# 1923 in film

This is an overview of 1923 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.

## Top-grossing films (U.S.)

The top eight films released in 1923 by U.S. gross are as follows:
Highest-grossing films of 1923 :
| Rank | Title | Distributor | Domestic rentals |
| 1 | The Ten Commandments | Paramount | $4,169,798 |
| 2 | The Covered Wagon | Paramount | $3,500,000 |
| 3 | Safety Last! The Hunchback of Notre Dame | Pathé Exchange Universal | $1,500,000 |
| 4 | Scaramouche | Metro | $1,000,000 |
| 5 | Adam's Rib | Paramount | $881,206 |
| 6 | Main Street | Warner Bros. | $510,000 |
| 7 | The Gold Diggers | Warner Bros. | $470,000 |
| 8 | Tiger Rose | Warner Bros. | $466,000 |

## Events

* April 4 – Warner Bros. Pictures Inc. incorporated in the United States.
* April 15 – Lee De Forest demonstrates the Phonofilm sound-on-film system at the Rivoli Theater in New York with a series of short musical films featuring vaudeville performers.
* Henry Roussel's Les Opprimés is released, introducing mattes (painted by W. Percy Day) to French cinema.
* October 16 – Brothers Walt and Roy O. Disney establish Disney Brothers Studio (later to be known as Walt Disney Productions).

## Notable films released in 1923

American films unless stated otherwise

### A

* Adam's Rib, directed by Cecil B. DeMille
* The Ancient Law (Das alte Gesetz), directed by E. A. Dupont, starring Henny Porten – (Germany)
* Ashes of Vengeance, directed by Frank Lloyd, starring Norma Talmadge and Wallace Beery
* The Audacious Mr. Squire, directed by Edwin Greenwood, starring Jack Buchanan – (GB)

### B

* The Balloonatic, directed by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton
* Barsoum Looking for a Job, directed by Mohammed Bayoumi, starring Bishara Wakim – (Egypt)
* The Bells, directed by Edwin Greenwood, based on the 1867 play The Polish Jew by Erckmann-Chatrian – (GB)
* The Bishop of the Ozarks (lost), directed by Finis Fox
* Black Oxen, directed by Frank Lloyd, starring Corinne Griffith
* The Blizzard (lost), directed by Mauritz Stiller – (Sweden)
* Blood and Soul (Chi to Rei), directed by Kenji Mizoguchi – (Japan)
* The Blue Lagoon (lost), directed by William Bowden and Dick Cruikshanks, starring Molly Adair and Arthur Pusey - (GB / South Africa)
* Bonnie Prince Charlie (lost), directed by Charles Calvert, starring Ivor Novello and Gladys Cooper – (GB)
* The Brass Bottle (lost), directed by Maurice Tourneur

### C

* Cameo Kirby, directed by John Ford, starring John Gilbert
* Circus Days, directed by Edward F. Cline, starring Jackie Coogan
* Cœur fidèle (Faithful Heart), directed by Jean Epstein – (France)
* The Courtship of Miles Standish, directed by Frederic Sullivan
* The Covered Wagon, directed by James Cruze, starring J. Warren Kerrigan and Lois Wilson

### D

* The Daring Years (lost), directed by Kenneth Webb, starring Mildred Harris and Clara Bow
* The Doll Maker of Kiang-Ning (Der Puppenmacher von Kiang-Ning), directed by Robert Wiene, starring Werner Krauss – (Germany)
* Drakula halála (Dracula's Death) (lost), directed by Károly Lajthay – (Hungary)
* The Drums of Jeopardy, directed by Edward Dillon, starring Elaine Hammerstein and Wallace Beery, based on the 1920 novel by Harold MacGrath

### E

* The Extra Girl, directed by F. Richard Jones, starring Mabel Normand

### F

* Faust, directed by Bertram Phillips, based on the 1808 play by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe – (GB)
* Frozen Hearts, directed by J. A. Howe, starring Stan Laurel

### G

* The Gold Diggers (lost), directed by Harry Beaumont
* The Grub-Stake, directed by Bert Van Tuyle, starring Nell Shipman

### H

* The Harbour Lights, directed by Tom Terriss, starring Tom Moore and Isobel Elsom – (GB)
* Hoy o Nuca, Bésame, directed by José Nepomuceno – (Philippines)
* The Hunchback of Notre Dame, directed by Wallace Worsley, starring Lon Chaney, Patsy Ruth Miller and Norman Kerry, based on the 1831 novel by Victor Hugo

### I

* I Will Repay, directed by Henry Kolker, starring Holmes Herbert and Flora Le Breton – (GB)
* I.N.R.I., directed by Robert Wiene – (Germany)
* The Isle of Lost Ships (lost), directed by Maurice Tourneur
* Itching Palms, directed by James W. Horne, based on the play When Jerry Comes Home by Roy Briant

