Trivia: Best remembered for his high-profile acting roles on two 1970s television sitcoms -- that of genial news writer Murray Slaughter on CBS's The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-1977) and that of sweet-natured Captain Merrill Stubing on ABC's The Love Boat (1977-1986), stage-trained actor Gavin MacLeod in fact began his career typecast as a villain. He landed parts in Hollywood features including The Sand Pebbles (1966), Deathwatch (1966), and The Comic (1969), and enjoyed a tenure as Joseph "Happy" Haines on the sitcom McHale's Navy from 1962 through 1964. After The Love Boat permanently laid anchor in the mid-'80s, MacLeod signed on as a spokesperson and pitchman for Princess Cruises and returned to regional theatrical work. He also tackled guest spots on programs including Touched by an Angel and (in a move that surprised everyone) the HBO prison drama Oz. Off-camera, MacLeod is an outspoken born-again Christian. He hosted a popular talk show on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, along with his wife, Patti (whom he divorced in 1982 and remarried three years later), called Back on Course, and personally funded many of the Greatest Adventure Stories from the Bible animated videos for children.

Trivia: Universally recognized as Ship's Doctor Adam Bricker on the blockbuster prime-time sitcom The Love Boat (1977-1986) -- a part he held for the entire nine-season run of the series -- actor Bernie Kopell entered the doors of show business via a most unlikely route. Born in Brooklyn, Kopell attended Erasmus High and then New York University (with a dramatic art major). After a stint at sea aboard the naval vessel USS Iowa, Kopell signed on to drive a taxicab in Southern California -- and achieved his big break on the day that Oregon Trail (1959) film producer Dick Einfeld hitched a ride in the back of his cab. In a span of minutes, Kopell reportedly managed to convince Einfeld that he was not really a cab driver but an actor in serious need of work. The effort paid off, and Kopell snagged his first part -- a two-line part in Oregon as an aide to president James K. Polk. In the early '60s, Kopell joined the Actors' Ring Theatre in Los Angeles, where he developed a knack for characterizations and voices; this led, in turn, to character-type roles on a myriad of television programs including The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Steve Allen Show, and My Favorite Martian (which often, though not always, cast the wiry Kopell as a Hispanic). By the early '70s, Kopell had landed steady assignments on Get Smart, Bewitched, That Girl, and other series. The Love Boat, however, embodied his breakthrough. He followed it up with an emcee assignment on The Travel Channel (hosting its Railway Adventures Across Europe) and a surge in theatrical work, with portrayals in regional productions of such plays as Rumors, A History of Shadows, and Death of a Salesman.

Trivia: Actor Fred Grandy enjoyed two distinct careers -- an initial career as an actor and a proverbial second wind on the political stage. As a thespian, Grandy signed for guest spots on early-'70s series including Maude and Phyllis, but built his reputation via his nine-season portrayal of Yeoman-Purser Burl "Gopher" Smith, right-hand man to Captain Merrill Stubing (Gavin MacLeod), on the popular television sitcom The Love Boat (1977-1986). He proved popular with audiences, but by the mid-'80s reportedly grew tired of acting and gravitated to the political arena because he found it more challenging. Indeed, in 1986 -- the year of Boat's cancelation -- Grandy was elected as a Republican member of the House of Representatives from Iowa.

Trivia: For millions of Americans, the prime-time situation comedy The Love Boat will be forever inseparable from the image of Ted Lange, an actor cast for nine seasons as the genial Isaac the Bartender on the Pacific Princess luxury liner and trademarked by his iconic "two-finger drop" greeting. Yet Lange's portrayal of Isaac scarcely hinted at the actor's dexterity or dramatic range. In truth, this actor received classical dramatic training at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, and would go on, after the Princess took its final voyage in September 1986, to establish himself as a revered creative force in regional theater.Lange initially broke into films with many portrayals in Hollywood programmers during the early '70s, including Trick Baby (1972), Blade (1972), and Black Belt Jones (1974), and landed a regular role in the one-season ethnic sitcom That's My Mama (1974), as a streetwise philosopher opposite Clifton Davis (Amen) and Theresa Merritt. The Love Boat, of course, brought Lange his most widespread recognition; nonetheless (as indicated), he hearkened back to his theatrical roots beginning in the late '80s and divided his time between writing, directing, and stage acting roles. His resumé as a scribe sports at least 17 original plays including Lemon Meringue Facade, Behind the Mask -- An Evening with Paul Laurence Dunbar, and Evil Legacy -- The Story of Lucretia Borgia, while he has appeared dramatically in productions including Hair and Taming of the Shrew and has directed plays ranging from Othello to the rock & roll musical Born a Unicorn.

