1937 in film

The top ten 1937 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:

• April 16 – Laurel and Hardy comedy Way Out West premieres in the US.
• May 7 – Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musical comedy Shall We Dance premieres in the US.
• May 11 – Drama Captains Courageous, starring Spencer Tracy, premieres in New York. The film is released nationwide on June 25.
• June 7 – Jean Harlow, one of the biggest Hollywood stars of the decade, dies aged 26 at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles. The official cause of death is listed as cerebral edema, a complication of kidney failure.
• June 11 – Marx Brothers comedy A Day at the Races premieres in the U.S.
• July 9 – The silent film archives of Fox Film Corporation are destroyed by the 1937 Fox vault fire.
• July 23 – Six weeks after Jean Harlow's death, her final film, Saratoga, is released. It is an instant box office success and becomes the highest-grossing film of her career.
• December 21 – Walt Disney's debut feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first feature-length cartoon to be made in America, in Technicolor, and in sound, premieres at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles. The film is a massive box office success and briefly holds the record as the highest-grossing sound film of all time.
• Monogram Pictures, who had merged with Republic Pictures two years earlier, decide to separate and distribute their own films again.

• Best Picture: The Life of Emile Zola – Warner Bros.
• Best Director: Leo McCarey – The Awful Truth
• Best Actor: Spencer Tracy – Captains Courageous
• Best Actress: Luise Rainer – The Good Earth
• Best Supporting Actor: Joseph Schildkraut – The Life of Emile Zola
• Best Supporting Actress: Alice Brady – In Old Chicago

United States unless stated.

• Blake of Scotland Yard, starring Ralph Byrd and Herbert Rawlinson
• Dick Tracy, starring Ralph Byrd
• Jungle Jim
• Jungle Menace, starring Frank Buck
• The Mysterious Pilot, starring Frank Hawks
• The Painted Stallion, starring Ray Corrigan
• Radio Patrol
• Secret Agent X-9, starring Scott Kolk
• S.O.S. Coast Guard, starring Ralph Byrd and Bela Lugosi
• Tim Tyler's Luck, starring Frankie Thomas
• Wild West Days
• Zorro Rides Again, starring John Carroll

• Harold Lloyd (1913–1938)
• Charlie Chaplin (1914–1940)
• Lupino Lane (1915–1939)
• Buster Keaton (1917–1944)
• Laurel and Hardy (1921–1945)
• Our Gang (1922–1944)
• Wheeler and Woolsey (1929–1937)
• The Marx Brothers (1929–1946)
• The Three Stooges (1934–1959)

• Krazy Kat (1925–1940)
• Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (1927–1938)
• Mickey Mouse (1928–1953)
• Silly Symphonies
  • Woodland Café
  • Little Hiawatha
  • The Old Mill
• Screen Songs (1929–1938)
• Looney Tunes (1930–1969)
• Terrytoons (1930–1964)
• Merrie Melodies (1931–1969)
• Scrappy (1931–1941)
• Betty Boop (1932–1939)
• Popeye (1933–1957)
• Happy Harmonies (1934–1938)
• Color Rhapsodies (1934–1949)
• Meany, Miny, and Moe (1936-1937)
• Donald Duck (1937–1956)

