Trivia: Born in Missouri, entertainer Dick Van Dyke was raised in Danville, Illinois, where repeated viewings of Laurel & Hardy comedies at his local movie palace inspired him to go into show business. Active in high school and community plays in his teens, Van Dyke briefly put his theatrical aspirations aside upon reaching college age. He toyed with the idea of becoming a Presbyterian minister; then, after serving in the Air Force during World War II, opened up a Danville advertising agency. When this venture failed, it was back to show biz, first as a radio announcer for local station WDAN, and later as half of a record-pantomime act called The Merry Mutes (the other half was a fellow named Philip Erickson). While hosting a TV morning show in New Orleans, Van Dyke was signed to a contract by the CBS network. He spent most of his time subbing for other CBS personalities and emceeing such forgotten endeavors as Cartoon Theatre. After making his acting debut as a hayseed baseball player on The Phil Silvers Show, Van Dyke left CBS to free-lance. He hosted a few TV game shows before his career breakthrough as co-star of the 1959 Broadway review The Girls Against the Boys. The following year, he starred in the musical comedy Bye Bye Birdie, winning a Tony Award for his portrayal of mother-dominated songwriter Albert Peterson (it would be his last Broadway show until the short-lived 1980 revival of The Music Man). In 1961, he was cast as comedy writer Rob Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show, which after a shaky start lasted five seasons and earned its star three Emmies.He made his movie bow in the 1963 filmization of Bye Bye Birdie, then entered into a flexible arrangement with Walt Disney Studios. His best known films from that era include Mary Poppins (1964), Lt. Robin Crusoe, USN and The Comic, in which he played an amalgam of several self-destructive silent movie comedians. His TV specials remained popular in the ratings, and it was this fact that led to the debut of The New Dick Van Dyke Show in 1971. Despite the creative input of the earlier Dick Van Dyke Show's maven Carl Reiner, the later series never caught on, and petered out after three seasons. A chronic "people pleaser," Van Dyke was loath to display anger or frustration around his co-workers or fans, so he began taking solace in liquor; by 1972, he had become a full-fledged alcoholic. Rather than lie to his admirers or himself any longer, he underwent treatment and publicly admitted his alcoholism -- one of the first major TV stars ever to do so. Van Dyke's public confession did little to hurt his "nice guy" public image, and, now fully and permanently sober, he continued to be sought out for guest-star assignments and talk shows. In 1974, he starred in the TV movie The Morning After, playing an ad executive who destroys his reputation, his marriage and his life thanks to booze. After that Van Dyke, further proved his versatility when he began accepting villainous roles, ranging from a cold-blooded wife murderer in a 1975 Columbo episode to the corrupt district attorney in the 1990 film Dick Tracy. He also made several stabs at returning to weekly television, none of which panned out--until 1993, when he starred as Dr. Mark Sloan in the popular mystery series Diagnosis Murder. He made a few more movie appearances after Diagnosis Murder came to an end, most notably as a retired security guard in the hit family film Night at the Museum. As gifted at writing and illustrating as he is at singing, dancing and clowning, Van Dyke has penned two books, Faith, Hope and Hilarity and Those Funny Kids. From 1992 to 1994, he served as chairman of the Nickelodeon cable service, which was then sweeping the ratings by running Dick Van Dyke Show reruns in prime time. Van Dyke is the brother of award-winning TV personality Jerry Van Dyke, and the father of actor Barry Van Dyke.

