March 7

This Day in History

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Lead Story
Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone, 1876
American Revolution
Five letters pass between Abigail and John Adams, 1777
Automotive
Janet Guthrie, first female Indy 500 driver, born, 1938
Civil War
Yankees clash with Rebels at the Battle of Pea Ridge, 1862
Cold War
Soviet Union denies Klaus Fuchs served as its spy, 1950
Crime
Defense rests in Andrea Yates trial, 2002
Disaster
Cyclone Bola hits New Zealand, 1988
General Interest
Hitler reoccupies the Rhineland, 1936
Bangladesh's first democratic leader, 1973
Stanley Kubrick dies, 1999
Hollywood
Writers Guild of America strike begins, 1988
Kathryn Bigelow becomes the first female director to win an Oscar, 2010
Literary
"Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" is published, 1923
Music
Pearl Bailey and Richard Nixon serenade a White House audience, 1974
Old West
Kansas quarantines Texas cattle, 1885
Presidential
Carter meets with Yitzhak Rabin, 1977
Sports
Mike Tyson unifies titles, 1987
Vietnam War
U.S. jets launch heaviest air raids of the war, 1966
Republic of Korea forces operation launch, 1967
Jets engage in aerial combat, 1972
World War I
Finland signs treaty with Germany, 1918
World War II
British forces arrive in Greece, 1941

Hollywood

Mar 7, 2010:

Kathryn Bigelow becomes the first female director to win an Oscar

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On this day in 2010, Kathryn Bigelow becomes the first woman to win an Academy Award for best director, for her movie “The Hurt Locker,” about an American bomb squad that disables explosives in Iraq in 2004. Prior to Bigelow, only three women had been nominated for a best director Oscar: Lina Wertmueller for 1975’s “Seven Beauties,” Jane Campion for 1993’s “The Piano” and Sofia Coppola for 2003’s “Lost in Translation.”

Born in San Carlos, California, in 1951, Bigelow graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1972 and later earned a master’s degree in film from Columbia University. She made her feature film debut with 1982’s “The Loveless,” which she co-wrote and co-directed. The film, about a motorcycle gang, starred Willem Dafoe. The next movie Bigelow directed, 1987’s “Near Dark,” was a western-horror hybrid that gained a cult following. She went on to helm 1990’s “Blue Steel,” starring Jamie Lee Curtis as a police officer stalked by a killer, and 1991’s “Point Break,” about bank-robbing surfers, featuring Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves. Bigelow’s other directing credits include 1995’s “Strange Days” with Ralph Fiennes, 2000’s “The Weight of Water” with Sean Penn and 2002’s “K-19: The Widowmaker” with Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson.

At the 82nd Academy Awards in March 2010, Bigelow’s fellow best-director nominees included James Cameron (“Avatar”), whom she was married to from 1989 to 1991, along with Lee Daniels (“Precious”), Jason Reitman (“Up in the Air”) and Quentin Tarantino (“Inglorious Basterds”). After making history by winning the directing prize, Bigelow said, "I hope I'm the first of many [women], and of course, I'd love to just think of myself as a filmmaker. And I long for the day when that modifier can be a moot point.” Her movie “The Hurt Locker,” which starred Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty, also won Oscars for best picture, film editing, sound editing, sound mixing and original screenplay.

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This Week in History, Mar 7 - Mar 13

Mar 07, 1988
Writers Guild of America strike begins
Mar 07, 2010
Kathryn Bigelow becomes the first female director to win an Oscar
Mar 08, 1993
MTV’s highest rated series premieres
Mar 09, 1996
Comedian George Burns dies at age 100
Mar 10, 1997
The WB premieres its first hit show
Mar 11, 1989
COPS debuts on Fox
Mar 12, 1982
Richard Pryor releases Live on the Sunset Strip
Mar 13, 2005
Disney names Robert Iger as new chief executive

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