1926 in film

Years in film
1870s
1880s
1890s
1890 • 1891 • 1892 • 1893 • 1894 1895 • 1896 • 1897 • 1898 • 1899
1900s
1900 • 1901 • 1902 • 1903 • 1904 1905 • 1906 • 1907 • 1908 • 1909
1910s
1910 • 1911 • 1912 • 1913 • 1914 1915 • 1916 • 1917 • 1918 • 1919
1920s
1920 • 1921 • 1922 • 1923 • 1924 1925 • 1926 • 1927 • 1928 • 1929
1930s
1930 • 1931 • 1932 • 1933 • 1934 1935 • 1936 • 1937 • 1938 • 1939
1940s
1940 • 1941 • 1942 • 1943 • 1944 1945 • 1946 • 1947 • 1948 • 1949
1950s
1950 • 1951 • 1952 • 1953 • 1954 1955 • 1956 • 1957 • 1958 • 1959
1960s
1960 • 1961 • 1962 • 1963 • 1964 1965 • 1966 • 1967 • 1968 • 1969
1970s
1970 • 1971 • 1972 • 1973 • 1974 1975 • 1976 • 1977 • 1978 • 1979
1980s
1980 • 1981 • 1982 • 1983 • 1984 1985 • 1986 • 1987 • 1988 • 1989
1990s
1990 • 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999
2000s
2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2009
2010s
2010 • 2011 • 2012 2013 and beyond

Events

• August - Warner Brothers debuts the first Vitaphone film, Don Juan. The Vitaphone system used multiple 33⅓ rpm disc records developed by Bell Telephone Laboratories and Western Electric to play back audio synchronized with film.
• Theodore W. Case and E. I. Sponable demonstrate their sound-on-film experiments to William Fox of the Fox Film Corporation. The Fox-Case Corp. was formed in an effort to exploit the system, which was given the name Movietone. Fox began to create Movietone News newsreels at this time. One of the first newsreels was Charles Lindbergh's takeoff for Paris.
• Al Jolson films A Plantation Act, one of the first unreleased talkies and a test film for The Jazz Singer
• The oldest surviving animated feature film is released in the Weimar Republic, directed by Lotte Reiniger. It is called The Adventures of Prince Achmed.

Top grossing films

Films released in 1926

U.S.A. unless stated

• 3 Bad Men, directed by John Ford
• The Adventures of Prince Achmed, directed by Lotte Reiniger - (Germany)
• Aloma of the South Seas, directed by Maurice Tourneur, starring Gilda Gray & William Powell
• Bardelys the Magnificent, directed by King Vidor, starring John Gilbert and Eleanor Boardman
• The Bat
• Battling Butler, directed by and starring Buster Keaton
• Beau Geste, directed by Herbert Brenon, starring Ronald Colman and Alice Joyce
• The Bells, directed by James Young, starring Lionel Barrymore and Boris Karloff
• Beverly of Graustark, directed by Sidney Franklin, starring Marion Davies and Antonio Moreno
• The Black Pirate, directed by Albert Parker, starring Douglas Fairbanks and Billie Dove
• La Bohème, directed by King Vidor, starring Lillian Gish, John Gilbert and Renée Adorée
• Brown of Harvard directed by Jack Conway, starring William Haines, Jack Pickford and Mary Brian
• Brudeferden i Hardanger (The bridal procession in Hardanger) - (Norway)
• Cruise of the Jasper B, starring Rod La Rocque, Mildred Harris and Snitz Edwards
• Dangerous Traffic, directed by Bennett Cohen, starring Ralph Bushman, Mildred Harris and Jack Perrin
• The Devil's Circus, starring Norma Shearer
• Don Juan, directed by Alan Crosland, starring John Barrymore
• Faust, directed by F. W. Murnau, starring Gösta Ekman and Emil Jannings - (Germany)
• Flesh and the Devil, directed by Clarence Brown, starring John Gilbert and Greta Garbo
• Fool's Luck, directed by Fatty Arbukle, starring Lupino Lane and George Davis
• For Heaven's Sake, directed by Sam Taylor, starring Harold Lloyd and Jobyna Ralston
• The General, starring Buster Keaton
• The Great Gatsby, directed by George Cukor, starring Warner Baxter and Lois Wilson
• The Great K & A Train Robbery, starring Tom Mix
• Hands Up!
• The Holy Mountain (Der heilige Berg), starring Leni Riefenstahl - (Germany)
• Irene, starring Colleen Moore. In color sequence by Technicolor.
• The Johnstown Flood, starring George O'Brien and Janet Gaynor
• Kid Boots, starring Eddie Cantor and Clara Bow
• Madame Mystery, directed by Richard Wallace and Stan Laurel, starring Theda Bara
• The Magician, directed by Rex Ingram starring Alice Terry
• Manon Lescaut, UFA production; directed by Arthur Robison starring Lya De Putti - (Germany)
• Mare Nostrum, directed by Rex Ingram, starring Antonio Moreno and Alice Terry
• Miss Mend, directed by Fyodor Otsep, starring Boris Barnet - (U.S.S.R.)
• Mother, directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin - (U.S.S.R.)
• My Yankee Senor, starring Tom Mix
• Nana directed by Jean Renoir - (France)
• Nell Gwyn directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Dorothy Gish, Randle Ayrton (Britain)
• Old Ironsides directed by James Cruze starring Esther Ralston
• A Page of Madness (Kurutta Ippēji) - (Japan)
• The Scarlet Letter, starring Lillian Gish and Lars Hanson
• The Sea Beast, starring John Barrymore, Dolores Costello and George O'Hara
• The Show Off, starring Ford Sterling, Lois Wilson and Louise Brooks; directed by Mal St. Clair
• The Son of the Sheik, starring Rudolph Valentino and Vilma Bánky
• So's Your Old Man, starring W. C. Fields
• The Sorrows of Satan, starring Adolphe Menjou
• Sparrows, directed by William Beaudine, starring Mary Pickford
• Storm of Passion (Aiyoku no arashi) - (Japan)
• The Strong Man, starring Harry Langdon
• The Student of Prague, starring Conrad Veidt, Werner Krauss, Agnes Esterhazy and Fritz Alberti - (Germany)
• Tartuffe, directed by F. W. Murnau, starring Emil Jannings - (Germany)
• The Temptress, starring Greta Garbo and Antonio Moreno
• The Three Million Trial - (U.S.S.R.)
• Torrent, starring Ricardo Cortez and Greta Garbo
• A Trip to Chinatown, starring Margaret Livingston and Earle Foxe
• The Volga Boatman
• What Price Glory?, starring Edmund Lowe, Victor McLaglen and Dolores del Río
• The Winning of Barbara Worth, starring Ronald Colman, Vilma Bánky and Gary Cooper
• A Woman of the Sea

