March 31, 1915: The nascent serial genre has its first true star when Pearl White plays the hazard-plagued heroine of The Perils of Pauline.
April 1, 1923: Moviegoers are thrilled by the death-defying, high-rise antics of comedian Harold Lloyd in Safety Last.
April 1, 1930: After being spotted in a Berlin stage revue by director Josef von Sternberg, Marlene Dietrich reaches stardom with The Blue Angel.
April 2, 1936: Selznick International Pictures releases their first production, an adaptation of Little Lord Fauntleroy starring Freddie Bartholomew.
March 31, 1939: 20th Century-Fox’s The Hound of the Baskervilles marks the first of 14 screen pairings for Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.
April 1, 1949: England’s Ealing studio releases the first of its acclaimed, whimsical comedies, Passport to Pimlico, starring Margaret Rutherford.
April 1, 1949: Spinning off from The Egg and I, Ma and Pa Kettle with Marjorie Main and Percy Killbride launches a successful comedy series for Universal.
April 2, 1951: The premiere issue of the French film journal Cahiers du Cinema goes on sale; contributing writers will include Truffaut, Rohmer and Chabrol.
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 4, 1962: Pope John XXIII issues a denouncement of the rumored illicit affair between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton during production of Cleopatra.
April 2, 1968: Director Stanley Kubrick‘s senses-shattering sci-fi epic, 2001: A Space Odyssey, debuts. Though a stunning achievement, acclaim is not widespread.
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 2, 1974: A streaker interrupts David Niven at the Oscars, who quips, “…the only laugh that man will probably get is for…showing off his shortcomings.”
April 1, 1976: A failed 20th Century-Fox musical, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, is given new life at a midnight showing at the Waverly Theater in Greenwich Village.
March 30, 1981: Obsessed with Taxi Driver star Jodie Foster, loner John Hinckley shoots President Ronald Reagan outside a Washington, D.C., hotel.
March 30, 1986: Vaudeville dancer-turned-perennial screen tough guy James Cagney, 86, dies of cardiac arrest on his New York farm.
March 31, 1993: A prop-gun accident on the set of The Crow results in the death of star Brandon Lee (son of Bruce) at the age of 28.
April 5, 2008: Oscar-winning actor Charlton Heston (The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur) dies of complications from pneumonia at 84.