1926 in film

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

Events

• February – The oldest surviving animated feature film is released in the Weimar Republic, directed by Lotte Reiniger. It is called The Adventures of Prince Achmed.
• August 5 – Warner Brothers debuts the first Vitaphone film, Don Juan. The Vitaphone system uses multiple 33⅓ rpm gramophone records developed by Bell Telephone Laboratories and Western Electric to play back music and sound effects synchronized with film.
• August 23 – Rudolph Valentino, whose film The Son of the Sheik was currently playing, dies at the age of 31 in New York. Riots occur at the funeral parlor as thousands of people try to see his body.
• October 7 – Warner Brothers release the second Vitaphone film, The Better 'Ole, starring Sydney Chaplin.
• 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. is formed in an effort to exploit the system, which is given the name Movietone. Fox begin to create Movietone News newsreels at this time. One of the first newsreels is of 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

  Notable films released in 1926

0-9

• 3 Bad Men, directed by John Ford

  A

• The Adventures of Prince Achmed, directed by Lotte Reiniger –
• Aloma of the South Seas, directed by Maurice Tourneur, starring Gilda Gray & William Powell

  B

• Bardelys the Magnificent, directed by King Vidor, starring John Gilbert and Eleanor Boardman
• The Bat, directed by Roland West
• 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 –

  C

• Cab No. 13,, directed by Michael Curtiz –
• Cruise of the Jasper B, starring Rod La Rocque, Mildred Harris and Snitz Edwards

  D

• Dangerous Traffic, directed by Bennett Cohen, starring Ralph Bushman, Mildred Harris and Jack Perrin
• The Devil's Circus, starring Norma Shearer
• The Devil's Wheel, –
• Don Juan, directed by Alan Crosland, starring John Barrymore''

  F

• Falešná kočička aneb Když si žena umíní –
• Faust, directed by F. W. Murnau, starring Gösta Ekman and Emil Jannings –
• 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

  G

• The General, starring Buster Keaton
• The Golden Butterfly, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Lili Damita and Nils Asther –
• The Great Gatsby, directed by Herbert Brenon, starring Warner Baxter and Lois Wilson
• The Great K & A Train Robbery, starring Tom Mix

  H

• Hands Up!
• The Holy Mountain, starring Leni Riefenstahl –

  I

• In the Way of Zorro
• Irene, starring Colleen Moore. In color sequence by Technicolor.
• It Must Be Love, starring Colleen Moore.

  J

• The Johnstown Flood, starring George O'Brien and Janet Gaynor

  K

• Kid Boots, starring Eddie Cantor and Clara Bow

  L

• The Last Days of Pompeii –
• Loetoeng Kasaroeng, directed by L. Heuveldorp, starring Martoana –
• Love's Berries –

  M

• 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 –
• Mare Nostrum, directed by Rex Ingram, starring Antonio Moreno and Alice Terry
• Ménilmontant, directed by Dimitri Kirsanoff, starring Nadia Sibirskaïa –
• Michel Strogoff, directed by Viktor Tourjansky, starring Ivan Mozzhukhin and Nathalie Kovanko -
• Miss Mend, directed by Fyodor Otsep, starring Boris Barnet –
• Mother, directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin –
• My Stars, directed by Fatty Arbuckle

  N

• Nana directed by Jean Renoir –
• Nell Gwyn, directed by Herbert Wilcox; starring Dorothy Gish, Randle Ayrton –
• Nelson, starring Cedric Hardwicke –
• The Non-Stop Flight, directed by Emory Johnson, starring Knute Erickson

  O

• Old Ironsides, directed by James Cruze; starring Esther Ralston
• The Overcoat –

  P

• A Page of Madness –

  Q

• The Quarterback, directed by Fred C. Newmeyer; starring Richard Dix

  R

• Rien que les heures, directed by Alberto Cavalcanti –

  S

• The Scarlet Letter, starring Lillian Gish and Lars Hanson
• The Sea Beast, starring John Barrymore, Dolores Costello and George O'Hara
• Secrets of a Soul, directed by G. W. Pabst –
• The Show-Off, directed by Mal St. Clair; starring Ford Sterling, Lois Wilson and Louise Brooks
• 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
• The Strong Man, starring Harry Langdon
• The Student of Prague, starring Conrad Veidt, Werner Krauss, Agnes Esterhazy and Fritz Alberti –

