Events

• Paramount Studios releases theatrical short cartoon titled The Friendly Ghost, featuring ghost named Casper
• With Rossellini's Roma Città aperta, Italian neorealist cinema begins.

Top grossing films

North America

1. The Valley of Decision
2. Anchors Away
3. The Paleface
4. Thrill of a Romance
5. Weekend at the Waldorf
6. National Velvet
7. State Fair

Academy Awards

• Best Picture: The Lost Weekend - Paramount
• Best Actor: Ray Milland - The Lost Weekend
• Best Actress: Joan Crawford - Mildred Pierce

Movies released

Movies released in 1945 include:

• The Lost Weekend, Winner of Academy Awards for Best Picture; Ray Milland, Best Actor; Billy Wilder, Best Director, Best Screenplay
• Mildred Pierce, Winner of Academy Award for Joan Crawford, Best Actress.
• Marcel Carné and Jacques Prévert's Les Enfants du Paradis (Children of Paradise) is released following the liberation of France
• The Bells of St. Mary's
• Mom and Dad
• Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound, starring Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck
• Dillinger
• The Clock , starring Judy Garland
• Detour

Births

• January 3 - Victoria Principal, actress
• May 31 - Rainer Werner Fassbinder, director
• August 14 - Steve Martin, actor and comedian

Deaths

• July 13 - Alla Nazimova, Ukrainian-born stage and film actress