1938 in film - WikiHQ

The year 1938 in film involved some significant events, notably the release of Sergei Eisenstein's classic historical drama, Alexander Nevsky, with a score by Sergei Prokofiev; it was Eisenstein's first sound film.. Leni Riefenstahl's documentary Olympia, a propaganda film documenting the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, proves both controversial and influential.

Events

January – MGM announces that Judy Garland will be cast in the role of Dorothy Gale in the upcoming The Wizard of Oz film. Ray Bolger is cast as the Tin Woodman and Buddy Ebsen as the Scarecrow. At Bolger's insistence, the roles are switched between the two actors. On July 25, MGM announces Bert Lahr has been cast as the Cowardly Lion.
January 21 – Pioneering French film director Georges Méliès, best remembered for groundbreaking films like A Trip to the Moon and The Impossible Voyage, dies in Paris, aged 76.
February 4 – Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first-ever American full-length animated feature film, is released nationally in the United States, less than two months after its premiere in Los Angeles. The film is a huge box office success, and briefly holds the record as the highest-grossing sound film of all time.
February 24 – The entertainment trade newspaper Variety confirms that the film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) had bought the rights to adapt L. Frank Baum’s beloved children’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for the screen.
March 12 – Child star Peggy Ann Garner progresses from modelling to an acting role in Little Miss Thoroughbred, which would be her screen debut.
April 5 – Noel Langley completes the first script for The Wizard of Oz.
April 20 – Leonard Slye appears for the first time on film as Roy Rogers in Under Western Stars. He becomes one of the most popular Western stars being ranked number one from 1943 to 1952 and would become known as "King of the Cowboys".
May 7 – Lyricist Yip Harburg and composer Harold Arlen begin work on the musical score for The Wizard of Oz.
May 14 – Release of Warner Bros.' epic swashbuckler film The Adventures of Robin Hood, starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. Critically acclaimed for its vivid use of Technicolor, as well as its memorable action scenes, the film goes on to win three Academy Awards.
June 17 – Popular Australian comedian George Wallace stars in the first of his two films with Cinesound Productions, Let George Do It.
August 3 – Former silent film star Pearl White goes into a coma in a nursing home in France, suffering from cirrhosis of the liver.
October 7 – The Lady Vanishes, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and the first feature film released under a distribution deal between UK's Gaumont-British Picture Corporation and the US Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), is released in London cinemas.
October 13 – Filming starts on The Wizard of Oz on the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio lot in Culver City, California, initially with Richard Thorpe as director.
October 21 – Buddy Ebsen suffers from a near fatal allergic reaction to the aluminum dust used in his Tin Woodman make-up on the set of The Wizard of Oz. Ebsen is replaced by Jack Haley.
December 22 – MGM's first feature film in three-strip Technicolor, Sweethearts, starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, is released.
December 23 – Margaret Hamilton is severely burned during a mishap on the set of The Wizard of Oz. Hamilton, cast in the role of the Wicked Witch of the West, leaves the film for six weeks.
Orson Welles makes Too Much Johnson, starring Joseph Cotten. It is never completed and first released only in 2013.
Producer George Minter establishes Renown Pictures, a British film distributor.

Academy Awards

Best Picture: You Can't Take It with You – Columbia
Best Director: Frank Capra – You Can't Take It with You
Best Actor: Spencer Tracy – Boys Town
Best Actress: Bette Davis – Jezebel
Best Supporting Actor: Walter Brennan – Kentucky
Best Supporting Actress: Fay Bainter – Jezebel

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

The top ten 1938 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="margin:auto; margin:auto;"

|+ Highest-grossing films of 1938

! Rank !! Title !! Distributor !! Domestic rentals

! style="text-align:center;"| 1

| Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

| RKO/Walt Disney

| $3,996,000

! style="text-align:center;"| 2

|Boys Town

| MGM

| $2,828,000

! style="text-align:center;"| 3

| Alexander's Ragtime Band

| 20th Century Fox

| $2,630,000

! style="text-align:center;"| 4

| Test Pilot

| MGM

| $2,431,000

! style="text-align:center;"| 7

| In Old Chicago

| 20th Century Fox

| $1,964,000

! style="text-align:center;"| 9

| Love Finds Andy Hardy

| rowspan="2"|MGM

| $1,637,000

The Adventures of Marco Polo, directed by Archie Mayo, starring Gary Cooper and Basil Rathbone
The Adventures of Robin Hood, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone and Claude Rains
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, directed by Norman Taurog, starring Tommy Kelly
Águila o sol (Heads or Tails), directed by Arcady Boytler, starring Cantinflas – (Mexico)
Alexander Nevsky, directed by Sergei Eisenstein, starring Nikolay Cherkasov – (USSR)
The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse, directed by Anatole Litvak, starring Edward G. Robinson, Claire Trevor and Humphrey Bogart
Angels with Dirty Faces, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan and the Dead End Kids

