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The year 1972 in film involved several significant events.
The top ten 1972 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:
| Rank | Title | Distributor | Domestic rentals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Godfather | Paramount | $86,300,000[1] |
| 2 | The Poseidon Adventure | 20th Century Fox | $42,000,000[1] |
| 3 | What's Up, Doc? | Warner Bros. | $28,000,000[1] |
| 4 | Deliverance | $22,500,000[1] | |
| 5 | Jeremiah Johnson | $21,900,000[2] | |
| 6 | Cabaret | Allied Artists | $20,250,000[2] |
| 7 | Deep Throat | Bryanston | $20,000,000[2] |
| 8 | The Getaway | National General | $18,000,000[2] |
| 9 | Brother of the Wind | Sun International | $12,000,000[3] |
| 10 | Lady Sings the Blues | Paramount | $9,666,000[2] |
Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival):
- The Working Class Goes to Heaven (La classe operaia va in paradiso), directed by Elio Petri, Italy
- The Mattei Affair (Il Caso Mattei), directed by Francesco Rosi, Italy
Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival):
- The Canterbury Tales (I Racconti di Canterbury), directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italy / France
By country/region
- List of American films of 1972
- List of Argentine films of 1972
- List of Australian films of 1972
- List of Bangladeshi films of 1972
- List of British films of 1972
- List of Canadian films of 1972
- List of French films of 1972
- List of Hong Kong films of 1972
- List of Indian films of 1972
- List of Japanese films of 1972
- List of Mexican films of 1972
- List of Pakistani films of 1972
- List of South Korean films of 1972
- List of Soviet films of 1972
- List of Spanish films of 1972
By genre/medium
- January 5 - Luciana Pedraza, Argentine actress and director
- January 9 – Deon Cole, American actor
- January 11
- Konstantin Khabensky, Russian actor and director
- Amanda Peet, American actress
- January 12 - Zabryna Guevara, American actress
- January 15 – Kobe Tai, Taiwanese-American actress
- January 16 - Richard T. Jones, American actor
- January 20 - Adrian Martinez, American actor and comedian
- January 22 - Romi Park, Japanese actress and singer
- January 23 -
- Léa Drucker, French actress
- Ewen Bremner, Scottish character actor
- January 26 - Cyia Batten, American dancer, model and actress
- January 28 - Peter McDonald, Irish actor and director
- February 1 - Tego Calderón, Puerto Rican rapper, singer and actor
- February 7 - Robyn Lively, American actress
- February 9 – Crispin Freeman, American voice actor
- February 16 - Sarah Clarke, American actress
- February 20 – Gareth Unwin, English producer[4]
- February 24 - James Bachman, English comedian, actor and writer
- February 26 – Keith Ferguson, American voice actor
- February 27 - Richard Coyle, English actor
- February 28 - Rory Cochrane, American actor
- March 4 – Garth Jennings, English film director, screenwriter, producer, actor and writer
- March 8 - Matt Nable, Australian actor and writer
- March 9
- Jean Louisa Kelly, American actress and singer
- Kerr Smith, American actor
- March 13 – Common, American actor and singer
- March 16 - Nicolas Bro, Danish actor
- March 18 – Dane Cook, American comedian
- March 23 – Judith Godrèche, French actress
- March 24
- Charlie Creed-Miles, English actor and musician
- Tony Leondis, Greek-American animator, filmmaker and voice actor
- March 26 – Leslie Mann, American actress
- March 28
- Nick Frost, English actor, comedian, writer and producer
