Trivia: With long, shapely legs, a svelte, curvaceous body to die for, and thick black hair cascading around her lovely face, Fran Drescher has all the looks of a sophisticated movie star. And then she opens her mouth. Out comes a crow-like cacophony of nasal sounds made more grating by a thick Queens accent and a tendency to pull no punches. The paradox between the book and its cover is what has made Drescher a rich and popular comedienne; her long-running sitcom The Nanny, with its combination of romantic and slapstick comedy, led many to hail her as Lucille Ball's successor. Though she capitalizes on playing a rather ditzy working-class gal from Flushing, Drescher is known for her creativity and shrewdness. In addition to acting, she is a talented writer and producer.Much of Drescher's comedy, especially that from her sitcom, is drawn from her life experiences. Like her character, Fran Fine, she was born and raised in Queens. She has had a lifelong interest in acting and studied drama in high school. She attended a year at Queens College and then attended cosmetology school to become a hairdresser. For a time, she had her own business. She made her film debut playing Connie in Saturday Night Fever (1977). Her next film, American Hot Wax (1978), provided Drescher with her first major role and though she would continue on to play supporting parts in numerous other films, it was not until she played a small but memorable part in Rob Reiner's hilarious mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap (1984) that she began making a name for herself. In addition to her film roles, she was also busy on television, guest starring in series and appearing in television films like Terror in the Towers. She played starring roles in three short-lived series, including Princesses. She and her husband Peter Marc Jacobson created The Nanny and it aired on CBS from 1993 to 1999. She not only starred in the show, but also wrote and produced it; Drescher received Emmy nominations for her work on the show. In 1996, she co-starred with Robin Williams in the Disney comedy Jack, while in 1997, she and Jacobson co-created the idea for the romantic comedy The Beautician and the Beast, in which she also starred. Drescher published her autobiography, Enter Whining, in 1996.Drescher once again drew from her life experiences in the 2002 memoir Cancer Schmancer, which chronicled the actress's battle with uterine cancer, and formed the Cancer Schmancer Movement in 2007. The nonprofit is dedicated to educating women about cancer prevention and the importance of early detection (Drescher's cancer was initially misdiagnosed). In 2011, Drescher appeared on Oprah Winfrey to discuss her relationship with her then ex-husband Peter Mark Jacobson after he came out as gay after the end of their 21-year marriage. The television series Happily Divorced (2011-2013) is based on her experience with Jacobson.

Trivia: While at Cambridge, appeared in a comedy troupe called Footlights Revue. Trained at London's Central School for Speech and Drama. When he played Shane Donovan on the soap Days of Our Lives from 1984 to 1992, pictures that were on the mantel in his TV home were actually old Shaughnessy family photos. (The actor reprised his role for a multiple-episode stint in May 2010.) Has been a contestant on Celebrity Jeopardy, as well as the game shows Super Password, The New Hollywood Squares, Win Lose or Draw, To Tell the Truth and Hollywood Squares. Became the fifth Baron Shaughnessy of Montreal and Ashford in 2007. Has been active in AIDS and antiwar organizations.

Trivia: It was only a matter of time before burgeoning teen star Nicholle Tom joined the family business. Her older sister, Heather Tom, won a Daytime Emmy for her portrayal of Victoria Newman on the soap The Young and the Restless and her twin brother, David Tom, has had roles in Pleasantville and Swing Kids.Tom grew up in Seattle and Los Angeles, but was born in Hinsdale, IL, on March 23, 1978. She and her brother did print ads and commercials in Chicago before the family headed out west. Soon after they moved to L.A., Tom began winning high-profile parts in films (Beethoven) and television shows (Beverly Hills 90210, The Nanny). She basically grew up on The Nanny and has embarked on a somewhat successful film and TV-movie career since the show ended in 1999. She starred with Olympic champ Tara Lipinski in the made-for-TV movie Ice Angel and has turned in supporting roles in Panic and The Princess Diaries.

Trivia: Habitues of the late-night Jack Paar Program first became aware of the offbeat comic talents of Renee Taylor during her semi-regular appearances in the years 1959 through 1962. In films, Taylor has usually been seen in such small but distinctive roles as whispering dress extra in Jerry Lewis' The Errand Boy and Eva Braun (yes, Eva Braun) in Mel Brooks' The Producers. In 1965, she married actor/writer Joseph Bologna, becoming his partner both professionally and in life. In 1969, Taylor and Bologna wrote and starred in the Broadway comedy Lovers and Other Strangers; the play was transferred to the screen in 1970, minus the authors' on-screen presence but with all their comic insights and witticisms intact. Taylor and Bologna went on to create the 1973 TV series Calucci's Department, co-direct such films as 1989's It Had to Be You, and co-star in such projects as the 1976 TV-movie remake of Woman of the Year. In 1972, they shared an Emmy Award for their scriptwork on the 1972 television special Acts of Love-And Other Comedies. On her own, Renee Taylor has been a TV-series regular on 1977's Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (as Annabelle) and 1993's Daddy Dearest (as Helen Mitchell, the mother of Richard Lewis and estranged wife of Don Rickles).

