The year 1962 in film involved some very significant events. Releases in the United States included the hit films To Kill a Mockingbird, Mutiny on the Bounty, and Lawrence of Arabia, with the latter winning seven Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director. Universal Pictures and Paramount Pictures also celebrated their 50th anniversaries.
Top-grossing films (U.S.)
The top ten 1962 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:
+ Highest-grossing films of 1962 Rank Title Distributor Domestic rentals 1The Longest Day 20th Century Fox $15,250,000"All-time top film grossers", Variety 8 January 1964 p 37. 2 Lawrence of Arabia Columbia $15,000,000 3 The Music Man Warner Bros. $8,000,000 4 That Touch of Mink Universal $7,942,000 5Mutiny on the Bounty MGM $7,410,000 6 To Kill a Mockingbird Universal $7,112,000 7 Hatari! Paramount $7,000,000 8 Gypsy Warner Bros. $6,000,000 9 Bon Voyage!The Interns Buena VistaColumbia $5,000,000 10In Search of the Castaways Buena Vista $4,900,000
Events February – Warner Bros. buys the film rights for My Fair Lady for the unprecedented sum of $5.5 million plus 47¼% of the gross over $20 million. May – The Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards are officially founded by the Taiwanese government. June 18 – MCA Inc. finalize their merger with Decca-Universal. July 25 – Darryl F. Zanuck, one of the founders of 20th Century Fox, becomes president, replacing Spyros Skouras. Skouras becomes chairman of the board. August 5 – Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962) is found dead of a drug overdose. September 7 – Filming of Sergei Bondarchuk's War and Peace begins and will continue for another 5 years. October 5 – Dr. No launches the James Bond series, the second longest-running film franchise of all time (next to Godzilla), still running 60 years later (No Time to Die, 2021). It also launches the career of Sean Connery.
Awards
Academy Awards:
Best Picture: Lawrence of Arabia – Horizon-Spiegel-Lean, Columbia Best Director: David Lean – Lawrence of Arabia Best Actor: Gregory Peck – To Kill a Mockingbird Best Actress: Anne Bancroft – The Miracle Worker Best Supporting Actor: Ed Begley – Sweet Bird of Youth Best Supporting Actress: Patty Duke – The Miracle Worker Best Foreign Language Film: Sundays and Cybele (Les dimanches de ville d'Avray), directed by Serge Bourguignon, France
Golden Globe Awards:
Drama: Best Picture: Lawrence of Arabia Best Actor: Gregory Peck – To Kill a Mockingbird Best Actress: Geraldine Page – Sweet Bird of Youth
Comedy or Musical: Best Picture − Comedy: That Touch of Mink Best Picture − Musical: The Music Man Best Actor: Marcello Mastroianni – Divorce Italian Style Best Actress: Rosalind Russell – Gypsy
Other Best Director: David Lean – Lawrence of Arabia Best Supporting Actor: Omar Sharif – Lawrence of Arabia Best Supporting Actress: Angela Lansbury – The Manchurian Candidate
Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival): Keeper of Promises (O Pagador de Promessas), directed by Anselmo Duarte, Brazil
Golden Lion (Venice Film Festival): Family Diary (Cronaca familiare, Journal intime), directed by Valerio Zurlini, France / Italy My Name is Ivan (Ivanovo detstvo), directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, USSR
Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival): A Kind of Loving, directed by John Schlesinger, United Kingdom
1962 film releases All of these films are from the United States unless stated.
