Cinema 1977: You Must Remember This

Cineliteracy: What You Need to Know about 1977 as Movie Year

My Oscar Book:

Research in progress, June 22, 2025

Missing: Best Actor, Supp. Actress

Top-Grossing Films of 1977

Rank Title Distributor Box-office gross

1 Star Wars 20th Century Fox $221,280,994

2 Smokey and the Bandit Universal $126,737,428

3 Close Encounters of the Third Kind Columbia $116,395,460

4 Saturday Night Fever Paramount $94,213,185

5 The Goodbye Girl Warner Bros. $83,700,000

6 A Bridge Too Far United Artists $50,750,000

7 The Deep Columbia $47,346,365

8 The Spy Who Loved Me United Artists $46,838,673 (Bond)

9 Oh, God! Warner Bros. $41,687,243

10 Annie Hall United Artists $38,251,425

Events

February 23 –

During press conference at Sardi’s in Manhattan, it is announced that Christopher Reeve will be playing Superman.

March 28 –

At the 49th Academy Awards, Rocky picks up Best Picture Oscar.

Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway, and Beatrice Straight all win Oscars for their performances in Network for Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress.

Jason Robards wins for Best Supporting Actor for All the President’s Men. He will win again the following year, becoming the only person to win two consecutive Best Supporting Actor awards.

May 25 –

Star Wars opens in theatres, the highest-grossing film of the year, revolutionizing use of special effects in film and TV. It omits any sort of opening credits sequence. Told by the Directors Guild of America that he must have opening credits sequence, Lucas distributes the film independently, sans the opening credits.

The film’s release is often considered one of the most important events in history.

June 22 –

Disney Productions releases The Rescuers, which brings back interest in animation, which had been lost throughout the beginning of the 1970s.

November 16 –

Close Encounters of the Third Kind opens to critical acclaim and box office success, becoming one of the top-grossing films to date, cementing Spielberg’s status as one of the most talented and commercial directors of all time.

December 5 –

The Solar System, directed by Thomas G. Smith for Encyclopaedia Britannica Films, is released, leading to hiring Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), a company producing visual effects for Star Wars and Indiana Jones films.

Awards

50th Academy Awards, April 3, 1978

Best Film: Annie Hall
Best Director: Woody Allen, Annie Hall
Best Actor: Richard Dreyfuss, The Goodbye Girl
Best Actress: Diane Keaton, Annie Hall
Best Supporting Actor: Jason Robards, Julia
Best Supporting Actress: Vanessa Redgrave, Julia
Best Screenplay, Adapted Neil Simon, The Goodbye Girl

Best Screenplay, Original Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman, Annie Hall
Best Original Score John Williams, Star Wars
Best Foreign Language Film: Madame Rosa
Palme d’Or (Cannes Film Fest): Padre padrone, Paolo-Vittorio Taviani, Italy
Golden Bear (Berlin Film Fest): The Ascent, Larisa Shepitko, USSR

Deaths

Month Date Name Age Country Profession Notable films

January 12

Henri-Georges Clouzot 69 France Director, Screenwriter The Wages of Fear, Les Diaboliques

Jan 14

Peter Finch 60 UK Actor, Network, Sunday Bloody Sunday
Jan 18

Yvonne Printemps 82 France Actress, Singer, Le Voyage en Amérique, The Duel
26 Margaret Hayes 60 US Actress, Blackboard Jungle, Good Day for a Hanging
31 Daniel Mainwaring 74 US Screenwriter Out of the Past, Invasion of the Body Snatchers

February

Feb 3 Pauline Starke 76 US Actress, The Viking, What Men Want
17 Edward G. Boyle 78 Canada Production Designer, The Apartment, Gone with the Wind

Feb 18 Andy Devine 71 US Actor, Stagecoach, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Feb 22 Edith Barrett 70 US Actress, Ladies in Retirement, I Walked with a Zombie

Feb 28

Eddie “Rochester” Anderson 71 US Actor, Cabin in the Sky, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

March 8

Henry Hull 86 US Actor, Werewolf of London, The Buccaneer

March 25

Nunnally Johnson 79 US Screenwriter, Director The Grapes of Wrath, The Dirty Dozen

April

April 17 Marjorie Gateson 86 US Actress, Private Number, The King’s Vacation
19 Marion Gering 75 Russia Director, Devil and the Deep Rumba
21 Gummo Marx 83 US Actor, Agent

28 Ricardo Cortez 76 US Actor, The Case of the Black Cat, The Maltese Falcon

May

May 10 Joan Crawford 71 US Actress, Mildred Pierce, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

15 Herbert Wilcox 87 UK Director, Producer, Odette, Irene
21 Dorothy Christy 70 US Actress
Parlor, Bedroom and Bath, Bright Eyes

