April 1991 in Film & Television History

Events in Film & TV

Music History

Apr 3 "Penn and Teller - Refrigerator Tour" opens at Eugene O'Neill Theater NYC

Apr 6 Former child actor Adam Rich arrested for breaking into a pharmacy
Apr 7 Brooke Allen's stage drama "The Big Love", a one-woman show starring Tracey Ullman, closes at Plymouth Theater, NYC, after 41 performances

Film & TV History

Apr 8 Michael Landon announces he has inoperable cancer of the pancreas

Music Premiere

Apr 11 Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil's musical "Miss Saigon", based on Giacomo Puccini's "Madama Butterfly", and starring Jonathon Pryce and Lea Salonga opens at Broadway Theater, NYC; runs for 4,092 performances, winning 3 Tony Awards

Apr 11 NYC's Museum of Broadcasting becomes "Museum of Radio & Television"
Apr 12 2,500th episode of Entertainment Tonight airs

Theatrical Finale

Apr 14 Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston's stage comedy "Mule Bone" closes at Ethel Barrymore Theater, NYC, after 68 performances

Apr 15 Former child actor Adam Rich (Eight Is Enough) charged with burglary

Carson Announces Retirement

Apr 22 Johnny Carson announces he will retire next year from "The Tonight Show"

Apr 22 Shalom America (Jewish cable network) is launched in Brooklyn & Queens
Apr 25 Lucy Simon & Marsha Norman's musical "The Secret Garden", based on Frances Hodgson Burnett's novel, starring Daisy Eagan and Mandy Patinkin, opens at St James Theater, NYC; runs for 706 performances, winning 3 Tony Awards
Apr 26 "Dinosaurs" premieres on ABC-TV

Birthdays in Film & TV

Jamie Lynn Spears (32 years old)

Apr 4 American actress (Zoey 101), born in McComb, Mississippi

Apr 10 Amanda Michalka, American actress and singer, born in Torrance, California

Weddings in Film & TV

Bruce & Kris Jenner

Apr 21 Olympic gold winning decathlete Bruce Jenner (now Caitlyn Jenner) weds Kris Kardashian in Bel Air, Los Angeles

Deaths in Film & TV

Apr 9 Maurice Binder, American photographer and film title designer (James Bond Movies), dies at 73
Apr 10 Kevin Peter Hall, actor (Harry & Hendersons), dies of AIDS at 35
Apr 10 Natalie Schafer, American actress (Gilligan's Island, Anastasia), dies from cancer at 90
Apr 11 Tom Rosqui, American stage and screen character actor (The Godfather - "Rocco Lampone"), dies of cancer at 62
Apr 15 Marjorie Warfield, American stage, radio, and silent film actress, dies of pneumonia at 88
Apr 15 Martin Ashe, American actor, dies at 81

David Lean (1908-1991)

Apr 16 English film director (Doctor Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia, Ryan's Daughter), dies of pneumonia at 83

Apr 19 Stanley Hawes, British-born Australian film producer, director and administrator (b. 1905)
Apr 20 Don Siegel, American film director (Coogan's Bluff, Dirty Harry), dies at 78
Apr 25 Frank Hamilton, Canadian-American actor (Subterraneans), dies at 66
Apr 26 Emily McLaughlin, American actress (Jessie Brewer- General Hospital), dies at 61
Apr 28 Ken Curtis, American actor (Festus - Gunsmoke), dies at 74