1944 in film

The year 1944 in film involved some significant events, including the wholesome, award-winning Going My Way plus popular murder mysteries such as Double Indemnity, Gaslight and Laura.

Events

March 16 – MGM's supernatural romantic drama A Guy Named Joe, starring Spencer Tracy and Irene Dunne, opens in Los Angeles.
May 3 – The musical comedy drama Going My Way, directed by Leo McCarey and starring Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald, premieres in New York City. It opens in Los Angeles on August 16. The highest-grossing picture of the year, it goes on to win a total of seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture; Best Director for McCarey; Best Actor for Crosby; Best Supporting Actor for Fitzgerald (who, in an anomaly, was also nominated in lead, prompting a rule change); and Best Original Song for "Swinging on a Star".
May 13 – Dale Evans appears in her first film with future husband, Roy Rogers – Cowboy and the Senorita.
July 20 – Home front drama Since You Went Away is released in the United States.
August 16–September 11 – Nazi propaganda documentary Theresienstadt is filmed in the Theresienstadt Ghetto. Following completion of filming, co-director Kurt Gerron and many of those featured are transported to Auschwitz concentration camp and murdered; although completed in 1945, the film is never released.
September 6 – Crime thriller film noir Double Indemnity is released in the United States.
September – Around 640 motion picture actors, writers and directors are included on the Gottbegnadeten list in Nazi Germany, protecting them from military conscription.
November 22 – MGM's musical Meet Me in St. Louis, starring Judy Garland and Margaret O'Brien, premieres. Hugely popular with both audiences and critics, the film is nominated for four Academy Awards.

Awards

{| class="wikitable"

! style="width:20px;"| Category/Organization !!" style="width:250px;"| 2nd Golden Globe Awards April 16, 1945 !! style="width:250px;" |17th Academy Awards March 15, 1945

| Best Film || colspan="2" | Going My Way

| Best Director || colspan="2" | Leo McCarey Going My Way

| Best Actor || Alexander Knox Wilson || Bing Crosby Going My Way

| Best Actress || colspan="2" | Ingrid Bergman Gaslight

| Best Supporting Actor || colspan="2" | Barry Fitzgerald Going My Way

| Best Supporting Actress || Agnes Moorehead Mrs. Parkington || Ethel Barrymore None but the Lonely Heart

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

The top ten 1944 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:

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

|+ Highest-grossing films of 1944

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

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

| Going My Way

| Paramount

| $6,500,000

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

|Meet Me in St. Louis

|MGM

| $5,016,000

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

|Since You Went Away

| United Artists/Selznick International

| $4,950,000

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

|Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo

| MGM

| $4,297,000

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

|To Have and Have Not

| $3,652,000

I'll Be Seeing You
29 December
Tomorrow, the World!

Serials

Black Arrow
Captain America, starring Dick Purcell
The Desert Hawk, starring Gilbert Roland and Charles Middleton
The Great Alaskan Mystery
Haunted Harbor, starring Kane Richmond
Mystery of the River Boat
Raiders of Ghost City
The Tiger Woman, starring Linda Stirling
Zorro's Black Whip, starring Linda Stirling

Short film series

Our Gang (1922-1944)
The Three Stooges (1934–1959)

Animated short film series

Mickey Mouse (1928–1953)
Looney Tunes (1930–1969)
Terrytoons (1930–1964)
Merrie Melodies (1931–1969)
Popeye (1933–1957)
Color Rhapsodies (1934–1949)
Donald Duck (1934–1956)
Porky Pig (1935–1965)
Daffy Duck (1937–1968)
Goofy (1939–1955)
Andy Panda (1939–1949)
Tom and Jerry (1940–1958)
Bugs Bunny (1940–1964)
Woody Woodpecker (1941–1949)
Swing Symphonies (1941–1945)
The Fox and the Crow (1941–1950)
Red Hot Riding Hood (1943–1949)
Droopy (1943–1958)
Screwball Squirrel (1944–1946)
Sylvester the Cat (1944–1966)

