The year1972 in filminvolved several significant events. Universal PicturesandParamount Picturescelebrated their 60th anniversaries andMotion Picture Association of Americaclebrated their 50th anniversary.
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Highest-grossing films (U.S.)
editThe top ten 1972 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:
| Rank | Title | Distributor | Domestic rentals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Godfather | Paramount | $86,300,000[1] |
| 2 | The Poseidon Adventure | 20th Century Fox | $42,000,000[1] |
| 3 | What's Up, Doc? | Warner Bros. | $28,000,000[1] |
| 4 | Deliverance | $22,500,000[1] | |
| 5 | Jeremiah Johnson | $21,900,000[2] | |
| 6 | Cabaret | Allied Artists | $20,250,000[2] |
| 7 | Deep Throat | Bryanston | $20,000,000[2] |
| 8 | The Getaway | National General | $18,000,000[2] |
| 9 | Brother of the Wind | Sun International | $12,000,000[3] |
| 10 | Lady Sings the Blues | Paramount | $9,666,000[2] |
Awards
editPalme d'Or(Cannes Film Festival):
- The Working Class Goes to Heaven(La classe operaia va in paradiso), directed byElio Petri,Italy
- The Mattei Affair(Il Caso Mattei), directed byFrancesco Rosi,Italy
Golden Bear(Berlin Film Festival):
- The Canterbury Tales(I Racconti di Canterbury), directed byPier Paolo Pasolini,Italy / France
1972 films
editBy country/region
edit- List of American films of 1972
- List of Argentine films of 1972
- List of Australian films of 1972
- List of Bangladeshi films of 1972
- List of British films of 1972
- List of Canadian films of 1972
- List of French films of 1972
- List of Hong Kong films of 1972
- List of Indian films of 1972
- List of Italian films of 1972
- List of Japanese films of 1972
- List of Mexican films of 1972
- List of Pakistani films of 1972
- List of South Korean films of 1972
- List of Soviet films of 1972
- List of Spanish films of 1972
By genre/medium
editBirths
edit- January 5 -Luciana Pedraza,Argentine actress and director
- January 9 –Deon Cole,American actor
- January 11
- Marc Blucas,American actor
- Konstantin Khabensky,Russian actor and director
- Amanda Peet,American actress
- January 12 -Zabryna Guevara,American actress
- January 15 –Kobe Tai,Taiwanese-American actress
- January 16 -Richard T. Jones,American actor
- January 20 -Adrian Martinez,American actor and comedian
- January 22 -Romi Park,Japanese actress and singer
- January 23 -
- Léa Drucker,French actress
- Ewen Bremner,Scottish character actor
- January 26 -Cyia Batten,American dancer, model and actress
- January 28
- Peter McDonald,Irish actor and director
- Gillian Vigman,American actress, comedian and screenwriter
- February 1 -Tego Calderón,Puerto Rican rapper, singer and actor
- February 7 -Robyn Lively,American actress
- February 9 –Crispin Freeman,American voice actor
- February 16 -Sarah Clarke,American actress
- February 20 –Gareth Unwin,English producer[4]
- February 24 -James Bachman,English comedian, actor and writer
- February 26
- Keith Ferguson,American voice actor
- Maz Jobrani,American comedian and actor
- February 27 -Richard Coyle,English actor
- February 28 -Rory Cochrane,American actor
- March 4 –Garth Jennings,English film director, screenwriter, producer, actor and writer
- March 8 -Matt Nable,Australian actor and writer
- March 9
- Jean Louisa Kelly,American actress and singer
- Kerr Smith,American actor
- March 13 –Common,American actor and singer
- March 16 -Nicolas Bro,Danish actor
- March 18 –Dane Cook,American comedian
- March 23 –Judith Godrèche,French actress
- March 24
- Charlie Creed-Miles,English actor and musician
- Tony Leondis,Greek-American animator, filmmaker and voice actor
