Trivia: Born in Ireland, Roma Downey studied at the London Drama Studio and earned numerous Broadway and off-Broadway stage credits, including a U.S. tour with Dublin's Abbey Players. Though she is most well-known for playing Monica on the CBS dramatic series Touched By an Angel, Downey also played Jackie Kennedy in the 1991 TV miniseries A Woman Named Jackie. She also appeared in several highly sentimental made-for-TV movies like Borrowed Hearts and A Child Is Missing. In 1998, she played Annie Sullivan to Moira Kelly's Helen Keller in Monday After the Miracle. Staying with emotive dramas, she next played Cassie Whitman in the U.K. television movies A Test of Love and A Secret Life. For her next few romantic comedies, she played opposite Tim Matheson in Second Honeymoon and opposite George Newbern in Sons of Mistletoe. Downey finally broke through to a leading role in a feature film with the family comedy Hairy Tale. Downey continued to work throughout the mid-2000s, and took on supporting roles in Funky Monkey (2004) and Come Dance at My Wedding (2009).

Trivia: Della Reese is one of the few performers to move easily between the religious community and the mainstream entertainment industry. Born in Detroit, MI, Reese started singing in gospel choirs at a very young age. In 1945, she joined a touring choir with legendary gospel singer Mahalia Jackson. As a student at Wayne State University, Reese former her own singing group called the Meditation Singers. After a regular gig at Detroit's Flame Showbar, she went on to sing with Erskine Hawkins & His Orchestra. During the '50s and '60s, she recorded pop vocal albums for Jubilee and RCA Victor, leading to several pop singles on the Billboard charts. She was also nominated for a Grammy award and is remembered as one of the first gospel singers to have a popular stage show in Las Vegas.Her television career started in 1969 as the guest host of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. She then made television history as the first black woman with her own prime-time variety show, Della. After singing on the nightclub circuit and making television guest appearances as herself, she joined the cast of Chico and the Man from 1976 to 1978. Despite her battle with illness in the early '80s, she continued acting steadily throughout the next few decades. Her other TV series appearances include Sanford and Son, It Takes Two, Charlie & Co., and The Royal Family. On the big screen, she played madam Vera in Eddie Murphy's Harlem Nights and Martin Lawrence's mother in A Thin Line Between Love and Hate. Her biggest television achievement is the CBS drama Touched By an Angel, which ran from 1994-2003. For her role of Tess, the wise guiding angel to Monica (Roma Downey), Reese won several Image Awards and Emmy nominations. Her other television work includes leading roles on the TV tearjerkers Miracle in the Woods, The Moving of Sylvia Myles, and Anya's Bell. She would appear in a number of projects in the years to come, like Expecting Mary and Me Again. An ordained minister, Reese helps to run the Los Angeles church association Understanding Foundation for Better Living.

Trivia: The daughter of actors, Brooke Adams was once praised by the press for her supremely flexible countenance -- with expressions and demeanors to accommodate virtually any emotion or situation. Adams attended New York's High School of Performing Arts and the Institute of American Ballet, and took private acting lessons from Lee Strasberg. At age six, she made her Broadway debut in the 1954 revival of Finian's Rainbow. Eleven years later, she was cast as Burl Ives' teenaged daughter in the extremely short-lived TV sitcom O.K. Crackerby (1965-1966) on ABC.Adams then kept a low professional profile until making her adult off-Broadway bow in 1974, appearing in yet another revival, The Petrified Forest. A great future was predicted for Brooke when she starred as Abby, the romantic bone of contention between Richard Gere and Sam Shepard in Terrence Malick's critically acclaimed 1978 film, Days of Heaven. That same year, she played Elizabeth Driscoll (the Dana Wynter role) in the remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, opposite Donald Sutherland, and in 1979 she was Sean Connery's ethereal leading lady in the Richard Lester-directed Cuba. Any one of those three roles could have spelled superstardom for Brooke -- had she really wanted to be a superstar. Instead, she deliberately avoided the trappings of celebritydom, preferring to measure her achievements by her own standards rather than Hollywood's. And, if that meant accepting "small" but artistically rewarding theatrical projects or teaching acting classics to emotionally disturbed children, rather than accepting a role in the latest Spielberg or Scorsese blockbuster, so be it. Brooke Adams' more notable credits during the mid- to late '80s and '90s included guest appearances on TV's Moonlighting (as single mother and David Addison Lamaze partner Terri Knowles), a role in the Broadway production The Heidi Chronicles, the narration duties for the 1994 miniseries The Fire This Time, and the role of Ione Skye's hardscrabble mother in the Allison Anders-directed Gas Food Lodging (1992). These represented high points, however, and more often than not, Adams found herself relegated to parts unworthy of her, such as the unevenly received 1985 adaptation of Kevin Wade's play Key Exchange (in which she reprised her stage role) and the histrionic TV movies Lace (1984) and Lace II (1985).In subsequent years, Adams made a greater splash on television, with guest appearances on such series programs as Wings, Monk (both opposite husband Tony Shalhoub), and Touched by an Angel. She also returned to the big screen for supporting roles in several projects, including the 1995 Baby-Sitters Club and the 2007 Griffin Dunne-directed romantic comedy The Accidental Husband.