- David Vadim, Ukrainian-born American actor
- March 29 - Sam Hazeldine, English actor
- March 31 – Alejandro Amenábar, Spanish director, writer and soundtrack composer
- April 3 - Catherine McCormack, English actress
- April 5 - Junko Takeuchi, Japanese actress and voice actress
- April 6 - Jason Hervey, American actor and producer
- April 8 - Sung Kang, American actor
- April 10 - Vincent Zhao, Chinese actor and martial artist
- April 15 - Lou Romano, American animator and voice actor
- April 17 – Jennifer Garner, American actress
- April 18 - Eli Roth, American director, screenwriter, producer and actor
- April 20 - Carmen Electra, American actress, singer and model
- April 26 - Bronagh Gallagher, Irish actress and singer
- April 28 - Gabriel Casseus, American actor and screenwriter
- April 29 – Derek Mears, American actor and stuntman
- May 2 – Dwayne Johnson, American actor
- May 4 - John Rawls, New Zealand actor
- May 7 - Jennifer Yuh Nelson, South Korean-born American story artist and director
- May 12
- Christian Campbell, Canadian actor
- Rhea Seehorn, American actress and director
- May 14 - Gabriel Mann, American actor and model
- May 16 - Khary Payton, American actor
- May 20 - Busta Rhymes, American rapper and actor
- May 22 - Max Brooks, American actor
- May 25 - Karan Johar, Indian director
- May 26 - Selenis Leyva, American actress
- May 28
- Kate Ashfield, English actress
- Chiara Mastroianni, French actress
- Roland Møller, Danish actor
- May 29 - Laverne Cox, American actress
- May 30 - Joachim Rønning, Norwegian director
- May 31 - Archie Panjabi, British actress
- June 2
- Wayne Brady, American actor, comedian, producer and game show host
- Wentworth Miller, American-British actor and screenwriter
- June 7 – Karl Urban, New Zealand actor
- June 16 - John Cho, American actor
- June 19
- Jean Dujardin, French actor
- Robin Tunney, American actress
- June 23 – Selma Blair, American actress
- June 28
- Brendan Hunt, American actor and writer
- Alessandro Nivola, American actor
- July 3 - Matt Schulze, American actor and musician
- July 5 – Gilles Lellouche, French actor and director
- July 7 - Heather Kafka, American actress
- July 10
- Christoph Hochhäusler, German film director and screenwriter
- Peter Serafinowicz, English actor, comedian, director and screenwriter
- Sofia Vergara, Colombian American actress, television producer, presenter and model
- John Viener, American actor, voice actor, writer and comedian
- July 11 - Michael Rosenbaum, American actor, director, producer, singer and comedian
- July 12 – Nenad Jezdić, Serbian actor
- July 15 – Scott Foley, American actor, director and screenwriter
- July 23 - Marlon Wayans, American actor, comedian, writer and producer
- July 27 – Maya Rudolph, American actress and comedian
- July 28
- Elizabeth Berkley, American actress
- Evan Farmer, American actor and musician
- July 29
- Ato Essandoh, American actor
- Wil Wheaton, American actor
- August 1
- Guri Weinberg, Israeli-American actor and writer
- Charles Malik Whitfield, American actor
- August 2 - Jacinda Barrett, Australian-American actress
- August 5
- Darren Shahlavi, English actor, martial artist and stuntman (d. 2015)
- Reika Kirishima, Japanese actress
- August 7
- Dan Payne, Canadian actor
- Greg Serano, American actor
- August 10 - Angie Harmon, American actress
- August 13 - Michael Sinterniklaas, French voice actor
- August 15 – Ben Affleck, American actor, director and writer
- August 25 - Joe Wright, English director
- August 30 – Cameron Diaz, American actress
- September 4