B

The Baker's Wife (La femme du boulanger), directed by Marcel Pagnol, starring Raimu – (France)
Bank Holiday, starring Margaret Lockwood – (GB)
La Bête humaine (The Human Beast), directed by Jean Renoir, starring Jean Gabin and Simone Simon – (France)
The Big Broadcast of 1938, directed by Mitchell Leisen, starring W.C. Fields, Martha Raye, Dorothy Lamour and Bob Hope
Billy the Kid Returns, directed by Joseph Kane, starring Roy Rogers and Smiley Burnette
Block-Heads, directed by John G. Blystone, starring Laurel and Hardy
Blondie, directed by Frank R. Strayer, starring Penny Singleton
Bluebeard's Eighth Wife, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Gary Cooper, Claudette Colbert and David Niven
Boys Town, directed by Norman Taurog, starring Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney
Bringing Up Baby, directed by Howard Hawks, starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant
The Buccaneer, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Fredric March

C

Carefree, directed by Mark Sandrich, starring Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers and Ralph Bellamy
Carmen, la de Triana (Carmen, the Girl from Triana), directed by Florián Rey, starring Imperio Argentina – (Spain/Germany)
Charlie Chan in Honolulu, directed by H. Bruce Humberstone, starring Sidney Toler
A Christmas Carol, directed by Edwin L. Marin, starring Reginald Owen
The Citadel, directed by King Vidor, starring Robert Donat and Rosalind Russell – (GB)
Climbing High, directed by Carol Reed, starring Jessie Matthews and Michael Redgrave – (GB)
Cocoanut Grove, directed by Alfred Santell, starring Fred MacMurray
College Swing, directed by Raoul Walsh, starring George Burns, Gracie Allen, Martha Raye and Bob Hope
Convict 99, directed by Marcel Varnel, starring Will Hay, Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt – (GB)
Crime School, directed by Lewis Seiler, starring the Dead End Kids and Humphrey Bogart
The Crowd Roars, directed by Richard Thorpe, starring Robert Taylor and Maureen O'Sullivan

D

Dangerous to Know, directed by Robert Florey, starring Anna May Wong and Akim Tamiroff
The Dawn Patrol, directed by Edmund Goulding, starring Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone and David Niven
Diao Chan, directed by Bu Wancang – (China)
The Divorce of Lady X, directed by Tim Whelan, starring Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson – (GB)
The Drum, directed by Zoltan Korda, starring Sabu and Raymond Massey – (GB)
Ducháček Will Fix It (Ducháček to zařídí), directed by Karel Lamač – (Czechoslovakia)

F

Ferdinand the Bull, a Disney animated short
Fools for Scandal, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, starring Carole Lombard and Ralph Bellamy
The Four Companions (Die vier Gesellen), directed by Carl Froelich, starring Ingrid Bergman – (Germany)
Four Daughters, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring the Lane Sisters, Claude Rains and John Garfield
Four Men and a Prayer, directed by John Ford, starring Loretta Young, Richard Greene, George Sanders and David Niven
Four's a Crowd, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Rosalind Russell and Patric Knowles

G

The Gaunt Stranger, directed by Walter Forde, starring Sonnie Hale – (GB)
The Girl of the Golden West, directed by Robert Z. Leonard, starring Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy and Walter Pidgeon
Give Me a Sailor, directed by Elliott Nugent, starring Martha Raye, Bob Hope and Betty Grable
Gold Is Where You Find It, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring George Brent, Olivia de Havilland and Claude Rains

