Trivia: American entertainer Carol Burnett and her sister were both raised by their loving grandmother. It has long been a matter of public record that Burnett credits her grandmother for encouraging her to utilize her comic and musical talents to the fullest. Working her way through UCLA, she majored in English and Theater arts, gradually developing the poise and self-confidence to tackle an entertainment career. After nightclub work, Burnett was spotlighted on the variety programs of Steve Allen, Ed Sullivan, and Jack Paar, bringing down the house on Paar's program with the specialty ballad "I Made a Fool of Myself over John Foster Dulles." In 1956, Burnett co-starred with Buddy Hackett in the live TV sitcom Stanley, which unfortunately was scheduled opposite the indestructible Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts. A near-star several times over, Burnett finally grabbed the brass ring with her bravura performance in the 1959 off-Broadway musical Once Upon a Mattress, which led to a three-season stint as a regular on The Garry Moore Show. An Emmy award resulted from her contribution to Moore, and another Emmy followed for a 1962 joint appearance with Julie Andrews at Carnegie Hall. Some of her comedy of the era was the self-deprecating sort allotted to women who weren't raving beauties, but she transcended the cruelty of the jokes with an inner beauty that one would have to be blind to miss. As a slapstick comedienne Burnett was unrivalled, even by the sainted Lucille Ball, and on occasion she was allowed to drop the comic mask and deliver a heart-rending ballad. In 1962, CBS signed Burnett to a long term contract under the supervision of her then-husband, producer Joe Hamilton. After an uncomfortable few months in 1964 in which the producers of the Broadway production Fade Out Fade In sued Burnett for abandoning the play to appear in a weekly variety series The Entertainers, her post-Garry Moore career moved along unevenly. She was advised to sign for another series but avoided the option of situation comedy (she once insisted that she didn't want to be trapped playing someone named Agnes every week). In 1967, virtually out of desperation for a workable idea, The Carol Burnett Show premiered on CBS. Burnett patterned the program after Garry Moore's opening monologue, brief sketches with continuing characters, parodies, musical bits, and a closing all-star musical comedy production number. With such first-rate supporting talent as Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner and Tim Conway, The Carol Burnett Show was a ratings-grabber until its final telecast in 1978. Carol Burnett's life and career since then has been distinguished by as many valleys as peaks. Her film career never truly got off the ground, despite excellent performances in such pictures as Pete 'N' Tillie (1972) and A Wedding (1978). Nevertheless, Carol Burnett has more than earned her place in the pantheon of television giants.Burnett would remain active in the coming decades, starring in everything from the classic musical Annie to the sitcom Mama's Family, not to mention making inumerable appearances on shows like Touched By an Angel, Mad About You, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, and Glee.

Trivia: Character actor Richard Kind has done most of his work on television and on stage, but he also occasionally appears in feature films. Fans of the NBC sitcom Mad About You will recognize him for playing Fran's ex-husband Mark. Kind grew up in Bucks County, PA (he was born in Trenton, NJ), and has had a lifelong interest in acting. But despite his interest, he enrolled at Northwestern University as a pre-law major. He had planned on attending law school immediately after graduation, but instead heeded a family friend's advice and decided to pursue drama for a while. Kind moved to New York, but despite occasional work in commercials and showcases, got no breaks. He did much better in Chicago, where he found employment and gained valuable experience working first with the comedic actors at the Practical Theatre Company and then with those at Second City. Eventually, he moved to L.A. to perform with that city's division of the illustrious satirical theater. Since his arrival in Southern California, Kind has been a regular and a guest star on various series. He made his feature film debut in Vice Versa (1988). He would go on to appear in many feature films, from the Station Agent to Argo. He would also star on several TV series, like Spin City and Luck.

Trivia: Rick Aviles was a stand-up comedian and actor who played small supporting roles in several major films of the early '90s. The Manhattan native launched his career as a street performer in Greenwich Village's Washington Square Park. He gained a following and made it to cable television where he hosted Showtime at the Apollo and One Night Stand on HBO. Aviles made his film debut in Cannonball Run (1981) and went on to appear in features ranging from Street Smart (1987), to Ghost (1990), to Carlito's Way (1993). Aviles made his final film appearances in Kevin Costner's Waterworld (1995) and Joe's Apartment (1996).

Trivia: From her debut as an improvisational comic on the hit series SCTV to her later status as a voice-over artist for such popular children's shows as Sesame Street and Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Emmy-winning actress Andrea Martin has remained a recognizable performer to generations of television viewers. A native of Maine whose relocation to the Great White North found her signing on with the Toronto branch of the famed Second City comedy troupe, Martin formed close working relationships with such fellow improv-ers as Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara. Fueled by a powerhouse group of comic talent that included such future stars as John Candy, Martin Short, and Rick Moranis, the Second City troupe gained a loyal following and after small roles in such features as Cannibal Girls and Black Christmas, Martin followed the troupe to the small screen with Second City TV in 1976. Equally, if not more hilarious than its American counterpart Saturday Night Live in the eyes of many comedy fans, SCTV ultimately went through three small-screen incarnations including SCTV: Network 90 and SCTV Channel before calling it quits in 1984. Though she would remain closely involved with her former cast-mates on such projects as Club Paradise, Innerspace, The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley, and Camp Candy (the latter two marking her entrance into voice-over work), Martin also branched out on her own as the title character in the 1987 television series Roxie and as a cast member in the 1991 version of The Carol Burnett Show. The '90s found her frequently alternating between television and film, and though roles in such features as Boris and Natasha and Bogus did little to further her career, fans could still catch a glimpse of the old magic when Martin joined former cast-mate Short in 1994's short-lived The Martin Short Show. On the heels of more voice-over work in such efforts as television's Recess: School's Out and the hit Disney feature Anastasia, Martin joined the cast of Sesame Street in 1998, marking something of a shift to more family-oriented material (save for an appearance in the 2001 musical comedy Hedwig and the Angry Inch) that would keep her very busy into the new millennium. Even as a voice-over artist, Martin still got the occasional opportunity to perform alongside old friends Levy (The Kid) and Martin (Prince Charming). Even if the next generation would remember her face mainly from appearances in My Big Fat Greek Wedding and New York Minute, the release of SCTV on DVD in 2004 offered parents with fond memories of the series a chance to share it with their children and show them where all the fun began.