- Carlos Ponce, Puerto Rican actor, musician, model and television personality
- Françoise Yip, Canadian actress
- September 6
- Dylan Bruno, American actor
- Idris Elba, English actor
- Mait Malmsten, Estonian actor
- Anika Noni Rose, American actress and singer
- September 7 – Matthew Sleeth, Australian director
- September 8
- Giovanni Frezza, Italian child actor
- Tomokazu Seki, Japanese voice actor
- September 9 – Goran Visnjic, Croatian-American actor
- September 15 - John Schwab, American actor
- September 16
- Mike Doyle, American actor
- Alex Rice, Aboriginal-Canadian actress
- September 21
- Kevin Downes, American actor, writer, producer and director
- Erin Fitzgerald, Canadian voice actress
- September 24
- Kate Fleetwood, English actress
- Finty Williams, English actress
- September 27 – Gwyneth Paltrow, American actress
- October 5 - Tom Hooper, British-Australian filmmaker
- October 8
- Enrique Arce, Spanish actor
- Tricia Vessey, American actress, writer and producer
- October 9 - Cocoa Brown, American actress, writer and comedian
- October 12 - Sönke Möhring, German actor
- October 15 - Matt Keeslar, American former actor
- October 17 – Eminem, American rapper and actor
- October 18 - Christopher Knights, English voice actor, editor and cinematographer
- October 20 - Thor Freudenthal, German director, screenwriter, animator and special effects artist
- October 21 - Masakazu Morita, Japanese actor, voice actor and singer
- October 22 – Saffron Burrows, English-American actress
- October 23 - Kate del Castillo, Mexican-American actress
- October 29 - Gabrielle Union, American actress, voice artist, activist and author
- October 30
- David Wilson Barnes, American actor
- Jessica Hynes, English actress, director and writer
- Steve Monroe, American actor and stand-up comedian
- October 31 - Assaf Cohen, American actor
- November 1
- Toni Collette, Australian actress, producer and singer-songwriter
- Jenny McCarthy, American actress
- November 2 - Steve Edge, English actor, writer and former comedian
- November 6
- Thandiwe Newton, English actress
- Rebecca Romijn, American actress
- November 7
- Christopher Daniel Barnes, American actor and writer
- Jeremy and Jason London, American actors
- November 8
- Gretchen Mol, American actress
- Jason Matthew Smith, American actor
- November 9 - Eric Dane, American actor
- November 10 - Trevor Devall, Canadian voice actor and podcaster
- November 11
- Adam Beach, Canadian actor
- Tyler Christopher, American actor (d. 2023)
- November 13 - Takuya Kimura, Japanese actor, singer and radio personality
- November 14 – Josh Duhamel, American actor
- November 15 – Jonny Lee Miller, English actor
- November 16 - Michael Irby, American actor
- November 19
- Nicole Forester, American actress
- Sandrine Holt, British-born Canadian actress
- November 21 - Rain Phoenix, American actress, musician and singer
- November 26 – Arjun Rampal, Indian actor
- November 28 - Michael Blackson, Ghanian actor and comedian
- November 29 - Brian Baumgartner, American actor
- December 2 - Trond Fausa Aurvåg, Norwegian actor and director
- December 4 - Yūko Miyamura, Japanese actress and voice actress
- December 7 – Jennifer Syme, American entertainment industry employee (d. 2001)
- December 14
- Jason Barry, Irish actor
- Miranda Hart, English actress, comedian and writer
- December 15 – Stuart Townsend, Irish actor
- December 16 - Lisa Spoonauer, American former character actress (d. 2017)
- December 18 - Jason Mantzoukas, American character actor, comedian, writer and podcaster.
