Today is Saturday, March 15, the 74th day of 2025. There are 291 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On March 15, 1972, “The Godfather,” Francis Ford Coppola’s film based on the Mario Puzo novel and starring Marlon Brando and Al Pacino, premiered in New York.
Also on this date:
In 44 B.C., on the “ides of March,” Roman dictator Julius Caesar was assassinated by Roman senators, including Brutus and Cassius, who feared Caesar was working to establish a monarchy.
In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson, addressing a joint session of Congress, called for new legislation to guarantee every American’s right to vote. The result was passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
In 2012, convicted former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich entered a federal prison in Colorado, where the 55-year-old Democrat began serving a 14-year sentence for corruption. (He was released in February 2020 after President Donald Trump commuted his sentence; Trump pardoned Blagojevich in February 2025.)
Rod Blagojevich saga: From arrest to Donald Trump’s pardon
In 2018, a pedestrian bridge under construction over a busy Miami highway collapsed, crushing vehicles beneath it; six people died and 10 were injured.
In 2019, a gunman killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, streaming the massacre live on Facebook. (Brenton Tarrant, an Australian white supremacist, was sentenced to life in prison without parole after pleading guilty to 51 counts of murder and other charges.)
In 2022, Russia stepped up its bombardment of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, while an estimated 20,000 civilians fled the desperately encircled port city of Mariupol by way of a humanitarian corridor.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Judd Hirsch is 90. Singer Mike Love (The Beach Boys) is 84. Filmmaker David Cronenberg is 82. Musician Sly Stone is 82. Musician Ry Cooder is 78. Actor Frances Conroy is 72. Rock singer Dee Snider (Twisted Sister) is 70. Baseball Hall of Famer Harold Baines is 66. Filmmaker Renny Harlin is 66. Rock singer Bret Michaels (Poison) is 62. Singer-TV host Mark McGrath (Sugar Ray) is 57. Actor Kim Raver is 56. Actor Eva Longoria is 50. Musician will.i.am (Black Eyed Peas) is 50. Actor Kellan Lutz is 40.