H

Hard to Get, directed by Ray Enright, starring Dick Powell and Olivia de Havilland
Having Wonderful Time, directed by Alfred Santell, starring Ginger Rogers, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Lucille Ball
Her Jungle Love, directed by George Archainbaud, starring Dorothy Lamour and Ray Milland
Holiday, directed by George Cukor, starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant
Honeysuckle (Madreselva), directed by Luis César Amadori, starring Libertad Lamarque – (Argentina)
Hotel du Nord, directed by Marcel Carné – (France)

I

I Am the Law, directed by Alexander Hall, starring Edward G. Robinson
If I Were King, directed by Frank Lloyd, starring Ronald Colman and Basil Rathbone
In Old Chicago, directed by Henry King, starring Tyrone Power, Alice Faye and Don Ameche
Inspector Hornleigh, directed by Eugene Forde, starring Gordon Harker and Alastair Sim – (GB)
International Settlement, directed by Eugene Forde, starring Dolores del Río and George Sanders

J

J'accuse!, directed by Abel Gance – (France)
Jezebel, directed by William Wyler, starring Bette Davis, Henry Fonda and George Brent
Judge Hardy's Children, directed by George B. Seitz, starring Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker and Fay Holden
Just Around the Corner, directed by Irving Cummings, starring Shirley Temple

K

Kentucky, directed by David Butler, starring Loretta Young, Richard Greene and Walter Brennan
Kentucky Moonshine, directed by David Butler, starring the Ritz Brothers
Kidnapped, directed by Alfred L. Werker, starring Warner Baxter and Freddie Bartholomew
Kilómetro 111, directed by Mario Soffici – (Argentina)
The King Kong That Appeared in Edo (Edo ni Arawareta Kingu Kongu) (lost), directed by Sōya Kumagai – (Japan)

L

The Lady Vanishes, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave – (GB)
Red River Range, directed by George Sherman, starring John Wayne
Room Service, directed by William A. Seiter, starring the Marx Brothers and Lucille Ball

S

The Saint in New York, directed by Ben Holmes, starring Louis Hayward
Save a Little Sunshine, directed by Norman Lee, starring Patricia Kirkwood and Tommy Trinder – (GB)
The Shopworn Angel, directed by H. C. Potter, starring Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart and Walter Pidgeon
Sidewalks of London, directed by Tim Whelan, starring Charles Laughton, Vivien Leigh and Rex Harrison – (GB)
Sing You Sinners, directed by Wesley Ruggles, starring Bing Crosby, Fred MacMurray and Donald O'Connor
The Sisters, directed by Anatole Litvak, starring Errol Flynn and Bette Davis
Sixty Glorious Years, directed by Herbert Wilcox, starring Anna Neagle – (GB)
A Slight Case of Murder, directed by Lloyd Bacon, starring Edward G. Robinson
Suez, directed by Allan Dwan, starring Tyrone Power and Loretta Young
Sweethearts, directed by W. S. Van Dyke, starring Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy and Frank Morgan

T

The Terror of Tiny Town, directed by Sam Newfield, starring Billy Curtis
Test Pilot, directed by Victor Fleming, starring Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, Spencer Tracy and Lionel Barrymore
That Certain Age, directed by Edward Ludwig, starring Deanna Durbin, Melvyn Douglas and Jackie Cooper
There Goes My Heart, Norman Z. McLeod, starring Fredric March and Virginia Bruce
They Drive by Night, directed by Arthur B. Woods, starring Emlyn Williams and Ernest Thesiger – (GB)
Three Comrades, directed by Frank Borzage, starring Robert Taylor, Margaret Sullavan, Franchot Tone and Robert Young
Tom Sawyer, Detective, directed by Louis King, starring Donald O'Connor
Too Hot to Handle, directed by Jack Conway, starring Clark Gable, Myrna Loy and Walter Pidgeon

U-V

Urlaub auf Ehrenwort (Leave on Parole), directed by Karl Ritter – (Germany)
Valley of the Giants, directed by William Keighley, starring Wayne Morris and Claire Trevor
Vivacious Lady, directed by George Stevens, starring Ginger Rogers and James Stewart
Volga-Volga, directed by Grigori Aleksandrov, starring Lyubov Orlova – (USSR)
La vuelta al nido, directed by Leopoldo Torres Ríos, starring José Gola and Amelia Bence – (Argentina)