### L

* The Lady Owner, directed by Walter West – (GB)
* The Last Moment (lost), directed by J. Parker Read Jr., starring Henry Hull, Doris Kenyon and Louis Wolheim
* Little Old New York, directed by Sidney Olcott, starring Marion Davies
* The Lost Soul, directed by Hugo Werner-Kahle – (Austria)
* The Love Nest, directed by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton
* The Loves of Mary, Queen of Scots, directed by Denison Clift, starring Fay Compton – (GB)

### M

* Main Street (lost), directed by Harry Beaumont
* The Man in the Iron Mask (Der Mann mit der eisernen Maske), directed by Max Glass – (Germany)
* The Merchant of Venice (Der Kaufmann von Venedig), directed by Peter Paul Felner, starring Werner Krauss and Henny Porten – (Germany)
* Merry-Go-Round, directed by Erich von Stroheim, starring Mary Philbin and Norman Kerry
* Miss Suwanna of Siam (Nang Sao Suwan) (lost), directed by Henry MacRae
* The Monkey's Paw, directed by Manning Haynes, based on the 1902 short story by W. W. Jacobs – (GB)
* Mysteries of a Barbershop (Mysterien eines Friseursalons), directed by Erich Engel – (Germany)
* The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu, 15-part serial directed by A. E. Coleby – (GB)

### O

* On the Banks of the Wabash, directed by J. Stuart Blackton
* Our Hospitality, directed by John G. Blystone and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton
* Out to Win, directed by Denison Clift, starring Catherine Calvert and Clive Brook – (GB)

### P

* Paddy the Next Best Thing (lost), directed by Graham Cutts, starring Mae Marsh – (GB)
* The Pilgrim, a Charlie Chaplin film
* Puritan Passions (lost), directed by Frank Tuttle, starring Glenn Hunter and Mary Astor, based on the 1908 play The Scarecrow by Percy MacKaye
* The Purple Highway (lost), directed by Henry Kolker, starring Madge Kennedy

### R

* Raskolnikow, directed by Robert Wiene – (Germany)
* The Red Inn (L'auberge rouge), directed by Jean Epstein, based on the 1831 short story by Honoré de Balzac (remade in 1951) – (France)
* Red Lights, directed by Clarence G. Badger, starring Marie Prevost, based on the play The Rear Car by Edward Everett Rose
* Le Retour à la Raison (Return to Reason), directed by Man Ray – (France)
* Rosita, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Mary Pickford
* La Roue (The Wheel), directed by Abel Gance – (France)
* Rupert of Hentzau (lost), directed by Victor Heerman

### S

* Safety Last!, directed by Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor, starring Harold Lloyd
* Salomé, directed by Charles Bryant, starring Alla Nazimova
* Scaramouche, directed by Rex Ingram, Starring Ramón Novarro, Alice Terry and Lewis Stone
* Schatten – Eine nächtliche Halluzination (Shadows - a Nocturnal Hallucination), directed by Arthur Robison – (Germany)
* The Shock, directed by Lambert Hillyer, starring Lon Chaney
* The Shriek of Araby, directed by F. Richard Jones, starring Ben Turpin
* The Sign of Four, directed by Maurice Elvey, starring Eille Norwood, based on the 1890 novel by Arthur Conan Doyle – (GB)
* Slave of Desire, directed by George D. Baker, starring Bessie Love, based on the 1831 novel La Peau de chagrin by Honoré de Balzac
* Souls for Sale, directed by Rupert Hughes, starring Eleanor Boardman, Mae Busch and Richard Dix
* A Spectre Haunts Europe, directed by Vladimir Gardin, based on the 1842 short story The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe – (U.S.S.R.)
* Squibs M.P., directed by George Pearson, starring Betty Balfour – (GB)
* The Street (Die Straße), directed by Karl Grune – (Germany)
* Suzanna, directed by F. Richard Jones, starring Mabel Normand

### T

* The Ten Commandments, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Theodore Roberts
* This Freedom, directed by Denison Clift, starring Fay Compton and Clive Brook – (GB)
* Three Ages, directed by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton and Wallace Beery
* Three Wise Fools, directed by King Vidor
* Through Fire and Water, directed by Thomas Bentley, starring Clive Brook and Flora Le Breton – (GB)
* Tiger Rose, directed by Sidney Franklin (director), starring Lenore Ulric
* The Treasure (Der Schatz), directed by G. W. Pabst – (Germany)
* Trilby, directed by James Young, based on the 1894 novel by George du Maurier
* Tut-Tut and his Terrible Tomb, directed by Bertram Phillips – (GB)