- December 19 – Alyssa Milano, American actress
- December 20 - Marc Silk, English voice actor
- December 23 – Christian Potenza, Canadian actor and voice actor
- December 24 – Carmen Moore, Canadian actress
- December 25 - Patrick Brennan, American actor
- December 26 – Shane Meadows, English independent film director
- December 27
- Brandon Auret, South African actor
- Thomas Wilson Brown, American actor
- December 29
- Jude Law, English actor
- Leonor Varela, Chilean actress
| Month | Date | Name | Age | Country | Profession | Notable films |
| January | 1 | Maurice Chevalier | 83 | France | Actor, Singer | |
| 8 | Wesley Ruggles | 82 | US | Director, Producer | ||
| 17 | Rochelle Hudson | 55 | US | Actress | ||
| 18 | George Mitchell | 66 | US | Actor | ||
| 19 | Richard Fraser | 58 | Scotland | Actor | ||
| 22 | Alec Coppel | 64 | Australia | Screenwriter | ||
| 24 | Jerome Cowan | 74 | US | Actor | ||
| 27 | Herbert Hübner | 82 | Germany | Actor | ||
| 29 | Hugh McDermott | 65 | Scotland | Actor | ||
| February | 2 | Jessie Royce Landis | 75 | US | Actress | |
| 7 | Walter Lang | 75 | US | Director | ||
| 19 | John Grierson | 73 | Scotland | Director, Producer | ||
| 20 | Walter Winchell | 74 | US | Commentator | ||
| 21 | Bronislava Nijinska | 64 | Poland | Choreographer | ||
| March | 3 | Harold Young | 74 | US | Director, Editor | |
| 19 | Albert Mannheimer | 59 | US | Screenwriter | ||
| 20 | Marilyn Maxwell | 51 | US | Actress | ||
| 29 | J. Arthur Rank | 83 | England | Executive | ||
| 29 | Hal Roach Jr. | 53 | US | Director, Producer | ||
| 30 | Peter Whitney | 55 | US | Actor | ||
| April | 5 | Brian Donlevy | 71 | Ireland | Actor | |
| 5 | Isabel Jewell | 64 | US | Actress | ||
| 7 | Betty Blythe | 78 | US | Actress | ||
| 13 | Dorothy Dalton | 78 | US | Actress | ||
| 20 | Jorge Mistral | 51 | Spain | Actor | ||
| 25 | George Sanders | 65 | England | Actor | ||
| 25 | Alfred J. Goulding | 87 | Australia | Director | ||
| 27 | Bobby Howes | 76 | England | Producer, Director | ||
| 28 | Harry Joe Brown | 81 | US | Producer, Director | ||
| 30 | Gia Scala | 38 | England | Actor | ||
| May | 3 | Bruce Cabot | 68 | US | Actor | |
| 4 | Elsa Ratassepp | 79 | Estonia | Actress | Libahunt | |
| 5 | Frank Tashlin | 59 | US | Director | ||
| 7 | Henri Diamant-Berger | 76 | France | Director, producer, screenwriter | ||
| 12 | Steve Ihnat | 37 | Czechoslovakia | Actor | ||
| 13 | Dan Blocker | 43 | US | Actor | ||
| 15 | Nigel Green | 47 | South Africa | Actor | ||
| 18 | Sidney Franklin | 79 | US | Director, Producer | ||
| 22 | Margaret Rutherford | 80 | England | Actress | ||
| 23 | Richard Day | 76 | Canada | Art director | ||
| 24 | Asta Nielsen | 90 | Denmark | Actress | ||
| 25 | Charles C. Coleman | 70 | US | Director | ||
| June | 17 | Jean Brochard | 79 | France | Actor | |
| 17 | Gale Henry | 79 | US | Actress | ||
| 20 | Sidney Lanfield | 74 | US | Director | ||
| 22 | Paul Czinner | 82 | Hungary | Director, screenwriter | ||
| 25 | Nicholas Hannen | 74 | England | Director | ||
| 27 | Thomy Bourdelle | 81 | France | Actor | ||
| July | 3 | Hal Walker | 76 | US | Director | |
| 6 | Brandon deWilde | 30 | US | Actor | ||
| 10 | Emrys Jones | 56 | England | Actor | ||
| 10 | Harmon Jones | 61 | Canada | Director | ||
| 19 | Sally Benson | 74 | US | Screenwriter | ||