Trivia: The daughter of a New York City policeman, Nancy Allen trained for a dancing career at the High School of Performing Arts, then attended Jose Quintano's School for Young Professionals. In dozens of TV commercials from the age of 15, Nancy made her first film appearance (as "Nancy"-what a stretch!) in 1973's The Last Detail. Three years later, she set the standard for all future "bitch-goddess teenagers" as the beautiful but despicable high schooler Chris in Brian De Palma's Carrie. While Chris and her greaser boyfriend (John Travolta) met with a violent but well-deserved end on-screen, Nancy herself ultimately won out by claiming director De Palma as her husband. She next displayed a keen comic sense in the role of the only teenager on Earth who doesn't love the Beatles in Robert Zemeckis' I Want to Hold Your Hand (1976); thereafter, for the next seven years she appeared only in DePalma's films. She carried on a heated argument with her own hand in Home Movies (1979), was threatened by a knife-wielding psycho in Dressed to Kill (1980), and literally died for John Travolta's art in Blow-Out (1981). After her divorce from DePalma in 1984, Nancy's film opportunities narrowed, though she was memorable as take-no-guff police officer Anne Lewis in the three Robocop flicks. In 1993, Nancy Allen joined several other veteran stars in Acting on Impulse, a made-for-cable send-up of the horror films that first brought her fame.

Trivia: A Cornell University graduate, Class of '72, Ed Marinaro went on to play professional football with the Minnesota Vikings, New York Jets and Seattle Seahawks. Turning to acting in the late 1970s, Marinaro landed the supporting role of Sonny St. Jacques on the ratings-grabbing sitcom Laverne and Shirley. He was then cast as Officer Joe Coffey, partner to policewoman Lucy Bates (Betty Thomas) in Hill Street Blues, a role he played from 1981 to 1986. He later appeared as Mitch Margolis in the weekly dramedy Sisters (1991-94). Like many athletes-turned-actors, he has at least one "eponymous hero" action flick to his credit: in his case, he played "Mace" in the 1987 film of the same name. In 1992, Ed Marinaro managed to survive playing Joey Buttafucco in the TV biopic Amy Fisher: My Story with both his career and dignity intact.

