Trivia: Angela Lansbury received an Oscar nomination for her first film, Gaslight, in 1944, and has been winning acting awards and audience favor ever since. Born in London to a family that included both politicians and performers, Lansbury came to the U.S. during World War II. She made notable early film appearances as the snooty sister in National Velvet (1944); the pathetic singer in The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), which garnered her another Academy nomination; and the madam-with-a-heart-of-gold saloon singer in The Harvey Girls (1946). She turned evil as the manipulative publisher in State of the Union (1948), but was just as convincing as the good queen in The Three Musketeers (1948) and the petulant daughter in The Court Jester (1956). She received another Oscar nomination for her chilling performance as Laurence Harvey's scheming mother in The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and appeared as the addled witch in Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971), among other later films. On Broadway, she won Tony awards for the musicals Mame (1966), Dear World (1969), the revival of Gypsy (1975), Sweeney Todd (1979) and, at age 82, for the play Blithe Spirit (2009). Despite a season in the '50s on the game show Pantomime Quiz, she came to series television late, starring in 1984-1996 as Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote; she took over as producer of the show in the '90s. She returned to the Disney studios to record the voice of Mrs. Potts in Beauty and the Beast (1991) and to sing the title song and later reprised the role in the direct-to-video sequel, The Enchanted Christmas (1997). Lansbury is the sister of TV producer Bruce Lansbury.

Trivia: American actor Stephen Macht has proven to be a master at playing handsome, outwardly successful men whose inner doubts are never far from the surface. Macht's film debut was in 1977's The Choirboys, after which he appeared primarily in medium-budget shockers like Nightwing (1979) Amityville II: The Possession (1982) and Monster Squad (1987). Macht seemed on the verge of TV stardom when he accepted the leading role of a family man who chucks the suburban life to set up home in the inner city in the 1981 series The American Dream; the critics were impressed, but the audiences were tuned to the competition. Since that time, Stephen Macht has had recurring roles as Joe Cooper on Knot's Landing and as Chris Cagney's lawyer-boyfriend David Keeler on Cagney and Lacey.

Trivia: Widely beloved by television viewers for his memorable stint on the popular late-'70s sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati, longtime actor Gary Sandy has had a rich career both before and after the show that found him nationwide fame. From stage to screen and virtually everything in between, Sandy proved equally adept at comedy, drama, and even musicals. Born in Dayton, OH, in 1945, Sandy discovered his love of acting early in life. Attending Wilmington College in Ohio before pursuing his dreams at New York's American Academy of Dramatic Arts, a role on the long-running soap opera As the World Turns gave Sandy his first chance to shine in a role created specifically for him. Villainous roles in such daytime dramas as Somerset and Another World quickly followed, and, in 1971, Sandy made his feature debut in the social drama Some of My Best Friends Are.... Simultaneously finding off-Broadway success in such productions as The Children's Mass, it was only a matter of time before the bright lights of Broadway came calling and Sandy was cast in the Franco Zeffirelli-directed production of Saturday, Sunday, Monday. In the following years, Sandy belted out tunes in such plays-turned-Broadway musicals as Sheba (from Come Back, Little Sheba), Luv, and Windy City (from The Front Page). It was during this time that roles in such small-screen features as Shell Game and The Kansas City Massacre found him increasingly recognizable to audiences nationwide. In 1978, he was cast in the role of station manager Andy Travis in the classic sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati. As with many sitcom stars, the role would ultimately make it difficult for him to find work due to people associating Sandy too closely with his television counterpart when the show ended a successful four-year run in 1982. But two things that separated him from the pack: his talents on the stage and his marked determination to break the curse of typecasting. While subsequent appearances on Murder, She Wrote, Diagnosis Murder, and Martial Law found Sandy continuing on the small screen, feature roles in such efforts as the Oscar-nominated The Insider and a coast-to-coast tour of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas found the dedicated actor remaining in the public eye while staying true to his craft. In 2004, Sandy was featured in the television family drama Til' the River Runs Dry.

Trivia: Began a fellowship at the renowned Guthrie Theater Company in Minneapolis shortly after her graduation from the University of Minnesota in 1968. Made an early small-screen acting turn in the 1973 made for TV-movie The Picture of Dorian Gray, in which she played the title character's unwitting love interest. Received five consecutive Emmy Award nominations (1978-82) and three consecutive Golden Globe nominations (1979-81) for her supporting role as a reporter in the acclaimed TV series Lou Grant, starring Ed Asner. Returned to her local theater roots following a slowdown in her television acting career. In 2009, took part in stage performances of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, reenacting a 1974 episode of the series in which she'd appeared as a young woman with hopes of taking over the "Happy Homemaker" show.

Trivia: American character actor Nicholas Pryor has played his share of weak or ineffectual characters, but can exert authority and strength if the need arises. One of the busiest actors on the daytime-drama scene, Pryor has been a regular on such soapers as All My Children (he was the third of four actors to play Link Tyler) Young Dr. Malone, The Nurses, Another World, The Edge of Night, Love is a Many Splendored Thing and The Nurses. His prime-time TV roles include John Quincy Adams II in The Adams Chronicles (1976), vice principal Jack Felspar in Bronx Zoo (1987), and chancellor Arnold in Beverly Hills 90210 (1990- ). Among Nicholas Pryor's best film assignments were the roles of beauty-contest organizer Barbara Feldon's long-suffering husband in Smile (1975) and Tom Cruise's clueless dad in Risky Business (1983).

