1959 in film
| Contents |
Events
- The Three Stooges make their 180th and last short film, Sappy Bullfighters.
- September 18 - The Marx Brothers' Zeppo Marx marries his second wife, Barbara Blakely.
- November 18 - William Wyler's film Ben-Hur premieres at Loew's Theater in New York City.
- Sammy Davis, Jr. and May Britt start dating.
Top grossing films
- North America
- Ben-Hur
- Auntie Mame
- The Shaggy Dog
- Some Like It Hot, starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon
- Pillow Talk
- Imitation of Life
- The Nun's Story
- tie Anatomy of a Murder and Hitchcock's North by Northwest, starring Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint
- Sleeping Beauty
- Rio Bravo
Academy Awards
- Best Picture: Ben-Hur - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- Best Actor: Charlton Heston - Ben-Hur
- Best Actress: Simone Signoret - Room at the Top
Births
- January 22 - Linda Blair, actress
- April 15 - Emma Thompson, British actor
- July 29 - Sanjay Dutt, Indian actor
- November 14 - Paul McGann, British actor
- December 31 - Val Kilmer, American actor
Deaths
- February 4 - Una O'Connor, actress
- March 3 - Lou Costello, comedian and actor, half of Abbott and Costello comedy team
- February 5 - Gwili Andre, actress
- June 16 - George Reeves, actor
- June 18 - Ethel Barrymore, actress
- October 14 - Errol Flynn, actor
- November 20 – Sylvia Lopez, European actress
- November 25 - Gérard Philipe, French actor
Other movies released
- Ballad of a Soldier (Ballada o soldate)
- The Diary of Anne Frank
- KAPO'
- The Horse Soldiers
- Ben-Hur, starring Charlton Heston
- The Killer Shrews
- Date with Death
- Apur Sansar
- The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad
- The 400 Blows
- General Della Rovere Golden Lion winner
- The Great War Golden Lion winner
- Black Orpheus Palm d'Or winner
- Les Cousins Golden Bear winner
- Porgy and Bess
- Suddenly, Last Summer
- Hiroshima. Mon Amour
- Room at the Top
- Donald in Mathmagic Land (short subject)
- 4D Man
- Hercules Unchained (originally: Ercole e la regina di Lidia)