- March 26 –Leslie Mann,American actress
- March 28
- Nick Frost,English actor, comedian, writer and producer
- David Vadim,Ukrainian-born American actor
- Ledisi,American singer-songwriter and actress
- March 29 -Sam Hazeldine,English actor
- March 31 –Alejandro Amenábar,Spanish director, writer and soundtrack composer
- April 3 -Catherine McCormack,English actress
- April 5 -Junko Takeuchi,Japanese actress and voice actress
- April 6 -Jason Hervey,American actor and producer
- April 8 -Sung Kang,American actor
- April 10 -Vincent Zhao,Chinese actor and martial artist
- April 15 -Lou Romano,American animator and voice actor
- April 17 –Jennifer Garner,American actress
- April 18 -Eli Roth,American director, screenwriter, producer and actor
- April 20 -Carmen Electra,American actress, singer and model
- April 26 -Bronagh Gallagher,Irish actress and singer
- April 28 -Gabriel Casseus,American actor and screenwriter
- April 29 –Derek Mears,American actor and stuntman
- May 2 –Dwayne Johnson,American actor
- May 4 -John Rawls,New Zealand actor
- May 7 -Jennifer Yuh Nelson,South Korean-born American story artist and director
- May 10 -Cary Guffey,American former child actor
- May 12
- Christian Campbell,Canadian actor
- Rhea Seehorn,American actress and director
- May 14 -Gabriel Mann,American actor and model
- May 16 -Khary Payton,American actor
- May 20 -Busta Rhymes,American rapper and actor
- May 22 -Max Brooks,American actor
- May 25 -Karan Johar,Indian director
- May 26 -Selenis Leyva,American actress
- May 28
- Kate Ashfield,English actress
- Chiara Mastroianni,French actress
- Roland Møller,Danish actor
- May 29 -Laverne Cox,American actress
- May 30 -Joachim Rønning,Norwegian director
- May 31 -Archie Panjabi,British actress
- June 2
- Wayne Brady,American actor, comedian, producer and game show host
- Wentworth Miller,American-British actor and screenwriter
- June 7 –Karl Urban,New Zealand actor
- June 16 -John Cho,American actor
- June 19
- Jean Dujardin,French actor
- Robin Tunney,American actress
- June 23 –Selma Blair,American actress
- June 28
- Brendan Hunt,American actor and writer
- Alessandro Nivola,American actor
- July 3 -Matt Schulze,American actor and musician
- July 5 –Gilles Lellouche,French actor and director
- July 7 -Heather Kafka,American actress
- July 10
- Christoph Hochhäusler,German film director and screenwriter
- Peter Serafinowicz,English actor, comedian, director and screenwriter
- Sofia Vergara,Colombian American actress, television producer, presenter and model
- John Viener,American actor, voice actor, writer and comedian
- July 11 -Michael Rosenbaum,American actor, director, producer, singer and comedian
- July 12 –Nenad Jezdić,Serbian actor
- July 15 –Scott Foley,American actor, director and screenwriter
- July 23 -Marlon Wayans,American actor, comedian, writer and producer
- July 27 –Maya Rudolph,American actress and comedian
- July 28
- Elizabeth Berkley,American actress
- Evan Farmer,American actor and musician
- July 29
- Ato Essandoh,American actor
- Wil Wheaton,American actor
- August 1
- Guri Weinberg,Israeli-American actor and writer
- Charles Malik Whitfield,American actor
- August 2 -Jacinda Barrett,Australian-American actress
- August 5
- Darren Shahlavi,English actor, martial artist and stuntman (d. 2015)
- Reika Kirishima,Japanese actress
- August 7
- Dan Payne,Canadian actor
- Greg Serano,American actor
- August 10 -Angie Harmon,American actress
- August 13 -Michael Sinterniklaas,French voice actor
- August 15 –Ben Affleck,American actor, director and writer
- August 24 -Ava DuVernay,American filmmaker, screenwriter and producer
- August 25 -Joe Wright,English director
- August 30 –Cameron Diaz,American actress