Trivia: Fans of 1990s prime-time sitcoms will invariably remember actress Madeline Zima as the sugar-sweet, angelic Grace, six-year-old daughter of British theatrical producer Maxwell Sheffield (Charles Shaughnessy), on the Fran Drescher series comedy The Nanny. In fact, when Zima landed that part, she had already tackled child roles in features as diverse as The Hand that Rocks the Cradle (1992) and Mr. Nanny (1993). The Drescher series, of course, represented Zima's breakthrough, and by the late '90s, the young actress (who remained with the sitcom cast for all six seasons, until it wrapped in 1999) had blossomed into a starkly beautiful teenager. She branched out into more adult-oriented material with an uncanny portrayal of the young Lucille Ball in the telemovie Lucy (2003), then returned to series programs with a regular role on the quirky David Duchovny-headlined Showtime comedy drama Californication (2007). She went on to appear in The Collector, The Family Tree, Crazy Eyes, and Lake Effects.

Trivia: Has three children: Emily, Finlo, and Katya. Found out that his great-great-great grandfather was John Kilner (1792-1857), inventor of the Kilner jar which is used for the storage of food. Was kicked out of school for bad behaviour. Formed a motoring agency in 1984 with journalist Jonathan Gill. Was a travelling salesman as his first job and sold Paddington Bear toys for his parents' business.

Trivia: American actor John Astin was the son of Dr. Allen V. Astin, director of the National Bureau of Standards. Evidently inheriting his intellectual bent from his father, Astin was a voracious reader and mathematician, at one point in his high school career mastering an entire semester's worth of study in one evening (that's his story, anyway). A part in the senior play at Johns Hopkins University (where he was majoring in math) cemented his desire to act, and in 1952 Astin did graduate work in dramatics at the University of Minnesota, where he appeared in 40 plays in and around the campus, played the violin, and gambled incessantly (and badly). With $100 in his pocket, Astin headed to New York, where he did janitorial work in theatres until securing a role in the off-Broadway Threepenny Opera for a princely $15 per week. Better money came Astin's way when he started doing voice-over work for animated commercials; in 1961 he extended his acting skills to films in a small but memorable part as a smarmy social worker in the Oscar-winning West Side Story. In 1962, Astin was teamed with Marty Ingels on the blue-collar sitcom I'm Dickens, He's Fenster, which despite a loyal following failed to garner ratings. The show did, however, establish Astin as a reliable laugh-getter, leading to a more successful run as Gomez Addams, the macabre but passionate paterfamilias on The Addams Family. This series ran from 1964 to 1966, after which Astin spent a great deal of time touring the country in theatrical productions - often living out of a van, a lifestyle he seemed to thrive upon. Joining Astin during his barnstorming days was his second wife, actress Patty Duke, who called herself Patty Duke Astin for the duration (Astin and Duke raised a son, Sean Astin, who grew up to become a popular film actor in his own right). The marriage ultimately dissolved due in part to Astin's bohemian point of view, though while the union lasted both Astin and Duke were tireless workaholics who were rarely without acting gigs. His many credits during this time period include 1974's Skyway to Death, and playing the dad in the original version of Freaky Friday. He directed and appeared in the TV movie Operation Petticoat. In the 1980's he landed recurring roles on both Murder, She Wrote and the sitcom Night Court. His marriage to Patti Duke ended in 1985, but Astin maintained a busy schedule appearing as a game-show host in National Lampoon's European Vacation, Teen Wolf Two, and Return of the Killer Tomatoes! As the 90s got under way he made two more Killer Tomatoes movies, appeared on the TV shows Mad About You and The Adventures of Brisco County Jr., and earned favorable reviews for his appearance in The Frighteners.

