Historical Events
- Mar 1 "Sweeney Todd" opens at Uris Theater NYC for 557 performances
- Mar 1 ESPN and NCAA come to an agreement giving the network worldwide multi-media rights to NCAA championships for various sports
- Mar 3 20th SEC Men's Basketball Tournament: Tennessee beats Kentucky, 75-69
- Mar 3 26th ACC Men's Basketball Tournament: North Carolina beats Duke, 71-63
- Mar 4 "Grand Tour" closes at Palace Theater NYC after 61 performances
The Ordeal of Patty Hearst
Mar 4 "The Ordeal of Patty Hearst", television movie directed by Paul Wendkos, premieres on CBS
- Mar 4 200th episode of "All in the Family"
Catholic Encyclical
Mar 4 Pope John Paul II publishes his first encyclical "Redemptor Hominis"
- Mar 4 US Voyager I photo reveals Jupiter's rings
- Mar 5 Iran resumes petroleum exports
- Mar 5 Voyager I's closest approach to Jupiter (172,000 miles)
People's Choice Awards
Mar 7 5th People's Choice Awards: Burt Reynolds & Olivia Newton-John win (Motion Picture) and Alan Alda, Mary Tyler Moore & Carol Burnett win (TV)
- Mar 7 Baseball exhibition season opens with semi-pro & amateur umpires
Baseball Hall of Fame
Mar 7 Warren Giles and Hack Wilson selected for the Baseball Hall of Fame
- Mar 8 1st extraterrestrial volcano discovered on Jupiter's satellite Io
- Mar 8 China withdraws invasion troops from Vietnam
- Mar 8 Shuttle Columbia (OV-102) transported 38 miles overland from Palmdale
The Passage
Mar 9 "The Passage", directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Anthony Quinn, is released in the United States
- Mar 9 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
Sports History
Mar 9 MLB Commissioner Bowie Kuhn orders baseball to give equal access to female reporters
- Mar 10 Eubie Blake, a 92-year old ragtime piano player and composer, and Gregory Hines are musical guest on Saturday Night Live
- Mar 11 Randy Hold receives 67 min in penalties in a 60 min NHL hockey game
- Mar 13 European Monetary System is established, ECU created
- Mar 13 Gairy dictatorship in Grenada overthrown by New Jewel Movement
NHL Record
Mar 13 NHL New York Islanders Mike Bossy's 5th career hat trick
NHL Record
Mar 15 Isle's Bryan Trottier's 5th career hat trick
- Mar 15 Sarfraz takes 9-86 at MCG as Australia lose 7-5 to lose the Test
Music History
Mar 16 CBS-TV airs "Wings Over the World" with Paul McCartney
- Mar 17 Ice Dance Championship at Vienna won by N Linichuk & G Karponosov USSR
- Mar 17 Ice Pairs Championship at Vienna won by Tai Babilonia & R Gardner USA
- Mar 17 Men's Figure Skating Champ in Vienna won by Vladimir Kovalev (USSR)
- Mar 17 The Penmanshiel Tunnel in Berwickshire, Scotland, collapses during engineering works, killing two workers
- Mar 17 Wales beats England, 27-3 at the National Stadium, Cardiff for its 2nd consecutive Five Nations Rugby Championship and record 21st outright title; record 4th straight Triple Crown
- Mar 17 Worlds Ladies' Figure Skating Champ in Vienna won by Linda Fratianne
- Mar 18 "On the 20th Century" closes at St James Theater NYC after 460 performances
- Mar 18 Battles between Kurds & Iranians break in Sananday, Iran
- Mar 19 US House of Representatives begins live TV broadcasts via C-SPAN
- Mar 21 Egyptian Parliament unanimously approve peace treaty with Israel
- Mar 22 Israeli parliament approves peace treaty with Egypt
- Mar 22 NHL votes to accept 4 WHA teams (Oilers, Jets, Nordiques & Whalers)
- Mar 22 Provisional Irish Republican Army assassinates Richard Sykes, the British ambassador to the Netherlands, in The Hague
- Mar 22 The Provisional Irish Republican Army explode 24 bombs in various locations across Northern Ireland
Boxing Title Fight
Mar 23 Larry Holmes TKOs Osvaldo Ocasio in 7 for heavyweight boxing title
- Mar 23 Wings release "Goodnight Tonight"
- Mar 24 "Ballroom" closes at Majestic Theater NYC after 116 performances
Cricket History
Mar 24 1st appearance as Australian cricket captain for Kim Hughes
- Mar 24 Columbia flown on carrier aircraft lands at Kennedy Space Center
- Mar 25 AIAW Women's Basketball Tournament, Old Dominion beat Louisiana Tech 75-65 in Greensboro
Sports History
Mar 25 Czech tennis star Martina Navratilova retains her WTA Tour Championship with a 6–3, 3–6, 6–2 win over American teenager Tracey Austin in NYC
- Mar 25 Major riot at Bourda prevents day's play in WSC Supertest
PGA Players Championship
Mar 25 PGA Tournament Players Championship, Sawgrass CC: Lanny Wadkins wins in windy conditions, 5 strokes ahead of runner-up Tom Watson
- Mar 25 Space Shuttle Columbia arrives at Kennedy Space Centre to prepare for its first launch, which would eventually happen in 1981
- Mar 26 41st NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Michigan State beats Indiana State, 75-64; marks start of rivalry between future Hall of Famers Magic Johnson and Larry Bird; highest-rated game in history of televised college basketball
Treaty of Interest
Mar 26 Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat sign the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty in Washington, D.C.
