September 18, 1909: The first feature film to be produced in the U.S., Les Miserables, is released in four separate parts between now and Nov. 27.
September 19, 1915: Vaudeville star W.C. Fields brings his famed pool-playing routine to the screen in Pool Sharks, his film debut.
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 18, 1932: Despite only one screen credit, actress Peg Entwhistle will attain legendary status after jumping to her death from the “H” in the “Hollywoodland” sign.
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 19, 1945: Former child star Shirley Temple, 17, weds actor John Agar, 24, in California.
September 17, 1949: “Beep, beep!” The Road Runner and his indefatigable pursuer, Wile E. Coyote, make their debuts in the Warner Bros. short Fast and Furry-ous.
September 19, 1952: After going to London for the premiere of Limelight, actor/director Charlie Chaplin is barred from re-entering the U.S. on moral and political grounds.
September 16, 1953: To compete with the popularity of television, Fox launches the first successful widescreen process, CinemaScope, with The Robe.
September 15, 1954: Marilyn Monroe shoots the iconic subway grate “skirt-blowing ” scene for The Seven Year Itch, infuriating then-husband Joe DiMaggio.
September 19, 1959: During a goodwill visit to Hollywood, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev watches the filming of a scene from Can-Can and later calls it immoral.
September 18, 1968: Barbra Streisand makes her film debut in the musical bio of vaudevillian Fanny Brice, Funny Girl, a role she originated on Broadway.
September 18, 1981: “No more wire hangers!” becomes a catchphrase, as the Joan Crawford biodrama Mommie Dearest becomes an unintentional comedy hit.
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 18, 1987: Spouses contemplating affairs learn about the dangers of infidelity with the opening of Fatal Attraction.
September 19, 1989: The National Film Registry releases its inaugural list of 25 motion pictures deemed “culturally, historically or aesthetically important.
September 19, 1990: Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro reteam with Goodfellas, the hard-hitting biography of Henry Hill’s life in the mob, starring Ray Liotta.
September 17, 1997: Funnyman Red Skelton, star of I Dood It and A Southern Yankee, dies at 84.
September 18, 2004: Filmmaker Russ Meyer, known for his pulchritudinous leading ladies, dies at 82.
September 14, 2009: Dirty Dancing star Patrick Swayze dies from pancreatic cancer at the age of 57.