Trivia: Pennsylvania-born actress Lauren Tewes achieved broadest recognition for her stint as Cruise Director Julie McCoy on the long-running ABC situation comedy The Love Boat. Unfortunately, Tewes (unlike many of her fellow cast members) left the program prior to the final voyage of the Pacific Princess -- reportedly spiraling into a much-publicized bout of severe cocaine addiction from which she eventually fully recovered, but which cost her the role on the series. Tewes nevertheless demonstrated admirable resilience by returning for at least two Love Boat telemovies and remained active in television and film. Subsequent projects included guest appearances on the small-screen series dramas Hunter and Murder, She Wrote, and roles in features such as The Doom Generation (1995) and It Came From Outer Space 2 (1996).

Trivia: Jill Whelan enjoyed an acting career as a child star, with a seven-season (1979-1986) portrayal of Vicki, Captain Merrill Stubing's young daughter, on the prime-time ABC situation comedy The Love Boat. After the series wrapped in 1986, Whelan returned for a number of Love Boat telemovies, acted in regional theater, and played a regular role on the daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless. Astute movie buffs may remember Whelan for a brief but memorable big-screen contribution that happened during her Love Boat tenure: she also portrayed Lisa Davis, the ailing child sent into convulsions when a singing nun knocks out her I.V., in the Zucker-Abrams-Zucker farce Airplane! (1980).

Trivia: A radio performer from the age of 14, Polly Bergen went the summer stock-nightclub route before heading for Hollywood in 1949. During her first months in the entertainment capitol, Bergen married actor Jerome Courtland, a union that was over virtually before it began; her later marriage to agent Freddie Fields endured for nearly 20 years. Though she could take some pride in having survived three Martin and Lewis films (At War With the Army, That's My Boy and The Stooge), Bergen chafed at the nondescript movie parts being offered her, and in 1953 walked out of a very lucrative studio contract. She headed for New York, where, while headlining in the Broadway revue John Murray Anderson's Almanac, she strained her voice and was forced to undergo a painful throat operation. Another serious career set-back occurred in 1959 when, while starring in the musical First Impressions, she nearly lost her life during a difficult pregnancy. Gamely surviving these and other personal travails, Bergen rose to stardom via her stage performance, her one-woman cabaret act, and her many TV appearances, notably her Emmy-winning turn in The Helen Morgan Story (1957). In 1962, she gave films a second chance when she played a North Carolina housewife threatened with rape by rampaging ex-con Robert Mitchum in Cape Fear (1962) (over 20 years later, she and Mitchum played husband and wife in the popular TV miniseries The Winds of War and War and Remembrance). Her bravura portrayal of a mental patient in The Caretakers (1963) was quite an eye-opener for those familiar with Bergen only through her appearances on TV's To Tell the Truth. Less aesthetically successful was Kisses for My President (1964), in which Bergen starred as the first female Chief Executive. Though busy with her show-business activities into the 1990s (she co-starred in the network sitcom Baby Talk), it is interesting to note that, in her Who's Who entry, Bergen listed herself as a business executive first, an actress second. There is certainly plenty of justification for this; for over 40 years, she maintained successful business ventures as Polly Bergen Cosmetics, Polly Bergen Jewelry, and Polly Bergen Shoes; she was also active as part-owner of and pitch person for Oil-of-the-Turtle cosmetics. Equally busy in nonprofit organizations, she served with such concerns as the National Business Council and Freedom of Choice. She also authored three books: Fashion and Charm (1960), Polly's Principles (1974), and I'd Love to, but What'll I Wear? (1977).In later years, Bergen had recurring roles on Commander in Chief and Desperate Housewives, and was nominated for an Emmy for Guest Actress in a Comedy Series in 2008. Bergen died in 2014 at age 84.