### U

* Under the Red Robe, directed by Alan Crosland, starring Robert B. Mantell
* The Unknown Tomorrow (Das unbekannte Morgen), directed by Alexander Korda, starring Werner Krauss – (Germany)

### W

* While Paris Sleeps (lost), directed by Maurice Tourneur, starring Lon Chaney and John Gilbert, based on a novelThe Glory of Love by Leslie Beresford
* The White Shadow, directed by Graham Cutts, starring Betty Compson and Clive Brook – (GB)
* The White Sister, directed by Henry King, starring Lillian Gish and Ronald Colman
* Why Worry?, directed by Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor, starring Harold Lloyd and Jobyna Ralston
* Wild Bill Hickok, directed by Clifford Smith, starring William S. Hart
* Within the Law, directed by Frank Lloyd, starring Norma Talmadge
* A Woman of Paris, written and directed by Charles Chaplin, starring Edna Purviance
* Woman to Woman (lost), directed by Graham Cutts, starring Betty Compson and Clive Brook – (GB)

## Short film series

* Charlie Chaplin (1914–23)
* Buster Keaton (1917–41)
* Laurel and Hardy (1921–43)
* Our Gang (1922–44)

## Animated short film series

* Felix the Cat (1919–36)
* Koko the Clown (1919–34)
* Aesop's Film Fables (1921–34)
* Alice Comedies
** Alice's Wonderland
* The Red Head Comedies (1923).

## Births

* January 1 – Valentina Cortese, Italian actress (died 2019)
* January 3 - Bud Tingwell, Australian actor (died 2009)
* January 5 - Boris Leskin, Soviet-American actor (died 2020)
* January 7 – Pinkas Braun, Swiss actor, director (died 2008)
* January 8 – Larry Storch, American actor (died 2022)
* January 17 - Carol Raye, British-born Australian actress, comedian and singer (died 2022)
* January 19 – Jean Stapleton, American actress (died 2013)
* January 22 - Diana Douglas, American actress (died 2015)
* January 23 – Silvano Campeggi, Italian poster designer (died 2018)
* January 26 – Anne Jeffreys, American actress (died 2017)
* January 29 – Paddy Chayefsky, American screenwriter (died 1981)
* February 2 – Bonita Granville, American actress (died 1988)
* February 12 – Franco Zeffirelli, Italian director (died 2019)
* February 18 - Allan Melvin, American actor and impressionist (died 2008)
* February 21 – Lola Flores, Spanish actress (died 1995)
* February 28 – Charles Durning, American actor (died 2012)
* March 10 – Dolores Fuller, American actress (died 2011)
* March 12 - Vladek Sheybal, Polish character actor, singer and director (died 1992)
* March 19 – Pamela Britton, American actress (died 1974)
* March 24 - Murray Hamilton, American actor (died 1986)
* April 2 – Gloria Henry, American actress (died 2021)
* April 4
** Gene Reynolds, American actor, producer (died 2020)
** Peter Vaughan, English character actor (died 2016)
* April 5 - Michael V. Gazzo, American actor (died 1995)
* April 6 - Chang Feng, Chinese actor (died 2022)
* April 12 – Ann Miller, American dancer, singer, actress (died 2004)
* April 13 - Don Adams, American actor, comedian and director (died 2005)
* April 17
** Lindsay Anderson, British director and actor (died 1994)
** Lon McCallister, American actor (died 2005)
* April 28 – Adele Mara, American actress (died 2010)
* April 29 - Irvin Kershner, American director, actor and producer (died 2010)
* May 4 – Eric Sykes, British actor and comedian (died 2012)
* May 7 – Anne Baxter, actress (died 1985)
* May 14 – Mrinal Sen, Bengali director (died 2018)
* May 20 – Edith Fellows, American actress (died 2011)
* May 26
** James Arness, American actor (died 2011)
** Roy Dotrice, British actor (died 2017)
* May 30 - Jimmy Lydon, American actor and producer (died 2022)
* June 5 - Peggy Stewart, American actress (died 2019)
* June 8 – Peggy Maley, American actress (died 2007)
* June 12 – Herta Elviste, Estonian actress (died 2015)
* June 18 - Robert Ellenstein, American actor (died 2010)
* June 20 - Jerzy Nowak, Polish actor (died 2013)
* June 28 - Ray Boyle, American actor (died 2022)
* July 6 – Cathy O'Donnell, American actress (died 1970)
* July 8 - Val Bettin, American actor (died 2021)
* July 14 – Dale Robertson, American actor (died 2013)
* July 18 – Michael Medwin, English actor and producer (died 2020)
* July 22 – Mukesh, Indian singer (died 1976)
* July 25
** Estelle Getty, American actress and comedian (died 2008)
** Allan Lurie, American voice actor (died 2015)
* August 3 – Jean Hagen, American actress (died 1977)
* August 9 - John Stephenson, American actor (died 2015)
* August 10
** Rhonda Fleming, American actress (died 2020)
** Vernon Washington, American character actor (died 1988)
* August 14 – Alice Ghostley, American actress (died 2007)
* August 15 – Rose Marie, American actress, singer (died 2017)
* August 17 – Julius Harris, American actor (died 2004)
* August 24 - June Dayton, American actress (died 1994)
* August 28 - Alexander Doré, British actor, director and screenwriter (died 2002)
* August 29 – Richard Attenborough, English actor and director (died 2014)
* August 31 - Ed Grady, American actor (died 2012)
* September 7 – Peter Lawford, British-American actor (died 1984)
* September 9 - Cliff Robertson, American actor (died 2011)
* September 11 - Betsy Drake, American actress, writer (died 2015)
* September 20 - Ricardo Montez, Gibraltarian actor (died 2010)
* September 23
** Margaret Pellegrini, American actress (died 2013)
** Jimmy Weldon, American actor, ventriloquist and television host (died 2023)
* September 27
** Tony Giorgio, American actor (died 2012)
** Mary McCarty, American actress (died 1980)
* September 28 - William Windom, American actor (died 2012)
* October 1 – Kim Yaroshevskaya, Russian-born Canadian actress (died 2025)
* October 4 – Charlton Heston, American actor (died 2008)
* October 5 – Glynis Johns, British actress (died 2024)
* October 10 - Patrick Jordan, British actor (died 2020)
* October 16 – Linda Darnell, American actress (died 1965)
* October 23 - Frank Sutton, American actor (died 1974)
* November 12 - Richard Venture, American actor (died 2017)
* November 13 – Linda Christian, Mexican-American actress (died 2011)
* November 21 - Helen Horton, American actress (died 2007)
* November 28
** Gloria Grahame, American actress (died 1981)
** James Karen, American actor (died 2018)
* December 10 – Harold Gould, American actor (died 2010)
* December 11 – Betsy Blair, American actress (died 2009)
* December 12 - Bob Barker, American television game show host (died 2023)
* December 29
** Dina Merrill, American actress (died 2017)
** Mike Nussbaum, American actor and director (died 2023)

