Events in Film & TV
Telethon
Sep 1 Jerry Lewis' 15th Muscular Dystrophy telethon raises $31,103,787
Cricket History
Sep 2 Australian cricket batsman Kim Hughes becomes 3rd player to bat on all 5 days of a Test match as the rain affected Centenary Test peters out to a draw at Lord's; BBC's John Arlott calls his final match
- Sep 6 Susan Powell (Okla), 21, crowned 53rd Miss America 1981
- Sep 7 32nd Emmy Awards: "Taxi"; "Lou Grant"; Ed Asner & Barbara Bel Geddes win. Notable for going ahead despite 51 of the 52 nominated performers boycotting the event due to a strike by members of the Screen Actors Guild.
- Sep 13 5th Toronto International Film Festival: "Bad Timing" directed by Nicolas Roeg wins the People's Choice Award
Divine Madness
Sep 17 Bette Midler's concert film "Divine Madness", directed by Michael Ritchie, premieres
Ordinary People
Sep 19 "Ordinary People" directed by Robert Redford and starring Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore and Judd Hirsch premieres (Academy Award - Best Picture, 1981)
Film & TV History
Sep 25 Comedian Chevy Chase calls Cary Grant a homo on "Tomorrow" show, a $10M defamation lawsuit follows, settled out-of-court for an undisclosed sum
Film & TV History
Sep 29 Actor Malcolm McDowell weds actress Mary Steenburgen
Birthdays in Film & TV
- Sep 6 Jillian Hall, American professional wrestler, born in Ashland, Kentucky
Michelle Williams (43 years old)
Sep 9 American actress (Dawson's Creek), born in Kalispell, Montana
- Sep 13 Ben Savage, American actor (Little Monsters, Wild Palms), born in Chicago, Illinois
- Sep 13 Han Chae-young, South Korean actress, born in Daegu, South Korea
- Sep 17 Maryam Touzani, Moroccan filmmaker and actress (Adam), born in Tangier, Morocco
- Sep 18 Adeel Akhtar, English actor (Murdered by My Father), born in London, England
- Sep 20 Jonathan Le Billon, British actor
- Sep 20 Mariacarla Boscono, Italian fashion model
- Sep 21 Aleksa Palladino, American actress
- Sep 21 Autumn Reeser, American actress
- Sep 21 Kareena Kapoor, Indian actress (3 Idiots), born in Bombay, India
- Sep 21 Robert Hoffman, American actor
- Sep 22 Fernanda Tavares, Brazilian supermodel, born in Natal, Brazil
- Sep 23 Cameron Litvack, American television producer (Ugly Betty, V), and screenwriter (Charmed), born in Los Angeles, California
- Sep 25 T.I. [Clifford Joseph Harris Jr.], American rapper and actor (Bring Em Out, Dead and Gone), born in Atlanta, Georgia
- Sep 29 Chrissy Metz, American actress and singer (This Is Us), born in Homestead, Florida
- Sep 29 Zachary Levi [Pugh], American actor (Chuck), born in Lake Charles, Louisiana
Deaths in Film & TV
- Sep 3 Barbara O'Neil, American actress (Tower of London, Stella Dallas), dies at 70
- Sep 3 Dirch Passer, prolific Danish actor (Going for Broke, Mig og mafiaen), dies of a myocardial infarction at 54
- Sep 3 Duncan Renaldo, Spanish actor (Cisco Kid, Guns of Fury), dies from lung cancer at 76
- Sep 5 Barbara Loden, American actress (Ernie Kovacs Show), dies of cancer at 48
- Sep 5 Don Banks, Australian orchestral, jazz, and film score composer, dies of leukemia at 56
- Sep 9 Harold Clurman, American theatrical producer and director (Deadline at Dawn), dies at 78
- Sep 12 Lillian Randolph, American radio and screen actress (The Great Gildersleeve; Amos 'n Andy; It's A Wonderful Life: Roots; The Onion Field), dies of cancer at 81
- Sep 20 Sanpei Hayashiya, Japanese comedian (b. 1925)
- Sep 25 Lewis Milestone [Leib Milstein], Moldovan-American Academy Award-winning film director (d All Quiet on the Western Front; Of Mice and Men; Ocean's 11), dies at 84
