Trivia: Tousle-haired child actor Jay North was the son of the West Coast regional director for AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists), a performer's union. He began showing up on TV in 1958 and in films the following year. Selected from a group of 500 possibilities, he landed the title role in the TV series Dennis the Menace, which ran from 1959 to 1963. He went on to star in the single-season adventure weekly Maya (1966) and in such family oriented films as Zebra in the Kitchen. Reportedly mistreated and abused by his on-set guardians, North's career as a child star was less than pleasant; nor did he make a successful transition to adult roles in such trash as Teacher Teacher (1974). Eventually overcoming his past, he vowed to prevent others in his situation from suffering similar humiliations, and later spent much of his time offering advice, counsel, and moral support to preteen professional actors. Among Jay North's later acting appearances was the 1980 TV movie Scout's Honor, which featured several other former child TV performers in the cast.

Trivia: Perhaps best remembered for playing Henry Mitchell, the father of an energetic tow-headed boy in the popular television sitcom Dennis the Menace (1959-1963), tall, slender, and bespectacled character actor Herbert Anderson's career encompassed extensive experience on Broadway and in Hollywood films. Contracted to Warner Bros. around 1940, he made his film debut in Meet the Fleet (1940). His first two years were quite busy, but by mid-decade he was landing fewer roles. On stage, he appeared with Henry Fonda in a 1953 production of Caine Mutiny Court Martial. After the cancellation of Dennis the Menace, Anderson's film appearances became quite rare, though he made frequent guest appearances on other television shows, including Batman, Bewitched, and Dragnet. Heart trouble in the early '80s forced Anderson to retire.

Trivia: Actress Gloria Henry was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1923, and joined the roster of Columbia Pictures in the mid-1940s. She generally appeared in the studio's B-movie output, such as Sport of Kings (1947) and Rusty Saves A Life (1949), in the latter playing a key role in the plot. Her most widely seen screen work was in Fritz Lang's offbeat 1952 western Rancho Notorious -- her murder at the beginning of the movie propels the plot of the noir-ish western to its grim end. In 1958, Henry was chosen to play Alice Mitchell, the mother to Jay North's Dennis Mitchell in the sitcom Dennis The Menace, a role she portrayed until 1963 -- she worked opposite the slightly older Herbert Anderson, playing her husband Henry Mitchell. Although her lines were usually limited to expressions of joy or exasperation (TV moms were usually depicted in a simple way in those days . . . ), and all of the adults in the series were essentially second fiddle to North's Dennis and Joseph Kearns' Mr. Wilson, she did at least get to wear more attractive hair-styles and clothes as the series wore on. At the start of the 1960s, Henry also suggested to her gardener, a young man named Todd Armstrong, that he might consider doing a screen test for Columbia Pictures -- he agreed and she arranged it, and Armstrong ended up playing the hero in the classic Ray Harryhausen-produced fantasy film Jason And The Argonauts. Henry's own acting career resumed at a slower pace after the cancellation of Dennis The Menace, and she had pretty much retired by the 1970s.

Trivia: Actor Grandon Rhodes worked steadily on stage, television, and in over 40 films during his four-decade career. On television, he had recurring roles on Bonanza (as a doctor) and Perry Mason.

Trivia: Actor Dub Taylor, the personification of grizzled old western characters, has been entertaining viewers for over 60 years. Prior to becoming a movie actor, Taylor played the harmonica and xylophone in vaudeville. He used his ability to make his film debut as the zany Ed Carmichael in Capra's You Can't Take it With You (1938). He next appeared in a small role in the musical Carefree(1938) and then began a long stint as a comical B-western sidekick for some of Hollywood's most enduring cowboy heroes. During the '50s he became a part of The Roy Rogers Show on television. About that time, he also began to branch out and appear in different film genres ranging from comedies, No time for Sergeants (1958) to crime dramas, Crime Wave (1954). He has also played on other TV series such as The Andy Griffith Show and Please Don't Eat the Daisies. One of his most memorable feature film roles was as the man who brought down the outlaws in Bonnie and Clyde. From the late sixties through the nineties Taylor returned to westerns.