- Mar 26 Michigan State Spartans snaps Indiana State's 33-game winning streak
- Mar 26 MLB San Diego Padres & San Francisco Giants announce plans to play exhibition series in Tokyo but Giant players reject it
- Mar 26 OPEC makes full 14.5% oil price increase for 1979 effective on April 1
- Mar 27 US Supreme Court rules 8-1 that cops can't randomly stop cars
- Mar 28 A partial meltdown at Three Mile Island nuclear plant in the US results in the release of radioactive gas and iodine into the atmosphere but no deaths
- Mar 28 British government of Prime Minister Jim Callaghan (Labour Party) falls
- Mar 28 Frank Lazarus & Dick Vosburgh's stage musical comedy "A Day in Hollywood/A Night in Ukraine" premieres at the Mayfair Theatre, London, England
- Mar 29 Andrew Hilditch given out handled the ball v Pakistan at WACA
- Mar 29 Caryl Churchill's "Cloud Nine" premieres in London
- Mar 29 Delhi beats Karnataka by 399 runs to win Cricket's Ranji Trophy
- Mar 29 Last day of Test cricket for Pakistani cricketer Mushtaq Mohammad
Palace of Westminster
Mar 30 Airey Neave, a British politician, is killed by a car bomb as he exits the Palace of Westminster. The Irish National Liberation Army claims responsibility.
- Mar 31 133rd Grand National: Maurice Barnes victorious aboard Rubstic; first Scottish-trained horse to win the event
- Mar 31 24th Eurovision Song Contest: Gali Atari and Milk and Honey for Israel wins singing "Hallelujah" in Jerusalem
- Mar 31 Montreal Canadiens beat visiting Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-3 to become just the 2nd team in NHL history to win 50 (or more) games for 4 straight years
- Mar 31 The last British soldier leaves the Maltese Islands. Malta declares its Freedom Day (Jum il-Helsien).
Famous Birthdays
- Mar 1 Mikkel Kessler, Danish boxer (WBA super-middleweight title x 3; WBC title x 2; IBA title 2002), born in Copenhagen, Denmark
- Mar 2 Amanda Ireton, Cast member of MTV's A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila
- Mar 2 Damien Duff, Irish soccer winger (100 caps, Republic of Ireland; Blackburn Rovers, Chelsea, Newcastle United, Fulham), born in Dublin, Ireland
- Mar 3 Alex Zane, English comedian
- Mar 3 Patrick Renna, American actor
- Mar 4 Ben Fouhy, New Zealand flatwater canoeist
- Mar 4 Geoff Huegill, Australian swimmer
- Mar 4 Jon Fratelli [John Lawler], Scottish rock singer-songwriter, guitarist, and keyboard player (The Fratellis - Costello Music; Here We Stand), born in Glasgow, Scotland
- Mar 5 Tang Gonghong, Chinese weightlifter (Olympic gold women's 75kg 2004; World C'ship gold 1998, 99), born in Yantai, China
- Mar 6 David Flair, American professional wrestler
- Mar 6 Erik Bedard, Canadian baseball player
- Mar 6 Ryan Nyquist, American BMX rider (4 x X Games gold; 3 x Gravity Games gold), born in Los Gatos, California
- Mar 7 Lisa Batiashvili, Georgian-German concert violinist, born in Tblisi, Georgian SSR
- Mar 7 Ricardo Rosselló, Puerto Rican politician, Governor of Puerto Rico (2017-), born in San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Mar 8 Andy Ross, American rock guitarist (OK Go), born in Worcester, Massachusetts
- Mar 8 Tom Chaplin, British rock singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist (Keane), born in Hastings, East Sussex, England
- Mar 9 Chingy [Howard Bailey, Jr.], American rapper (Right Thurr), born in St. Louis, Missouri
- Mar 9 Melina Perez, American model and WWE Diva, born in High Desert, California
Oscar Isaac (45 years old)
Mar 9 French Guatemalan-American actor (Scenes From A Marriage; Balibo; Inside Llewyn Davis), born in Guatemala City, Guatemala
- Mar 10 Danny Pudi, American comedian and actor (Community), born in Chicago, Illinois
- Mar 10 Edi Gathegi, Kenyan actor (Blacklist), born in Nairobi, Kenya
