1st – 7th February: Discover This Fascinating Week in Film History

This week we cover the period between 1st – 7th February as we look back at the the fascinating past of the film industry. We love to celebrate the history of cinema here at More Movies and we really enjoy delving into and highlighting some of the most interesting moments in the world of movies, including milestone releases, infamous events, births and deaths of the industry’s most notable characters, along with other historic happenings.

Hungarian stage and film character actor S Z Sakall, famous for roles in Dolly Sisters and Casablanca, was born in Budapest Hungary

2nd February, 1883

Scottish actor and director Frank Lloyd, famous for his movies Mutiny on Bounty, Oliver Twist and Blood on the Sun, was born in Glasgow, Scotland

2nd February, 1886

Thomas Edison completes worlds first movie studio at West Orange, New Jersey

1st February, 1893

The first movie close-up (of a sneeze) was shot at Edison’s studio in West Orange, New Jersey

2nd February, 1893

American director John Ford, famous for directing Stagecoach and The Searchers, was born in Cape Elizabeth, Maine

1st February, 1895

British actor Nigel Bruce, famous for his roles in Rebecca, Suspicion and Sherlock Holmes, was born in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico

4th February, 1895

American actor Clark Gable, known as ‘The King of Hollywood‘, and famous for his roles in Gone With the Wind and It Happened One Night, was born in Cadiz, Ohio

1st February, 1901

American actor John Carradine, famous for his roles in The Grapes of Wrath and Stagecoach, was born in Greenwich Village, New York

5th February, 1906

American actor Frank Albertson, famous for his roles in Psycho, It’s a Wonderful Life and Alice Adams, was born in Fergus Falls, Minnesota

2nd February, 1909

American actor Robert Earl Jones, famous for his roles in The Sting, Witness and Sleepaway Camp, was born in Senatobia, Mississippi

3rd February, 1910

American actor and future U.S. president Ronald Reagan, famous for roles in Bedtime for Bonzo and The Killers, was born in Tampico, Illinois

6th February, 1911

Charlie Chaplin debuts silent film character ‘The Tramp‘ in Kid Auto Races at Venice

7th February, 1914

English comedian and actor Norman Wisdom, famous for his films A Stitch in Time and Trouble in Store, was born in London, England

4th February, 1915

American actor Bruce Gordon, famous for his role in The Untouchables, was born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts

1st February, 1916

Hungarian-born American actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, famous for her role in Queen of Outer Space, was born in Budapest

6th February, 1917

The Hollywood film studio United Artists was founded by Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and D. W. Griffith

5th February, 1919

American actor Tim Holt, famous for his role in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, was born in Beverly Hills, California

5th February, 1919

Silent film The Kid, starring Charlie Chaplin & Jackie Coogan, was released in the U.S.

6th February, 1921

British comedy actress Josephine “Hattie” Jacques, famous for her roles in the Carry On films, was born in Kent, England

7th February, 1922

Shanghai Express, directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring Marlene Dietrich, Clive Brook and Anna Mae Wong, premiered in Los Angeles

3rd February, 1932

Modern Times, silent film directed by, written by and starring Charlie Chaplin, was released in the U.S.

5th February, 1936

American actor Victor Buono, famous for his roles in Man from Atlantis and The Untouchables, was born in San Diego, California

3rd February, 1938

American-Canadian director George A. Romero, most famous for Night of the Living Dead, was born in The Bronx, New York

4th February, 1940

Walt Disney’s second feature length movie, Pinocchio, premiered in New York City

7th February, 1940

Welsh comedian and actor Terry Jones, most famous for his roles in the Monty Python movies, was born in Colwyn Bay, Denbighshire

1st February, 1942

Serial film Captain America premiered in the U.S. Starring Dick Purcell, this was the first appearance of a Marvel superhero outside of a comic book.

5th February, 1944

Walt Disney’s The Three Caballeros, framed as the studio’s goodwill message for Latin America, was released in the U.S.

3rd February, 1945

British actor Pete Postlethwaite, famous for his roles in In the Name of the Father, The Usual Suspects and The Boxer, was born in Warrington, England.