Trivia: Square-jawed American actor Mitchell Ryan was born in Cincinnati and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. During a 1951 Navy hitch, Ryan was assigned to a special services entertainment unit; he liked the experience so much that he decided to pursue acting as a civilian. He went to New York, accepting bit roles in over two dozen plays; he then moved on to leading roles at the Barter Theatre in Abington, Virginia. More New York work (under the direction of Joseph Papp) followed, and finally Ryan attained a small recurring role on the TV serial Dark Shadows (1966-70). A stage appearance with Irene Papas in Euripedes attracted critical attention and better jobs, including a supporting part in Monte Walsh (1970), Ryan's first film. Jack Webb utilized Ryan quite often in the '70s in his series O'Hara United States Treasury, then hired the actor as one of the four leads of the 1973 series Chase. In 1976 producers top-billed Ryan on the TV series Executive Suite. While the series didn't last, Mitchell Ryan subsequently received solid roles on such TV series as The Chisholms (1980) and High Performance (1983) and in such made-for-TV films as Flesh & Blood (1979) and Margaret Bourke-White (1989).

Trivia: While growing up in Chicago, Tom Bosley dreamed of becoming the star left-fielder for the Cubs. As it turned out, the closest Bosley got to organized athletics was a sportscasting class at DePauw University. After additional training at the Radio Institute of Chicago and two years' practical experience in various dramatic radio programs and stock companies, he left for New York in 1950. Five years of odd jobs and summer-theater stints later, he landed his first off-Broadway role, playing Dupont-Dufort in Jean Anouilh's Thieves' Carnival. Steadier work followed at the Arena Theatre in Washington, D.C.; then in 1959, Bosley landed the starring role in the Broadway musical Fiorello!, picking up a Tony Award, an ANTA Award, and the New York Drama Critics Award in the bargain. In 1963, he made his film bow as Natalie Wood's "safe and secure" suitor Anthony Colombo in Love With the Proper Stranger. Occasionally cast as two-bit criminals or pathetic losers (he sold his eyes to blind millionairess Joan Crawford in the Spielberg-directed Night Gallery TV movie), Bosley was most often seen as a harried suburban father. After recurring roles on such TV series as That Was the Week That Was, The Debbie Reynolds Show, and The Sandy Duncan Show, Bosley was hired by Hanna-Barbera to provide the voice of flustered patriarch Howard Boyle on the animated sitcom Wait Til Your Father Gets Home (1972-1973). This served as a dry run of sorts for his most famous series-TV assignment: Howard Cunningham, aka "Mr. C," on the immensely popular Happy Days (1974-1983). The warm, familial ambience of the Happy Days set enabled Bosley to weather the tragic death of his first wife, former dancer Jean Elliot, in 1978. In addition to his Happy Days duties, Bosley was narrator of the syndicated documentary That's Hollywood (1977-1981). From 1989 to 1991, he starred on the weekly series The Father Dowling Mysteries, and thereafter was seen on an occasional basis as down-to-earth Cabot Cove sheriff Amos Tupper on Murder, She Wrote. Reportedly as kind, generous, and giving as his Happy Days character, Tom Bosley has over the last 20 years received numerous honors for his many civic and charitable activities.

Trivia: Born Elizabeth Edith Enke, on April 16, 1927, in Kingston, PA, Edie Adams was a graduate of both the Juilliard School of Music and the Columbia School of Drama. She began her career in television, utilizing her singing and comedic talent as a regular on the popular Ernie Kovacs Show in the early '50s. Adams and Kovacs were married in 1955 and remained together until his death in 1962. Before appearing in films, she starred on Broadway in Wonderful Town (1953) and Li'l Abner (1956). Her first major film role was playing Miss Olsen in Billy Wilder's 1960 comedy The Apartment. The film work that followed cast Adams in mostly secondary roles that highlighted her talent for comedy and displayed her spirited presence. Other films include: Lover Come Back (1961), Call Me Bwana (1963), It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), Under the Yum Yum Tree (1963), Love With the Proper Stranger (1963), The Best Man (1964), Made in Paris, The Oscar (1966), The Honey Pot (1967), Up in Smoke (1978), and Raquet (1979). Adams also appeared in the documentary Kovacs in 1971. She spent her last few decades making periodic guest appearances on such television programs as Designing Women, Fantasy Island and The Love Boat, and died of pneumonia and cancer in 2008.

Trivia: Herschel Bernardi, along with his actor-brother Jack, was the product of a long-established family of Yiddish performers. On stage from childhood, Bernardi made his first on-camera appearances in a brace of Yiddish-language films, Green Fields and Yankel the Blacksmith, both lensed in New Jersey in 1939. While successful in ethnic productions, Herschel encountered resistance from producers of mainstream Broadway plays, one of whom advised the actor to wait until he "grew into" his character-actor face. As Harold Bernardi, he played a bit in the 1945 Hollywood film Miss Susie Slagle's. He was one of several actors blacklisted for their alleged leftist politics in the 1950s, an experience he relived as a cast member of the 1976 film The Front. Shortly after being "exonerated," Bernardi was cast in the recurring role of Lt. Jacoby on the late-1950s series Peter Gunn, an assignment for which he won an Emmy. In 1969, Bernardi played the starring part of a blue-collar worker thrust into the executive pool in the TV sitcom Arnie. He also provided voiceovers for hundreds of cartoons and commercials, "starring" as Charley the Tuna and the Jolly Green Giant. On Broadway in the 1960s and '70s, Herschel Bernardi starred in over 700 performances of Fiddler on the Roof and also played the lead in the musical Zorba; at one juncture, Bernardi had so strained his vocal chords that he was ordered by his doctor not to speak for a full year, lest he permanently lose his voice.

Trivia: Colby Chester has occasionally played supporting roles in feature films since the 1970s. He has also appeared on television, in movies, and in series.