The following is an overview of 1956 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.
This Is the Army is a 1943 American wartime musical comedy film produced by Jack L. Warner and Hal B. Wallis and directed by Michael Curtiz, adapted from a wartime stage musical with the same name, designed to boost morale in the U.S. during World War II, directed by Ezra Stone. The screenplay by Casey Robinson and Claude Binyon was based on the 1942 Broadway musical written by James McColl and Irving Berlin, with music and lyrics by Berlin. Berlin composed the film's 19 songs, and sang one of them.
General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations.
Forrest Meredith Tucker was an American actor in both movies and television who appeared in nearly a hundred films. Tucker worked as a vaudeville straight man at the age of fifteen. A mentor provided funds and contacts for a trip to California, where party hostess Cobina Wright persuaded guest Wesley Ruggles to give Tucker a screen test because of Tucker's photogenic good looks, thick wavy hair and height of six feet, five inches.
Panama Hattie is a 1940 American musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter and book by Herbert Fields and B. G. DeSylva. The musical is about a nightclub owner, Hattie Maloney, who lives in the Panama Canal Zone and ends up dealing with both romantic and military intrigue. The title is a play on words, referring to the popular Panama hat.
AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars is the American Film Institute's list ranking the top 25 male and 25 female greatest screen legends of American film history and is the second list of the AFI 100 Years... series.
Gwen Bristow was an American writer and journalist, best known for her tales of the Old South, especially the "Plantation Trilogy."
Virginia City is a 1940 American Western film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Errol Flynn, Miriam Hopkins, Randolph Scott, and a mustachioed Humphrey Bogart in the role of the real-life outlaw John Murrell. Based on a screenplay by Robert Buckner, the film is about a Union officer who escapes from a Confederate prison and is sent to Virginia City from where his former prison commander is planning to send five million dollars in gold to Virginia to save the Confederacy. The film premiered in its namesake, Virginia City, Nevada. The film was shot in black and white (sepiatone).
Olive Carey was an American film and television actress, and the mother of actor Harry Carey Jr.
Rawhide is an American Western television series starring Eric Fleming and Clint Eastwood. The show aired for eight seasons on the CBS network on Friday nights from January 9, 1959, to September 3, 1965, before moving to Tuesday nights from September 14, 1965, until December 7, 1965, with a total of 217 black-and-white episodes. The series was produced and sometimes directed by Charles Marquis Warren, who also produced early episodes of Gunsmoke. The show is remembered by many for its theme song, "Rawhide".
The Golden Boot Awards were an American acknowledgement of achievement honoring actors, actresses, and crew members who made significant contributions to the genre of Westerns in television and film. The award was sponsored and presented by the Motion Picture & Television Fund. Money raised at the award banquet was used to help finance various services offered by the Fund to those in the entertainment industry.
Dark Command is a 1940 Crime western film starring Claire Trevor, John Wayne and Walter Pidgeon loosely based on Quantrill's Raiders during the American Civil War. Directed by Raoul Walsh from the novel by W. R. Burnett, Dark Command is the only film in which western icons John Wayne and Roy Rogers appear together, and was the only film Wayne and Raoul Walsh made together since Walsh discovered Wayne working as a prop mover, renamed him, and gave him his first leading role in the epic widescreen Western The Big Trail a decade before.
Marguerite Churchill was an American stage and film actress whose career lasted 30 years, from 1922 to 1952. She was John Wayne's first leading lady, in The Big Trail (1930).
Jubilee Trail is an American novel written by Gwen Bristow, published in 1950. It follows the adventures of two strong women in the mid-19th century as they travel across the United States to the then-Mexican territory of California. The novel is still in print, with forewords included by Nancy E. Turner and Sandra Dallas.
Jeanne Bal was an American actress and model who worked primarily in 1960s television.
I Take This Woman is a 1931 American pre-Code romance film directed by Marion Gering and starring Gary Cooper and Carole Lombard.
Calm Yourself is a 1935 American comedy film directed by George B. Seitz and written by Arthur Kober. The film stars Robert Young, Madge Evans, Betty Furness, Ralph Morgan, Nat Pendleton and Hardie Albright. The film was released on June 28, 1935, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Cinderella Jones is a 1946 American musical comedy film directed by Busby Berkeley and written by Charles Hoffman. The film stars Joan Leslie, Robert Alda, Julie Bishop, William Prince, S. Z. Sakall, and Edward Everett Horton. The film was released by Warner Bros. on March 9, 1946.
Flight Nurse is a 1953 American drama war film directed by Allan Dwan and stars Joan Leslie and Forrest Tucker. The film is largely based on the life of Lillian Kinkella Keil, one of the most decorated women in American military history. Flight Nurse begins with the dedication: "This picture is respectfully dedicated to that brave legion of military nurses who are serving with the armed forces of free nations all over the world. These angels of mercy – shoulder to shoulder, share the danger and hardships of free fighting men everywhere, with devotion above and beyond the call of duty."