Births

January 5 – Franco Ferrini, Italian screenwriter
January 9 – Harun Farocki, German filmmaker (died 2014)
January 10 – William Sanderson, American actor
January 13 – Mike Edmonds, English actor
January 20 – Margaret Avery, American actress
January 22 – Pamela Salem, British actress (died 2024)
January 23 – Rutger Hauer, Dutch actor (died 2019)
January 25 – Zully Montero, Cuban actress
January 28 – Andrew Jack, British dialect coach and actor (died 2020)
February 1 – Leo Burmester, American actor (died 2007)
February 3 – Trisha Noble, Australian singer and actress (died 2021)
February 8
Richard Durden, English actor
Roger Lloyd-Pack, English actor (died 2014)
Michael P. Moran, American actor (died 2004)
February 13
Yves Afonso, French actor (died 2018)
Stockard Channing, American actress
Michael Ensign, American actor
February 14 – Alan Parker, English director, producer and screenwriter (died 2020)
February 22 – Jonathan Demme, American director, producer and screenwriter (died 2017)
February 29 – Dennis Farina, American actor (died 2013)
March 5 – Peter Weibel, Ukrainian-born Austrian experimental filmmaker
March 6 – Harold Hopkins, Australian actor (died 2011)
March 10 – Richard Gant, American actor
March 14 – Steve Daskewisz, American actor and stunt double (died 2018)
March 19 – Guy Thauvette, Canadian actor
March 24 – R. Lee Ermey, American film, television and voice actor (died 2018)
March 26 – Diana Ross, American singer and actress
March 28 – Ken Howard, American actor (died 2016)
April 4 – Craig T. Nelson, American actor
April 5 – Willeke van Ammelrooy, Dutch actress
April 6 – Anita Pallenberg, Italian-born actress and model (died 2017)
April 8 – Joey D. Vieira, American actor (died 2025)
April 13 – Charles Burnett, American director
April 30 – Jill Clayburgh, American actress (died 2010)
May 4 – Russi Taylor, American voice actress (died 2019)
May 5
Roger Rees, Welsh actor and director (died 2015)
John Rhys-Davies, English actor
May 8 - Carole Skinner, Australian retired actress
May 10 – Jim Abrahams, American director, producer and screenwriter (died 2024)
May 14 – George Lucas, American director, producer and screenwriter
May 16 – Danny Trejo, American actor and voice actor
May 19
Peter Mayhew, English actor (died 2019)
Frank Pellegrino, American actor (died 2017)
May 25 – Frank Oz, American actor, filmmaker and puppeteer
May 26
Olga Bisera, Yugoslav-born Italian actress and producer
Andre Stojka, American voice actor and singer
May 28
Sondra Locke, American actress (died 2018)
Clement von Franckenstein, English actor (died 2019)
May 29 – Helmut Berger, Austrian actor (died 2023)
June 5 – Colm Wilkinson, Irish singer and actor
June 11 – Roscoe Orman, American actor
June 12 – Terence Kelly, Canadian actor
June 14 – Joe Grifasi, American character actor
June 20 – Oliver Cotton, English actor, comedian and playwright
June 21 – Tony Scott, British director and producer (died 2012)
June 23 – Ingrīda Andriņa, Latvian actress (died 2015)
June 24 – Julian Holloway, British actor (died 2025)
June 27 – Paul Koslo, German-Canadian actor (died 2019)
June 29 – Gary Busey, American actor
July 1 – Wahid Hamed, Egyptian screenwriter (died 2021)
July 2 – Viiu Härm, Estonian actress
July 4 – Emilio Echevarria, Mexican actor (died 2025)
July 8 – Jeffrey Tambor, American actor
July 12 – Delia Ephron, American writer and producer
July 17 – Catherine Schell, Hungarian-born British actress
July 18 – Sverre Anker Ousdal, Norwegian actor (died 2026)
July 22
Nick Brimble, English actor
Peter Jason, American character actor (died 2025)
July 23 – Pepe Serna, American actor
July 30
Frances de la Tour, English actress