- Mar 11 Benji Madden, American rock guitarist (Good Charlotte), born in Waldorf, Maryland
- Mar 11 Elton Brand, American NBA basketball player, 1999-2016 (Los Angeles Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers, and 3 other teams), and general manager (76ers, 2018-present), born in Cortlandt Manor, New York
- Mar 11 Fred Jones, American basketball player
- Mar 11 Joel Madden, American rock singer (Good Charlotte), born in Waldorf, Maryland
- Mar 12 Edwin Villafuerte, Ecuadorian soccer goalkeeper (16 caps; Barcelona SC), born in Ventanas, Ecuador
- Mar 12 Nidia Guenard, American professional wrestler
- Mar 12 Pete Doherty, British singer-songwriter (The Libertines), born in Hexham, Northumberland, England
- Mar 13 Cedric Van Branteghem, Belgian athlete, born in Ghent, Belgium
- Mar 13 Johan Santana, Venezuelan baseball pitcher (4 × MLB All-Star; AL Cy Young 2004, 06; Triple Crown 2006; Gold Glove 2007; no-hitter 2012; Minnesota Twins, NY Mets), born in Tovar Municipality, Mérida, Venezuela
- Mar 13 Spanky G [Michael Guthier], American musician (Bloodhound Gang), born in Souderton, Pennsylvania
- Mar 14 Chris Klein, American actor (American Pie films), born in Hinsdale, Illinois
- Mar 14 Love [Arsénio Sebastião Cabungula], Angolan footballer, born in Luanda, Angola
- Mar 14 Nicolas Anelka, French footballer, born in Le Chesnay, France
- Mar 14 Sead Ramović, German-born Bosnian footballer
- Mar 15 Kevin Youkilis, American baseball player
- Mar 16 Édison Méndez, Ecuadorian soccer midfielder (111 caps; Deportivo Quito, LDU Quito, PSV), born in Ibarra, Ecuador
- Mar 16 Leena Peisa, Finnish hard rock and heavy metal keyboardist (Lordi; Sampsa Astala & Qma), born in Vantaa, Finland
- Mar 16 Rashad Moore, National Football League player
- Mar 17 Andrew Ference, Canadian ice hockey player
- Mar 17 Nicole "Coco" Austin, American glamor model
- Mar 17 Samoa Joe, Samoan professional wrestler
- Mar 17 Stormy Daniels [Stephanie Clifford], American pornographic actress, claims had affair with Donald Trump, born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
- Mar 18 Adam Levine, American singer (Maroon 5 - "This Love"; "Moves Like Jagger"), and television personality (The Voice, 2011-19), born in Los Angeles, California
- Mar 18 Anthony Maher, American soccer player
- Mar 18 Danneel Harris, American actress
- Mar 18 Dramane Coulibaly, Malian footballer
- Mar 19 Christos Patsatzoglou, Greek footballer
- Mar 19 Hedo Türkoğlu, Turkish basketball player
- Mar 19 Hee-Seop Choi, Korean baseball player
- Mar 19 Ivan Ljubičić, Croatian tennis player
- Mar 20 Bernard O'Connor, Gaelic Footballer
- Mar 20 Bianca Lawson, American actress
- Mar 20 Freema Agyeman, English actress (Doctor Who, New Amsterdam), born in London, England
- Mar 20 Keven Mealamu, New Zealand rugby player
- Mar 20 Molly Jenson, American singer-songwriter, born in San Diego, California
- Mar 20 Silvia Abascal, Spanish actress
- Mar 22 Aaron North, American musician (Nine Inch Nails), born in Los Angeles, California
- Mar 22 Juan Uribe, Dominican baseball player, born in Sabana Grande de Palenque, Dominican Republic
- Mar 23 Donncha O'Callaghan, Irish rugby player
- Mar 23 Mark Buehrle, American baseball player
- Mar 23 Misty Hyman, American swimmer (Olympic gold 200m butterfly 2000), born in Mesa, Arizona
- Mar 23 Natalya Baranovskaya, Olympic swimmer
- Mar 24 Emraan Hashmi, Indian actor (Murder, Zeher), born in Pulgaon, Maharashtra
- Mar 24 Graeme Swann, English cricket spin bowler (60 Tests, 255 wickets, BB 6/65; 79 ODIs; 39 T20I; Northamptonshire CCC, Nottinghamshire CCC), born in Northampton, England
- Mar 24 Lake Bell, American actress and director (I Do... Until I Don't), born in New York City
- Mar 24 Periklis Iakovakis, Greek athlete (400 meter hurdles)
- Mar 25 Lee Pace, American actor
- Mar 25 Natasha Yi, American supermodel
