenberg under my care, I request approval to make an autopsy with a view to establishing cause of death.... I have personally notified the minister and it has been ordered that the body be cremated without autopsy." The document was signed by Smoltsov, then the head of the Lubyanka prison infirmary, and addressed to Viktor Abakumov, the Soviet minister of state security. In 1989, Wallenberg's personal belongings were returned to his family, including his passport and cigarette case. Soviet officials said they found the materials when they were upgrading the shelves in a store room.

In 1991, Vyacheslav Nikonov was charged by the Russian government with investigating Wallenberg's fate. He concluded that Wallenberg died in 1947, executed while a prisoner in Lubyanka. He may have been a victim of the C-2 poison (carbylamine-choline-chloride) tested at the poison laboratory of the Soviet secret services.

In Moscow in 2000, Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev announced that Wallenberg had been executed in 1947 in Lubyanka prison. He claimed that Vladimir Kryuchkov, the former Soviet secret police chief, told him about the shooting in a private conversation. The statement did not explain why Wallenberg was killed or why the government had lied about it. General Pavel Sudoplatov claimed that Wallenberg died after being poisoned by Grigory Mairanovsky, an NKVD chemist and torturer. In 2000, Russian prosecutor Vladimir Ustinov signed a verdict posthumously rehabilitating Wallenberg and his driver, Langfelder, as "victims of political repression". Files pertinent to Wallenberg were turned over to the chief rabbi of Russia by the Russian government in September 2007. The items were slated to be housed at the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow, which opened in 2012.

In August 2016, new information about Wallenberg's death came to light when the diary of KGB head Ivan Serov surfaced after Serov's granddaughter found the diary hidden in a wall of her house. "I have no doubts that Wallenberg was liquidated in 1947," Serov wrote.

Disputes about his death
Several former prisoners have claimed to have seen Wallenberg after his reported death in 1947. In February 1949, former German Colonel Theodor von Dufving, a prisoner of war, provided statements concerning Wallenberg. In the transit camp of Kirov, while being moved to Vorkuta, Dufving encountered a prisoner dressed in civilian clothes with his own special guard. The prisoner claimed that he was a Swedish diplomat and said he was there "through a great error".

Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal searched for Wallenberg and collected several testimonies. For example, British businessman Greville Wynne, who was imprisoned in the Lubyanka prison in 1962 for his connection to KGB defector Oleg Penkovsky, stated that he had talked to, but could not see the face of, a man who claimed to be a Swedish diplomat. Efim (or Yefim) Moshinsky claims to have seen Wallenberg on Wrangel Island in 1962. An eyewitness asserted that she had seen Wallenberg in the 1960s in a Soviet prison where she worked.

During a private conversation about the conditions of detention in Soviet prisons at a Communist Party reception in the mid-1970s, a KGB general is reported to have said that "conditions could not be that harsh, given that in Lubyanka prison there is some foreign prisoner who had been there now for almost three decades."

The last reported sightings of Wallenberg were by two independent witnesses who said they had evidence that he was in prison in November 1987. John Farkas was a resistance fighter during World War II and was the last man claiming to have seen Wallenberg alive. Farkas' son has stated that there have been sightings of Wallenberg "up into the 1980s in Soviet prisons and psychiatric hospitals."

Attempts to find Wallenberg
In the late 1970s, Annette Lantos, one of the people rescued by Wallenberg, established the International Free Wallenberg Committee to pressure the Soviet Union into providing answers about his disappearance. She later tried to enlist US President Jimmy Carter to seek further information by sending in a postcard to the Ask President Carter radio show and by working with Simon Wiesenthal and Jack Anderson to tell Wallenberg's story through a Washington Post column.

Noticing these efforts and angry that Sweden had not gone far enough in their efforts to find Wallenberg, Nina Lagergren, Wallenberg's half-sister, traveled to the United States to campaign with Lantos. The efforts of Lantos and Lagergren eventually led to the creation of the Free Wallenberg Committee in Congress, led by Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, whose goal was to determine what happened to Wallenberg. Lantos' husband and fellow Holocaust survivor, Tom, later continued the congressional push for answers regarding Wallenberg after being elected to the House of Representatives in 1980.

Honorary citizenship
One of Tom Lantos' first acts as a representative in Congress was to recognize Wallenberg as an honorary American citizen. After being told by President Carter that the Soviet Union would not answer questions to America about a non-American citizen, Lantos worked with Senator Moynihan to pass a bill recognizing Wallenberg as such. The effort grew as 60 Minutes aired a piece on Wallenberg while the resolution was moving through Congress. Newly elected President Ronald Reagan watched the program and joined Lantos and Moynihan in pushing for the resolution to pass. It eventually passed by a 396–2 vote and was quickly signed into law by Reagan, making Wallenberg the second person in history (Winston Churchill being the first) to be made an honorary American citizen by an act of Congress.

With his citizenship now granted, the Wallenberg family successfully sued the Soviet Union in 1984 over his disappearance for $39 million, or $1 million per year that Wallenberg's fate has been unknown. However, the Soviet Union ignored the suit and did not pay any of the damages awarded by the judge. They also did not offer any information into his disappearance.

Efforts outside America
Raoul Wallenberg's half-brother, Guy von Dardel, a well-known physicist, retired from CERN and dedicated the rest of his life to finding out his half-brother's fate. He traveled to the Soviet Union about fifty times for discussions and research, including an examination of the Vladimir prison records. Over the years, von Dardel compiled a 50,000-page archive of interviews, journal articles, letters, and other documents related to his quest. In 1991, Dardel initiated a Swedish-Russian working group to search eleven separate military and government archives from the former Soviet Union for information about Wallenberg's fate, but the group was not able to find useful information. Many, including von Dardel and his daughters, Louise and Marie, do not accept the various versions of Wallenberg's death. They continue to request that the archives in Russia, Sweden, and Hungary become available to impartial researchers.

Present-day attempts
In 2012, Russian lieutenant general Vasily Khristoforov, head of the registration branch of the Russian Federal Security Service, said that the Wallenberg case was still open. He also dismissed any allegation of a continuing cover-up, saying that "this is another state and a different special service" from the Soviet Union and the services in charge of holding Wallenberg.

Declared dead in absentia
On 29 March 2016, an announcement was made by the Swedish Tax Agency that a petition to have Wallenberg declared dead in absentia was submitted. It stated that if he did not report to the Tax Agency before 14 October 2016, he would be legally declared dead.

Wallenberg was declared dead legally in October 2016, as announced through the petition. Consistent with the approach used in other cases where the circumstances of death were not known, the Swedish tax agency recorded the date of his death as 31 July 1952, five years after he went missing.