- September 4
- Carlos Ponce,Puerto Rican actor, musician, model and television personality
- Françoise Yip,Canadian actress
- September 6
- Dylan Bruno,American actor
- Idris Elba,English actor
- Mait Malmsten,Estonian actor
- Anika Noni Rose,American actress and singer
- September 7 –Matthew Sleeth,Australian director
- September 8
- Giovanni Frezza,Italian child actor
- Tomokazu Seki,Japanese voice actor
- September 9 –Goran Visnjic,Croatian-American actor
- September 15 -John Schwab,American actor
- September 16
- Mike Doyle,American actor
- Alex Rice,Aboriginal-Canadian actress
- September 21
- Kevin Downes,American actor, writer, producer and director
- Erin Fitzgerald,Canadian voice actress
- September 24
- Kate Fleetwood,English actress
- Finty Williams,English actress
- September 26 -Melanie Paxson,American actress
- September 27 –Gwyneth Paltrow,American actress
- October 5 -Tom Hooper,British-Australian filmmaker
- October 8
- Enrique Arce,Spanish actor
- Tricia Vessey,American actress, writer and producer
- October 9 -Cocoa Brown,American actress, writer and comedian
- October 11 -Claudia Black,Australian actress
- October 12 -Sönke Möhring,German actor
- October 15 -Matt Keeslar,American former actor
- October 17 –Eminem,American rapper and actor
- October 18 -Christopher Knights,English voice actor, editor and cinematographer
- October 20 -Thor Freudenthal,German director, screenwriter, animator and special effects artist
- October 21 -Masakazu Morita,Japanese actor, voice actor and singer
- October 22 –Saffron Burrows,English-American actress
- October 23 -Kate del Castillo,Mexican-American actress
- October 29 -Gabrielle Union,American actress, voice artist, activist and author
- October 30
- David Wilson Barnes,American actor
- Jessica Hynes,English actress, director and writer
- Steve Monroe,American actor and stand-up comedian
- October 31 -Assaf Cohen,American actor
- November 1
- Toni Collette,Australian actress, producer and singer-songwriter
- Jenny McCarthy,American actress
- November 2 -Steve Edge,English actor, writer and former comedian
- November 6
- Thandiwe Newton,English actress
- Rebecca Romijn,American actress
- November 7
- Christopher Daniel Barnes,American actor and writer
- JeremyandJason London,American actors
- November 8
- Gretchen Mol,American actress
- Jason Matthew Smith,American actor
- November 9 -Eric Dane,American actor
- November 10 -Trevor Devall,Canadian voice actor and podcaster
- November 11
- Adam Beach,Canadian actor
- Tyler Christopher,American actor (d. 2023)
- November 13 -Takuya Kimura,Japanese actor, singer and radio personality
- November 14 –Josh Duhamel,American actor
- November 15 –Jonny Lee Miller,English actor
- November 16
- Mohammad Rasoulof,Iranian independent filmmaker
- Michael Irby,American actor
- November 19
- Nicole Forester,American actress
- Sandrine Holt,British-born Canadian actress
- November 21 -Rain Phoenix,American actress, musician and singer
- November 26 –Arjun Rampal,Indian actor
- November 28 -Michael Blackson,Ghanian actor and comedian
- November 29 -Brian Baumgartner,American actor
- December 2 -Trond Fausa Aurvåg,Norwegian actor and director
- December 4 -Yūko Miyamura,Japanese actress and voice actress
- December 7 –Jennifer Syme,American entertainment industry employee (d. 2001)
- December 9 -Reiko Aylesworth,American actress
- December 14
- Jason Barry,Irish actor
- Miranda Hart,English actress, comedian and writer
- December 15 –Stuart Townsend,Irish actor
- December 16 -Lisa Spoonauer,American former character actress (d. 2017)
- December 18 -Jason Mantzoukas,American character actor, comedian, writer and podcaster.