W

We're Going to Be Rich, directed by Monty Banks starring Gracie Fields, Victor McLaglen and Brian Donlevy – (GB)
White Banners, directed by Edmund Goulding, starring Claude Rains and Jackie Cooper
Woman Against Woman, directed by Robert B. Sinclair, starring Herbert Marshall, Virginia Bruce and Mary Astor
A Woman's Face (En kvinnas ansikte), directed by Gustaf Molander, starring Ingrid Bergman – (Sweden)

Y

Yahya el Hub, directed by Mohammed Karim, starring Mohammed Abdel Wahab and Leila Mourad – (Egypt)
A Yank at Oxford, directed by Jack Conway, starring Robert Taylor, Lionel Barrymore, Maureen O'Sullivan, Vivien Leigh and Edmund Gwenn – (GB)
You Can't Take It with You, directed by Frank Capra, starring Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore, James Stewart and Edward Arnold
Young Dr. Kildare, directed by Harold S. Bucquet, starring Lew Ayres and Lionel Barrymore
The Young in Heart, directed by Richard Wallace, starring Janet Gaynor, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Paulette Goddard and Billie Burke

Z

La Zandunga, directed by Fernando de Fuentes, starring Lupe Vélez and Arturo de Córdova – (Mexico)

1938 film releases

January–March

January 1938
January 7
Bulldog Drummond's Revenge
The Patient in Room 18
In Old Chicago
February 1938
February 4
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
The Buccaneer
February 11
Gold is Where You Find It
Scandal Street
February 18
Daredevil Drivers
The Big Broadcast of 1938
March 1938
March 18
Bulldog Drummond's Peril
March 25
Bluebeard's Eighth Wife
Jezebel

April–June

April 1938
April 1
Tip-Off Girls
April 7
The Adventures of Marco Polo
April 8
Romance in the Dark
April 15
The Feud Maker
Fools for Scandal
Her Jungle Love
April 22
Test Pilot
May 1938
May 7

May 13
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Stolen Heaven
May 20
Cocoanut Grove
May 27
Hunted Men
June 1938
June 2
Three Comrades
June 17
Prison Farm

July–September

July 1938
July 8
Marie Antoinette
July 29
Booloo
Professor Beware
The Chaser

August 1938
August 5
Alexander's Ragtime Band
Bulldog Drummond in Africa
August 9
Four Daughters
August 12
The Texans
August 19
Give Me a Sailor
August 26
Spawn of the North
September 1938
September 9
Boys Town
September 16
Too Hot to Handle
September 29
You Can't Take It with You

October–December

October 1938
October 14
Young Dr. Kildare
October 28
The Citadel
Men with Wings
November 1938
November 11
If I Were King
December 1938
December 22
Sweethearts

Serials

Dick Tracy Returns, starring Ralph Byrd
The Fighting Devil Dogs, starring Lee Powell and Herman Brix
Flaming Frontiers
Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars, starring Buster Crabbe
The Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
Hawk of the Wilderness, starring Herman Brix
The Lone Ranger
The Secret of Treasure Island
The Spider's Web
Red Barry

Comedy film series

Harold Lloyd (1913–1938)
Charlie Chaplin (1914–1940)
Lupino Lane (1915–1939)
Buster Keaton (1917–1944)
Laurel and Hardy (1921–1945)
Our Gang (1922–1944)
Marx Brothers (1929–1937)
The Three Stooges (1934–1959)

Animated short film series

Krazy Kat (1925–1940)
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (1927-1938)
Mickey Mouse (1928–1953)
Silly Symphonies
The Moth and the Flame
Wynken, Blynken and Nod
Farmyard Symphony
Merbabies
Mother Goose Goes Hollywood
Screen Songs (1929-1938)
Looney Tunes (1930–1969)
Terrytoons (1930–1964)
Merrie Melodies (1931–1969)
Scrappy (1931–1941)
Betty Boop (1932–1939)
Popeye (1933–1957)
Happy Harmonies (1934-1938)
Color Rhapsodies (1934–1949)
Donald Duck (1937–1956)
Walter Lantz Cartunes (also known as New Universal Cartoons or Cartune Comedies) (1938–1942)
The Captain and the Kids (1938–1939)