Trivia: The last of the low-budget Western heroes, Johnny Carpenter had been a semi-professional baseball player prior to heading West in search of film jobs in the very early '40s. Beginning as a stunt man under the names of John Forbes and Josh Carpenter, monikers he would occasionally adopt throughout his screen career, Carpenter rode in a host of routine series Westerns and such Grade-A films as National Velvet (1944). In 1950, he was discovered by independent producer Jack Schwartz, who saw star potential in the handsome, dark-haired stunt man whom some considered a dead ringer for Montgomery Clift. B-Westerns, unfortunately, were about to be made redundant by even cheaper television fare and Carpenter never enjoyed much of a following away from the grind-houses. By the mid-'50s, he had added guest roles on such TV Westerns as Wild Bill Hickock and Judge Roy Bean to his list of credits and had even written, produced, and starred in a handful of feature Westerns of his own, one of which, The Lawless Rider (1954), was directed by ace stunt man Yakima Canutt. Lacking the polish of television Westerns, none of his films made much money and he subsequently returned to stunt work. From the 1940s and until he was evicted in 1994 to make room for a housing project, Carpenter ran the "Heaven on Earth" ranch for handicapped children in Glendale, CA. B-Western historian Boyd Magers summed up Johnny Carpenter's contribution to a quickly vanishing genre: "The last of the shoestring independent producer/stars, he didn't make top-drawer B-Westerns, but through all the budget pinching and corner cutting, his love of Western films shows through on the screen in much the same way his friend Ed Wood's did in low-echelon horror films."

Trivia: New England native Spalding Gray was raised in Rhode Island and schooled in Massachusetts. As a writer and actor inclined to serious spells of depression, he humorously integrated his anxieties and experiences into stage performances. He was often seated at a desk with only a microphone, notebook, and a glass of water. Within this minimalist aesthetic, Gray's monologues were simultaneously funny, touching, and scary. His wholly authentic style was influenced by Allen Ginsberg, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, and the American autobiographical movement. After studying at Emerson College, Gray attended a workshop at the Open Theater in 1969. Though he appeared in a string of sleazy, forgettable films during the '70s, he mostly worked in experimental theater. In 1977, he co-founded the Wooster Theater Group in New York City. Two years later, he performed his first monologue: Sex and Death at the Age of 14.Gray traveled to Thailand to play a bit part in Roland Joffé's war drama The Killing Fields, and that experience grew into Swimming to Cambodia, an Obie award-winning one-man stage performance and a 1987 feature film directed by Jonathan Demme. Gray also earned two Independent Spirit Award nominations for the film and finally found a lucrative way to merge his talents for both writing and acting. After a brief appearance in David Byrne's True Stories, he showed up in random feature films over the next decade. Often playing a doctor, priest, professor, or other man of influence, he appeared in everything from mainstream romantic comedies (Straight Talk) to weepy melodramas (Beaches) to dramatic thrillers (Diabolique). Gray returned to theater in the late '80s to play the Stage Manager in a Broadway revival of Thornton Wilder's Our Town. He also started writing a novel, Impossible Vacation, an experience that grew into Monster in a Box, a one-man stage performance and feature film directed by Nick Broomfield.During the '90s, Gray traveled to Malaysia to film John Boorman's Beyond Rangoon. He also showed up the independent films Drunks and Twenty Bucks. In 1993, he played a man who commits suicide in Steven Soderbergh's childhood drama King of the Hill. His memoir, Gray's Anatomy, was published by Random House a year later. That experience was made into a one-man stage performance and 1996 film directed by Soderbergh as the first original feature from the Independent Film Channel. During this time, Gray settled into home life with his wife and three children, and his experience as a stay-at-home dad grew into the monologue Morning, Noon and Night, which he performed at Lincoln Center in 1999. For his 60th birthday in 2001, he and his wife took a trip to Ireland that, unfortunately, ended with a car accident in which they were seriously injured. As his depression worsened, Gray wrote the monologue Black Spot about the experience. Following several suicide attempts, Spalding Gray was reported missing January 11, 2004. His body was found in the East River near Brooklyn March 7, 2004.

Trivia: Comedic actress Nora Dunn has frequently played acerbic character roles in films and TV as foils to generally likeable leads. She was a regular cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1985 to 1990, when she left due to the controversial episode with musical guest Sinead O'Connor and host Andrew Dice Clay. During her five-year run, she played several talk show hosts and was one of the Sweeney Sisters, along with Jan Hooks. She made her film debut in Mike Nichols' Working Girl (1988) as a jaded office worker, followed by Savage Steve Holland's How I Got Into College (1989) as an SAT coach. Her next few films were less successful: Stepping Out, Born Yesterday, and I Love Trouble. She turned back to TV and joined the cast of the NBC drama Sisters as the lesbian TV producer Norma Lear, followed by the CBS comedy The Nanny as Dr. Reynolds. In the late '90s, she had a few small yet funny roles in the more successful films The Last Supper, Bulworth, Drop Dead Gorgeous, and Three Kings. She also used her vocal talent to provide voices for the animated TV shows Futurama, The Wild Thornberrys, and Histeria! In 2001, she played the mom in Max Keeble's Big Move, a fashion designer in Zoolander, and Miss Madness in Heartbreakers. Her 2003 projects include the independent comedy Die Mommie Die, the Jim Carrey feature Bruce Almighty, and the romantic comedy Laws of Attraction.