Intelligence connections
In May 1996, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) released thousands of previously classified documents regarding Raoul Wallenberg, in response to requests filed under the Freedom of Information Act. The documents, along with an investigation conducted by the news magazine U.S. News & World Report, seemingly confirmed the long-held suspicion that Wallenberg had served as an American intelligence asset during his time in Hungary. Wallenberg's name appeared on a roster found in the National Archives which listed the names of operatives associated with the CIA's wartime predecessor, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). The documents also included a 1954 memo from an anonymous CIA source that identified a Hungarian-exile living in Stockholm who, according to the author: "assisted in inserting Wallenberg into Hungary during WWII as an agent of OSS". Another declassified memorandum written in 1990 by the curator of the CIA's Historical Intelligence Collection, William Henhoeffer, characterized the conclusion that Wallenberg was working for the OSS while in Budapest as being "essentially correct".

More telling was a communique transmitted by the OSS Secret Intelligence Branch in Bari, Italy on 7 November 1944. This message apparently acknowledged that Wallenberg was acting as a liaison between the OSS and Magyar Fuggetlensegi Mozgalom (the Hungarian Independence Movement or MFM), an underground anti-Nazi resistance organization operating in Budapest. The OSS message noted Wallenberg's contacts with Géza Soós, a high-ranking MFM member. The communique further explained that Soós "may only be contacted" through the Swedish legation in Budapest, which was Wallenberg's workplace and also served as the operational center for his attempts to aid the Hungarian Jews. The same message's assertion that Wallenberg "will know if he (Soós) is not in Budapest" is also curious, in that by November 1944 Soós was in hiding and knowledge of his whereabouts would have been available only to persons closely involved with the MFM. This conclusion is given further weight by additional evidence suggesting that secret communications between the MFM and US intelligence were being transmitted to Washington by the Stockholm office of Iver C. Olsen, the American OSS operative who initially recruited Wallenberg to go to Budapest in June 1944.

This particular disclosure gave rise to speculation that, in addition to his attempts to rescue the Hungarian Jews, Wallenberg may have also been engaged in a separate effort intended to undermine Hungary's pro-Nazi government on behalf of the OSS. If true, this would seem to add some credence to the potential explanation that it was his association with Western intelligence that led to Wallenberg being targeted by Soviet authorities in January 1945.

Several other humanitarians who had helped refugees during World War II accordingly disappeared behind the Iron Curtain in the period 1949–50, several years after Wallenberg's disappearance. OSS ties may have been of interest to the Soviets, but are not a complete explanation because some of those detained, i.e. Hermann Field and Herta Field, had not worked for the OSS. All of these humanitarians, however, like Wallenberg, had interacted with many anti-fascist and socialist refugees during the War, and this experience was used in the Stalin regime's factional politics and show trials.

Family
In 2009, reporter Joshua Prager wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal profiling the long-term toll that Raoul Wallenberg's disappearance had on his family. His mother Maj and his stepfather Fredrik von Dardel spent the rest of their lives searching for their son. They both died by suicide, overdosing on pills two days apart in 1979. Their daughter, Nina Lagergren, Raoul's half-sister, attributed their suicide to their despair about never finding their son. Lagergren and Raoul's half-brother Guy von Dardel established organizations and worked to find their brother or confirmation of his death. At the request of their parents, they were to assume he was alive until the year 2000.

During the war, the Wallenberg bank, Stockholms Enskilda Bank, collaborated with the German government. United States Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau Jr. considered Jacob Wallenberg strongly pro-German, and in 1945, the Federal Bureau of Investigation subjected the Bank to a blockade from engaging in business in the United States that was only lifted in 1947. Author Alan Lelchuk who interviewed, amongst others, Wallenberg's KGB interrogator, wrote a novel that imagines the more powerful of the family may have chosen not to use their influence to locate Raoul as it could have drawn attention to their misdeeds, and they may have considered him an embarrassment, not only for being a man of morality, but his possible homosexuality.

Honours
A considerable number of honours, memorials and statues have been dedicated to the memory of Wallenberg. Among them, the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, a non-governmental organization which researches Holocaust rescuers and advocates for their recognition, was named in his honor.

Wallenberg myth
In a 2004 paper, Hungarian historian and Holocaust survivor Randolph L. Braham discussed the mythologizing of Wallenberg's rescue activities. Braham notes that Wallenberg's rescue activities did not start in earnest until the Arrow Cross coup in October 1944, and reached their greatest proportions during the siege. He found that through personal heroism and diplomatic support, Wallenberg managed to save about 7,000 to 9,000 Jews. However, during the Cold War, his death was exploited in Western anti-Soviet propaganda; in order to make the "Soviet crime" seem worse, his rescue operations were greatly exaggerated. Wallenberg was incorrectly identified as the savior of all Jews in Budapest, or at least 100,000 of them, in official statements as well as many popular books and documentaries. As a result, the rescue efforts of other agents in Budapest have been marginalized or ignored.

Israeli historian Yehuda Bauer, who puts the number of lives saved by Wallenberg at 4,500, states Lutz and other neutral emissaries saved more Jews, but Wallenberg was the only one who frequently confronted the Nazis and their Arrow Cross accomplices. Although "fact and fiction mixed" in the testimony of Jewish survivors about Wallenberg after the war, Bauer writes, Wallenberg's "fame was certainly justified by his extraordinary exploits". Bauer also points out that the focus on heroic actions taken by Wallenberg and other non-Jewish rescuers obscures the heroism of Jews who also carried out rescue actions in Budapest in the final months and were forgotten after liberation. According to Bauer, Wallenberg had a modest personality and would have rejected fictionalized anecdotes and exaggerated totals.

Film
A number of films have been made of Wallenberg's life, including the 1985 made-for-television movie Wallenberg: A Hero's Story (1985), starring Richard Chamberlain, the 1990 Swedish production Good Evening, Mr. Wallenberg, featuring Stellan Skarsgård, and various documentaries, such as Raoul Wallenberg: Buried Alive (1984), the AFI Award-winning Raoul Wallenberg, Between The Lines (1985) and Searching for Wallenberg (2003). He also appears in the Spanish television series El ángel de Budapest and is played by Iván Fenyő - the series features relatives and the Winnipeg lawyer still piloting inquiries into his case, and was released in Canada and broadcast on the Bravo! network.

Art
Wallenberg is featured prominently in the work of painter and Holocaust survivor Alice Lok Cahana whose father was saved by Wallenberg.

Music

 * "Wallenberg" (1982) is a track by The (Hypothetical) Prophets, a band project of Bernard Szajner.
 * "Raoul Wallenberg" (1991) is a track on the album Rude Awakening by Andy Irvine.

Opera

 * Wallenberg. Opera premiered at the Opernhaus Dortmund on 5 May 2001.
 * Composer Erkki-Sven Tüür, Libretto of Lutz Hübner
 * Raoul. Opera premiered at the Theater Bremen on 21 February 2008.
 * Composer Gershon Kingsley, Libretto of Michael Kunze

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Raoul Wallenberg


text:
1979 in film

The year 1979 in film involved many significant events.