Births

January 1 – Frank Langella, American actor
January 3 – Tom Bower, American actor (died 2024)
January 4 – Jim Norton, Irish character actor
January 6
Michael Graham Cox, English actor (died 1995)
Larisa Shepitko, Soviet director (died 1979)
January 8 – Bob Eubanks, American television personality and game show host
January 9 – Nobuhiko Obayashi, Japanese filmmaker (died 2020)
January 12 – Lewis Fiander, Australian actor (died 2016)
January 13
William B. Davis, Canadian actor
Billy Gray, American actor
January 14 – Jack Jones, American singer, actor (died 2024)
January 16 – Michael Pataki, American actor (died 2010)
January 21
Doug Lennox, Canadian actor and writer (died 2015)
John Savident, British actor (died 2024)
January 26 – Henry Jaglom, American director and actor (died 2025)
January 29 – Aminah Cendrakasih, Indonesian actress (died 2022)
February 1 - Sherman Hemsley, American actor (died 2012)
February 2 – Bo Hopkins, American actor (died 2022)
February 3
Marshall Efron, American actor (died 2019)
John Mahon, American actor (died 2020)
Victor Buono, American actor (died 1982)
February 9 - Fred Williams, German actor
February 13 – Oliver Reed, English actor (died 1999)
February 16 - Barry Primus, American actor, director and writer
February 17 – Yvonne Romain, English actress
February 19 – René Muñoz, Cuban-born actor, Mexico-based screenwriter (died 2000)
February 20 – Richard Beymer, American actor and film maker
February 22 – Karin Dor, German actress (died 2017)
February 23
Alan Ford, English actor
Jiří Menzel, Czech director (died 2020)
Diane Varsi, American actress (died 1992)
February 24
James Farentino, American actor (died 2012)
Robert A. Silverman, Canadian actor
February 25
Diane Baker, American actress and producer
Malcolm Tierney, English actor (died 2014)
March 4 – Paula Prentiss, American actress
March 5 – Fred Williamson, American actor
March 8 – George Innes, British actor
March 9 – Charles Siebert, American actor and television director (died 2022)
March 10 – Micole Mercurio, American actress (died 2016)
March 18
Carl Gottlieb, American screenwriter, actor and comedian
Shashi Kapoor, Indian actor (died 2017)
March 25 – Hoyt Axton, American country music singer-songwriter, actor (died 1999)
April 2 – Hans-Michael Rehberg, German actor (died 2017)

