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.
March 28, 1920: Broadway legend John Barrymore moves to center stage of the film world with his portrayal of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
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 28, 1941: The first movie adaptation of a comic book superhero appears with the first episode of Republic’s serial The Adventures of Captain Marvel.
April 1, 1949: England’s Ealing studio releases the first of its acclaimed, whimsical comedies, Passport to Pimlico, starring Margaret Rutherford.
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 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.”
March 29, 1976: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest becomes the first film since 1934’s It Happened One Night to take home all five major Oscars.
April 1, 1976: A failed Fox musical called The Rocky Horror Picture Show is given new life at a midnight showing at the Waverly Theater in Greenwich Village.
March 29, 1978: Annie Hall wins four Oscars, but writer/director/star Woody Allen skips the ceremony to play clarinet in a New York jazz club.
March 28, 1979: The China Syndrome, a drama about a nuclear disaster, gets a boost 12 days after it opens when a meltdown occurs at Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island.
March 30, 1981: Obsessed with Taxi Driver star Jodie Foster, loner John Hinckley shoots President Ronald Reagan outside a Washington, D.C., hotel.
March 29, 1982: Katharine Hepburn wins a record-setting fourth Academy Award, and an ailing Henry Fonda wins his first, for On Golden Pond.
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 Lee) at the age of 28.