October 31, 1925: France’s star of silent slapstick comedy Max Linder, 41, and his young wife are found dead in a Paris hotel, victims of an apparent suicide pact.
October 27, 1928: The Paramount talking short The Dancing Town, with Helen Hayes, marks the film debut of a Broadway stage actor named Humphrey Bogart.
October 30, 1948: A major shift in the shape of the film industry begins as RKO becomes the first major to split off its theater ownership from its production wing.
October 27, 1955: Less than a month after stars James Dean’s shocking auto crash death, his iconic teen angst drama Rebel Without a Cause opens
October 31, 1962: Screen divas Joan Crawford and Bette Davis’ feud on (and off) the screen fuels the horrific black comedy What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
November 1, 1962: Shane star Alan Ladd is found lying in a pool of blood with a bullet wound near his heart; he’ll later tell police the self-inflicted shooting was accidental.
November 1, 1967: The popularity of screen “anti-heroes” continues with the arrival of Cool Hand Luke, starring Paul Newman as a prisoner with a “failure to communicate.”
October 30, 1968: ’20s and ’30s “Latin Lover” Ramon Novarro, 69, is beaten and murdered in his Laurel Canyon home by two brothers.
November 1, 1968: The MPAA’s self-imposed ratings system goes into effect. They are: G (General Audiences), M (Mature Audiences), R (Restricted), X (Over 18 Only).
October 26, 1984: Bodybuilder-turned-actor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s career takes off when he opts to play the villainous cyborg in James Cameron’s The Terminator.
October 28, 1986: Paul Newman returns to the role he played 25 years earlier in The Hustler, pool shark “Fast Eddie” Felson, in The Color of Money.
October 29, 2004: Horror movie fans are put to the test–as are the on-screen victims–with the debut of the graphic psychological shocker Saw.
November 1, 2006: Actress/filmmaker Adrienne Shelly, 40, whose seriocomedy Waitress would be released the following year, is found murdered in her Manhattan apartment.