- December 19 –Alyssa Milano,American actress
- December 20 -Marc Silk,English voice actor
- December 22 -Poorna Jagannathan,American producer and actress
- December 23 –Christian Potenza,Canadian actor and voice actor
- December 24 –Carmen Moore,Canadian actress
- December 25 -Patrick Brennan,American actor
- December 26 –Shane Meadows,English independent film director
- December 27
- Brandon Auret,South African actor
- Thomas Wilson Brown,American actor
- December 29
- Jude Law,English actor
- Leonor Varela,Chilean actress
Deaths
edit| Month | Date | Name | Age | Country | Profession | Notable films |
| January | 1 | Maurice Chevalier | 83 | France | Actor, Singer | |
| 8 | Wesley Ruggles | 82 | US | Director, Producer | ||
| 17 | Rochelle Hudson | 55 | US | Actress | ||
| 18 | George Mitchell | 66 | US | Actor | ||
| 19 | Richard Fraser | 58 | Scotland | Actor | ||
| 22 | Alec Coppel | 64 | Australia | Screenwriter | ||
| 24 | Jerome Cowan | 74 | US | Actor | ||
| 27 | Herbert Hübner | 82 | Germany | Actor | ||
| 29 | Hugh McDermott | 65 | Scotland | Actor | ||
| February | 2 | Jessie Royce Landis | 75 | US | Actress | |
| 7 | Walter Lang | 75 | US | Director | ||
| 19 | John Grierson | 73 | Scotland | Director, Producer | ||
| 20 | Walter Winchell | 74 | US | Commentator | ||
| 21 | Bronislava Nijinska | 64 | Poland | Choreographer | ||
| March | 3 | Harold Young | 74 | US | Director, Editor | |
| 19 | Albert Mannheimer | 59 | US | Screenwriter | ||
| 20 | Marilyn Maxwell | 51 | US | Actress | ||
| 29 | J. Arthur Rank | 83 | England | Executive | ||
| 29 | Hal Roach Jr. | 53 | US | Director, Producer | ||
| 30 | Peter Whitney | 55 | US | Actor | ||
| April | 5 | Brian Donlevy | 71 | Ireland | Actor | |
| 5 | Isabel Jewell | 64 | US | Actress | ||
| 7 | Betty Blythe | 78 | US | Actress | ||
| 13 | Dorothy Dalton | 78 | US | Actress | ||
| 20 | Jorge Mistral | 51 | Spain | Actor | ||
| 25 | George Sanders | 65 | England | Actor | ||
| 25 | Alfred J. Goulding | 87 | Australia | Director | ||
| 27 | Bobby Howes | 76 | England | Producer, Director | ||
| 28 | Harry Joe Brown | 81 | US | Producer, Director | ||
| 30 | Gia Scala | 38 | England | Actor | ||
| May | 3 | Bruce Cabot | 68 | US | Actor | |
| 4 | Elsa Ratassepp | 79 | Estonia | Actress | Libahunt | |
| 5 | Frank Tashlin | 59 | US | Director | ||
| 7 | Henri Diamant-Berger | 76 | France | Director, producer, screenwriter | ||
| 12 | Steve Ihnat | 37 | Czechoslovakia | Actor | ||
| 13 | Dan Blocker | 43 | US | Actor | ||
| 15 | Nigel Green | 47 | South Africa | Actor | ||
| 18 | Sidney Franklin | 79 | US | Director, Producer | ||
| 22 | Margaret Rutherford | 80 | England | Actress | ||
| 23 | Richard Day | 76 | Canada | Art director | ||
| 24 | Asta Nielsen | 90 | Denmark | Actress | ||
| 25 | Charles C. Coleman | 70 | US | Director | ||
| June | 17 | Jean Brochard | 79 | France | Actor | |
| 17 | Gale Henry | 79 | US | Actress | ||
| 20 | Sidney Lanfield | 74 | US | Director | ||
| 22 | Paul Czinner | 82 | Hungary | Director, screenwriter | ||
| 25 | Nicholas Hannen | 74 | England | Director | ||
| 27 | Thomy Bourdelle | 81 | France | Actor | ||
| July | 3 | Hal Walker | 76 | US | Director | |
| 6 | Brandon deWilde | 30 | US | Actor | ||
| 10 | Emrys Jones | 56 | England | Actor | ||
| 10 | Harmon Jones | 61 | Canada | Director | ||