Yoon Jeong-hee, South Korean actress
July 31 – Geraldine Chaplin, American actress
August 4 – Richard Belzer, American actor and stand-up comedian (died 2023)
August 7
John Glover, American actor
David Rasche, American actor
August 9 – Sam Elliott, American actor
August 11 – Ian McDiarmid, Scottish actor
August 13
Kevin Tighe, American actor
Dan Ziskie, American actor (died 2025)
August 19 – John Roselius, American actor (died 2018)
August 21 – Peter Weir, Australian director, producer and screenwriter
August 25 – Anthony Heald, American character actor
August 26 – Stephen Greif, English actor (died 2022)
August 27 – G. W. Bailey, American actor
August 30 – Wolf Roth, German actor
September 1 – Beau Starr, American actor (died 2026)
September 6 – Swoosie Kurtz, American actress
September 13 – Jacqueline Bisset, English actress
September 15 – Pik-Sen Lim, Malaysian-British actress (died 2025)
September 16 – Michael Edwards, American actor
September 20 – Jeremy Child, British actor (died 2022)
September 21 – Fannie Flagg, American actress and comedian
September 22
Kathe Green, American actress, model and singer
Frazer Hines, English actor
September 24 – Sven-Ole Thorsen, Danish retired actor, stuntman, bodybuilder and strongman competitor
September 25 – Michael Douglas, American actor and producer
September 26 – Helmut Bakaitis, German-born Australian director, actor and screenwriter
September 28 – Matthew Cowles, American actor (died 2014)
September 30 – Jarlath Conroy, Irish actor
October 1 – Jean-Pierre Castaldi, French actor
October 8 – Dale Dye, American actor, technical advisor, radio personality and writer
October 10 – Lii Tedre, Estonian actress
October 14 – Udo Kier, German actor (died 2025)
October 20 – Robert Swan, American actor (died 2023)
October 28 – Dennis Franz, American actor
November 2 – Patrice Chéreau, French filmmaker, actor and producer (died 2013)
November 4 – Linda Gary, American actress, voice actress (died 1995)
November 14 – Keith Drinkel, English actor
November 17
Danny DeVito, American actor, comedian, producer and director
Gary Goldman, American animator, producer and director
Lorne Michaels, Canadian-American producer
November 18 – Arthur J. Nascarella, American actor
November 21 – Harold Ramis, American actor, director and screenwriter (died 2014)
November 22 – Paul Brooke, retired English actor
November 24 – Peter Maloney, American actor and director
November 25
Paul Copley, English character actor
Will McMillan, American actor, producer and director (died 2015)
Ben Stein, American actor and comedian
December 4 – Carol Sutton, American actress (died 2020)
December 5 – Jeroen Krabbe, Dutch actor and director
December 8 – Sharmila Tagore, Indian actress
December 11 – Teri Garr, American actress (died 2024)
December 12 – Kenneth Cranham, Scottish actor
December 15 – Morgan Paull, American actor (died 2012)
December 17 – Bernard Hill, English actor (died 2024)
December 31 – Taylor Hackford, American director

Deaths

January 3 – Aage Hertel, Danish actor (born 1873)
March 14 – Merta Sterling, American actress (born 1883)
April 10 – Pat West, American actor (born 1888)
July 14 – Emil Fjellström, Swedish actor (born 1884)
July 18 – Alan Dinehart, American actor (born 1889)
July 20 – Mildred Harris, American actress (born 1901)
September 24 – Hugo Thimig, Austrian actor (born 1854)
October 28 – Kurt Gerron, German film director (born 1897)
November 27 – Jill Furse, British actress (born 1915)
December 9 – Laird Cregar, American actor (born 1913)
December 13 – Lupe Vélez, Mexican actress (born 1908)
December 15 – Glenn Miller, American bandleader, actor (born 1904)