May 31

William Castle 63 US Producer-Director, Rosemary’s Baby, House on Haunted Hill

June

June 2

Stephen Boyd 45 Ireland Actor, Ben-Hur, Fantastic Voyage

June 3

Roberto Rossellini 71 Italy Director, Rome, Open City, Germany Year Zero

19 Geraldine Brooks 51 US Actress, An Act of Murder, The Reckless Moment
20 Abner Biberman 68 US Director, Actor, The Night Runner, Behind the High Wall

July

July 2

William H. Ziegler 67 US Film Editor, My Fair Lady, Auntie Mame

July 22 Erik Chitty 70 UK Actor, Doctor Zhivago, Lola

August

August 3 Alfred Lunt 84 US Actor
Sally of the Sawdust, Second Youth

August 14

George Oppenheimer 77 US Screenwriter, Libeled Lady, Adventures of Don Juan

Aug 16

Elvis Presley 42 US Actor, Singer, Love Me Tender, Blue Hawaii

17 Delmer Daves 73 US Screenwriter, Director
3:10 to YumaDark Passage
19 Groucho Marx 86 US Actor, Screenwriter
Duck SoupA Night at the Opera
19 Peter Dyneley 56 UK Actor
Thunderbirds Are GoThunderbird 6

21 Danny Lockin 34 US Actor
Hello Dolly!

22 Sebastian Cabot 59 UK Actor
The Time MachineThe Jungle Book
22 Alex Segal 62 US Director, Ransom! Harlow

Aug 29 Jean Hagen 54 US Actress, Singin’ in the Rain, The Asphalt Jungle

Aug 31 H. C. Potter 72 US Director, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, The Farmer’s Daughter

September

Sep 2

Stephen Dunne 59 US Actor, Ten Thousand Bedrooms, The Woman from Tangier

Sep 8 Zero Mostel 62 US Actor, The Producers, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

October

Oct 3 Tay Garnett 83 US Director, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Cheers for Miss Bishop

Oct 5

Fred F. Finklehoffe 67 US Screenwriter, Meet Me in St. Louis, The Stooge
Oct 14

Bing Crosby 74 US Actor, Singer, Going My Way, White Christmas

31 Joan Tetzel 56 US Actress, The Paradine Case(Hitchcock), The File on Thelma Jordon

November

Nov 4 Betty Balfour 74 UK Actress, Champagne, 29 Acacia Avenue
9 Gertrude Astor 90 US Actress
The Strong ManThe Cat and the Canary
15 William C. McGann 84 US Director
Times Square PlayboyGirls on Probation
18 Victor Francen 89 Belgium Actor
San AntonioHell and High Water
25 Richard Carlson 65 US Actor
Creature from the Black LagoonThe Helen Morgan Story
30 Olga Petrova 93 UK Actress, Screenwriter
ExileTo the Death

Nov 30

Terence Rattigan 66 UK Screenwriter, The Yellow Rolls-Royce, The V.I.P.s

December

Dec 19 Jacques Tourneur 73 France, Director Out of the Past, Cat People

Dec 25

Charlie Chaplin 88 UK Actor, Director, Screenwriter Great Dictator, Modern Times

Dec 26 Howard Hawks, 81 US Director, The Big Sleep, Rio Bravo

Film Debuts
Jeannetta Arnette – Teenage Graffiti
Raymond J. Barry – Between the Lines
Tom Berenger – The Sentinel
Demián Bichir – Fantoche
Powers Boothe – The Goodbye Girl
Carole Bouquet – That Obscure Object of Desire
Guy Boyd – Between the Lines
Joan Chen – Youth
Beverly D’Angelo – The Sentinel
Judy Davis – High Rolling
Brian Dennehy – Looking for Mr. Goodbar
Fran Drescher – Saturday Night Fever
Danny Elfman (film composer) – I Never Promised You a Rose Garden
Charles Fleischer – One on One
Mel Gibson – Summer City
Gary Grubbs – For the Love of Benji
Steve Guttenberg – Rollercoaster
Luis Guzmán – Short Eyes
Mark Hamill – Wizards
John Heard – Between the Lines
Helen Hunt – Rollercoaster
Michael Ironside – Outrageous!
Krystyna Janda – Pani Bovary to ja
Bruce McGill – Handle with Care
Michael McKean – Cracking Up
Kevin McNally – The Spy Who Loved Me
Richard Moll – Brigham
Joe Morton – Between the Lines
Pete Postlethwaite – The Duellists
Bill Raymond – Sudden Death
Sheryl Lee Ralph – A Piece of the Action
Sy Richardson – Cinderella
Richard Riehle – Joyride
Chelcie Ross – Keep My Grave Open
William Sanderson – Fight for Your Life
Tony Sirico – Hughes and Harlow: Angels in Hell
Meryl Streep – Julia
Sven-Ole Thorsen – Mind Your Back, Professor
Stephen Tobolowsky – Keep My Grave Open
Craig Wasson – Rollercoaster
Sigourney Weaver – Annie Hall
Robin Williams – Can I Do It… ‘Till I Need Glasses?
Lambert Wilson – Julia
Rita Wilson – The Day It Came to Earth
Penelope Wilton – Joseph Andrews