United States and Canada
The top ten 1979 released films by North American gross are as follows:

Major events

 * March 2 – Buena Vista release their first film since the advent of U.S. movie ratings to not be G-rated, Take Down.
 * March 5 – Production begins on The Empire Strikes Back.
 * March – Frank Price becomes president of Columbia Pictures.
 * May 25 – Alien, a landmark of the science fiction genre, is released.
 * May 29 - Mary Pickford, a silent screen legend and Hollywood pioneer who was, at the height of her career, the most famous woman in the world, dies of a stroke.
 * May 31 – The Muppet Movie, Jim Henson's Muppets' first foray into the world of feature-length motion pictures, is released in United Kingdom.
 * June 11 – John Wayne, a famous Western movie actor, dies at the age of 72 from stomach cancer.
 * June 27 – 20th Century Fox Pictures president Alan Ladd Jr. and vice-presidents Jay Kanter and Gareth Wigan agree to leave Fox.
 * June 29 – Moonraker, the 11th film in the James Bond franchise, is released in the United States and goes on to become the highest-grossing film of the year worldwide.
 * August 15 – Apocalypse Now is released to worldwide critical acclaim and box office success. Heralded as one of the greatest films ever made to this day.
 * September 19 – Don Bluth and a group of fellow animators resign from The Walt Disney Company's animation department to set up a rival studio, Don Bluth Productions.
 * October 1 – Alan Ladd Jr., Jay Kanter and Gareth Wigan who agreed to leave Fox earlier in the year formally announce the creation of The Ladd Company.
 * October 3 – producers Benjamin Melniker and Michael E. Uslan purchase the film rights of Batman from DC Comics. It would be another ten years, before a Batman feature film would be fully realized.
 * November 1 – Production begins on Raiders of the Lost Ark.
 * December 7 – Star Trek: The Motion Picture debuts in the United States to mixed reviews but blockbuster box office, launching a film franchise that leads to 9 sequels and 3 reboots over the next 37 years. It also leads to the creation of five spin-off television series based upon Gene Roddenberry's creation.
 * Allied Artists files for bankruptcy.

Awards
Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival):
 * Apocalypse Now, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, United States
 * The Tin Drum (Die Blechtrommel), directed by Volker Schlöndorff, W. Germany

Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival):
 * David, directed by Peter Lilienthal, West Germany

By country/region

 * List of American films of 1979
 * List of Argentine films of 1979
 * List of Australian films of 1979
 * List of Bangladeshi films of 1979
 * List of British films of 1979
 * List of Canadian films of 1979
 * List of French films of 1979
 * List of Hong Kong films of 1979
 * List of Indian films of 1979
 * List of Hindi films of 1979
 * List of Kannada films of 1979
 * List of Malayalam films of 1979
 * List of Marathi films of 1979
 * List of Tamil films of 1979
 * List of Telugu films of 1979
 * List of Japanese films of 1979
 * List of Mexican films of 1979
 * List of Pakistani films of 1979
 * List of South Korean films of 1979
 * List of Soviet films of 1979
 * List of Spanish films of 1979

By genre/medium

 * List of action films of 1979
 * List of animated feature films of 1979
 * List of avant-garde films of 1979
 * List of comedy films of 1979
 * List of drama films of 1979
 * List of horror films of 1979
 * List of science fiction films of 1979
 * List of thriller films of 1979
 * List of western films of 1979