January–March January 1962 1 January Heaven and Earth Magic Sanjuro (Japan) 9 January The Nun and the Sergeant 11 January Only Two Can Play 12 January Bachelor Flat 14 January I Thank a Fool 17 January The Intruder 18 January My Geisha 19 January Tender Is the Night A View from the Bridge 26 January The Three Stooges Meet Hercules February 1962 7 February Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse Light in the Piazza 10 February Sergeants 3 12 February The Bellboy and the Playgirls 15 February Pontius Pilate 21 February The Couch Walk on the Wild Side 28 February Too Late Blues March 1962 1 March Posse from Hell 5 March Rome Adventure 7 March The Premature Burial 9 March State Fair 10 March Journey to the Seventh Planet 14 March The Road to Hong Kong 21 March Hitler Sweet Bird of Youth Gorath (Japan) 23 March Satan in High Heels Satan Never Sleeps 28 March Hand of Death The Manster (U.S./Japan) Six Black Horses
April–June April 1962 2 April The Broken Land 5 April Moon Pilot 6 April Ivan's Childhood (U.S.S.R) 11 April All Fall Down Follow That Dream House of Women The Magic Sword 12 April Cape Fear 13 April Experiment in Terror 17 April The Counterfeit Traitor 18 April The Horizontal Lieutenant 19 April Five Finger Exercise 22 April Hands of a Stranger The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance 23 April Escape from Zahrain 25 April Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules (Italy) May 1962 3 May The Brain That Wouldn't Die Invasion of the Star Creatures 9 May Jessica War Hunt 17 May Bon Voyage! 24 May The Inspector Lonely Are the Brave 25 May The Cabinet of Caligari When the Girls Take Over 29 May Hatari! June 1962 6 June 13 West Street Big Red Lad, A Dog 9 June Eegah 13 June It Happened in Athens Lolita Merrill's Marauders 14 June That Touch of Mink 15 June Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation 19 June The Music Man 20 June Confessions of an Opium Eater The Pigeon That Took Rome Ride the High Country 21 June Boys' Night Out 26 June Hell Is for Heroes 27 June Safe at Home! 29 June Beauty and the Beast
July–September July 1962 3 July Birdman of Alcatraz The Creation of the Humanoids Tarzan Goes to India 4 July Tales of Terror The Three Stooges in Orbit 5 July Panic in Year Zero! 7 July Advise & Consent 15 July Kujira Gami aka The Whale God (Japan) 16 July Jack the Giant Killer 17 July Air Patrol 21 July Black Gold 25 July Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man 26 July The Lion The Notorious Landlady 28 July The Miracle Worker August 1962 1 August Kid Galahad 2 August The Underwater City 3 August The Spiral Road 7 August The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm 8 August The Interns 11 August King Kong vs. Godzilla (Japan) 17 August Two Weeks in Another Town Guns of Darkness 22 August Five Weeks in a Balloon 29 August The 300 Spartans September 1962 15 September Convicts 4 16 September Harakiri (Japan) Billy Budd 25 September The Longest Day 26 September Carnival of Souls 27 September Gigot
October–December October 1962 1 October A Kind of Loving 3 October Zotz! 4 October Sodom and Gomorrah 5 October The Chapman Report Dr. No – (U.K.) 10 October If a Man Answers Long Day's Journey into Night 16 October Requiem for a Heavyweight 18 October Phaedra 22 October Escape from East Berlin 24 October The Manchurian Candidate Tower of London 25 October Tonight for Sure The War Lover 31 October Period of Adjustment What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? November 1962 1 November How the West Was Won Gypsy 2 November The Reluctant Saint 8 November Mutiny on the Bounty 14 November In Search of the Castaways 21 November It's Only Money Two for the Seesaw Girls! Girls! Girls! 27 November The Main Attraction December 1962 2 December Pressure Point 6 December Billy Rose's Jumbo 10 December Lawrence of Arabia 12 December Five Miles to Midnight Freud: The Secret Passion 17 December Gay Purr-ee 19 December Taras Bulba 22 December The Trial 25 December To Kill a Mockingbird Who's Got the Action? 26 December David and Lisa Days of Wine and Roses 31 December 40 Pounds of Trouble
Notable films released in 1962 United States unless stated