## Deaths

* January 18 – Wallace Reid, American actor (born 1892)
* March 3 – Dante Testa, Italian actor and director (born 1861)
* March 26 – Sarah Bernhardt, French actress (born 1844)
* May 21 – Charles Kent, veteran actor and director (born 1852)
* June 11 – Porter Strong, American silent film actor
* June 17 – Macey Harlam, screen actor (born 1873)
* July 12 – Harry Lonsdale, stage and screen actor (born 1865)
* July 30 – Charles Hawtrey, veteran British actor (born 1858)
* August 29 – Bernard Durning, American actor and director, (born 1893)
* September 11 – Siegmund Lubin, American motion picture pioneer (born 1851)
* September 26 – Jerome Patrick, Broadway stage and silent film leading man (born 1883)
* October 28 – Joe Roberts, American actor (born 1871)
* November 20 – Allen Holubar, American actor and director (born 1888)
* November 30 – Martha Mansfield, American actress (born 1899)
* December 28 – Frank Hayes, American actor and comedian (born 1871)

## Film debuts

* Frank Albertson – The Covered Wagon
* Mariska Aldrich – Souls for Sale
* Jean Arthur – Cameo Kirby
* Irving Bacon – Anna Christie
* Julie Bishop – Children of Jazz
* Olive Borden – Ponjola
* Mary Carlisle – Long Live the King
* Marlene Dietrich – The Little Napoleon
* Charles Farrell – The Cheat
* Leslie Fenton – Gentle Julia
* Bess Flowers – Hollywood
* Carmelita Geraghty – Jealous Husbands
* Gloria Grey – Bag and Baggage
* James Hall – Man Alone
* Carmencita Johnson – The Courtship of Miles Standish
* Mary Kid – Avalanche
* Helen Mack – Success
* June Marlowe – Fighting Blood
* Ken Maynard – Brass Commandments
* Donald Meek – Six Cylinder Love
* Thomas Mitchell – Six Cylinder Love
* Jack Oakie – His Children's Children
* Edna May Oliver – Wife in Name Only
* Marjorie Reynolds – Trilby
* Stanley Ridges – Success
* Gilbert Roland – The Hunchback of Notre Dame
* Martha Sleeper – The Mailman
* Suzy Vernon – The Portrait
* Erika von Thellmann – The Stone Rider
* Harry Woods – Don Quickshot of the Rio Grande