Trivia: After seriously pursuing a baseball career, African American actor/writer/director Robert Townsend decided upon a life in show business. An alumnus of Illinois State University and Hunter College, Townsend worked as a stand-up comic, and with such organizations as Second City, the Negro Ensemble Theater and the Experimental Black Actor's Guild. In films from 1975, Townsend satirically encapsulated his frustrating experiences as a black performer in a white-dominated Hollywood with his first directorial effort, Hollywood Shuffle (1987), a labor of love which was largely financed with credit cards and chutzpah. He went on to direct the popular concert film Eddie Murphy Raw (1987), then tripled as actor, director and writer on The Five Heartbeats (1991) and Meteor Man (1993). Attempting to transfer his style and personality to the small screen, Townsend came up with the 1993 Fox Network variety weekly Townsend Television, which despite laudatory reviews folded after three months. Robert Townsend had better luck as star and co-executive producer of the WB network's The Parent 'Hood, a distressingly conventional 1995 sitcom which somehow caught on with its target audience.

Trivia: Jim Nabors, he of the vacuous expression and the dumbstruck expletives "Gawwwleee" and "Shazzayam," graduated from the University of Alabama with a degree in business administration. Nabors' first TV job was as an apprentice film cutter; shortly afterward, he launched a fitfully successful career as a cabaret singer. In 1963, he was hired to play the one-shot role of gas station attendant Gomer Pyle on the top-rated The Andy Griffith Show. Essentially a build-up to a punchline (Griffith explained to a nonplused stranger that the goofy Gomer planned to become a brain surgeon), Nabor's hayseed character proved so popular that he became a regular on the series. In 1964, with Griffith's manager Richard O. Linke calling the shots, Nabors was spun off into his own weekly sitcom, Gomer Pyle USMC, which ran for five successful seasons. Televiewers got their first inkling that there was more to Nabors than Gomer when, on a 1964 Danny Kaye Show, he revealed his rich, well-modulated baritone singing voice. He went on to record 16 popular record albums, utilizing his high-pitched Gomer voice in only one of them (1965's Shazzam). Nabors' larynx was further deployed on his TV variety series The Jim Nabors Show (1969-72), on the 1967 opening episode (and every subsequent season opener) of The Carol Burnett Show, and in countless personal appearances all over the world. Additionally, Nabors starred in such 1970s Saturday morning kiddie efforts as Krofft Supershow, The Lost Saucer and Buford and the Galloping Ghost (voice only). He played his first serious role as a vengeful hillbilly on a 1973 episode of TVs The Rookies, and essayed comic supporting parts in such good-ole-boy films as Cannonball Run (1978) and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), both starring his close friend Burt Reynolds. Because Nabors never married, he found himself the target of numerous ugly and unfounded rumors concerning his private life. When he became deathly ill in the mid-1980s, there were those who jumped to the conclusion that Nabors had contacted AIDS. In fact, he had fallen victim to a particularly vicious form of hepatitis, picked up (according to Nabors) when he cut himself while shaving in India. Nabors recovered from his ailment after a highly publicized liver transplant saved his life.

Trivia: Comedian Vicki Lawrence got her big break in show business with a prominent role on the 70's sketch comedy series The Carol Burnette Show. The California native was particularly popular for her recurring character of "Mama," which earned her a successful spin-off, the sitcom Mama's Family, which ran from 1986 to 1990. She would go on to also enjoy runs on shows like Hannah Montana, and also had a career as a successful singer, reaching number one in 1973 with the song "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia".

Trivia: Supporting and character actor Herve Villechaize appeared in 13 feature films, but he is best remembered for playing Tattoo, Ricardo Montalban's chirpy sidekick on Fantasy Island (1978-1983). Born to a French father and English mother, Villechaize was a dwarf who stopped growing taller after hitting 3'9". Before becoming an actor, Villechaize studied art in Paris and New York. Deciding acting was the better venue, he studied under drama teacher Julie Bovasso. He made his feature film debut in The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight (1971) and went on to play small "novelty" roles in exploitation and cult movies such as Malatesta's Carnival and Oliver Stone's Seizure (1974). One of his more notable roles was that of an evil dwarf in the James Bond thriller The Man With the Golden Gun (1974). Villechaize was married three times. On September 4, 1993, he fatally shot himself, allegedly to escape his many health problems.