Trivia: Born Krekor Ohanian, American actor Mike Connors was born and raised in the heavily Armenian community of Fresno, California. He studied law at UCLA, but distinguished himself in sports (he'd gotten in on a basketball scholarship). While in the Air Force, Connors switched his career goals to acting on the advice of producer/director William Wellman, who'd remembered Connors' college athletic activities. Hollywood changed young Mr. Ohanian's last name to Connors, and since this was the era of "Rocks" and "Tabs" it was decided that the actor needed a suitably rugged first name. So Connors spent his first few acting years as Touch Connors, a nickname he'd gotten while playing college football. His first picture was the Joan Crawford vehicle Sudden Fear (1952) but handsome hunks were a glut on the market in the early '50s, so Connors found himself in "B" pictures, mostly at bargain-basement American International studios. Renaming himself "Mike," Connors was able to secure the lead role as an undercover agent on the 1959 detective series Tightrope. The series was a hit but was dropped from the network due to complaints about excessive violence, though it cleaned up in syndication for years afterward. After a few strong but non-starring roles in such films as Good Neighbor Sam (1963) and Where Love Has Gone (1964), Connors landed the title role in Mannix (1967), a weekly TV actioner about a trouble-prone private eye. For the next eight high-rated seasons, Connors' Joe Mannix was beaten up, shot at, cold-cocked and nearly run over in those ubiquitous underground parking lots each and every week. The series ran in over 70 foreign countries, allowing Connors a generous chunk of profits percentages in addition to his lofty weekly salary-- which became loftier each time that the actor announced plans to retire. Mike Connors has starred in the 1981 series Today's FBI and filmed a cop-show pilot titled Ohanian (playing a character with his own real name), but nothing has quite captured the public's fancy, or been as lucrative in reruns, as Connors' chef d'ouevre series Mannix.

Trivia: Originally planned to be a schoolteacher. Spent two seasons with the New York City Opera Company, performing in such productions as Carmen and The Mikado. Performed as a soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Made her Broadway debut in 1960 in Do Re Mi. Played Maria in the 1962 Broadway production of The Sound of Music. Was an original cohost of Good Morning America. For five years, she headed the Ray Bolger Endowment for Musical Performances at UCLA. Regularly performs as a cabaret singer.

Trivia: While attending Hollywood High School, Linda Evanstad (born November 18, 1942) accompanied a nervous classmate to an audition for a Canada Dry TV commercial. Impressed by the brunette, wholesomely pretty Evans, the ad-agency director invited her to read as well. After this and two subsequent commercial spots, Evans began making the TV guest-star rounds on such series as Bachelor Father, Ozzie and Harriet, The Untouchables and The 11th Hour. Her fortunes improved when she cut the "stad" off her last name and dyed her hair blonde. As Linda Evans, she made her first important film appearance as kidnapped pop singer Sugar Kane in the 1963 confection Beach Blanket Bingo; that same year, she was signed to an MGM contract, though she spent much of it on loan-out to other studios. From 1965 to 1969, Evans was co-starred on the TV western The Big Valley as the ever-imperiled Audra Barkley. Thereafter, her life and career was under the strict guidance of her then-husband, actor/director John Derek. Once free of Derek's influence, Evans was compelled to virtually start all over again in such lower-berth film efforts as Mitchell (1975). When she was hired to play the long-suffering Krystle Carrington on the long-running (1981-89) nighttime serial Dynasty, Evans' comeback was full and complete. Evans reprised her role as Krystle Carrington for Dynasty: The Reunion, a television series that aired in 1991. After working in a variety of made-for-television movies throughout the 1990s, Evans decided to retire from screen acting towards the end of the decade. However, the actress wouldn't disappear from television entirely, and neither would her legendary Dynasty persona (in 2005, actress Melora Hardin portrayed Evans herself for Dynasty: The Making of a Guilty Pleasure, a fictionalized television movie based on the production of Dynasty). The following year, Evans reunited with her Dynasty alumni for a non-fiction reunion special titled Dynasty: Catfights and Caviar. The actress appeared in -- and won -- the British television reality series Hell's Kitchen. Evans enjoys the reputation of being one of Hollywood's nicest and most gracious actresses. A persuasive spokesperson, she has endorsed several commercial products and worked tirelessly on behalf of the pro-environment movement.