April 6 – Roy Thinnes, American actor
April 15 – Claudia Cardinale, Italian actress (died 2025)
April 20 – Michael Greer, American actor and comedian (died 2002)
April 21 – Reni Santoni, American actor (died 2020)
April 23 – Katsuo Nakamura, Japanese actor
April 28 – Madge Sinclair, Jamaican actress (died 1995)
May 5
Michael Murphy, American actor
Jerzy Skolimowski, Polish director, screenwriter and actor
May 6 – Hartmut Becker, German actor (died 2022)
May 11 – Judy Farrell, American actress (died 2023)
May 12 – Luana Anders, American actress (died 1996)
May 13 – Buck Taylor, American actor
May 14 – Michael Preston, English actor
May 17 – Jason Bernard, American actor (died 1996)
May 19 – Bryan Marshall, British actor (died 2019)
May 20 – Rainer Basedow, German actor (died 2022)
May 22
Richard Benjamin, American actor, director
Frank Converse, American actor
John Nolan, British actor (died 2026)
May 23 - Robert Watts, British film producer (died 2024)
May 24 – Tommy Chong, Canadian-American actor, writer, director, musician and comedian
June 7 – Ann Beach, British actress (died 2017)
June 12 – Tom Oliver, Australian actor
June 16
Michael Culver, English actor (died 2024)
Helen Ryan, British actress
June 18 – Michael Sheard, Scottish actor (died 2005)
June 19 - Ian Smith, Australian actor
June 21
Ron Ely, American actor (died 2024)
Celia Rodriguez, Filipina actress
June 25 – Giampiero Littera, Italian actor
July 6 – Luana Patten, American actress (died 1996)
July 8 – Andrey Myagkov, Soviet/Russian actor (died 2021)
July 9 – Brian Dennehy, American actor (died 2020)
July 11 – Jiří Krampol, Czech actor (died 2025)
July 18 – Paul Verhoeven, Dutch director
July 20
Diana Rigg, English actress (died 2020)
Natalie Wood, American actress (died 1981)
July 22 – Terence Stamp, English actor (died 2025)
July 23 – Ronny Cox, American actor, singer-songwriter
July 25
Pilar Seurat, Philippine-American actress (died 2001)
Renée Victor, American actress (died 2025)
June 27 – Kathryn Beaumont, English actress and singer
July 27 - Danielle De Metz, French actress
July 29 - Enzo G. Castellari, Italian director, screenwriter and actor
July 30 – Michael Bell, American actor
August 6
Dion Anderson, American actor (died 2026)
Paul Bartel, American actor, writer and director (died 2000)
Peter Bonerz, American actor and director
August 8 – Connie Stevens, American actress, singer
August 9
Burton Gilliam, American actor
Michèle Girardon, French actress (died 1975)
August 14 - James Fargo, American film director
August 15
Ron Dean, American actor (died 2025)
Lucille Soong, Chinese-American actress
August 19 – Diana Muldaur, American actress
August 26 – Susan Harrison, American actress (died 2019)
August 29 – Elliott Gould, American actor
September 2
Clarence Felder, American actor
Giuliano Gemma, Italian actor (died 2013)
Mary Jo Catlett, American actress
September 8 – Philip L. Clarke, American voice actor (died 2013)
September 9 - Bill Raymond, American actor
September 12
Michael Leader, English actor (died 2016)
Anne Helm – Canadian actress
September 17 - Paul Benedict, American actor (died 2008)
September 26 – Jonathan Goldsmith, American character actor
September 28 – Ben E. King, American soul singer (died 2015)
October 1
Tunç Başaran, Turkish screenwriter, film director, film producer and actor (died 2019)
Tony Darrow, Italian-American actor
Stella Stevens, American actress (died 2023)
October 2 – Rex Reed, American film critic and actor (died 2026)
October 4 – Loretta Long, American actress, voice artist and singer
October 10 – Steve Gordon, American filmmaker (died 1982)
October 12 - Geoff Murphy, New Zealand filmmaker, producer, director and screenwriter (died 2018)
October 13 – Christiane Hörbiger, Austrian actress (died 2022)
October 18
Barbara Baldavin, American actress (died 2024)
Dawn Wells, American actress (died 2020)
October 20 - Dolores Hart, American actress and nun
October 22
Derek Jacobi, British actor
Christopher Lloyd, American actor
October 27 - Lara Parker, American actress and writer (died 2023)
October 30 – Ed Lauter, American actor and stand-up comedian (died 2013)
November 13 – Jean Seberg, American actress (died 1979)
November 20
Ardeshir Kazemi, Iranian actor
Dick Smothers, American actor, comedian, composer and musician
November 26 – Rich Little, Canadian-American voice actor
November 28 – Michael Ritchie, American director, producer and writer (died 2001)
December 6 – Patrick Bauchau, Belgian actor
December 12 - Leslie Schofield, English actor
December 14 – Hal Williams, American actor
December 16
Neil Connery, Scottish actor (died 2021)
Liv Ullmann, Norwegian actress
December 18 – Roger E. Mosley, American actor, director and writer (died 2022)
December 21 – Larry Bryggman, American actor
December 24 - Philippe Nahon, French actor (died 2020)
December 26 - Bahram Beyzai, Iranian filmmaker (died 2025)
December 28 - Frank Kelly, Irish actor (died 2016)
December 29 – Jon Voight, American actor

Deaths

January 19 – Robert McWade, 65, American actor, The Kennel Murder Case, The Dragon Murder Case, Cappy Ricks Returns, Mr. Cinderella
January 20 – Émile Cohl, 81, French film pioneer
January 21 – Georges Méliès, 76, French film pioneer, The Impossible Voyage, A Trip to the Moon, The Merry Frolics of Satan, The Conquest of the Pole
January 26 – Matthew Betz, 56, American actor, The Wedding March, The Patent Leather Kid, The Big House, The Hurricane Express
July 14 – Abel Adams, 59, Finnish producer
August 4 – Pearl White, 49, American silent film star, The Perils of Pauline, The Exploits of Elaine

Film debuts

References

External links

List of 1938 films at IMDb
List of 1938 deaths at IMDb
List of 1938 births at IMDb