1967

Only a few weeks after completing Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967), Spencer Tracy died of a heart attack at the age of 67. It was the last of nine films in which Tracy and Katharine Hepburn starred together, stretching from Woman of the Year (1942) to 1967, a period of 25 years.

After suffering many years from ill-health and bi-polar depression, British actress Vivien Leigh died at the age of 53 from the effects of tuberculosis. 34 year-old sexy and buxom screen star Jayne Mansfield, was killed in a horrific car crash in Louisiana.  Although she suffered major head trauma, there were also numerous rumors of her decapitation, all untrue, due to photographs of her wig (or scalp) at the accident site

Writer/director/actor/composer Charlie Chaplin directed his final film, the romantic comedy The Countess from Hong Kong (1967), starring Sophia Loren and Marlon Brando.  It was a major flop.  It was Chaplin’s first and sole color (and widescreen) film, and only one of two films during his entire career in which he did not also play a major starring role. A brief cameo in the film as an unnamed, elderly steward marked his final screen appearance.

The Countess from Hong Kong – Sophia Loren and Charles Chaplin on set

Two UK films released in 1967 are noted for the first use of the four-letter word ‘f–k’: director Michael Winner’s film I’ll Never Forget What’s ‘is Name (1967) and Ulysses (1967).  The first major (commercially-released) US studio film to include the word ‘s–t’ (or ‘bulls–t’) in its dialogue was writer/director Richard Brooks’ In Cold Blood (1967).

The national average ticket price for theatre admission in the USA was $1.22, according to the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO).

Billboard’s number one single of 1967 was the movie theme “To Sir with Love” sung by Lulu.  The Pulitzer Prize for Literature went to Bernard Malamud’s The Fixer.  Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance won for drama.  Time Magazine’s Man of the Year was President Lyndon Baines Johnson.

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1967 looks to be a great year for Hollywood and beyond.  The list I will choose from is here.  I have already reviewed In the Heat of the Night, Don’t Look Back, and Festival.

Montage of stills from Oscar winners.

Montage of stills of nominees in the major Oscar categories.