On This Day in Film & TV for August 17
Events in Film & TV
- 1908 Booth Tarkington & Harry Leon Wilson's play "Man from Home" premieres in New York
- 1908 Projection in Paris of the very first animated cartoon, Fantasmagorie realized by Émile Cohl
- 1939 Musical film "The Wizard of Oz", starring Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, and Margaret Hamilton opens at Loews Capitol Theatre, NYC
- 1979 "Monty Python's Life of Brian" directed by Terry Jones, starring Graham Chapman, Mickael Palin, & John Cleese, premieres in US theaters
- 1990 "Exorcist 3" film written and directed by William Peter Blatty, premieres
- 2007 Perez Hilton mistakenly announces the death of Cuban leader Fidel Castro
- More Events in Film & TV
Samuel Goldwyn
Mae West
Maureen O'Hara
Robert De Niro
Sean PennWeddings in Film & TV
- 1950 Short story writer Dorothy Parker (57) weds screenwriter Alan Campbell (46)
- 1962 Actor Jack Lemmon (37) weds actress and model Felicia Farr (29) in Paris, France
- 1964 Bruce Lee (23), Hong Kong and American martial artist and actor, weds Linda Emery (19), teacher
Divorces in Film & TV
- 2008 Genesis drummer and vocalist Phil Collins (57) divorces Swiss-born Orianne Cevey (35) after six years of marriage
More Weddings & Divorces in Film & TV
Deaths in Film & TV
- 1963 Richard Barthelmess, American actor (Broken Blossoms, Noose, Heroes for Sales), dies of cancer at 68
- 1970 Rattana Pestonji, Thai filmmaker and cinematographer (Tang), dies at 62
- 1971 Horace McMahon, American actor (Detective Story, Martin Kane Private Eye), dies from a heart ailment at 65
- 1974 Edgar Dearing, American actor (Pollyanna, Abraham Lincoln, Free & Easy), dies at 81
August in Film & TV History
The Wizard of Oz
Publicity still of the Wizard of Oz, showing the Tin Man, Scarecrow, Dorothy and Cowardly Lion
August 15, 1939
How Paula Yates Discovered Her Real Father
Controversial television presenter Paula Yates married pop star Bob Geldof on this day. Fate decided she would not remain happy ever after
August 31, 1986
The Best Quentin Tarantino Quiz
Do you know the answer to every Tarantino question? Including which Tarantino film script was leaked prior to filming? Or which actor is his most frequent collaborator?
Test Your Knowledge