Births

 * January 1 – Vidya Balan, Indian actress
 * January 6 – Cristela Alonzo, American comedian, actress, writer and producer
 * January 8
 * Ashraf Barhom, Israeli-Arab actor
 * Sarah Polley, Canadian actress
 * January 16 – Aaliyah, American actress and singer (d. 2001)
 * January 24 – Tatyana Ali, American actress and singer
 * January 26 – Sara Rue, American actress
 * January 28 - Angelique Cabral, American actress
 * January 29 – Andrew Keegan, American actor
 * February 1 – Rachelle Lefevre, Canadian actress
 * February 2 – Shamita Shetty, Indian actress
 * February 3 – Costa Ronin, Australian actor and cinematographer
 * February 7 - Cerina Vincent, American actress
 * February 8 - Josh Keaton, American actor and musician
 * February 9 – Zhang Ziyi, Chinese actress and dancer
 * February 11 – Brandy Norwood, American actress and singer
 * February 12 - Angus Sampson, Australian actor and filmmaker
 * February 13 – Mena Suvari, American actress
 * February 21
 * Tituss Burgess, American actor and singer
 * Maryke Hendrikse, Bahamian-born Canadian voice actress
 * Jennifer Love Hewitt, American actress and singer
 * Jordan Peele, American actor, comedian, writer, director and producer
 * March 3 – Patrick Renna, American actor
 * March 5 – Riki Lindhome, American actress, comedian and musician
 * March 9 – Oscar Isaac, Guatemalan-American actor
 * March 10
 * Edi Gathegi, Kenyan-American actor
 * Danny Pudi, American actor
 * March 17 – Stephen Kramer Glickman, Canadian actor, music producer and stand-up comedian
 * March 18 – Adam Levine, American singer, songwriter, musician and actor
 * March 20
 * Freema Agyeman, British actress
 * Bianca Lawson, American actress
 * March 24 – Lake Bell, American actress, director and screenwriter
 * March 25 – Lee Pace, American actor
 * March 28 – Shakib Khan, Bangladeshi film actor, producer, singer, film organiser and media personalities
 * March 29 – De'Angelo Wilson, American actor and rapper (d. 2008)
 * March 30 - Pete Holmes, American comedian, actor, writer, producer and podcaster
 * April 4
 * Bunko Kanazawa, Japanese actress
 * Heath Ledger, Australian actor (d. 2008)
 * Natasha Lyonne, American actress
 * April 5 – Josh Boone, American filmmaker
 * April 7 - Nico Santos, Filipino-American actor
 * April 11 – Josh Server, American actor
 * April 12
 * Claire Danes, American actress
 * Jennifer Morrison, American actress, director and producer
 * Paul Nicholls, English actor
 * April 15
 * Karen David, Canadian actress and singer-songwriter
 * Luke Evans, Welsh actor and singer
 * April 17
 * Mylene Dinh-Robic, Canadian actress
 * Ken Duken, German actor and director
 * April 19 – Kate Hudson, American actress
 * April 21 – James McAvoy, Scottish actor
 * April 23 – Jaime King, American actress
 * April 26 – Klára Issová, Czech actress
 * April 27 - Tom Davis, English actor and comedian
 * May 5 – Vincent Kartheiser, American actor
 * May 7 – Yōsuke Kubozuka, Japanese actor
 * May 9 – Rosario Dawson, American actress
 * May 12 – Aaron Yoo, Korean-American actor
 * May 19 – Bérénice Marlohe, French actress
 * May 20 - Jana Pallaske, German actress and singer
 * May 22 – Maggie Q, American actress
 * May 23 – Josh Cooley, American animator, screenwriter, director and voice actor
 * May 28
 * Jesse Bradford, American actor
 * Monica Keena, American actress
 * June 2 - Morena Baccarin, Brazilian actress
 * June 7 – Anna Torv, Australian actress
 * June 12 - Wil Horneff, American former child actor
 * June 17 – Young Maylay, American rapper, producer and voice actor
 * June 20 - Sarah Stiles, American singer and actress
 * June 21 – Chris Pratt, American actor
 * June 24 – Mindy Kaling, American writer and actress
 * June 25 - Busy Philipps, American actress
 * June 27
 * Martin Bourboulon, French film director and screenwriter
 * Benjamin Speed, Australian film composer
 * June 30 - Rick Gonzalez, American actor and musician
 * July 3 – Ludivine Sagnier, French actress
 * July 5 – Eva Maria Daniels, Icelandic film producer (d. 2023)
 * July 6
 * Kevin Hart, American actor
 * Abdul Salis, British actor
 * July 7 - Benjamin Mitchell, New Zealand actor
 * July 10 – Gong Yoo, South Korean actor
 * July 12 – Omid Abtahi, Iranian-American actor
 * July 14 – Scott Porter, American actor
 * July 16 – Jayma Mays, American actress
 * July 17 – Mike Vogel, American actor and former model
 * July 19 – David Sakurai, Danish-Japanese actor, director and scriptwriter
 * July 26 - Mageina Tovah, American actress
 * July 31
 * Dana Gourrier, American actress
 * B. J. Novak, American writer and actor
 * August 1 – Jason Momoa, American actor and filmmaker
 * August 3 – Evangeline Lilly, Canadian actress
 * August 6 – Dayahang Rai, Nepalese actor
 * August 10 – JoAnna Garcia Swisher, American actress
 * August 12 - Keith Powell, American actor, writer and director
 * August 13 - Kasia Smutniak, Polish-Italian actress and model
 * August 14 - Jamie Parker, English actor and singer
 * August 21 - Kevin Janssens, Belgian actor
 * August 22 – Brandon Adams, American actor
 * August 23 – Claire Grant, American actress, model and producer
 * August 24 – Fabienne Carat, French actress and singer
 * August 25 – Şebnem Bozoklu, Turkish actress
 * August 26 – Erik Valdez, American actor
 * August 27 – Aaron Paul, American actor
 * August 29 – Dan Harris, American screenwriter and director
 * August 31 – Yuvan Shankar Raja, Indian film composer
 * September 1 - Camille Chen, American actress
 * September 8 – Pink, American singer and actress
 * September 11
 * Ariana Richards, American actress
 * Hu Ting-ting, English-born Taiwanese actress
 * September 17 - Billy Miller, American actor (d. 2023)
 * September 18 – Alison Lohman, American former actress
 * September 19 – Noémie Lenoir, French model and actress
 * September 20 – Chris Tardio, American actor
 * September 22 – MyAnna Buring, Swedish-born British actress
 * September 23 – Lisa Loven Kongsli, Norwegian actress
 * September 25 - Stephen Rider, American actor
 * September 26 - Mark Famiglietti, American actor, screenwriter and producer
 * September 27 – Jad Saxton, American voice actress
 * September 30 – Jonathan Kasdan, American screenwriter, director, producer and actor
 * October 1 – Marielle Heller, American film director
 * October 4
 * Caitríona Balfe, Irish actress
 * Rachael Leigh Cook, American actress
 * October 6 – Sareh Bayat, Iranian actress
 * October 7
 * Tang Wei, Chinese actress
 * Aaron Ashmore and Shawn Ashmore, Canadian actors
 * October 8 – Kristanna Loken, American actress
 * October 9
 * Chris O'Dowd, Irish actor and comedian
 * Brandon Routh, American actor
 * October 20 – John Krasinski, American actor and filmmaker
 * October 28 – Natina Reed, American singer-songwriter, rapper and actress (d. 2012)
 * October 29 – Maya Karin, Malaysian actress
 * October 30 - James A. Woods, Canadian actor
 * October 31 – Erica Cerra, Canadian actress
 * November 5 - Leonardo Nam, Australian actor
 * November 8 – Dania Ramirez, Dominican actress
 * November 9 – Matt McCarthy, American comedian, actor and writer
 * November 13 – Riccardo Scamarcio, Italian actor and producer
 * November 14 – Olga Kurylenko, Ukrainian-French actress
 * November 19 – Barry Jenkins, American film director
 * November 22 – Andrew Knott, British actor
 * November 23 – Jonathan Sadowski, American actor
 * November 25 – Joel Kinnaman, Swedish-American actor
 * November 28 – Daniel Henney, American actor and model
 * November 29 - Timo Vuorensola, Finnish director, singer and actor
 * December 3 – Tiffany Haddish, American comedian and actress
 * December 5 – Nick Stahl, American actor
 * December 7
 * Eric Bauza, Canadian-born American voice actor, stand-up comedian and animation artist
 * Sara Bareilles, American actress and singer
 * December 11 – Rider Strong, American actor
 * December 15 – Adam Brody, American actor, writer, musician and producer
 * December 17 - Lil Rel Howery, American actor and comedian
 * December 20 - Ramón Rodríguez, Puerto Rican actor
 * December 23 – Summer Altice, American model and actress
 * December 26 – Chris Daughtry, American actor and singer
 * December 28 - Noomi Rapace, Swedish actress
 * December 29 – Diego Luna, Mexican actor, director and producer

title: 1979 in film


text:
1978 in film

The year 1978 in film involved some significant events.

Highest-grossing films (U.S.)
The top ten 1978 released films by box office gross in the United States and Canada are as follows:

Events

 * February 6 – David Begelman resigns as president of Columbia Pictures.
 * March 1 – Charlie Chaplin's coffin is stolen from a Swiss cemetery three months after burial. After recovery a few weeks later, the casket is sealed in a concrete vault prior to reburial.
 * March – Leigh Brackett completes the first draft for The Empire Strikes Back, but dies only two weeks later.
 * June – Daniel Melnick becomes head of Columbia Pictures after the David Begelman scandal.
 * June 4 – Grease, starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, has its world premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. It becomes the highest-grossing musical ever and Paramount Pictures' highest-grossing film.
 * July 20 – Alan Hirschfield is fired as president and CEO of Columbia Pictures. He is replaced by Francis T. Vincent.
 * August – Production begins on Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
 * September – George Lucas purchases Bulltail Ranch, on Lucas Valley Road, for the development of Skywalker Ranch.
 * October 25 – Halloween is released.
 * November 17 – Star Wars Holiday Special airs on CBS. The special gives fans their first glimpse of Boba Fett, a character from the upcoming sequel. But he was not enough for the special to avoid negative reviews upon airing.
 * December 10 – Superman premieres at the Kennedy Centre in Washington, D.C., and has a European Royal Charity Premiere at the Empire, Leicester Square in London three days later in the presence of HM Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Andrew.

