September 30, 1919: While holding what he believed to be a prop bomb for a publicity photo, Harold Lloyd loses a thumb and finger when it explodes.
October 6, 1927: The curtain opens on the “talkies” with Warner Bros.’ The Jazz Singer. Star Al Jolson says, “You ain’t heard nothin’ yet.”
October 5, 1939: With the Hollywood remake of Intermezzo, a version of which she made in her native Sweden two years earlier, Ingrid Bergman makes her American debut.
September 30, 1943: Army Air Force lieutenant Clark Gable is awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal after taking part in five combat missions.
September 30, 1955: An undying cult of personality will soon begin, as James Dean gets into a fatal auto accident on a California highway at age 24.
October 5, 1956: Charlton Heston, as Moses, parts the Red Sea in Cecil B. DeMille‘s gargantuan remake of The Ten Commandments.
October 6, 1959: Pillow Talk, the first of several successful romantic comedies pairing Doris Day and Rock Hudson, opens.
October 3, 1961: The Production Code, easing up on portrayals of “sexual aberration,” gives the Code of Approval to The Children’s Hour and Advise and Consent.
October 5, 1962: Sean Connery is “Bond…James Bond” in the series’ first entry, Dr. No, despite the wishes of author Ian Fleming, who preferred Roger Moore.
October 3, 1971: The opening in Hong Kong of The Big Boss (released in America a year later as Fists of Fury) revives the martial arts genre and makes Bruce Lee a star.
October 5, 1979: Dudley Moore becomes a star, Bo Derek is the new “It” girl and Ravel’s “Bolero” gains popularity as Blake Edwards‘ 10 opens.
October 2, 1985: Less than three months after revealing to the world he has AIDS, actor Rock Hudson succumbs to the disease at 59.
October 6, 1989: Two-time Oscar-winner and indomitable screen heroine Bette Davis dies in Paris of breast cancer at 81.
September 30, 1993: Walt Disney Pictures announces its acquisition of arthouse powerhouse Miramax Films for a reported $64 million.
October 2, 1998: The last of the great screen cowpokes, warbling whitehat Gene Autry, rides into the sunset at age 91.