Comedy film series

• Charlie Chaplin (1914–1940)
• Buster Keaton (1917–1944)
• Our Gang (1922–1944)
• Laurel and Hardy (1921–1943)
• Harry Langdon (1924–1936)

Animated short film series

• Felix the Cat (1919–1936)
• Koko the Clown (1919–1934)
• Alice Comedies
  • Alice on the Farm
  • Alice's Balloon Race
  • Alice's Orphan
  • Alice's Little Parade
  • Alice's Mysterious Mystery
  • Alice Charms the Fish
  • Alice's Monkey Business
  • Alice in the Wooly West
  • Alice the Fire Fighter
  • Alice Cuts the Ice
  • Alice Helps the Romance
  • Alice's Spanish Guitar
  • Alice's Brown Derby
  • Alice the Lumber Jack
• Koko's Song Car Tunes (1924–1927)
• Krazy Kat (1925–1940)
• Un-Natural History (1925–1927)
• Pete the Pup (1926–1927)

Births

• January 5 - Maria Schell, actress (died 2005)
• January 14 - Tom Tryon, actor, novelist (died 1991)
• January 17 - Moira Shearer, actress, dancer (died 2006)
• January 19 - Fritz Weaver, actor
• January 20 - Patricia Neal, actress (died 2010)
• February 11 - Leslie Nielsen, actor, comedian (died 2010)
• February 16 - John Schlesinger, director (died 2003)
• February 20 - Gillian Lynne, dancer, actress, choreographer
• March 6 - Andrzej Wajda, director
• March 16 - Jerry Lewis, actor
• April 7 - Prem Nazir, Indian actor (died 1989)
• May 8 - Don Rickles, comedian and actor
• May 11 - Frank Thring, Australian actor (died 1994)
• June 1 - Andy Griffith, actor
• June 1 - Marilyn Monroe, actress (died 1962)
• June 28 - Mel Brooks, entertainer
• July 14 - Harry Dean Stanton, actor
• July 21 - Norman Jewison, director
• October 17 - Beverly Garland, actress (died 2008)
• October 18 - Klaus Kinski, actor (died 1991)
• November 30 - Richard Crenna, actor (died 2003)

Deaths

• January 30 - Barbara La Marr, actress (born 1896)
• February 6 - Carrie Clark Ward, actress (born 1862)
• April 20 - Billy Quirk, actor (born 1873)
• March 2 - Victory Bateman, actress (born 1865)
• July 22 - Willard Louis, actor (born 1882)
• August 22 - Joe Moore, actor, brother of Mary, Matt, Owen & Tom Moore
• August 23 - Rudolph Valentino, actor (born 1895)
• August 30 - Eddie Lyons, American actor (born 1886)
• September 11 - Matsunosuke Onoe, actor (born 1875)
• October 31 - Harry Houdini, magician & actor (born 1874)
• November 1 - Lester Cuneo, actor (born 1888)
• November 7 - Tom Forman, silent film actor & director (born 1893)
• November 8 - James K Hackett, stage & silent film actor (born 1869)
• November 17 - Harold Vosburgh, silent film actor (born 1870)

Film debuts

• Janet Gaynor
• John Wayne