Trivia: Commenting on his notorious on-set irascibility in 1977, Jack Klugman replied that he was merely "taking Peter Falk lessons from Robert Blake," invoking the names of two other allegedly hard-to-please TV stars. Klugman grew up in Philadelphia, and after taking in a 1939 performance by New York's Group Theatre, Klugman decided that an actor's life was right up his alley. He majored in drama at Carnegie Tech and studied acting at the American Theatre Wing before making his (non-salaried) 1949 stage-debut at the Equity Library Theater. While sharing a New York flat with fellow hopeful Charles Bronson, Klugman took several "grub" jobs to survive, at one point selling his blood for $85 a pint. During television's so-called Golden Age, Klugman appeared in as many as 400 TV shows. He made his film debut in 1956, and three years later co-starred with Ethel Merman in the original Broadway production of Gypsy. In 1964, Klugman won the first of his Emmy awards for his performance in "Blacklist," an episode of the TV series The Defenders; that same year, he starred in his first sitcom, the 13-week wonder Harris Against the World. Far more successful was his next TV series, The Odd Couple, which ran from 1970 through 1974; Klugman won two Emmies for his portrayal of incorrigible slob Oscar Madison (he'd previously essayed the role when he replaced Walter Matthau in the original Broadway production of the Neil Simon play). It was during Odd Couple's run that the network "suits" got their first real taste of Klugman's savage indignation, when he and co-star Tony Randall threatened to boycott the show unless the idiotic laughtrack was removed (Klugman and Randall won that round; from 1971 onward, Odd Couple was filmed before a live audience). It was but a foretaste of things to come during Klugman's six-year (1977-83) reign as star of Quincy, M.E.. Popular though Klugman was in the role of the crusading, speechifying LA County Coroner's Office medical examiner R. Quincy, he hardly endeared himself to the producers when he vented his anger against their creative decisions in the pages of TV Guide. Nor was he warmly regarded by the Writer's Guild when he complained about the paucity of high-quality scripts (he wrote several Quincy episodes himself, with mixed results). After Quincy's cancellation, Klugman starred in the Broadway play I'm Not Rappaport and co-starred with John Stamos in the 1986 sitcom You Again?. The future of Klugman's career -- and his future, period -- was sorely threatened when he underwent throat surgery in 1989. He'd been diagnosed with cancer of the larynx as early as 1974, but at that time was able to continue working after a small growth was removed. For several years after the 1989 operation, Klugman was unable to speak, though he soon regained this ability. He continued working through 2011, and died the following year at age 90.

Trivia: Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1931, Robert Ito has spent his film career as a character actor, often in the science fiction genre. He enjoyed success on the long-running television series Quincy, and his voice has been used in many animated films, such as Batman and Superman.Robert Ito's first performances were on the stage as a dancer in the National Ballet of Canada. After a decade with the company, Ito moved to New York in the 1960s, to dance on Broadway in The Flower Drum Song.Ito moved to Hollywood and began his film career in 1966 with some forgettable science fiction vehicles, such as Women of the Prehistoric Planet and Dimension 5. The B-movie genre often turned to Ito when it wanted an actor to portray someone of his Japanese heritage. Over the years, he played many such roles, the most outstanding of which was his performance as Professor Hikita, the kidnapped scientist in the 1984 cult classic The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension.Ito fared well in television, in which he was given roles that showcased his talents in made-for-television movies and series. He appeared in some memorable dramas, such as Helter Skelter (1976), American Geisha (1986), and The War Between Us (1996). The latter film starred Ito as a Canadian World War I veteran and patriarch of a family of Japanese descent, forced to leave his home in Vancouver during the dark days of Japanese resettlement following Pearl Harbor.Ito also gained distinction for his role as Fong in the Kung Fu series, as well as on popular show Quincy. He made cameo appearances in many other television shows including Magnum, P.I. and Star Trek, which featured him in a 2001 production.

Trivia: Character actor Karen has had a 40-year career as an actor. He made his Broadway bow with Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Elia Kazan. Since then, he has worked continuously in theater, television and film, with such greats as his idol Buster Keaton, and on up to director Oliver Stone. His best-known films include Return of the Living Dead (1985) and Return of the Living Dead II (1988). Karen has also appeared in All the President's Men (1976), China Syndrome (1979), Poltergeist (1982), and Wall Street (1987). He was a regular on Eight is Enough (1977-81), starred in the science fiction series The Powers of Matthew Star as Major Wymore (1983) and had a recurring role on the cable series The Larry Sanders Show. Karen took on a series of small roles in notable films throughout the early 2000s; among his credits include Any Given Sunday (1999), Thirteen Days (2000), and Mulholland Dr. (2001). He played a supporting role alongside Will Smith and Thandie Newton in the 2006 drama The Pursuit of Happyness, and appeared in Superman Returns the same year. He worked with Chevy Chase and Christopher Lloyd in director Gary J. Tunnicliffe's adaptation of Jack and the Beanstalk in 2009, and took a small part in 2010's psychological drama Sympathy for Delicious.

Trivia: The slightly gritty and wizened Cuban-American actor Tony Plana boasts a resumé that is no less than extraordinary. Whatever the limitations of Hispanic typecasting, Plana soared high above them from the time of his debut in the early '80s, seeking out roles in several of Hollywood's most respected and venerable films -- ethnically themed and otherwise. He first culled attention as Rudy in Luis Valdez's stylized, theatrical period piece Zoot Suit (1981), starring a then-unknown Edward James Olmos. Plana's subsequent efforts read like a best-of early-'80s cinema; he tackled An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), Love and Money (1982), Valley Girl (1983), and El Norte (1983), all within a few years of one another. Plana was particularly effective as Fr. Manuel Morantes in John Duigan's wondrous, overlooked biopic Romero (1989, about archbishop and activist Oscar Romero) and as Carlos Bringuier in Oliver Stone's JFK (1991). In the 2000s, Plana unveiled a heightened interest in television, gracing the casts of such series as Ally McBeal and The Drew Carey Show as an occasional guest performer. Plana is best known to younger viewers, however, for two small-screen portrayals: that of cutthroat terrorist Omar in 24, and -- on a very different note, Ignacio -- the widower dad of the title character -- on the comedy drama Ugly Betty. Educationally, Plana trained in the drama programs at Loyola Marymount University and London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He made the leap from acting to directing with two projects: A Million to Juan (1994, co-helmed with Paul Rodriguez) and The Princess and the Barrio Boy (2000). The latter constitutes Plana's directorial debut. It tells of a young well-to-do Hispanic woman (Marisol Nichols) who bucks convention by falling for a working-class boy, and simultaneously attempts to stand in the way of her father's marriage to a wicked lover.

Trivia: American actor John Fiedler did his first professional work in his native Wisconsin. Fiedler's many Broadway appearances included the 1960 play A Raisin in the Sun, in which he was the only Caucasian in a virtually all-black cast. His first film role was as the supplicative Juror No. 2 in Twelve Angry Men (1957). Fiedler's stock in trade was the meek-looking soul who compensated for his demeanor with a nasty temper or sadistic streak. In this capacity, he was often seen as vindictive school principals, obstreperous civil servants or combative psychiatric patients (vide TV's The Bob Newhart Show). Incredibly prolific in films and on television, John Fiedler's best-known role was Vinnie, Oscar Madison's card-playing crony in both the stage and screen versions of Neil Simon's The Odd Couple.