• January 4 – Dyan Cannon, American actress
• January 7 – Harvey Evans, American actor (d. 2021)
• January 10 – John M. Watson Sr., American actor and musician (d. 2006)
• January 11 – Felix Silla, Italian actor, musician, stunt artist and voice artist (d. 2021)
• January 12 – Shirley Eaton, English actress and model
• January 14 – Stefano Satta Flores, Italian actor and voice actor (d. 1985)
• January 15 – Margaret O'Brien, American actress
• January 16 – Lorraine Bayly, Australian actress, singer, director and writer
• January 17 – Dick Durock, American actor and stuntman (d. 2009)
• January 24 – Julie Gregg, American actress (d. 2016)
• January 30 – Vanessa Redgrave, English actress
• January 31 – Suzanne Pleshette, American actress (d. 2008)
• February 1 – Garrett Morris, American comedian, actor and singer
• February 2 – Tom Smothers, American comedian and musician (d. 2023)
• February 14 – Soher Al Bably, Egyptian actress (d. 2021)
• February 17 – Benjamin Whitrow, English actor (d. 2017)
• February 19 – David Margulies, American actor (d. 2016)
• February 21 – Gary Lockwood, American actor
• February 24 – Shawn Elliott, American actor and singer (d. 2016)
• February 25 – Tom Courtenay, English actor
• February 27 – Barbara Babcock, American character actress
• March 2 – BarBara Luna, American actress
• March 3 – Bobby Driscoll, American actor (d. 1968)
• March 5 – Sal Borgese, Italian actor
• March 10 – Joe Viterelli, American actor (d. 2004)
• March 21 – Bill Capizzi, American voice actor (d. 2007)
• March 22 – Angelo Badalamenti, American screen composer (d. 2022)
• March 23 – Tony Burton, American actor (d. 2016)
• March 30
  • Warren Beatty, American actor and director
  • James D. Brubaker, American film producer (d. 2023)
• April 1 – Jordan Charney, American character actor
• April 2 – Ken Olfson, American actor (d. 1997)
• April 3 – Lawrence Dane, Canadian actor and producer (d. 2022)
• April 6
  • Terrence Hardiman, English actor (d. 2023)
  • Billy Dee Williams, American actor
• April 13
  • Corinne Cole, American actress
  • Edward Fox, English actor
• April 15
  • Uldis Pūcītis, Latvian actor (d. 2000)
  • Frank Vincent, American actor (d. 2017)
• April 18 – Robert Hooks, American actor and producer
• April 19 – Elinor Donahue, American actress
• April 20 – George Takei, American actor, author and activist
• April 22 – Jack Nicholson, American actor
• April 27 – Sandy Dennis, American actress (d. 1992)
• May 5 – John Martino, American actor
• May 8 – Shin Seong-il, South Korean actor (d. 2018)
• May 12
  • George Carlin, American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic and author (d. 2008)
  • Susan Hampshire, English actress
• May 13 – Zohra Lampert, American actress
• May 16 – Yvonne Craig, American actress (d. 2015)
• May 19 – Pat Roach, English actor and professional wrestler (d. 2004)
• June 1 – Morgan Freeman, American actor and director
• June 2 – Sally Kellerman, American actress and singer (d. 2022)
• June 10 – Luciana Paluzzi, Italian actress
• June 11
  • Johnny Brown, American actor and singer (d. 2022)
  • Chad Everett, American actor (d. 2012)
• June 14 – Jørgen Leth, Danish director
• June 16 – Charmian May, English character actress (d. 2002)
• June 17 - Arthur Schmidt, American film editor (d. 2023)
• June 26 – Sombat Metanee, Thai actor and film director (d. 2022)
• June 28 – Richard Bright, American actor (d. 2006)
• July 2 – Polly Holliday, American retired actress
• July 6 – Ned Beatty, American character actor (d. 2021)
• July 12 – Bill Cosby, American stand-up comedian and actor
• July 16 – Ada Rogovtseva, Ukrainian actress
• July 19 – Richard Jordan, American actor (d. 1993)
• July 20
  • Ken Ogata, Japanese actor (d. 2008)
  • Timothy Scott, American actor (d. 1995)
• July 21 – Gray Frederickson, American film producer (d. 2022)
• July 25 – Paul Collins, British actor
• July 28 – Viktor Merezhko, Russian screenwriter, actor, writer and television presenter (d. 2022)
• August 3 – Steven Berkoff, British actor and playwright
• August 5 – Alan Howard, English actor (d. 2015)
• August 6 – Barbara Windsor, English comedy actress (d. 2020)
• August 8 – Dustin Hoffman, American actor
• August 14
  • Fran Bennett, American actress (d. 2021)
  • Alberta Nelson, American actress (d. 2006)
• August 15 – Ella Mitchell, American actress
• August 16 – Lorraine Gary, American retired actress
• August 19 – Evadne Baker, English actress (d. 1995)
• August 26 – Kenji Utsumi, Japanese actor (d. 2013)
• September 1 – Tsai Chin, Chinese actress, singer and director
• September 4
  • Mikk Mikiver, Estonian actor and director (d. 2006)
  • Nicholas Worth, American character actor (d. 2007)
• September 6 – Jo Anne Worley, American actress, comedian and singer
• September 7
  • Cüneyt Arkın, Turkish film actor, producer and director (d. 2022)
  • John Phillip Law, American actor (d. 2008)
• September 10 – Brian Murray, South African actor and theatre director (d. 2018)
• September 13
  • Don Bluth, American director and producer
  • Meeli Sööt, Estonian actress (d. 2024)
• September 21
  • Ron Cobb, American-Australian graphic and film designer (d. 2020)
  • Aarne Üksküla, Estonian actor (d. 2017)
• September 24 – Dee Pollock, American actor (d. 2005)
• September 26 – Jerry Weintraub, American producer and actor (d. 2015)
• October 7 – Clive Graham, British actor (d. 2007)
• October 10
  • Vic Tablian, Armenian-British actor
  • Peter White, American actor (d. 2023)
• October 11 – Ron Leibman, American actor (d. 2019)
• October 15 – Linda Lavin, American actress and singer
• October 21 – Édith Scob, French actress (d. 2019)
• October 22 – Alan Ladd Jr., American film producer (d. 2022)
• November 4 – Loretta Swit, American actress
• November 5 – Harris Yulin, American actor
• November 17 – Peter Cook, English satirist and comedic actor (d. 1995)
• November 21
  • Ingrid Pitt, Polish-born British actress (d. 2010)
  • Marlo Thomas, American actress and producer
• November 23 – Dora Cadavid, Colombian actress, singer and announcer (d. 2022)
• November 27 – Rodney Bewes, English actor (d. 2017)
• November 30 – Ridley Scott, English director and producer
• December 4
  • Max Baer Jr., American actor, producer, comedian and director
  • David Bailie, South African actor (d. 2021)
• December 7 – Kenneth Colley, English actor
• December 8 – James MacArthur, American actor (d. 2010)
• December 9 – Darwin Joston, American actor (d. 1998)
• December 12 – Connie Francis, American singer and actress
• December 16 – Joyce Bulifant, American actress
• December 21 – Jane Fonda, American actress
• December 29 – Barbara Steele, English actress
• December 30 – Zaldy Zshornack, Filipino actor (d. 2002)
• December 31 – Anthony Hopkins, Welsh actor