Trivia: American actor Jamie Farr was the only son of a Lebanese butcher living in Toledo, Ohio. An easy target for bullies due to his short stature and large nose, Farr became the neighborhood clown to save himself from physical abuse. Humor gave him confidence, and by the time Farr graduated from high school he was a top student, extremely popular and active in numerous extra-curricular activities. Always a big movie fan, Farr harbored dreams of being an actor, and to that end studied at the Pasadena Playhouse. In 1955, Farr was cast in his first film (still billed under his own name, Jameel Farrah), The Blackboard Jungle, playing a redeemable hoodlum named Santini; shortly thereafter, he was cast in the Broadway production of No Time for Sergeants, just before he was drafted. The two years in the Army upset the momentum of Farr's career, and he found himself from 1958 through 1971 rebuilding himself from the ground up in bits and supporting roles. (Farr was not in Santa Claus Conquers the Martians during this period, as has often been reported; the cast of that turkey included a Broadway actor named Al Nesor, who bore a startling resemblance to Farr and played many of the same type roles). One of Farr's one-day bits was for the sixth episode of the new TV series M*A*S*H in 1972; Farr had the almost wordless role of a GI who dressed in women's clothing in hopes of getting out of the Army. The character of "Corporal Klinger" was meant to be a onetime joke, but the producers of M*A*S*H sensed possibilities in the character. By Season Two of M*A*S*H, Farr became a full supporting character; by Season Three he was being given co-starring billing in the series' opening credits sequence. After misguidingly "camping" the character in the earliest rehearsals, Farr played Klinger "straight" in every sense of the word: Neither gay nor transvestite, Klinger was simply a guy who'd go to great extremes to get out of military service. Gradually the character began to become fashion conscious, and before the eighties were over Klinger was making several fashion lists as one of the best-dressed characters on TV! Farr's role was expanded when Gary Burghoff left M*A*S*H in 1979; promoted to company clerk, Klinger began to thrive in the military, and the outrageous costuming was allowed to lapse. By the time M*A*S*H left the air, Klinger had taken a Korean wife, and Jamie Farr had become a true-blue celebrity. Unfortunately neither Farr nor Klinger were able to extend their audience appeal into the sequel series After M*A*S*H, not even when the scripts contrived to have Klinger become a fugitive from justice in a move to repeat his "outsider" status on M*A*S*H. Nonetheless, Jamie Farr has kept busy in the years following the cancellation of After M*A*S*H in 1984 with TV guest spots and stage appearances in such roles as Ali Hakim in Oklahoma and Evil Eye Fleegle in Li'l Abner. Farr would continue to appear regularly on screen in the years to come, appearing in movies like Scrooged, and on TV shows like Diagnosis Murder and Mad About You.

Trivia: Born Albert Hedison, David Hedison billed himself as Al Hedison when he signed his 20th Century-Fox contract in 1958. He was still Al when he starred in his best-known film, The Fly, as the unfortunate researcher who ends up as lunch for a slavering spider ("Hellllp meeeeee"). By 1959, he was David Hedison, both as leading man of the 17-episode TV series Five Fingers and as romantic lead of still another fantasy film, The Lost World (1960). In 1964, Hedison worked off his Fox contract in the role of Captain Lee Crane in the weekly TVer Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964-67). The most amusing episode of that Irwin Allen production was a 1963 entry which utilized generous stock footage from Lost World, with Hedison "out of uniform" so that he could match shots of himself lensed three years earlier. In the last three decades, David Hedison has co-starred in numerous made-for-TV movies, and has been seen on two television soap operas: the daytime Another World and the nighttime The Colbys.

Trivia: Like many Chicago born-and-bred actors, Harvey Korman cut his acting teeth at that city's Goodman Theatre. He sold aluminum siding door-to-door while waiting for his Big Break, taking the occasional Broadway walk-on, TV commercial and cartoon voice-over. His earliest significant TV exposure came about during his four seasons (1963-67) as a regular on The Danny Kaye Show. He went on to join The Carol Burnett Show in 1967, remaining with the series until its 1977 demise and winning four Emmies in the process. Korman's versatility was only part of his appeal; it was also a stitch to watch him try to maintain a straight face while enduring the antics of fellow comic actor Tim Conway. One recurring sketch on the Burnett series, "The Family," later spun off into the TV series Mama's Family. While Korman had played Mama's (Vicki Lawrence) vituperative son-in-law Ed on the Burnett Show "Family" sketches, his principal contribution to Mama's Family was confined to his weekly introductory comments as "Alastair Quince"; he also directed a 1983 special based on the "Family" principals, Eunice. Most of Korman's other TV-series projects were lukewarm single-season affairs like The Harvey Korman Show (1978), Leo and Lizz in Beverly Hills (1986) and The Nutt House (1989). Korman's finest film work can be found in his antic appearances in the films of Mel Brooks, especially his portrayal of greedy land baron Hedley Lamarr in 1974's Blazing Saddles. One of his later projects was the voice of the Dictabird in the 1994 box-office hit The Flintstones -- a piquant piece of casting, inasmuch as Korman had supplied the voice of "The Great Gazoo" in the original Flintstonesanimated television series of the 1960s. Korman died of unspecified causes in May 2008.

