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American Beauty is a 1999 drama film directed by Sam Mendes and written by Alan Ball. Kevin Spacey stars as Lester Burnham, a middle-aged office worker who has a midlife crisis when he becomes infatuated with his daughter's best friend; Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Mena Suvari, Wes Bentley, Chris Cooper and Allison Janney also feature. Described as a satire of American notions of beauty and personal satisfaction, the film explores themes of romantic and paternal love, sexuality, beauty, materialism, self-liberation and redemption. American Beauty was Mendes' film directorial debut and Ball's first film screenplay. DreamWorks bought his spec script for $250,000 and financed the $15 million production. Courted by the studio after a run of successful theater productions, Mendes was nevertheless only given the job after several "A-list" directors turned it down. Released in late 1999, American Beauty was the best-reviewed American film of the year and grossed over $350 million worldwide. At the 2000 Academy Awards, the film won five of its eight nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor (for Spacey). The film was nominated for and won many other awards and honors, mainly for the direction, writing and acting. (more...)

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• American mathematician John Tate wins the Abel Prize for his work on the theory of numbers.
• Scientists identify a previously unknown type of ancient human through analysis of DNA from a finger bone unearthed in a Siberian cave.
• Sir James W. Black, British pharmacologist and Nobel laureate, dies at the age of 85.
• Google redirects its .cn domain to Hong Kong servers and stops censoring its search results within the People's Republic of China.
• U.S. President Barack Obama signs the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law (pictured), enacting a set of health care reforms.
• Pope Benedict XVI issues a pastoral letter to Catholics in Ireland apologizing for sexual abuse of children by clergy.
• In rugby union, France win the 2010 Six Nations Championship with a Grand Slam.
• Former Nepali Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala dies at the age of 85.
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March 26: Independence Day in Bangladesh; Education and Sharing Day in the United States (2010)

• 1027 – Pope John XIX crowned Conrad II as Holy Roman Emperor.
• 1484 – William Caxton, the first printer of books in English, printed his translation of Aesop's Fables.
• 1636 – Utrecht University, one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands and one of the largest in Europe, was established.
• 1812 – A 7.6 M_L earthquake caused extensive damage in the Venezuelan settlements of Caracas, La Guaira, Barquisimeto, San Felipe, and Mérida.
• 1971 – East Pakistan declared its independence from Pakistan to form Bangladesh (original 1971 flag pictured), starting the Bangladesh Liberation War.
• 1975 – The Biological Weapons Convention, the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning the production of an entire category of weapons, entered into force.

More anniversaries: March 25 – March 26 – March 27