| 19 | Sally Benson | 74 | US | Screenwriter | ||
| 28 | Helen Traubel | 73 | US | Actress, Singer | ||
| August | 7 | Joi Lansing | 43 | US | Actress | |
| 7 | Tom Neal | 58 | US | Actor | ||
| 14 | Oscar Levant | 65 | US | Actor | ||
| 16 | Pierre Brasseur | 66 | France | Actor | ||
| 19 | Roger Furse | 68 | England | Costume and production designer | ||
| 24 | D. Ross Lederman | 77 | US | Director | ||
| 27 | Gaby André | 52 | France | Actress | ||
| September | 11 | Max Fleischer | 89 | US | Animator, Director, Producer | |
| 12 | William Boyd | 77 | US | Actor | ||
| 14 | Lane Chandler | 73 | US | Actor | ||
| 17 | Akim Tamiroff | 72 | Russia | Actor | ||
| 29 | Max Nosseck | 70 | Germany | Director | ||
| 29 | Edward Sloman | 86 | US | Actor | ||
| 30 | Edgar G. Ulmer | 68 | Austria | Director | ||
| October | 4 | Colin Gordon | 61 | England | Actor | |
| 9 | Miriam Hopkins | 69 | US | Actress | ||
| 16 | Leo G. Carroll | 85 | England | Actor | ||
| 22 | Jack Melford | 73 | England | Actor | ||
| 24 | Claire Windsor | 80 | US | Actor | ||
| 28 | Mitchell Leisen | 74 | US | Director | ||
| November | 5 | Reginald Owen | 85 | England | Actor | |
| 7 | Tod Andrews | 57 | Russia | Actor | ||
| 10 | Francis Chagrin | 66 | Romania | Composer | ||
| 16 | Vera Karalli | 83 | Russia | Actress | ||
| 23 | Marie Wilson | 56 | US | Actress | ||
| 29 | Eve Southern | 72 | US | Actress | ||
| 30 | William P. S. Earle | 89 | US | Director | ||
| December | 6 | Janet Munro | 38 | England | Actress | |
| 9 | William Dieterle | 79 | Germany | Director | ||
| 9 | Louella Parsons | 91 | US | Columnist, Screenwriter | ||
| 15 | Edward Earle | 90 | Canada | Actor | ||
| 19 | Jacques Deval | 77 | France | Director, Screenwriter |
Film debuts
edit- Anne Archer–The Honkers
- William Atherton–The New Centurions
- Margaret Avery–Cool Breeze
- Elya Baskin–Telegramma
- Emmanuelle Béart–And Hope to Die
- Ned Beatty–Deliverance
- Susan Blakely–Savages
- Klaus Maria Brandauer–The Salzburg Connection
- Jerry Bruckheimer(producer) –The Culpepper Cattle Co.
- Robert Carradine–The Cowboys
- Dominic Chianese–Fuzz
- Candy Clark–Fat City
- Allan Corduner–Savage Messiah
- Ronny Cox–Deliverance
- Blythe Danner–To Kill a Clown
- Brian Doyle-Murray–Fuzz
- Art Evans–Sisters
- Peter Firth–Brother Sun, Sister Moon
- Jodie Foster–Napoleon and Samantha
- Jackie Earle Haley–The Outside Man
- Bob Hoskins–Up the Front
- Isabelle Huppert–Faustine et le Bel Été
- Samuel L. Jackson–Together for Days
- Madeline Kahn–What's Up, Doc?
- Patsy Kensit–For the Love of Ada
- Ben Kingsley–Fear Is the Key
- Ed Lauter–Dirty Little Billy
- John Lithgow–Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues
- David Margulies–Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers
- Steve Martin–Another Nice Mess
- Frank McRae–Cool Breeze
- Nick Nolte–Dirty Little Billy
- Jürgen Prochnow–Zoff
- Kathleen Quinlan–One Is a Lonely Number
- Steve Railsback–The Visitors
- Alan Silvestri(film composer) –The Doberman Gang
- Frank Sivero–The Godfather
- Stellan Skarsgård–Strandhugg i somras
- Charles Martin Smith–The Culpepper Cattle Co.
- Kemal Sunal–Sweet Talker
- Jeffrey Tambor–The Summertime Killer
- Lily Tomlin–Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers
- James Woods–The Visitors
- George Wyner–Lady Sings the Blues