Trivia: Born Ermes Effron Borgnino in Hamden, CT, to Italian immigrants, Ernest Borgnine spent five years of his early childhood in Milan before returning to the States for his education. Following a long stint in the Navy that ended after WWII, Borgnine enrolled in the Randall School of Dramatic Art in Hartford. Between 1946 and 1950, he worked with a theater troupe in Virginia and afterward appeared a few times on television before his 1951 film debut in China Corsair. Borgnine's stout build and tough face led him to spend the next few years playing villains. In 1953, he won considerable acclaim for his memorable portrayal of a ruthless, cruel sergeant in From Here to Eternity. He was also praised for his performance in the Western Bad Day at Black Rock. Borgnine could easily have been forever typecast as the heavy, but in 1955, he proved his versatility and showed a sensitive side in the film version of Paddy Chayefsky's acclaimed television play Marty. Borgnine's moving portrayal of a weak-willed, lonely, middle-aged butcher attempting to find love in the face of a crushingly dull life earned him an Oscar, a British Academy award, a Cannes Festival award, and an award from both the New York Film Critics and the National Board of Review. After that, he seldom played bad guys and instead was primarily cast in "regular Joe" roles, with the notable exception of The Vikings in which he played the leader of the Viking warriors. In 1962, he was cast in the role that most baby boomers best remember him for, the anarchic, entrepreneurial Quentin McHale in the sitcom McHale's Navy. During the '60s and '70s, Borgnine's popularity was at its peak and he appeared in many films, including a theatrical version of his show in 1964, The Dirty Dozen (1966), Ice Station Zebra (1968) and The Wild Bunch (1969). Following the demise of McHale's Navy in 1965, Borgnine did not regularly appear in series television for several years. However, he did continue his busy film career and also performed in television miniseries and movies. Notable features include The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and Law and Disorder (1974). Some of his best television performances can be seen in Jesus of Nazareth (1977), Ghost on Flight 401 (1978), and a remake of Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front (1979). In 1984, Borgnine returned to series television starring opposite Jan Michael Vincent in the action-adventure series Airwolf. That series ended in 1986; Borgnine's career continued to steam along albeit in much smaller roles. Between 1995 and 1997, he was a regular on the television sitcom The Single Guy. In 1997, he also made a cameo appearance in Tom Arnold's remake of Borgnine's hit series McHale's Navy.At age 80 he continued to work steadily in a variety of projects such as the comedy BASEketball, the sci-fi film Gattaca, and as the subject of the 1997 documentary Ernest Borgnine on the Bus. He kept on acting right up to the end of his life, tackling one of his final roles in the 2010 action comedy RED. Borgnine died in 2012 at age 95.

Trivia: First stage role was in his high school's production of The Sound of Music. Directed a production of Grease while in high school. Was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity at Mississippi State. Made his big-screen debut in the 1984 comedy Making the Grade. Appeared in the 1985 video for ZZ Top's "Sleeping Bag." First major TV role was on long-running soap the Young and the Restless. His Touched by an Angel role as Andrew the Angel of Death was originally a recurring one, but he was made a regular in the third season, and remained with the show until its conclusion in 2003.

Trivia: During her nine-year (1975-1984) tenure as Barbara Cooper on TV's One Day at a Time, Valerie Bertinelli grew from a chubby, awkward 15-year-old with only a smattering of bit-part credits into a polished actress and bona fide sex symbol. When Bertinelli "married" her One Day co-star Boyd Gaines in a 1982 episode, the ratings went through the roof, while many a male viewer's heart sank. One year earlier, Bertinelli had been a bride for real; her marriage to rock star Eddie Van Halen was kept under wraps by the series' producers for fear of damaging the actress' "Little Miss Perfect" image. Bertinelli's son by Van Halen was named Wolfgang, as in Mozart. While still a One Day regular, Bertinelli made the first of many TV-movie starring appearances in 1979's Young Love, First Love; later small-screen projects -- most of them packaged by Bertinelli's own production company, Bertinelli Inc. -- included The Princess and the Cabbie (1981), I Was a Mail Order Bride (1982), Shattered Vows (1984), The Seduction of Gina (1984), Silent Witness (1985), and Pancho Barnes (1988). Conversely, her theatrical-feature credits are limited, but include C.H.O.M.P.S. (1979) and Ordinary Heroes (1985). In the years since One Day at a Time, Valerie Bertinelli has starred in the short-lived TV series, Sydney (1990) and Café Americain (1993).At the beginning of the 2000s, she landed a recurring role on Touched By an Angel. In 2005 she filed for divorce from Eddie Van Halen, and a few years later she would be the star of yet another series, the TV Land sitcom Hot In Cleveland opposite Wendy Malick, Jane Leeves, and Betty White.