# The 300 Spartans, starring Ralph Richardson, Richard Egan, Diane Baker 40 Pounds of Trouble, starring Tony Curtis, Suzanne Pleshette, and Larry Storch
A Abhijan (The Expedition), directed by Satyajit Ray – (India) Advise & Consent, directed by Otto Preminger, starring Henry Fonda, Charles Laughton, Walter Pidgeon, Don Murray, Peter Lawford Alaverdoba, directed by Giorgi Shengelaia – (Georgia) All Fall Down, directed by John Frankenheimer, starring Eva Marie Saint and Warren Beatty All Night Long, starring Patrick McGoohan and Richard Attenborough – (U.K.) All Souls' Day (Zaduszki) – (Poland) The Amphibian Man (Chelovek-amfibiya) – (U.S.S.R.) Asli-Naqli (Real and Fake), starring Dev Anand – (India) Atraco a las tres (Robbery at 3 O'Clock) – (Spain) Attack of the Normans (I normanni), directed by Giuseppe Vari – (Italy) An Autumn Afternoon (Sanma no aji), directed by Yasujirō Ozu – (Japan) The Awful Dr. Orloff (Gritos en la noche), directed by Jesús Franco – (Spain)
B Baat Ek Raat Ki (A Tale of One Night), starring Dev Anand – (India) Bachelor Flat, starring Terry-Thomas, Tuesday Weld, Celeste Holm Bees Saal Baad – (India) The Bellboy and the Playgirls, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and Fritz Umgelter Big and Little Wong Tin Bar, starring Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung – (Hong Kong) Billy Budd, directed by and starring Peter Ustinov, with Robert Ryan and Terence Stamp – (U.K.) Billy Rose's Jumbo, starring Doris Day and Jimmy Durante Birdman of Alcatraz, directed by John Frankenheimer, starring Burt Lancaster, Karl Malden, Telly Savalas Boccaccio '70, directed by Federico Fellini, Mario Monicelli, Vittorio De Sica and Luchino Visconti, starring Anita Ekberg and Sophia Loren – (Italy) Bon Voyage!, starring Fred MacMurray and Jane Wyman The Boys, directed by Sidney J. Furie, starring Richard Todd – (U.K.) Boys' Night Out, starring Kim Novak and James Garner The Brain That Wouldn't Die, starring Virginia Leith The Brainiac (El baron del terror), directed by Chano Urueta – (Mexico) The Bread of Those Early Years (Das Brot der frühen Jahre) – (West Germany) The Broken Land, starring Kent Taylor, Diana Darrin and Jack Nicholson
C Cape Fear, directed by J. Lee Thompson, starring Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, Polly Bergen, Telly Savalas Captain Clegg (released as Night Creatures in the U.S.), directed by Peter Graham Scott – (U.K.) Carnival of Souls, directed by Herk Harvey Carry On Cruising, starring Sid James and Kenneth Williams – (U.K.) Cartouche, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Claudia Cardinale – (France/Italy) The Chapman Report, directed by George Cukor, starring Jane Fonda, Shelley Winters, Claire Bloom, Efrem Zimbalist Jr. Chased by the Dogs (El less wal kilab) – (Egypt) Cléo from 5 to 7, directed by Agnès Varda – (France) The Condemned of Altona (I sequestrati di Altona), directed by Vittorio De Sica, starring Sophia Loren and Maximilian Schell – (Italy) Convicts 4, starring Ben Gazzara, Stuart Whitman, Vincent Price, Ray Walston, Sammy Davis Jr. The Counterfeit Traitor, directed by George Seaton, starring William Holden Crazy Paradise (Det tossede paradis), directed by Gabriel Axel and starring Dirch Passer – (Denmark) Crooks Anonymous, starring Leslie Phillips and Julie Christie The Cursed Palace, starring Salah Zulfikar and Mariam Fakhr Eddine – (Egypt)
D Damon and Pythias (Il tiranno di Siracusa), directed by Curtis Bernhardt – (U.S./Italy) A Date at the Tower, directed by Ezz El-Dine Zulficar, starring Salah Zulfikar and Soad Hosny – (Egypt) David and Lisa, starring Keir Dullea and Janet Margolin Days of Wine and Roses, directed by Blake Edwards, starring Jack Lemmon, Lee Remick, Charles Bickford, Jack Klugman Dead Man's Evidence, directed by Francis Searle – (U.K.) The Devil's Agent (Im Namen des Teufels), directed by John Paddy Carstairs – (U.K./West Germany/Ireland) Le Doulos (The Finger Man), directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo – (France) Dr. No, first James Bond film, directed by Terence Young, starring Sean Connery, Joseph Wiseman, Jack Lord, Ursula Andress – (U.K.) Dungeon of Harrow, directed by Pat Boyette
E The Easy Life (Il sorpasso), directed by Dino Risi, starring Vittorio Gassman and Jean-Louis Trintignant – (Italy) Eclipse (L'Eclisse), directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, starring Alain Delon and Monica Vitti – (Italy/France) Eighteen in the Sun (Diciottenni al sole), directed by Camillo Mastrocinque – (Italy)