Trivia: Tall, deep-voiced American actress Beatrice Arthur, born Beatrice Frankel, was best known for her television work on the long-running series Maude and The Golden Girls, but she also occasionally appeared in films. Her most famous film is 1973's Mame in which she played Vera Charles, the role she originated on Broadway.

Trivia: Actress Betty White got her start in local Los Angeles television as the "telephone girl" for video emcee Al Jarvis. By early 1950 she was one of the stars of the daily, five-hour series Hollywood on Television. One of the highlights of this program was a husband and wife sketch titled "Life With Elizabeth," which when committed to film and syndicated nationally in 1953 became White's first starring TV sitcom. She went on to headline her own network variety series in 1954, then co-starred with Bill Williams in the weekly TV domestic comedy Date With the Angels (1957), which without Williams was retitled The Betty White Show in early 1958. For the next 15 years she made guest appearances on various variety and quiz show efforts, and toured the straw-hat theatrical circuit in such plays as Critics Choice and Who Was That Lady, often appearing opposite her husband, TV personality Allen Ludden. Two years after hosting the 1971 syndicated informational series The Pet Set, she guest-starred as libidinous "Happy Homemaker" Sue Ann Nivens on the fourth season opener of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. This Emmy-winning episode led to White being cast as an MTM regular; she remained with the series until its final episode in 1977. She then starred on her own short-lived sitcom (again titled The Betty White Show) before returning to the guest-star circuit. In 1985, she joined the cast of TV's The Golden Girls as middle-aged grief counselor Rose Nyland. This top-rated program lasted seven seasons before metamorphosing into the rather less successful Golden Palace (1992). White was a regular on the 1995 series Maybe This Time, and in 1997 she won an Emmy for her one-shot appearance on The John Laroquette Show. She was in the films Hard Rain and The Story of Us, as well as Lake Placid. In 2003 she was cast in Bringing Down the House, and in 2008 provided a voice for the American version of Ponyo. White developed a new generation in fans when she became the subject of a successful online campaign to get her to host Saturday Night Live - which she did in 2010, along with winning the SAG award for Life time Achievement. The year before, she had a part in the hit Sandra Bullock vehicle The Proposal. She also became the star of year another successful TV show when she was cast in the female-centric sitcom Hot in Cleveland. She lent her voice to the 2012 adaptation of The Lorax.

Trivia: Graduating cum laude from the University of Tulsa, Rue McClanahan studied acting with Uta Hagen and at the Perry-Mansfield school. After her professional debut with a Pennsylvania stock company in 1957, McClanahan headed to New York, where between acting gigs she worked as a waitress, took shorthand and sold blouses. Grabbing any opportunity available, she made her TV bow on a 1960 episode of the TV series Malibu Run, then appeared in a handful of exploitation films with come-hither titles like Five Minutes to Love (she played "Poochie, the girl from the shack," a credit she has since dropped from her resumé). She managed to find more prestigious work on the New York stage, starring in such well-received productions as MacBird, Jimmy Shine, Sticks and Bones and California Suite. She also played regular roles on the TV soap operas Another World and Where the Heart Is. A 1972 guest shot on Norman Lear's controversial series All in the Family led to her being cast as Vivian Harmon on Lear's popular sitcom Maude, a role she played until the series' cancellation in 1978. McClanahan's next project was her own starring series, 1978's Apple Pie, which unfortunately bit the dust after three shows. She went on to play the vitriolic Aunt Fran on the network version of Mama's Family (1983-85), then was co-starred with her Maude colleague Bea Arthur in The Golden Girls (1985-92). Her well-rounded portrayal of overly amorous museum worker Blanche Devereaux won her an 1986 Emmy award; she reprised the character in the Golden Girls spin-off Golden Palace (1992-93). The star of several made-for-TV movies, McClanahan co-produced and appeared in a brace of "dramedies," Mother of the Bride (1991) and Baby of the Bride (1992).

Trivia: A 5-foot-tall embodiment of the phrase "Late Bloomer," Estelle Getty was 47 years old when she made her first off-Broadway stage appearance. Getty gained renown in 1982 for her vitriolic performance as Harvey Fierstein's mother in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Torch Song Trilogy. She made the first of several brief film appearances that same year. When the call went out for an actress to play Sophia Petrillo, a peppery octogenarian whose recent stroke robbed her brain of its "tact"cells, in the upcoming TV series Golden Girls, Getty auditioned, only to be turned down because she was too young for the role. Four auditions later, she landed the part by hiring a makeup artist to add some 20 years to her facial features, wearing a too-big thrift shop dress, and remaining in character throughout the interview. She played Sophia on Golden Girls from 1985 to 1992, reprising the character for the spin-off series Golden Palace (1992) and for two year's worth of appearances on another sitcom, Empty Nest. For her efforts, Getty won a 1987 Emmy, a Golden Globe, and an American Comedy Award. She also evidently became typecast for life, as witness her Sophia-like co-starring performance in the 1992 Sylvester Stallone vehicle Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot. A handful of similar guest-starring roles in popular '90s series, including Mad About You and Touched By an Angel, followed that performance. During her first rush of TV fame, Getty also published her autobiography, If I Knew Then What I Know Now...So What?. She died of complications related to advanced dementia in the summer of 2008.

