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The History of American Cinema: 1962

January - August

20/1 -

Darryl F. Zanuck scotches rumours of a return to 20^th Century-Fox with the following statement: ‘I am not bitter, but I have reached the age... where I cannot spend my days with people I would not like to have dinner with...’ [ADD]

20/3 -

A report in The New York Times announces that Grace Kelly, now Princess Grace of Monaco is to return to the screen to star in Alfred Hitchcock’s Marnie. [ADD]

9/4 -

Robert Wise’s West Side Story wins ten Oscars at the 34th Annual Academy Awards ceremony. [MORE]

12/4 -

Robert Mitchum gives a powerful and sinister performance as Max Cady, out for revenge against the Georgia attorney (Gregory Peck) who put him away, in J. Lee Thompson’s adaptation of John D. MacDonald’s Cape Fear.   Lori Martin and Polly Bergen plays Peck’s daughter and wife, who become the target of Cady’s wrath. [ADD]

22/4 -

John Ford’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is released.   James Stewart, John Wayne and Lee Marvin star. [ADD]

6/6 -

The Machiavellian machinations of Washington politics come under the spotlight in Otto Preminger’s adaptation of Allen Drury’s Advise and Consent.   A stellar cast includes Franchot Tone, Lew Ayres, Henry Fonda, Walter Pidgeon, Don Murray, and Charles Laughton in his final role. [ADD]

13/6 -

Stanley Kubrick’s version of Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita is released.   Sue Lyon plays the teen nymphet and femme fatale for whom James Mason’s Humbert Humbert develops an unhealthy obsession.   Shelley Winters and Peter Sellers also star. [ADD]

5/8 -

Marilyn Monroe is found dead in her Brentwood home after apparently overdosing on sleeping pills.   Ironically, the troubled star was filming Something’s Got to Give with Dean Martin and Cyd Charisse when she died. [ADD]

29/8 -

Darryl F. Zanuck is appointed the new president of 20th Century-Fox, replacing the departing president Spyros P. Skouras six years after leaving as the studio's vice-president in charge of production to begin a new career as an independent producer in Europe.   Zanuck immediately shuts down the studio and dismisses the majority of employees in order to cut costs before the release of both The Longest Day and Cleopatra. [ADD]

The History of Cinema: 1962