Trivia: Born in Brooklyn, NY, on December 29, 1936, actress/dancer/rubberfaced comedienne Mary Tyler Moore went on to star in the definitive television comedies of both the 1960s and the 1970s: The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-1966) and The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-1977). For her performances as Laura Petrie and Mary Richards, Moore won five Emmy Awards, in 1965, 1966, 1973, 1974, and 1976.Moore got her start in television commercials, acting as Happy Hotpoint, the Hotpoint Appliance Elf during The Ozzie and Harriet Show in 1955. She then progressed to a stint as the disembodied voice and legs of Sam, the answering service lady, on Richard Diamond, Private Detective (1957-1960). Three unsuccessful shows and a series of TV specials followed her more notable series: Mary (1978), the Mary Tyler Moore Hour (1979), and Mary (1985-1986). Her dramatic career took off in 1981, when she was nominated for an Academy Award for her portrayal of the repressed mother in Ordinary People. Moore had Broadway success with Whose Life Is It Anyway?, appeared in the highly acclaimed Finnegan, Begin Again with Robert Preston on HBO, and won a CableACE Award in 1993 for her performance as an evil orphanage director in Stolen Babies. In 1996, Moore gained the appreciation of a new generation of fans with her hilarious turn as Ben Stiller's neurotic mother in David O. Russell's Flirting With Disaster. She also experienced a sort of renaissance through her mention in other films, notably Douglas Keeve's 1995 frockumentary Unzipped, which featured a beatific Isaac Mizrahi extolling the virtues of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and singing its theme song. In addition to her television and film work, Moore, as a well-known diabetic, has been a longtime representative of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. And though her film and television roles would become more sporadic moving into the new millennium, Moore could still be seen in the occasional theatrical release (Cheats, Against the Current) or made-for-television movie (Miss Lettie and Me, Snow Wonder) while making guest appearances in such popular sitcoms as That 70's Show and Hot in Cleveland. Moore died in 2017, at age 80.

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: The year (give or take a few) was 1929: Stepping on to the stage of New York's Mecca Theatre was 3-year-old Rose Marie Mazetta, offering a surprisingly full-throated rendition of the torch ballad "What Can I Say, Dear, After I Say I'm Sorry." By the time she'd finished dancing her Charleston, Rose Marie had won a trip to Atlantic City and a spot on a major radio program. Amazingly, Rose Marie's father, a professional singer-musician, had nothing to do with this star-making turn: the girl had been entered in the contest by her next-door neighbors. By 1932, Rose Marie--or rather, "Baby Rose Marie"--was one of the hottest stars on the NBC radio network. Her raspy, insinuating singing style was mature beyond her years, so much so that some people wrote into NBC, angrily accusing them of passing off an adult midget as a child. She successfully toured in vaudeville, was spotlighted in a handful of movies (the best-known was 1933's International House), then disappeared completely at the age of 12. No, Rose Marie wasn't washed up; her family had moved from New York to New Jersey and had placed their daughter in a convent school. Resuming her career at 17 as "Miss Rose Marie," the former child sensation endured a few lean years before establishing herself as a comedienne. Wearying of traversing the nightclub circuit by the 1950s--she now had a husband and daughter to look after--Rose Marie began accepting guest-star assignments on such dramatic TV series as Jim Bowie, Gunsmoke and M Squad. She was also seen in continuing roles on the video sitcoms Love That Bob and My Sister Eileen, and was co-starred with Phil Silvers in the 1953 Broadway musical Top Banana. In 1961, Carl Reiner cast Rose Marie as wisecracking, man-chasing Sally Rogers on The Dick Van Dyke Show. The close-knit camaraderie of her Dick Van Dyke co-stars helped her survive the untimely death of her husband, jazz musician Bobby Guy. Rose Marie's post-Van Dyke projects have included such films as Don't Worry, We'll Think of a Title (1966) and Cheaper to Keep Her (1980), frequent appearances on the daytime quiz show The Hollywood Squares, and regular roles on the prime time TVers The Doris Day Show (1969-71, as Myrna Gibbons), Scorch (1992, as Edna Bracken) and Hardball (1994, as Marge Schott-like baseball club owner Mitzi Balzer).

Trivia: Born in Chicago, Morey Amsterdam was raised in California, where his musician father was in charge of the San Francisco Symphony. Originally intending to be a cello player, Amsterdam instead gravitated to entertaining with words. A well-above-average student, Amsterdam was enrolled at the University of California at the age of 14, but quit after one year to go on the road with a comedy act. At 16, he was master of ceremonies at Colosimo's, a Chicago speakeasy run by Al Capone. Amsterdam got along fine with big Al, but after getting caught in the middle of a gangland shoot out, the young comic sought out safer work in California. He wrote gags and special material for such prominent laughmakers as Jimmy Durante, Fannie Brice and Will Rogers, and in 1939 made his television debut in an experimental Hollywood broadcast. He spent the war years touring with the USO, taking time out to write radio and movie scripts and to pen the popular novelty song "Rum and Coca-Cola." After the war, he was headlined on several radio and TV programs, notably NBC's Broadway Open House, the 1950 precursor to The Tonight Show. By the mid-1950s, Amsterdam was renowned far and wide as "The Human Joke Machine," able to come up with a joke on literally any topic without even pausing for breath. In 1960, his livelihood was sorely threatened when he suffered a head injury while appearing in the film Murder Inc.; for three tension-filled weeks, he completely forgot every one of the thousands of jokes he'd filed away in his memory banks. Happily, he recovered, and by 1961 he was gainfully employed as Buddy Sorrell on the long-running TV sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show. After Van Dyke's series folded in 1966, Amsterdam continued to play nightclub dates and make TV guest-star appearances (he briefly produced and hosted a 1970 TV revival of the old radio series Can You Top This?) As funny as ever in his eighth decade, Morey Amsterdam surprised his fans by playing a villainous role on the CBS daytime drama The Young and the Restless. Amersterdam died of a heart attack on October 27, 1996.

