This Week In Film History, 04.03.11

April 7, 1927: Upon the centenary of the military leader’s death, director Abel Gance releases an epic achievement, the landmark Napoleon.

April 4, 1958: Cheryl Crane, 14-year-old daughter of Lana Turner, fatally stabs her mother’s lover, tough guy gangster Johnny Stompanato, in self-defense.

April 4, 1960: William Wyler‘s epic religious drama, Ben-Hur, takes home a record 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Actor (Charlton Heston).

April 7, 1960: Respected British director Michael Powell comes under fire for his latest, Peeping Tom, a psychological drama about a deranged killer.

April 4, 1962: Pope John XXIII issues a denouncement of the rumored illicit affair between Elizabeth Taylor (Tribute) and Richard Burton during production of Cleopatra.

April 7, 1970: John Wayne (Movie Poll) receives his first and only Academy Award for his role as feisty gunfighter Rooster Cogburn in True Grit.

April 3, 1972: The Film Society of Lincoln Center honors Charles Chaplin, marking the first time the star has stepped onto American soil in 20 years.

April 8, 1975: Francis Ford Coppola‘s The Godfather, Part II is the first sequel to capture the Academy Award for Best Picture.

April 9, 1984: Linda Hunt becomes the first person to win an Oscar for playing a member of the opposite sex, in The Year of Living Dangerously.