Awards
Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival):
 * The Tree of Wooden Clogs (L'Albero degli zoccoli), directed by Ermanno Olmi, Italy

Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival):
 * Trout (Las Truchas), directed by José Luis García Sánchez, Spain
 * What Max Said (Las Palabras de Max), directed by Emilio Martínez-Lázaro, Spain

By country/region

 * List of American films of 1978
 * List of Argentine films of 1978
 * List of Australian films of 1978
 * List of Bangladeshi films of 1978
 * List of British films of 1978
 * List of Canadian films of 1978
 * List of French films of 1978
 * List of Hong Kong films of 1978
 * List of Indian films of 1978
 * List of Hindi films of 1978
 * List of Kannada films of 1978
 * List of Malayalam films of 1978
 * List of Marathi films of 1978
 * List of Tamil films of 1978
 * List of Telugu films of 1978
 * List of Japanese films of 1978
 * List of Mexican films of 1978
 * List of Pakistani films of 1978
 * List of South Korean films of 1978
 * List of Soviet films of 1978
 * List of Spanish films of 1978

By genre/medium

 * List of action films of 1978
 * List of animated feature films of 1978
 * List of avant-garde films of 1978
 * List of comedy films of 1978
 * List of drama films of 1978
 * List of horror films of 1978
 * List of science fiction films of 1978
 * List of thriller films of 1978
 * List of western films of 1978