Trivia: Kelly Ripa, the bubbly, blonde, and garrulous host of Live With Regis and Kelly (formerly Live With Regis and Kathie Lee), made the leap from semi-obscurity to American icon in early 2001, when the producers of that nationally syndicated daytime talk program selected her as the replacement for 15-year hostess Kathie Lee Gifford. Born October 2, 1970, to parents of mixed Irish and Italian heritage, the photogenic Ripa began her career as an actress -- first in high-school productions, then as a participant on the USA channel's Dance Party USA, and finally as a soap opera star on All My Children. Her portrayal of psychologically tortured teenager Hayley Vaughan on that program spanned 12 years, from 1990 through 2002. During her time with that series, she also met and married co-star Mark Consuelos, and eventually had several children with him. The actress' assignment on Live With Regis represented the denouement of a long, suspenseful, and nationally publicized search after Gifford withdrew in mid-2000. In the final analysis, many insiders felt that executive producer Michael Gelman and others had clearly made the right choice, for then-30-year-old Ripa's ascent to the co-host's chair helped the show reel in the highest ratings of its multi-decade run. Moreover, the program's fans asserted that the central banter between "Reege" and his hostess had never once been livelier, more entertaining or more fluid.In mid-2003, the peppy Ripa signed for another popular small-screen gig, albeit in a completely different venue: she and Faith Ford (Murphy Brown) played reunited sisters -- Ripa one of the glitterati, Ford a low-key suburban wife and mother -- on the situation comedy Hope & Faith. The program debuted that fall and lasted for three seasons. Ripa guest-hosted Saturday Night Live in November 2003; she and Regis are also frequent guests on Late Night with David Letterman. In addition to small-screen work, Ripa's resumé includes a bit part in the Muppet specials Sesame Street: Elmo's World -- Happy Holidays! and It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, as well as the Steve Martin comedy remake Cheaper by the Dozen (2003).

Trivia: Although she was eliminated after just two episodes when she competed on Season 1 of the VH1 show I Want to Work for Diddy, her appearance led to her own makeover reality show, TRANSform Me. Time magazine put Sophia Burset, played by Cox on the Netflix television series Orange Is the New Black, on its list of the Most Influential Fictional Characters of 2013. Has a twin brother, M. Lamar, who has appeared on Orange Is the New Black as Sophia before her gender reassignment surgery. Ellen Page presented the Stephen F. Kolzak Award to Cox for her work both on and off screen at the 25th Annual GLAAD Media Awards. Graced the cover of the June 9, 2014 issue of Time magazine, becoming the first transgender person to do so.

Trivia: Known to legions of Gen-Xers as A.C. Slater, Mario Lopez became famous when he was cast as the macho heartthrob on the Saturday-morning sitcom Saved by the Bell in 1989. Lopez's career started years before, however, as he began auditioning for roles while he was still a teenager, commuting between Hollywood and his hometown of San Diego. At just 13, Lopez appeared in 1986's The Last Fling, and in 1988 he appeared in the Civil War drama Colors.The fame that Saved by the Bell brought the young actor proved to be tremendous, and he stayed with the show until its run ended in 1993, going on to star in Saved by the Bell: The College Years, and even appear in a few episodes of Saved by the Bell: The New Class. Buoyed by his supportive fan base, Lopez then went on to pursue a wide variety of projects, playing Olympic diving champion Greg Louganis in the TV movie Breaking the Surface: The Greg Louganis Story, and a criminal-turned-hero in the independent film Eastside. In 2003, he began co-hosting a talk show with Danny Bonaduce and Dick Clark called The Other Half, which was very much like a men's answer to The View. Lopez enjoyed hosting duties, saying that he loved talking about women, sports, and cars. In 2006, Lopez had an opportunity to pursue a longtime interest in dancing, when he joined the cast of the ABC competitive reality show Dancing with the Stars. He and partner Karina Smirnoff were very successful, coming in second place, and audiences were shocked that the lithe actor had never received any formal ballroom dance training. 2006 was also the year that Lopez made a memorable run as doctors both on the hit TV series Nip/Tuck and on the daytime soap The Bold and the Beautiful. He also parlayed his reborn popularity from Dancing with the Stars to serve as a celebrity guest host for the news magazine show Extra and to host multiple beauty pageants, such as Miss America. He played himself in 2010's Get Him to the Greek, and was cast in Honey 2.