Events

• Sweden - May Britt is scouted by Italian film-makers Carlo Ponti and Mario Soldati

Top grossing films (U.S.)

Awards

Best Picture: An American in Paris - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Best Director: George Stevens - A Place in the Sun

Best Actor: Humphrey Bogart - The African Queen

Best Actress: Vivien Leigh - A Streetcar Named Desire

Best Supporting Actor: Karl Malden - A Streetcar Named Desire

Best Supporting Actress: Kim Hunter - A Streetcar Named Desire

Drama:

Best Picture: A Place in the Sun

Best Actor: Fredric March - Death of a Salesman

Best Actress: Jane Wyman - The Blue Veil

Musical or comedy:

Best Picture: An American in Paris

Best Actor: Danny Kaye - On the Riviera

Best Actress: June Allyson - Too Young to Kiss

Other

Best Director: Laslo Benedek - Death of a Salesman

Miss Julie (Fröken Julie), directed by Alf Sjöberg, Sweden

Miracle in Milan (Miracolo a Milano), directed by Vittorio De Sica, Italy

Rashômon, directed by Akira Kurosawa, Japan

Films released in 1951

• Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man
• Ace in the Hole
• The African Queen, starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn
• Alice in Wonderland
• An American in Paris, starring Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron
• Angels in the Outfield
• Bedtime for Bonzo
• The Blue Veil, starring Jane Wyman
• Bright Victory, starring Arthur Kennedy
• The Browning Version
• Bullfighter and the Lady
• Call Me Mister, starring Betty Grable
• Captain Horatio Hornblower
• Cattle Drive
• Cause for Alarm!, starring Loretta Young
• China Corsair
• A Christmas Carol
• Come Fill the Cup
• Comin' Round The Mountain
• Cry, the Beloved Country
• David and Bathsheba
• The Day the Earth Stood Still
• Decision Before Dawn
• The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel
• Detective Story, starring Kirk Douglas and Eleanor Parker
• Diary of a Country Priest
• Early Summer
• Flying Leathernecks
• Fort Worth
• Fourteen Hours
• The Frogmen, starring Richard Widmark and Dana Andrews
• Gerald McBoing-Boing
• Go for Broke!
• The Golden Horde
• Goodbye My Fancy
• The Great Caruso
• He Ran All the Way
• Here Comes the Groom
• His Kind of Woman, starring Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell
• The House on Telegraph Hill
• The Idiot
• Lambert the Sheepish Lion
• Laughter in Paradise
• The Lavender Hill Mob
• Let's Go Crazy
• The Magic Box
• The Man in the White Suit
• The Mating Season, starring Gene Tierney, John Lund, Miriam Hopkins and Thelma Ritter
• Miracle in Milan (Miracolo a Milano)
• Miss Julie (Fröken Julie)
• Mr. Imperium, starring Lana Turner
• No Highway in the Sky, starring James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich
• Olivia
• On the Riviera
• Pandora and the Flying Dutchman, starring Ava Gardner and James Mason
• Penny Points to Paradise
• People Will Talk
• A Place in the Sun, starring Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor and Shelley Winters
• The Racket, starring Robert Mitchum
• Quo Vadis, starring Robert Taylor and Deborah Kerr
• Rawhide
• The Red Badge of Courage
• Rich, Young and Pretty
• The River (Le Fleuve)
• Royal Wedding
• Santa Fe
• Show Boat, starring Ava Gardner
• Starlift
• The Steel Helmet
• Strangers on a Train, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Farley Granger
• A Streetcar Named Desire, starring Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando
• The Tales of Hoffmann
• That's My Boy
• The Thing from Another World
• The 13th Letter
• Tomahawk
• Vengeance Valley
• The Well
• When Worlds Collide
• Young Wives' Tale
• You're in the Navy Now

Serials

• Captain Video: Master of the Stratosphere, starring Judd Holdren
• Don Daredevil Rides Again, starring Ken Curtis and Aline Towne
• Government Agents vs Phantom Legion, starring Walter Reed
• Mysterious Island, starring Richard Crane
• Roar of the Iron Horse, starring Buster Crabbe

Short film series

• Mickey Mouse (1928-1953)
• Looney Tunes (1930-1969)
• Merrie Melodies (1931-1969)
• Popeye (1933-1957)
• The Three Stooges (1934-1959)
• Donald Duck (1936-1956)
• Pluto (1937-1951)
• Goofy (1939-1953)
• Tom and Jerry (1940-1958)
• Bugs Bunny (1940-1962)
• Mighty Mouse (1942-1955)
• Chip and Dale (1943-1956)
• Yosemite Sam (1945-1963)

Births

• January 8 - John McTiernan, American director
• March 13 - Charo, Spanish-American singer & actress
• March 14 - Season Hubley, American actress
• March 17 - Kurt Russell, American actor
• July 8 - Anjelica Huston, American actress
• July 9 - Chris Cooper, American actor
• July 13 - Didi Conn, American actress
• July 21 - Robin Williams, American actor & comedian
• July 24 - Lynda Carter, American actress
• August 6 - Catherine Hicks, American actress
• September 5 - Michael Keaton, American actor
• September 25 - Pedro Almodovar, Spanish director
  • - Mark Hamill, American actor

Deaths

• January 11 – Charles W. Goddard, American playwright & screenwriter (b. 1879)
• March 6 - Ivor Novello, British actor, singer & composer (b. 1893)
• March 25 - Oscar Micheaux, African American pioneer filmmaker & author (b. 1884)
• April 4 - Al Christie, Canadian-born early Hollywood director/producer (b. 1881)
• June 6 - Olive Tell, American actress (b. 1894)
• June 9 - Mayo Methot, American actress (b. 1904)
• July 23 - Robert J. Flaherty, American pioneer documentary filmmaker (b. 1884)
• August 28 - Robert Walker, American actor (b. 1918)
• August 30 - Konstantin Märska, Estonian cinematographer (b. 1896)
• September 7 - Maria Montez, Dominican-born actress (b. 1912)

Film Debuts

• Carroll Baker
• Audrey Hepburn
• Grace Kelly
• William Shatner