Births

 * January 1 – Christian Tessier, Canadian actor
 * January 2
 * Raghda Khateb, Syrian voice actress
 * Megumi Toyoguchi, Japanese voice actress
 * January 3 – Kimberley Locke, American singer-songwriter and model
 * January 5
 * Clarine Harp, American voice actress
 * January Jones, American actress and model
 * America Olivo, American actress and singer
 * January 6 – Tara Spencer-Nairn, Canadian actress
 * January 8 – Scott Whyte, American actor
 * January 9 – AJ McLean, American musician, singer, dancer, actor, and entertainer
 * January 10 – Antonio Cupo, Canadian film and television actor
 * January 14 - Blake Ritson, English actor
 * January 15
 * Eddie Cahill, American actor
 * Jamie Clayton, actress, model
 * January 17
 * Pampita, Argentine model, actress, television personality
 * Takatoshi Kaneko, Japanese actor
 * Ricky Wilson, English actor, singer
 * January 20 – Omar Sy, French actor
 * January 24
 * Mark Hildreth, Canadian actor, voice actor
 * Kristen Schaal, American actress, comedian and writer
 * January 25 – Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian actor and politician
 * January 27 – Jake Pavelka, American pilot, television personality
 * January 28 – Stephen Farrelly, Irish actor, professional wrestler
 * February 7 – Ashton Kutcher, American actor
 * February 9 – A. J. Buckley, Canadian actor
 * February 10 - Don Omar, Puerto Rican singer, rapper and actor
 * February 11 - Lymari Nadal, Puerto Rican actress, producer and screenwriter
 * February 12 –
 * Paul Anderson, British actor
 * Gethin Jones, Welsh television presenter
 * February 14 – Danai Gurira, actress, playwright
 * February 17
 * Ashton Holmes, American actor
 * Rory Kinnear, English actor and playwright
 * February 20
 * Jay Hernandez, American actor
 * Julia Jentsch, German actress
 * Chelsea Peretti, American comedian, actress, television writer and singer-songwriter
 * February 23 – Kris Lemche, Canadian actor
 * February 24 – Nicole Lyn, Canadian actress
 * February 28 - Geoffrey Arend, American actor
 * March 1 – Jensen Ackles, American actor
 * March 3 – Aarti Mann, Indian-American actress
 * March 5 – Kimberly McCullough, American actress, dancer, director
 * March 8 – Nick Zano, American actor
 * March 9 – Katherine Parkinson, English actress
 * March 16 – Sophie Hunter, English actress and singer
 * March 17 – Patrick Seitz, American voice actor
 * March 21
 * Kevin Federline, American rapper, DJ, actor, television personality, professional wrestler, and fashion model
 * Rani Mukerji, Indian actress
 * March 23 – Nicholle Tom and David Tom, American actress and actor
 * March 24 – Amanda Brugel, Canadian actress
 * March 25 – Teddy Lussi-Modeste, French film director, screenwriter and literature teacher
 * March 31 - Daniel Mays, English actor
 * April 1 – Anamaria Marinca, Romanian actress
 * April 2 – Deon Richmond, American actor
 * April 3 – Matthew Goode, English actor
 * April 6 - Lauren Ridloff, deaf American actress
 * April 7
 * Duncan James, English actor, television presenter and singer
 * Scott McGillivray, Canadian television host
 * April 8
 * Paola Núñez, Mexican actress and producer
 * Rachel Roberts, Canadian model and actress
 * April 12 – Riley Smith, American actor
 * April 13 – Kyle Howard, American actor
 * April 14 - Michelle Duncan, Scottish-Canadian actress
 * April 16 – Lara Dutta, Indian actress
 * April 17 – Ido Mosseri, Israeli actor, singer and musician
 * April 19
 * James Franco, American actor
 * Joanna Gaines, American designer, businesswoman, entrepreneur, television personality
 * April 20
 * Matt Austin, Canadian actor
 * Clayne Crawford, American actor
 * April 23 – Ian Brennan, American writer, actor, producer
 * April 26
 * Stana Katic, Canadian-American actress, producer
 * Pablo Schreiber, Canadian actor
 * April 28
 * Nate Richert, American actor, musician
 * Drew Scott, Canadian actor, realtor, and entrepreneur
 * Jonathan Scott, Canadian reality television personality, contractor, illusionist, and television and film producer
 * April 29 – Tyler Labine, Canadian actor
 * April 30 – Sandra Huller, German actress
 * May 1 – James Badge Dale, American actor
 * May 2 - Kumail Nanjiani, Pakistani-American comedian, actor and screenwriter
 * May 4 – Daisuke Ono, Japanese voice actor and singer
 * May 5 – Santiago Cabrera, Venezuelan-born Chilean actor
 * May 8
 * Matthew Davis, American actor
 * Ana Maria Lombo, American musician and television personality
 * Josie Maran, American model, actress, and entrepreneur
 * May 9 – Daniel Franzese, American actor, comedian and activist
 * May 10
 * Corri English, American actress
 * Kenan Thompson, American actor, comedian
 * May 11 – Warren Brown, English actor and former professional Thai boxer
 * May 12
 * Aaron Abrams, Canadian actor, writer
 * Malin Åkerman, Swedish-Canadian actress
 * Jason Biggs, American actor
 * May 13 - Patrick Hughes, Australian director and screenwriter
 * May 15
 * Caroline Dhavernas, Canadian actress
 * David Krumholtz, American actor
 * May 16 – Jim Sturgess, English actor
 * May 17
 * Gabriel Hogan, Canadian-born American actor
 * Kat Foster, American actress
 * May 18 – Chad Donella, Canadian actor
 * May 21 – Chris Santos, American actor
 * May 22 – Ginnifer Goodwin, American actress
 * May 24 – Bryan Greenberg, American actor
 * May 25 – Brian Urlacher, former American football linebacker
 * May 26 – Laurence Fox, English actor, singer-songwriter, and guitarist
 * May 28 – Jake Johnson, actor, comedian
 * May 29 – Adam Rickitt, English actor, singer and model
 * June 2
 * Dominic Cooper, English actor
 * Nikki Cox, American actress
 * Justin Long, American actor
 * June 4
 * Josh McDermitt, American film and television actor and comedian
 * Robin Lord Taylor, American actor
 * June 5
 * Nick Kroll, American actor, comedian, writer and producer
 * Jeff Schroeder, American television and online talk show host
 * June 6 - Judith Barsi, American child actress (d. 1988)
 * June 7
 * Bill Hader, American actor, comedian
 * Anna Torv, Australian actress
 * June 8 – Maria Menounos, American actress
 * June 9 – Michaela Conlin, American actress
 * June 10
 * DJ Qualls, American actor
 * Shane West, American actor
 * Marko Zaror, Chilean martial artist and actor
 * June 11 – Joshua Jackson, Canadian actor
 * June 12 - Timothy Simons, American actor and comedian
 * June 13 – Ethan Embry, American actor
 * June 14 - Diablo Cody, Canadian writer
 * June 16 – Daniel Brühl, German actor
 * June 18 – Tara Platt, American voice actress
 * June 19
 * Mía Maestro, Argentine actress and singer-songwriter
 * Zoe Saldana, American actress
 * June 20
 * Quinton Jackson, American mixed martial artist, actor and former professional wrestler
 * Mike Birbiglia, American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer
 * June 21 – Erica Durance, Canadian actress
 * June 27 – Courtney Ford, actress
 * June 28 – Ha Ji-won, South Korean actress
 * June 29 –
 * Luke Kirby, Canadian actor
 * Nicole Scherzinger, American singer, songwriter, dancer, actress and television personality
 * July 2 – Owain Yeoman, Welsh actor
 * July 3 – Ian Anthony Dale, American actor
 * July 4
 * Becki Newton, American actress
 * July 6
 * Adam Busch, American actor, film director and singer
 * Tia Mowry and Tamera Mowry, American actresses
 * July 8 – Rachael Lillis, American voice actress
 * July 9 – Kyle Davis, American actor
 * July 11
 * Dustin Demri-Burns, English actor, comedian, and writer
 * Jonjo O'Neill, Irish actor
 * Thomas Stone, Hungarian pornographic actor
 * July 12
 * Topher Grace, American actor
 * Michelle Rodriguez, American actress
 * July 15 – Greg Sestero, American actor, writer
 * July 17
 * Justine Triet, French film director, screenwriter and editor
 * R. J. Williams, American actor, television host, CEO of Young Hollywood
 * July 20
 * Charlie Korsmo, American former child actor
 * Anatol Yusef, English stage, film and television actor
 * July 21
 * Justin Bartha, American actor
 * Josh Hartnett, American actor
 * July 22 – A. J. Cook, Canadian actress
 * July 23 - Pearry Reginald Teo, Singaporean filmmaker (d. 2023)
 * July 24 – Jeff Mauro, American actor, chef
 * July 29 - Paul King, British writer and director
 * August 2 – Natashia Williams, American actress, model
 * August 3
 * Tommy Dewey, American actor, producer, writer
 * Shanelle Workman, American actress, voice actress, producer and director
 * August 4 – Mick Cain, American actor
 * August 6 – Lee Ji-ah, South Korean actress
 * August 8 – Countess Vaughn, American actress
 * August 10
 * Leo Fitzpatrick, American actor
 * Alison Folland, American actress and filmmaker
 * August 18 – Andy Samberg, American actor, comedian
 * August 19 - Michelle Borth, American actress
 * August 20 – Kris Smith, English Australian model, television presenter and rugby league footballer
 * August 22 – James Corden, English singer, actor, television host
 * August 23 – Andrew Rannells, American actor, voice actor, singer
 * August 24 – Beth Riesgraf, American actress
 * August 25 – Kel Mitchell, American actor, comedian
 * August 28 – Sam Wills, New Zealand prop comic, busker, clown, and mime
 * August 30 – Gianpaolo Venuta, Canadian actor
 * August 31 – Mike Erwin, American actor
 * September 3 – Nick Wechsler, Amer(ican actor
 * September 4 – Wes Bentley, American actor
 * September 7 – Devon Sawa, Canadian actor
 * September 12 – Benjamin McKenzie, American actor
 * September 16
 * Carolina Dieckmann, Brazilian actress
 * Ebonie Smith, American former actress and model
 * September 18 – Billy Eichner, American comedian, actor, writer, and television personality
 * September 20 – Charlie Weber, American actor
 * September 21 – Paulo Costanzo, Canadian actor
 * September 22 – Daniella Alonso, American actress and fashion model
 * September 23 – Anthony Mackie, American actor
 * September 24 - Christopher Nowinski, American author, co-founder and executive director of the Concussion Legacy Foundation; as well as a former professional wrestler with World Wrestling Entertainment
 * September 25 – Rossif Sutherland, Canadian actor
 * September 28 – Lucas Bryant, Canadian actor
 * September 29 – Nathan West, American actor
 * September 30 - Stark Sands, American actor
 * October 1 – Katie Aselton, American actress, film director and producer
 * October 3
 * Christian Coulson, English actor
 * Shannyn Sossamon, American actress
 * October 6 - Lindsey Pearlman, American actress (d. 2022)
 * October 7
 * Joe Armstrong, English actor
 * Hattie Morahan, English actress
 * October 9 – Randy Spelling, American actor
 * October 10
 * Trevor Eyster, American actor
 * Edan Gross, American former child actor
 * Jodi Lyn O'Keefe, American actress
 * October 11
 * Wes Chatham, American actor
 * Trevor Donovan, American actor
 * October 14 – Usher, American singer, actor
 * October 15
 * Devon Gummersall, American actor
 * Matt Lutz, American actor
 * October 16 – Kala Savage, American actress
 * October 18 – Wesley Jonathan, American actor
 * October 21
 * Will Estes, American actor
 * Michael McMillian, American actor
 * October 26 –
 * CM Punk, American mixed martial artist, comic book writer and retired professional wrestler
 * Anthony Carrino, American contractor, designer, developer and television personality
 * October 27 – David Walton, American actor
 * October 28
 * Gwendoline Christie, English actress and model
 * Justin Guarini, American singer and actor
 * October 30 - Matthew Morrison, American singer, actor
 * October 31 – Brian Hallisay, American actor
 * November 1 – Mary Kate Schellhardt, American actress
 * November 2
 * Oliver Chris, English actor
 * Whit Hertford, American theatre director, writer and actor
 * November 7 - Will Gluck, American director, producer, screenwriter and composer
 * November 8 – Keir O'Donnell, Australian-American actor
 * November 9 – Sisqó, American singer, actor, songwriter
 * November 10
 * David Paetkau, Canadian actor
 * Diplo, American actor, DJ, record producer, rapper, songwriter
 * November 12
 * Nicolas Giraud, French actor and filmmaker
 * Alexandra Maria Lara, Romanian-German actress
 * Ashley Williams, American actress
 * November 13 - Marit Velle Kile, Norwegian former actress
 * November 17
 * Nonso Anozie, British actor
 * Zoe Bell, New Zealand stuntwoman, actress
 * Tom Ellis, Welsh actor
 * Rachel McAdams, Canadian actress
 * November 19 – Eric Nenninger, American actor
 * November 20 - Nadine Velazquez, American actress and model
 * November 21 – Yasmine Al Massri, International actress, dancer, video artist and human rights advocate
 * November 23 – Kayvan Novak, British actor, voice actor, and comedian
 * November 24 – Katherine Heigl, American actress
 * November 25 – Taís Araújo, Brazilian actress
 * November 26 – Jun Fukuyama, Japanese voice actor and singer
 * November 28 – Jodie Resther, Canadian actress
 * November 29 – Lauren German, actress
 * November 30
 * Gael García Bernal, Mexican film actor, director, and producer
 * Nelsan Ellis, American actor (d. 2017)
 * December 1 – Stefan Kapičić, Serbian actor
 * December 7
 * Shiri Appleby, American actress
 * Kristofer Hivju, Norwegian film actor, producer and writer
 * December 8 – Ian Somerhalder, American actor
 * December 9 – Jesse Metcalfe, American actor
 * December 10 - Summer Phoenix, American actress
 * December 12 - Gbenga Akinnagbe, American actor and writer
 * December 13 – Cameron Douglas, American actor
 * December 15 – Will Wikle, American actor and reality television personality
 * December 16 – Joe Absolom, English actor
 * December 17 – Douglas Tait, American actor, stuntman, filmmaker
 * December 18
 * Josh Dallas, American actor
 * Katie Holmes, American actress
 * Ravi Patel, American actor
 * December 21
 * Charles Dera, American pornographic actor, dancer, model, martial artist, and former U.S. Marine
 * Mike Vitar, American actor
 * December 22 – Mia Tyler, American actress, model, author, visual artist, media personality, socialite, fashion designer, talent manager and music promoter
 * December 23 - Josh Cowdery, American actor
 * December 24 – Carlson Twins, American actors, models
 * December 25 – Jeremy Strong, American film, television, and stage actor
 * December 27 - Lisa Jakub, Canadian writer and former actress
 * December 28 – John Legend, American composer and actor
 * December 30 – Tyrese Gibson, American actor, singer, model
 * December 31 – Johnny Sins, pornographic actor, director, and Internet personality

