July 3, 1905: The long tradition of cinematic canine heroes begins in England with the debut of the seven-minute melodrama Rescued by Rover.
June 29, 1933: The very day Warner Bros. signs him to appear in his first feature in a decade, scandal-plagued comic, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, 46, dies of a heart attack.
June 29, 1934: The Thin Man, starring William Powell and Myrna Loy, launches a series of six films MGM will make featuring Dashiell Hammett’s characters.
July 3, 1947: Elia Kazan, Cheryl Crawford and Bob Lewis open the Actors Studio in New York to teach Konstantin Stanislavsky’s “Method” style of acting.
June 29, 1967: Screen sex kitten Jayne Mansfield, 44, is killed in a car accident on a Louisiana highway. The sight of her wig nearby will stir up “beheading” rumors.
July 2, 1973: Betty Grable, the favorite actress and pin-up of many American G.I.s during World War II, dies of lung cancer at the age of 56.
June 30, 1983: Spanish-born director and master of cinematic surrealism Luis Buñuel dies in Mexico at 83.
July 3, 1985: Michael J. Fox goes “back in time” when the hit sci-fi/comedy Back to the Future opens.
June 30, 1989: Spike Lee’s controversial look at race relations in a Brooklyn pizza parlor, Do the Right Thing, opens.
July 3, 1991: The most expensive movie up to its time, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, is released. Star Arnold Schwarzenegger’s salary: a reported $15 million.
July 3, 1993: “Curly Joe” DeRita, the last survivor among the six members of The Three Stooges, passes away at 83.
July 3, 1996: Debuting just in time for its namesake holiday, the sci-fi actioner Independence Day earns over $100 million in its opening week.
July 1, 1997: Robert Mitchum, sleepy-eyed tough guy and leading man from the ’40s through the ’90s, dies at age 79.
July 2, 1997: James Stewart, affable leading man and father figure from the ’30s through the ’90s, dies at age 89.
June 29, 2003: Four-time Academy Award-winning actress Katharine Hepburn passes away at the age of 96.
July 1, 2004: Marlon Brando, Oscar-winning star of On the Waterfront and The Godfather, dies at age 80.
July 3, 2007: Based on the popular toy line and cartoon, Michael Bay’s Transformers debuts with a $70 million opening weekend.