• January 2 – Ross Alexander, 29, American actor, Captain Blood, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Flirtation Walk
• January 23 – Marie Prevost, 40, Canadian-born American actress, The Marriage Circle, The Racket, The Godless Girl, Cain and Mabel
• February 3 – Marija Leiko, 49, Latvian film actress, The Green Alley, The Rats
• May 1 – Snitz Edwards, 69, Austro-Hungarian-born American actor, The Thief of Bagdad, The Phantom of the Opera, Seven Chances, College
• May 10 – William Tedmarsh, 61, English-American silent film actor
• June 7
  • Jean Harlow, 26, American actress, The Public Enemy, Libeled Lady, Suzy, Red Dust
  • Monroe Owsley, 37, American actor, Holiday, Indiscreet, The Keyhole, Ex-Lady
• June 25 – Colin Clive, 37, British actor, Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein
• September 21 – Osgood Perkins, 45, American actor, Scarface, Gold Diggers of 1937
• November 13 – Mrs. Leslie Carter, 75, American stage and screen actress, Becky Sharp, Rocky Mountain Mystery
• December 21 – Ted Healy, 41, American actor and creator of The Three Stooges, San Francisco, Mad Love, Beer and Pretzels, Soup to Nuts

• Jack Carson – You Only Live Once
• Lee J. Cobb – North of the Rio Grande
• Broderick Crawford – Woman Chases Man
• Laraine Day – Stella Dallas
• Richard Farnsworth – A Day at the Races
• Susan Hayward – Hollywood Hotel
• Allyn Joslyn – They Won't Forget
• Carole Landis – The King and the Chorus Girl
• Donald O'Connor – It Can't Last Forever
• Ronald Reagan – Love Is on the Air
• Victor Sen Yung – The Good Earth
• Peggy Stewart – Wells Fargo
• Rosella Towne – Varsity Show
• Lana Turner – They Won't Forget

• Block, Alex Ben; Wilson, Lucy Autrey, eds. (2010). George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-By-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-177889-6.

• List of 1937 films at IMDb
• List of 1937 deaths at IMDb
• List of 1937 births at IMDb