Film debuts

 * Karen Allen – National Lampoon's Animal House
 * Pedro Almodóvar (director) – Folle...folle...fólleme Tim!
 * María Conchita Alonso – Savana – Sesso e diamanti
 * Tomas Arana – Blood Feud
 * Kevin Bacon – National Lampoon's Animal House
 * Jonathan Banks – Coming Home
 * Ellen Barkin – Up in Smoke
 * Frances Bay – Foul Play
 * Jim Belushi – The Fury
 * Bob Bergen – Lupin the 3rd: The Mystery of Mamo
 * Michael Biehn – Coach
 * Jake Busey – Straight Time
 * Tommy Chong – Up in Smoke
 * Billy Connolly – Absolution
 * Billy Crystal – Rabbit Test
 * Jamie Lee Curtis – Halloween
 * E. G. Daily – Jukebox
 * Eddie Deezen – Laserblast
 * Julie Delpy – Guerres civiles en France
 * R. Lee Ermey – The Boys in Company C
 * Corey Feldman – Born Again
 * Tovah Feldshuh – Nunzio
 * William Forsythe – Long Shot
 * Dennis Franz – The Fury
 * Joe Grifasi – The Deer Hunter
 * Harry Hamlin – Movie Movie
 * Daryl Hannah – The Fury
 * Mark Harmon – Comes a Horseman
 * Woody Harrelson – Harper Valley PTA
 * Ed Harris – Coma
 * Phil Hartman – Stunt Rock
 * Gregg Henry – Mean Dog Blues
 * Mary Beth Hurt – Interiors
 * Laura Innes – The Fury
 * Michael Keaton – Rabbit Test
 * John Malkovich – A Wedding
 * Joe Mantegna – Towing
 * Cheech Marin – Up in Smoke
 * Laurie Metcalf – A Wedding
 * Liam Neeson – Pilgrim's Progress
 * Natalia Nogulich – Stony Island
 * Deborah Offner – Rush It
 * Michael O'Keefe – Gray Lady Down
 * Mandy Patinkin – The Big Fix
 * Roddy Piper – The One and Only
 * Tony Plana – The Boss's Son
 * Annie Potts – Corvette Summer
 * Robert Prosky – The Brink's Job
 * David Rasche – An Unmarried Woman
 * Christopher Reeve – Gray Lady Down
 * James Remar – On the Yard
 * Jean Reno – The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting
 * Eric Roberts – King of the Gypsies
 * Diana Scarwid – Pretty Baby
 * Gary Sinise – A Wedding
 * James Spader – Team-Mates
 * Mary Steenburgen – Goin' South
 * Peter Stormare – The Score
 * Carel Struycken – Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
 * Rachel Ticotin – King of the Gypsies
 * Tom Waits – Paradise Alley
 * Alberta Watson – Power Play
 * Norbert Weisser – Midnight Express
 * George Wendt – A Wedding
 * Alfre Woodard – Remember My Name
 * Grace Zabriskie – They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way
 * Robert Zemeckis (director) – I Wanna Hold Your Hand

title: 1978 in film


text:
George Seaton

George Seaton (April 17, 1911 – July 28, 1979) was an American screenwriter, playwright, film director and producer, and theater director. Seaton led several industry organizations, serving as a three-time president of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences, president of the Writers Guild of America West and the Screen Directors Guild, and vice president of Motion Picture Relief Fund. He won two Academy Awards for his screenplays.

Early life
Seaton was born George Edward Stenius in South Bend, Indiana, of Swedish descent, the son of Olga (Berglund) and Charles Stenius, who was a chef and restaurant manager. He was baptized as Roman Catholic. He grew up in a Detroit Jewish neighborhood, and described himself as a "Shabas goy". He went on to learn Hebrew in an Orthodox Jewish Yeshiva and was even bar mitzvahed. Seaton attended Exeter Academy and was meant to go to Yale but instead auditioned for Jesse Bonstelle's drama school in Detroit. She hired him for her stock company at $15 a week.

Acting
Seaton worked in stock and on radio. He worked as an actor on radio station WXYZ. John L. Barrett played the Lone Ranger on test broadcasts of the series in early January 1933, but when the program became part of the regular schedule, Seaton was cast in the title role. In later years, he claimed to have devised the cry "Hi-yo, Silver" because he couldn't whistle for his horse as the script required.

Writing at MGM
Seaton wrote several plays, one of which was read by an executive at MGM who offered him a contract.

Seaton, with fellow writer and friend Robert Pirosh, joined Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a contract writer in 1933. He was credited on the scripts for Student Tour (1934) and The Winning Ticket (1935) and did some uncredited work with Robert Pirosh on A Night at the Opera (1935). Seaton's first major screen credit was the Marx Brothers comedy A Day at the Races (1937). His work on the script for Stage Door (1937) and The Wizard of Oz (1939) was uncredited. He wrote a play But Not Goodbye.

