September 14, 1919: Lon Chaney portrays the first of his memorable “grotesque roles,” twisting his body to play a fake cripple healed by The Miracle Man.
September 14, 1936: Producer Irving G. Thalberg, the “boy wonder” behind many of MGM’s film classics, dies of pneumonia in Santa Monica, Ca., at the age of 37.
September 11, 1947: Jane Russell delivers her bust-out debut performance as Howard Hughes‘ much-anticipated, controversial adult western The Outlaw opens.
September 16, 1953: To compete with the popularity of television, Fox launches the first successful widescreen process, CinemaScope, with The Robe.
September 11, 1970: Joan Crawford makes a less than seemly screen farewell in the “B” horror vehicle Trog.
September 13, 1982: Monaco’s Princess Grace of Monaco, the former Grace Kelly of Philadelphia, dies at 52 from injuries sustained in an auto accident.
September 12, 1992: Anthony Perkins, who immortalized the role of Norman Bates in Psycho, dies of AIDS at the age of 60.