1991: Creepy Movie Debuts on Valentine’s Day

Hardly a romantic movie, the psychological horror thriller, The Silence of the Lambs was released in theaters on this day in 1991. The movie was adapted from Thomas Harris’ 1988 novel of the same name. The film was directed by Jonathan Demme and starred Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins and Ted Levine. Foster played FBI trainee, Clarice Starling on the hunt to find a serial killer named “Buffalo Bill” and seeking the advice of Dr. Hannibal Lecter who was not only a former psychiatrist, but a cannibal as well. Despite it being released on Valentines Day, it was a huge hit and won five Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It is also one of the rare horror films to be nominated for Best Picture.

2005: You Tube is Launched

YouTube was founded by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim, three former employees of PayPal on this day in 2005. However, the very first YouTube video wasn’t uploaded until April 23rd. The 18 second video, “Me at the Zoo,” featured Karim at the San Diego Zoo and can still be viewed on the website. To this day, the video has received over 13,500,000 views. By July of 2006, YouTube was receiving over 65,000 videos a day and over 100 million videos were being viewed each day. In April 2011, YouTube stated that about 30% of all the videos posted made up about 99% of views on the site. (Image: YouTube)

Movies Released

• A Good Day to Die Hard (2013)
• Beautiful Creatures (2013)
• Daredevil (2003)
• Definitely Maybe (2008)
• Downhill (2020)
• Endless Love (2014)
• Fantasy Island (2020)
• Fool Rush In (1997)
• Fighting with My Family (2019)
• Isn’t It Romantic (2019)
• Jumper (2008)
• Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)
• Safe Haven (2013)
• Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)
• Step Up 2: The Streets (2008)
• The Hours (2003)
• The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
• Vegas Vacation (1997)
• Wayne’s World (1992)

TV Series Debuts

• Jake and the Never Land Pirates (2011)
• Zero Hour (2013)

Famous Birthdays

• 1894: Jack Benny (actor)
• 1934: Florence Henderson (actress)
• 1946: Gregory Hines (actor)
• 1948: Teller (magician)
• 1960: Meg Tilly (actress)
• 1970: Simon Pegg (actor)
• 1972: Rob Thomas (singer)
• 1992: Freddie Highmore (actor)

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