Trivia: Very early in his stage career, Richard Deacon was advised by Helen Hayes to abandon all hopes of becoming a leading man: instead, she encouraged him to aggressively pursue a career as a character actor. Tall, bald, bespectacled and bass-voiced since high school, Deacon heeded Ms. Hayes' advice, and managed to survive in show business far longer than many of the "perfect" leading men who were his contemporaries. Usually cast as a glaring sourpuss or humorless bureaucrat, Deacon was a valuable and highly regarded supporting-cast commodity in such films as Desiree (1954), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Kiss Them For Me (1957), The Young Philadelphians (1959) and The King's Pirate (1967), among many others. Virtually every major star who worked with Deacon took time out to compliment him on his skills: among his biggest admirers were Lou Costello, Jack Benny and Cary Grant. Even busier on television than in films, Richard Deacon had the distinction of appearing regularly on two concurrently produced sitcoms of the early 1960s: he was pompous suburbanite Fred Rutherford on Leave It to Beaver, and the long-suffering Mel Cooley on The Dick Van Dyke Show. Deacon also co-starred as Kaye Ballard's husband on the weekly TV comedy The Mothers-in-Law (1968), and enjoyed a rare leading role on the 1964 Twilight Zone installment "The Brain Center at Whipples." In his last decade, Richard Deacon hosted a TV program on microwave cookery, and published a companion book on the subject.

Trivia: Born in San Francisco, Jerry Paris was a graduate of New York University and UCLA, and joined the Actors Studio after serving in the navy during World War II. His earliest stage performances were in productions of Medea, Anna Christie, and The Front Page. He entered films in 1950, and his early screen credits include Outrage, Cyrano de Bergerac, The Wild One, The Caine Mutiny, Marty, and The Naked and the Dead. Paris was also a regular on the series The Untouchables from 1959 thru 1961 in the role of G-man Martin Flaherty. In 1961, he joined the cast of The Dick Van Dyke Show as Jerry Helper, the next door neighbor to Rob and Laura Petrie. During the early run of the show, Paris began pestering producer Carl Reiner for a chance to direct, and was given his opportunity in 1962 with the classic episode "It May Look Like a Walnut," a comic take on science fiction chillers that was highlighted by the spectacle of costar Mary Tyler Moore sliding out of a closet filled with 1100 pounds of walnuts. Paris became a regular director on the show and won and Emmy in 1964 for his work. He subsequently went into feature filmmaking, including Viva Max and The Star-Spangled Girl, before returning to television, directing the pilot episode of Love American Style. He directed 35 episodes of The Odd Couple, and later spent a decade as producer and director of Happy Days, as well as directing the pilot episode of Laverne and Shirley. Paris created the character of Mork, played by Robin Williams, who was later spun off into the series Mork and Mindy. Paris returned to feature filmmaking in the late '80s with Police Academy 2 and Police Academy 3. He died in 1993 after a long struggle with cancer.

Trivia: San Franciscan Will Wright was a newspaper reporter before he hit the vaudeville, legitimate stage, and radio circuit. With his crabapple face and sour-lemon voice, Wright was almost instantly typecast as a grouch, busybody, or small-town Scrooge. Most of his film roles were minor, but Wright rose to the occasion whenever given such meaty parts as the taciturn apartment house manager in The Blue Dahlia (1946). In one of his best assignments, Wright remained unseen: He was the voice of the remonstrative Owl in the Disney cartoon feature Bambi (1942). Will Wright didn't really need the money from his long movie and TV career: His main source of income was his successful Los Angeles ice cream emporium, which was as popular with the movie people as with civilians, and which frequently provided temporary employment for many a young aspiring actor.