  T

• Tartuffe, directed by F. W. Murnau, starring Emil Jannings –
• Tell It to the Marines , directed by George W. Hill, starring William Haines and Lon Chaney
• The Temptress, starring Greta Garbo and Antonio Moreno
• The Three Million Trial –
• Torrent, starring Ricardo Cortez and Greta Garbo
• Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, starring Harry Langdon and Joan Crawford
• A Trip to Chinatown, starring Margaret Livingston and Earle Foxe
• The Triumph of the Rat, directed by Graham Cutts, starring Ivor Novello and Isabel Jeans –

  V

• The Volga Boatman, directed by Cecil B. DeMille; starring William Boyd

  W

• 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, directed by Josef von Sternberg; starring Edna Purviance

  Y

• Young April, directed by Donald Crisp; starring Joseph Schildkraut

  Comedy film series

• Charlie Chaplin
• Buster Keaton
• Our Gang
• Laurel and Hardy
• Harry Langdon

  Animated short film series

• Felix the Cat
• Koko the Clown
• 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
• Krazy Kat
• Un-Natural History
• Pete the Pup

  Births

• January 6 – Mickey Hargitay, Hungarian-American actor and 1955 Mr. Universe
• January 14 – Tom Tryon, actor and novelist
• January 15 – Maria Schell, actress
• January 17 – Moira Shearer, actress and dancer
• January 19 – Fritz Weaver, actor
• January 20 – Patricia Neal, actress
• February 2 – Lia Laats, actress
• February 11 – Leslie Nielsen, actor and comedian
• February 16 – John Schlesinger, director
• February 20 – Gillian Lynne, dancer, actress and choreographer
• March 6 – Andrzej Wajda, director
• March 16 – Jerry Lewis, American actor
• April 5 – Roger Corman, American director
• April 7 – Prem Nazir, Indian actor
• April 8 – Shirley Mills, American actress
• April 12 – Jane Withers, American actress
• April 14 – Gloria Jean, American actress and singer
• April 22 – Charlotte Rae, American actress
• April 30 – Cloris Leachman, American actress
• May 8 – Don Rickles, American comedian and actor
• May 10 – Tichi Wilkerson Kassel, American film personality, publisher of The Hollywood Reporter
• May 11 – Frank Thring, Australian actor
• June 1
• *Andy Griffith, American actor
• *Marilyn Monroe, American actress
• June 13 – Paul Lynde, American comedian and actor
• June 28 – Mel Brooks, American entertainer
• July 5 – Diana Lynn, American actress
• July 10 – Carleton Carpenter, American actor, magician, author and songwriter
• July 14 – Harry Dean Stanton, American character actor
• July 21 – Norman Jewison, Canadian director
• July 22 – Bryan Forbes, English director
• August 7 – Stan Freberg, American voice actor, author, radio personality and comedian
• August 29 – Betty Lynn, American actress
• September 19 – James Lipton, American actor, screenwriter and presenter
• October 15 – Jean Peters, American actress
• October 17
• *Julie Adams, American actress
• *Beverly Garland, American actress
• October 18 – Klaus Kinski, German actor
• November 1 – Betsy Palmer, American actress
• November 30 – Richard Crenna, American actor
• December 1 – Allyn Ann McLerie, American actress
• December 18 – Walter Lassally, German-born British-Greek cinematographer

  Deaths

• January 30 – Barbara La Marr, actress
• February 6 – Carrie Clark Ward, actress
• April 20 – Billy Quirk, actor
• March 2 – Victory Bateman, actress
• May 7 - Lillian Lawrence, actress
• July 22 – Willard Louis, actor
• July 23 - Charles Avery
• August 22 – Joe Moore, actor, brother of Mary Moore, Matt Moore, Owen Moore & Tom Moore
• August 23 – Rudolph Valentino, actor
• August 30 – Eddie Lyons, American actor
• September 8 – , Japanese actor
• September 11 – Matsunosuke Onoe, actor
• October 31 – Harry Houdini, magician & actor
• November 7 – Tom Forman, silent film actor & director
• November 8 – James K Hackett, stage & silent film actor
• November 17 – Harold Vosburgh, silent film actor

  Film debuts

• Sterling Holloway – The Battling Kangaroo
• Nancy Kelly – The Untamed Lady
• Joel McCrea – Torrent
• Franklin Pangborn – Exit Smiling
• Buddy Rogers – Fascinating Youth
• Mickey Rooney – Not to Be Trusted
• John Wayne – Brown of Harvard