| 28 | Helen Traubel | 73 | US | Actress, Singer | ||
| August | 7 | Joi Lansing | 43 | US | Actress | |
| 7 | Tom Neal | 58 | US | Actor | ||
| 14 | Oscar Levant | 65 | US | Actor | ||
| 16 | Pierre Brasseur | 66 | France | Actor | ||
| 19 | Roger Furse | 68 | England | Costume and production designer | ||
| 24 | D. Ross Lederman | 77 | US | Director | ||
| 27 | Gaby André | 52 | France | Actress | ||
| September | 11 | Max Fleischer | 89 | US | Animator, Director, Producer | |
| 12 | William Boyd | 77 | US | Actor | ||
| 14 | Lane Chandler | 73 | US | Actor | ||
| 17 | Akim Tamiroff | 72 | Russia | Actor | ||
| 29 | Max Nosseck | 70 | Germany | Director | ||
| 29 | Edward Sloman | 86 | US | Actor | ||
| 30 | Edgar G. Ulmer | 68 | Austria | Director | ||
| October | 4 | Colin Gordon | 61 | England | Actor | |
| 9 | Miriam Hopkins | 69 | US | Actress | ||
| 16 | Leo G. Carroll | 85 | England | Actor | ||
| 22 | Jack Melford | 73 | England | Actor | ||
| 24 | Claire Windsor | 80 | US | Actor | ||
| 28 | Mitchell Leisen | 74 | US | Director | ||
| November | 5 | Reginald Owen | 85 | England | Actor | |
| 7 | Tod Andrews | 57 | Russia | Actor | ||
| 10 | Francis Chagrin | 66 | Romania | Composer | ||
| 16 | Vera Karalli | 83 | Russia | Actress | ||
| 23 | Marie Wilson | 56 | US | Actress | ||
| 29 | Eve Southern | 72 | US | Actress | ||
| 30 | William P. S. Earle | 89 | US | Director | ||
| December | 6 | Janet Munro | 38 | England | Actress | |
| 9 | William Dieterle | 79 | Germany | Director | ||
| 9 | Louella Parsons | 91 | US | Columnist, Screenwriter | ||
| 15 | Edward Earle | 90 | Canada | Actor | ||
| 19 | Jacques Deval | 77 | France | Director, Screenwriter | ||
- Anne Archer – The Honkers
- William Atherton – The New Centurions
- Margaret Avery – Cool Breeze
- Elya Baskin – Telegramma
- Emmanuelle Béart – And Hope to Die
- Ned Beatty – Deliverance
- Susan Blakely – Savages
- Klaus Maria Brandauer – The Salzburg Connection
- Jerry Bruckheimer (producer) – The Culpepper Cattle Co.
- Robert Carradine – The Cowboys
- Dominic Chianese – Fuzz
- Candy Clark – Fat City
- Ronny Cox – Deliverance
- Blythe Danner – To Kill a Clown
- Brian Doyle-Murray – Fuzz
- Peter Firth – Brother Sun, Sister Moon
- Jodie Foster – Napoleon and Samantha
- Jackie Earle Haley – The Outside Man
- Bob Hoskins – Up the Front
- Isabelle Huppert – Faustine et le Bel Été
- Samuel L. Jackson – Together for Days
- Madeline Kahn – What's Up, Doc?
- Patsy Kensit – For the Love of Ada
- Ben Kingsley – Fear Is the Key
- Ed Lauter – Dirty Little Billy
- John Lithgow – Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues
- David Margulies – Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers
- Steve Martin – Another Nice Mess
- Frank McRae – Cool Breeze
- Nick Nolte – Dirty Little Billy
- Jürgen Prochnow – Zoff
- Kathleen Quinlan – One Is a Lonely Number
- Steve Railsback – The Visitors
- Alan Silvestri (film composer) – The Doberman Gang
- Frank Sivero – The Godfather
- Stellan Skarsgård – Strandhugg i somras
- Charles Martin Smith – The Culpepper Cattle Co.
- Jeffrey Tambor – The Summertime Killer
- Lily Tomlin – Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers
- James Woods – The Visitors
- George Wyner – Lady Sings the Blues
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