- Mar 26 Heidi Zeigler, American child actress (Just the 10 of Us - "Sherry"), born in Lansing, Michigan
- Mar 26 Hiromi Uehara, Japanese jazz pianist (Spiral), born in Hamamatsu, Japan
- Mar 26 Pierre Womé, Cameroonian soccer left back who played 68 internationals; Bologna, Werder Bremen, 1. FC Köln, Lucchese, born in Douala, Cameroon
- Mar 27 Michael Cuddyer, American baseball outfielder who was MLB All Star 2011, 13; NL batting champion & Silver Slugger award 2013; Minnesota Twins, Colorado Rockies, born in Norfolk, Virginia
- Mar 28 Park Chae-rim, South Korean actress
Norah Jones (45 years old)
Mar 30 American pop and jazz singer and pianist ("Come Away With Me"), born in Brooklyn, New York
- Mar 30 Simon Webbe, English pop singer (Blue), born in Manchester, England
- Mar 31 Amey Date, Indian playback singer, born in Bombay, India
Famous Weddings
Kurt Russell
Mar 17 Actor Kurt Russell (28) weds actress Season Hubley (28)
Bob Denver
Mar 26 Comedic actor Bob Denver (44) weds fourth wife Dreama Peery
Famous Deaths
- Mar 1 Dolores Costello, American actress (Noah's Ark, Expensive Women), dies at 73
- Mar 1 Mustafa al-Barzani, Kurdish leader (KDP), dies at 75
- Mar 2 Christy Ring, Irish hurler (Cork 65 games, scoring tally [33-208], 8 x All-Ireland medals), dies at 58
- Mar 2 Edith Craig, actress (Harmony Lane, Smashing Rackets), dies at 71
- Mar 3 Tom Creavy, American golfer (PGA C'ship 1931), dies of a heart attack at 68
- Mar 4 Willi Unsoeld, American mountaineer (First ascent of the West Ridge of Mount Everest), dies at 52
- Mar 5 Vicente Ascone, Italian composer, dies at 81
- Mar 6 Charles Wagenheim, actor (Halligan-Gunsmoke), dies at 83
- Mar 7 Guiomar Novaes, Barzilain concert pianist (Brazilian Order of Merit), dies at 84
- Mar 7 Klaus Egge, Norwegian composer (Fanitullen), dies at 72
- Mar 9 Barbara Mullen, American actress (Thunder Rock, Innocent Sinners), dies of a heart attack at 64
- Mar 11 Jeanne Leleu, French pianist and composer, dies at 80
- Mar 11 Victor Kilian, American actor (Gentleman's Agreement), dies at 88
- Mar 15 Leonide Massine, Russian ballet dancer and choreographer (Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, 1914-20), dies at 82
- Mar 16 Jean Monnet, French political economist and diplomat, dies at 90
- Mar 19 Albert "Al" Hodge, American actor on radio (Green Hornet), and early television (Captain Video), dies of heart failure at 66
- Mar 19 Richard Beckinsale, English actor (Doing Time, Porridge, Lovers), dies at 31
- Mar 20 Mino Pecorelli, Italian journalist, shot dead in Rome at 50
- Mar 21 Evald Ilyenkov, Soviet philosopher (Dialectical Logic), dies at 55
- Mar 22 Ben Lyon, American actor (Hell's Angels, I Cover the Waterfront, Night Nurse), dies at 78
- Mar 22 Richard Sykes, British ambassador to the Netherlands, assassinated at 58 by the IRA in The Hague
- Mar 23 Philip Bourneuf, actor (Big Night, Frankenstein), dies at 71
- Mar 23 Ted Anderson, English footballer (b. 1911)
- Mar 23 Wiesje Bouwmeester, Dutch actress (Doodzonde), dies at 79
- Mar 24 Yvonne Mitchell, English actress (Nineteen Eigthy-Four) and writer, dies of cancer at 53
- Mar 25 Anton Heiller, Austrian organist and composer, dies at 55
- Mar 26 Jean Stafford, American writer (Pulitzer Prize 1970-The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford), dies at 63
- Mar 27 Ronald Adam, actor (Phantom Shot), dies at 82
- Mar 28 Emmett Kelly, American circus clown (Weary Willy), dies at 80
- Mar 29 Ray Ventura, French jazz pianist and big band bandleader ("Tout va très bien, Madame la Marquise"), dies at 69
- Mar 29 Sultan Yahya Petra, 6th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia (1975-79), dies at 61
- Mar 30 Airey Neave, British MP (Conservative), killed in a car bomb by the Irish National Liberation Army at 63