7th February, 1946

American actor Charley Grapewin, famous for his role as Uncle Henry in The Wizard of Oz, died aged 86

2nd February, 1956

La Dolce Vita, directed by Federico Fellini and starring Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg, premiered in Italy

3rd February, 1960

British actor and comedian Eddie Izzard, famous for roles in Ocean’s Twelve, Victoria & Abdul and Cars 2, was born in Aden, Yemen

7th February, 1962

American actress Laura Linney, famous for her roles in The Truman Show and Mystic River, was born in Manhattan, New York

5th February, 1964

American actor & comedian Buster Keaton, famous for his films The Navigator, Steamboat Bill Jr and The General, died aged 70

1st February, 1966

English actor Boris Karloff, famous for his roles in The Mummy and Frankenstein, died of pneumonia aged 81

2nd February, 1969

Patton, directed by Franklin J. Schaffner and starring George C. Scott, premiered in New York

4th February, 1970

American actor Michael C. Hall, famous for his roles in Game Night, Cold in July and Gamer, was born in Raleigh, North Carolina

1st February, 1971

Mel Brooks’ film Blazing Saddles, starring Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder, opens in movie theaters in the U.S.

7th February, 1974

British actor Richard Wattis, famous for his roles in Hobson’s Choice, Prince & Showgirl and The Man Who Knew Too Much, died from a heart attack aged 62

1st February, 1975

Australian actress Isla Fisher, famous for her roles in Wedding Crashers and The Great Gatsby, was born in Muscat, Oman

3rd February, 1976

American actress Pauline Starke, famous for her roles in Dante’s Inferno, The Viking and Sun Up, died aged 76

3rd February, 1977

Director Roman Polanski skips bail & flees to France after pleading guilty to charges of engaging in sex with a 13-year-old girl

1st February, 1978

American actor Ashton Kutcher, famous for his roles in Jobs, Not Strings Attached and The Butterfly Effect, was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa

7th February, 1978

American child actress Heather O’Rourke, famous for her role in Poltergeist, dies of intestinal ailment aged just 12

1st February, 1988

Greek-American actor, film director, and screenwriter John Cassavetes, famous for directing Faces, A Women Under the Influence and Gloria, died aged 59

3rd February, 1989

American silent screen actress Jane Novak, famous for Ghost Town and Wagon Tracks died of stroke aged 94

6th February, 1990

American actor Dick Winslow, famous for his roles in Tom Sawyer and Mutiny on the Bounty, died aged 75

7th February, 1991

British actor Donald Pleasence, famous for his roles in the Halloween franchise, Escape from New York, and You Only Live Twice, died from heart failure aged 75

2nd February, 1995

American actor Gene Kelly, famous for his roles in An American in Paris, Going My Way and Singin’ in the Rain, died of a stroke aged 83

2nd February, 1996

Canadian actor John Vernon, famous for his roles in Animal House, Chained Heat and Dirty Harry, died aged 72

1st February, 2005

American actor James Whitmore, famous for his roles in The Shawshank Redemption and Give ’em Hell Harry, died of lung cancer aged 87

6th February, 2009

American actor Sam Coppola, famous for his role in Saturday Night Fever, died aged 79

5th February, 2012

Swiss-Austrian actor Maximilian Schell, famous for his roles in Judgment at Nuremberg and The Pedestrian, died aged 83

1st February, 2014

American actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, famous for his roles in Capote, The Master and Moneyball, died of a suspected drug overdose aged 46

2nd February, 2014

English actor Albert Finney, famous for his roles in Erin Brockovich, Tom Jones and Skyfall, died aged 82

7th February, 2019

American actor Kirk Douglas, famous for his roles in Spartacus and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, died aged 103

5th February, 2020

Canadian actor Christopher Plummer famous for his roles in The Sound of Music and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, dies aged 91

5th February, 2021

Italian actress Monica Vitti known for her roles in the Michaelangelo Antonioni films L’Avventura and L’Eclisse dies of Dementia with Lewy bodies disease at 90

2nd February, 2021

Well there we have our picks for this week in film history between 1st – 7th February.

Be sure to check back next week for some more fun film facts and tidbits. If you think we missed something important, be sure to let us know in the comments.

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