Seaton left MGM in 1937, unhappy at being restricted to comedies.

Columbia and 20th Century Fox
Seaton went to Columbia where he was credited on the scripts for The Doctor Takes a Wife (1940), This Thing Called Love (1940) and Bedtime Story (1941). At Columbia, Seaton first met William Perlberg.

In the early 1940s, Seaton joined 20th Century Fox, where he remained for the rest of the decade, writing scripts for That Night in Rio (1941) with Don Ameche and Alice Faye. For a time, he specialized in musicals and comedy: Moon Over Miami (1941), with Betty Grable and Ameche, and Charley's Aunt (1941), with Jack Benny.

Seaton wrote a historical war film, Ten Gentlemen from West Point (1942), then did the comedies The Magnificent Dope (1942) with Ameche and Henry Fonda, and The Meanest Man in the World (1943) with Jack Benny.

Seaton wrote The Song of Bernadette (1943), which was a big success. It was produced by William Perlberg who would have an important influence on Seaton's career. Seaton followed it with the Betty Grable musical Coney Island (1943). He also wrote The Eve of St. Mark (1944).

But Not Goodbye, Seaton's 1944 Broadway debut as a playwright, closed after only 23 performances, although it later was adapted for the 1946 MGM film The Cockeyed Miracle by Karen DeWolf.

Directing
Seaton's success as a writer paved the way for his work as a director. His first film was Diamond Horseshoe (1945) with Grable, which he also wrote. It was produced by William Perlberg, who would go on to produce all of Seaton's films. The film was very successful.

Seaton did some uncredited directing on Where Do We Go from Here? (1945) then wrote and directed Junior Miss (1945), based on a popular play, with Peggy Ann Garner.

Seaton wrote and directed The Shocking Miss Pilgrim (1947) with Grable. He followed it with Miracle on 34th Street (1947), which quickly became acknowledged as a classic. Seaton won an Oscar for his screenplay. Seaton wrote and directed the comedies Apartment for Peggy (1948) with William Holden and Jeanne Crain, and Chicken Every Sunday (1949) with Dan Dailey. He wrote a screenplay adapted from a Harry Segall play and directed For Heaven's Sake (1950) with Clifton Webb.

Seaton wrote and directed a 1950 drama about the Berlin Airlift with Montgomery Clift,The Big Lift.

Perlberg-Seaton productions
In November 1950, Seaton and Perlberg signed a multi-million dollar contract with Paramount for six years. Seaton was to write and direct films, and they would also produce films from others. They produced, but did not write or direct, the comedy Rhubarb (1951), Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick (1952), and Somebody Loves Me (1952) with Betty Hutton. Seaton's first film as writer director for Paramount was Anything Can Happen (1952), a comedy with José Ferrer.

Seaton made two films with Bing Crosby. Little Boy Lost (1953) was not a success but The Country Girl (1954), based on the play by Clifford Odets was a notable triumph. Grace Kelly earned an Oscar for Best Actress and Seaton won an Oscar for his screenplay.

Seaton and Perlberg produced The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954), directed by Mark Robson, with Holden and Kelly. It was a huge hit.

Seaton wrote and directed The Proud and Profane (1956) with William Holden and Deborah Kerr, which was a box office disappointment. He directed a short film Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot (1957) and produced The Tin Star (1957), directed by Anthony Mann. Seaton and Perlberg were borrowed by Paramount to direct and produce a comedy with Clark Gable and Doris Day, Teacher's Pet (1958).

In April 1958, Seaton announced he and Perlberg would produce six more films for Paramount. The first of these were But Not for Me (1959) and The Rat Race (1960), directed by Robert Mulligan. Seaton worked as director on The Pleasure of His Company (1961) with Fred Astaire and Debbie Reynolds.

He wrote and directed The Counterfeit Traitor (1962) with Holden. They ended to follow it with The Hook then Night Without End adapted by Eric Ambler from an Alistair MacLean novel.

Perlberg-Seaton Productions moved to MGM where Seaton directed Kirk Douglas in The Hook (1963), a Korean War drama. Seaton was an uncredited producer on Twilight of Honor (1963) and directed some additional scenes on Mutiny on the Bounty (1963). Seaton announced he would make Merrily We Roll Along, but the film was never made. Seaton wrote and directed 36 Hours (1964), a war time thriller based on a story by Roald Dahl.

Industry leadership
Seaton served as president of the Writers Guild of America West from 1948-1949. In 1955, he was elected president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences served three terms, 1955-1958.

Seaton directed the 28th Academy Awards in 1956.

In 1968, Seaton won the Valentine Davies Award "given to the Writers Guild of America West member whose contributions...have brought dignity and honor to writers everywhere."

Broadway
In May 1965, Seaton announced the end of his partnership with Perlberg. He returned to Broadway to direct Above William. (1965) He then directed the Norman Krasna play Love in E Flat, which was a critical and commercial flop. The musical Here's Love, adapted from his screenplay for Miracle on 34th Street by Meredith Willson, proved to be more successful.

Universal
Seaton went to Universal where he signed a three-picture contract. The first film was the comedy What's So Bad About Feeling Good? (1968), which Seaton produced and directed as well as writing with Robert Pirosh, with whom he had cowritten A Day at the Races (1937). Seaton disliked writing, producing and directing. "It's too much work," he said.

Seaton then had the biggest hit of his career with the all-star Airport (1970), which Seaton adapted from the novel by Arthur Hailey. It was produced by Ross Hunter. Seaton's script earned him an Oscar nomination.

Seaton's last film as director was his third for Universal Showdown (1973), which he also produced. He announced he was looking for another film to make but none eventuated.

Personal life
In 1936, Seaton married Phyllis Loughton Seaton, a Broadway stage manager who became a successful acting coach and was the first female mayor of Beverly Hills in 1973. They had two children.

Seaton died of cancer in Beverly Hills, California in 1979. He had been suffering from it for two years.

Seaton's papers are in the Wisconsin Historical Society Archives, Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research.

Partial filmography

 * A Day at the Races (1937)
 * The Doctor Takes a Wife (1940) (writer)
 * Bedtime Story (1941) (writer only)
 * The Song of Bernadette (1943)
 * The Meanest Man in the World (1943)
 * Junior Miss (1945)
 * The Shocking Miss Pilgrim (1947)
 * Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
 * Apartment for Peggy (1948)
 * Chicken Every Sunday (1949)
 * The Big Lift (1950)
 * For Heaven's Sake (1950)
 * Anything Can Happen (1952)
 * Little Boy Lost (1953)
 * The Country Girl (1954)
 * The Proud and Profane (1956)
 * Williamsburg: the Story of a Patriot (1957)
 * Teacher's Pet (1958)
 * The Pleasure of His Company (1961)
 * The Counterfeit Traitor (1962)
 * The Hook (1963)
 * 36 Hours (1964)
 * What's So Bad About Feeling Good? (1968)
 * Airport (1970)
 * Showdown (1973)

title: George Seaton