Trivia: A woman who wears many hats, funny lady Julie Brown has proved her mettle on television, in feature films, and as a recording artist. As a film actress, she made her film debut in Bloody Birthday (1980). As a screenwriter, she co-penned the script for Earth Girls Are Easy (1989), a film in which she also played a leading role. The film title came from one of Brown's songs. She has starred and directed a few cable comedy specials, notably Showtime's Medusa: Dare to Be Truthful, which won a Cable-Ace Award (she was nominated for four). The show also earned her a Charlie Coffey Writers Guild Award. In 1992, Brown starred in the short-lived Fox comedy sketch series The Edge and had a series on MTV called Just Say Julie (1989-1992). She has also recorded albums and had a couple of minor hits, including "The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun" and "Cause I'm a Blonde."In 2008 Brown wrote and starred in the Disney Channel movie Camp Rock, starring teen singing sensation Demi Lovato, and in 2010 she joined the cast of the ABC sitcom The Middle, which followed a quasi-dysfunctional Indiana family in their attempts to survive life in the suburbs.

Trivia: Hemsley is a short, aggressive black comic actor. He came to acting late; after working for the Post Office he moved to New York in the late '60s, hoping to find theater work. Soon he won the choice role of Gitlow in the Broadway musical Purlie (1970), and his performance made a strong, lasting impression on TV producer Norman Lear. When Lear's TV sitcom All in the Family became a hit, Lear created the character of George Jefferson, Archie Bunker's black neighbor; after deciding that his first choice for the role was all wrong, in 1973 Lear tracked Hemsley down in San Francisco, where the latter was appearing in the play Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope. Hemsley was signed for the role, and played it from 1973-85; from 1975-85 he was the costar of the spinoff sitcom The Jeffersons, a top-rated show for many years, for which Hemsley at one point earned $60,000 per episode. He later starred in Amen (1986-91). In 1981 he reprised his Broadway role in the cable-TV production of Purlie. He debuted onscreen in Love at First Bite (1979), appearing with Isabel Sanford, his TV wife. His screen appearances have been few.

Trivia: Defying her mother's wishes, African-American actress Isabel Sanford secretly worked as a nightclub performer in her teens. Upon winning 3rd prize in an Apollo Theatre amateur contest, Sanford could keep her new career a secret no longer. Married to a house painter who worked only on a seasonal basis, she held down a full-time job as a keypunch operator at the New York City department of Welfare, spending her evenings acting with such groups as Harlem Y and the American Negro Theatre. Seeking out better opportunities, Sanford packed her family into a bus and headed to Hollywood in the early 1960s. Her breakthrough film role was in Stanley Kramer's Guess Who's Coming to Dinner; she played Tillie the cook, who heartily disapproved of the upcoming interracial marriage between Katharine Houghton and Sidney Poitier (the hardest part of this assignment was not mouthing the "controversial" dialogue but preparing dinner in a key scene; Sanford had never learned to cook!) On the strength of this film, Isabel Sanford was hired for several guest spots on The Carol Burnett Show, which led to her most famous characterization: Louise Jefferson, the acerbic but loving wife of "movin' on up" Sherman Hemsley, on the immensely popular sitcom The Jeffersons (1975-82).

Trivia: Was employed by a major airline when she was cast on The Jeffersons; continued working for the airline during her first few seasons on the show. Is also a singer; released an album, It's Never Too Late, in 2006. Reunited with actress Regina King, who played her daughter on the 1980s sitcom 227, in a 2012 episode of Southland.

Trivia: On television, supporting actress Roxie Roker may best be remembered for playing outspoken Helen Willis for ten years on the popular television sitcom The Jeffersons. She and TV husband Franklin Cover comprised the first interracial married couple on network television. But in addition to television, Roker had also found success on stage and in the occasional feature film. Miami-born and Brooklyn-raised, Roker graduated from Howard University with a drama degree and then flew to England to study at the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-on-Avon. During the 1960s, Roker supported herself with a secretarial job at NBC's New York office while trying to find acting jobs. Roker launched her drama career off-Broadway in productions such as Jean Genet's The Blacks. Between 1967 and '68, Roker hosted a local community television show, but that wasn't close enough to acting, so she quit to practice her craft full time. With the Negro Ensemble Company she appeared in Ododo and Rosalie Pritchet. In 1974, she earned an Obie and a Tony nomination for The River Niger. In 1975, shortly after moving to Los Angeles, Norman Lear cast Roker in The Jeffersons. In addition to this role, Roker occasionally guest-starred on other series and appeared in television movies. Her feature-film appearances were rare. Roker made her debut in Claudine (1974). In the '90s, Roker resumed her stage career, appearing in a theatrical version of The Jeffersons and then touring opposite Mary Martin and Carol Channing in Legends. Roker's son, Lenny Kravitz is a noted rock musician and record producer.

Trivia: Though pretty television and B-movie actress Lana Clarkson would sadly gain more career attention in death than in life, she will forever be remembered by friends and fans alike for her winning sense of humor and down-to-earth friendliness. Born in Long Beach, CA, in 1962, Clarkson showed a penchant for entertaining early on by reciting stories and nursery rhymes to anyone willing to lend their attention to the outgoing young lass. After vocally declaring her independence by age five, Clarkson and her family would eventually settle in Cloverdale, CA, in the early '70s, where she would begin her lifelong love of horseback riding. A basketball player at Cloverdale High, the towering 16-year-old soon began to harbor modeling aspirations. After moving to Los Angeles in 1978, Clarkson's dreams would become realized as the striking young beauty stepped before the cameras of fashion photographers while simultaneously beginning a successful career in film and television. Appearing in such television hits as Happy Days and Fantasy Island (she could frequently be seen placing leis on guest stars at the beginning of the show), at age 18 Clarkson acquired her SAG card with a role in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982). Though roles in Scarface (1983) and Blind Date (1984) would follow soon after, it was Clarkson's appearance in such Roger Corman efforts as Deathstalker and Barbarian Queen that would truly endear the attractive young actress to legions of B-movie lovers. Living in the canals of Venice, CA, in her later years, Clarkson's winning sense of humor lead her to explore a career in standup comedy, and after breaking her wrists in a fall in 2001, the optimistic actress used her recovery time to focus her career. In early 2003, the world of film would lose an enduring and shining personality as Clarkson's life was abruptly ended with a bullet. She was 40.