Trivia: Husky American leading man Kiel Martin went from regional repertory to films in 1968. Nine years later, he was cast in his first recurring TV-series role in the daytime drama The Edge of Night. His most celebrated prime-time TV assignment was as detective J. D. LaRue in the Emmy-winning Hill Street Blues (1981-86); he followed this with a less lengthy stint on the forgotten Fox Network sitcom Second Chance. Kiel Martin died of lung cancer at the age of 46.

Trivia: Born in Canada, Alexis Smith was brought to Los Angeles in her infancy by her family. At ten, Smith won a dance school scholarship, and at 13 she made her professional dancing debut in a Hollywood Bowl production of Carmen. While attending Hollywood High School, Smith won a statewide acting contest and at Los Angeles City College she enrolled in a rigorous theatrical training program. She was signed by Warner Bros. in 1941, where she was immediately (and reluctantly) tagged by the publicity department as "The Dynamite Girl." After a few B's, Smith received leading roles opposite Errol Flynn (Gentleman Jim), Charles Boyer and Joan Fontaine (The Constant Nymph), Fredric March (The Adventures of Mark Twain), Cary Grant (Night and Day), and even Jack Benny (the estimable The Horn Blows at Midnight). At 5' 9," Smith proved difficult to cast at times, especially opposite certain sensitive leading men of comparatively short stature. In 1944, Smith married fellow Warner contractee Craig Stevens, with their mutual friend Errol Flynn acting as best man. After closing out the first phase of her Hollywood career in 1959, Smith appeared on-stage with her husband in such touring productions as Mary, Mary, Critic's Choice, and Cactus Flower. In the early '70s, Alexis Smith scored a personal triumph (and won a Tony award) in the hit Broadway musical Follies; this led to a brief flurry of activity as a movie character actress, though she seemed far too youthful to be playing the middle-aged aunt of Jodie Foster in The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane or the widowed retirement-home resident in the Burt Lancaster/Kirk Douglas vehicle Tough Guys (1986). Alexis Smith died of cancer one day after her 72nd birthday; her last screen appearance was as a bejeweled New York aristocrat in Martin Scorcese's The Age of Innocence (1993).

Trivia: Appeared on the March 21, 1966, cover of Newsweek at age 16 as part of an article on teenagers. The photo helped launch her subsequent modeling and acting career. Has a scar on her chin from an auto accident suffered in her teens. Appeared on Entertainment Tonight in 2001 to dispel rumors that James Brolin left her for Barbra Streisand.

Trivia: Craig Stevens abandoned all plans for a career in dentistry when he became involved in student productions at the University of Kansas. Trained at Pasadena Playhouse and Paramount's acting school, Stevens was signed to a stock Warner Bros. contract in 1941. He was well showcased as a soft-hearted gangster in At the Stroke of Twelve, a 1941 two-reel adaptation of Damon Runyon's The Old Doll's House, but his feature film roles were merely adequate at best. By 1950, Stevens was reduced to playing a standard mustachioed villain in the Bowery Boys epic Blues Busters. His saving turnaround came about when Stevens was cast in the title role of the 1958 Blake Edwards-produced TV private eye series Peter Gunn. Though obviously imitating Cary Grant in the early episodes of this three-season hit, Stevens eventually developed a hard-edged acting style all his own. He later re-created his TV role in the 1967 theatrical feature Gunn. Subsequent TV-series assignments for Stevens included the British-filmed weekly Man of the World (1962) and CBS' Mr. Broadway (1964). Craig Stevens was married to actress Alexis Smith (with whom he toured in such stage productions as Critic's Choice) from 1944 until her death in 1993.

Trivia: The son of actors Fernando Lamas and Arlene Dahl, Lorenzo Lamas' first screen appearance was a bit in 1969's 100 Rifles, in which his father co-starred. Originally planning to become a professional race-car driver (he still enters track competitions from time to time), Lamas inaugurated his career as a "heartthrob hunk" in 1979, when he was cast in the short-lived TV weekly California Fever. A brief stint on the prime-time TV serial Secrets of Midland Heights (1980) followed before Lamas graduated to full stardom as Lance Cumston on the nighttime soaper Falcon Crest (1981-1990). Anxious to demonstrate his musical prowess, Lamas signed on as host of the syndicated variety series Dancin' to the Hits in 1986. Perhaps significantly, Lamas has neither danced nor sung in his current project, the weekly adventure series Renegade. Lorenzo Lamas has starred in a plethora of direct-to-video films, and in 1994 both directed and starred in CIA II: Target Alexa. In the years to come, Lamas would remain an active force on screen, appearing in films like Back to Even and Ash Global, as well as on series like The Bold and the Beautiful.