March 25, 1932: Olympic swimming champ Johnny Weissmuller is Tarzan the Ape Man and Maureen O’Sullivan Jane in the first in MGM’s jungle adventure series.
March 24, 1939: Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce make the first of 14 screen pairings as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (Related Article) in The Hound of the Baskervilles.
March 25, 1943: Japanese director Akira Kurosawa‘s first film, Sanshiro Sugata, is released.
March 22, 1944: Hollywood enters the age of TV advertising when Paramount promotes Miracle of Morgan’s Creek in a 30-minute program hosted by Preston Sturges.
March 24, 1949: Laurence Olivier‘s production of Hamlet becomes the first non-Hollywood film to win the Best Picture Academy Award.
March 23, 1950:Mercedes McCambridge becomes the first performer to win an Academy Award for a film debut, for All the King’s Men.
March 25, 1954: From Here to Eternity takes eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and a Best Supporting Actor statue for “comeback kid” Frank Sinatra.
March 21, 1961: With one studio effort under his belt, actor/director John Cassavetes releases the independent Shadows, a jazz-infused drama set in New York.
March 23, 1964: One-of-a-kind character actor Peter Lorre, 59, who came to prominence with Germany’s M, dies of a heart attack in Los Angeles.
March 27, 1973: Apache Indian Sacheen Littlefeather appears at the Academy Awards ceremony to decline Marlon Brando‘s Oscar for The Godfather on his behalf.
March 24, 1986: Steven Spielberg‘s The Color Purple sets a dubious Academy Award record when it fails to win a single Oscar, despite 11 nominations.
March 24, 1993: An $8.9 million award is returned against Kim Basinger in the breach of contract suit over her withdrawal from Boxing Helena.
March 21, 1994: After being practically ignored by the Academy throughout his career, Steven Spielberg and Schindler’s List take home seven Oscars.
March 22, 1994: Walter Lantz, veteran animator and creator of Woody Woodpecker, dies at the age of 93.