Trivia: During the 1970s, '80s, and '90s, Patrick Duffy quickly evolved into one of prime time's old standbys for handsome, sturdy, dependable, and reliable leading men. Two key patterns hallmarked the majority of Duffy's career choices: he culled his broadest appeal and most substantial workload on television in lieu of the big screen, and exceedingly rare were those occasions in which he played a villain. In terms of audience recognition, Duffy maintained his strongest ties with two ongoing series roles -- his famous portrayal of Southfork Ranch stalwart Bobby Ewing on the blockbuster CBS prime-time soap Dallas (1978-1991), and a subsequent tenure as Frank Lambert on the ABC "TGIF" Friday-night sitcom Step by Step (1991-1998). Born born March 17, 1949, in Townsend, MT, as the second child of two saloonkeepers, Duffy grew up in dire poverty. He attended high school in Everett, WA, then attended the actor's training program at the nearby University of Washington, graduating in 1971. The actor relocated to Southern California and began receiving screen credit only a few years after college, initially with roles in telemovies such as the 1976 Last of Mrs. Lincoln and the lead in the short-lived television series Man from Atlantis (as a half-man, half-fish). Dallas, of course, brought Duffy his big break, and as its ratings shot skyward, turning it into not simply the number one program on the air but an international phenomenon, Duffy's character became intertwined with the program's legacy. The series' premise is by now iconic -- it dealt with the Ewing family, a wealthy Texas oil clan with a history rooted in scandal. Its patriarch, John Ross "Jock" Ewing Sr. (Jim Davis), had driven himself into fabulous wealth by cheating his business partner out of a fortune and his one true love, with whom he started a family and launched an entire oil dynasty. Passing on the family torch were three sons: J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman), the megalomaniacal evil brother; Bobby Ewing (Duffy), the decent and moral brother, who had married the daughter of his father's partner; and the weak-willed Gary (Ted Shackelford), who grappled continually with emotional problems and quickly snagged his own series.As Bobby, Duffy attained popularity second only to that of co-star Hagman -- popularity that prompted national headlines when Duffy opted to leave the program at the end of the 1984-1985 season. Series producer created and aired a scenario where he was killed by a hit-and-run driver, but the audience demand for Bobby Ewing grew so overwhelming during the following season that -- in an obvious bid to re-boost ratings and extend Dallas' longevity -- Hagman personally summoned Duffy to re-join the series. The writers then reposited the entire 1985-1986 season as the bad dream of Bobby's on-camera wife, Pam (Victoria Principal)! It may have seemed far-fetched to many, but as an attempt to bring the actor back to the program and draw a larger audience, it worked like a charm.Not long after Dallas finally wrapped in May 1991, Duffy turned up on ABC's aforementioned Step by Step, a kind of unofficial update of The Brady Bunch; he played Frank Lambert, a divorced Wisconsin contractor with several kids who impulsively married a widowed beautician (Suzanne Somers) with several tykes of her own. Episodes dealt with the complications wrought when the two clans moved under the same roof together. As produced by William Bickley and Michael Warren, that program also connected with a large audience. It folded in 1998.Duffy acted in several Dallas telemovies during Step by Step's run, and then ushered in guest roles on numerous additional series, including Touched by an Angel, Justice League, and Family Guy. Additional made-for-television feature credits in the late '90s and early to mid-2000s included such outings as Heart of Fire (1997), Don't Look Behind You (1998), Desolation Canyon (2006), and Falling in Love with the Girl Next Door (2006). Duffy landed another series assignment in 2006 with an ongoing role -- that of Stephen Logan Sr. -- on the CBS daytime drama The Bold and the Beautiful.

Trivia: The first time that American actor Bruce Boxleitner set foot on stage, it was with a total of four hours' preparation. While in high school, Boxleitner was forced to jump into the role of My Fair Lady's Henry Higgins when the young man originally cast in the part came down with mononucleosis the day before the show. The applause that greeted Boxleitner's debut was enough to inspire him to continue studying drama at the Goodman Theatre. His first Broadway play flopped, but he managed to secure steady work in a series of villainous supporting roles in Hollywood. With the help of fabled super-agent Jay Bernstein, Boxleitner climbed to stardom, reaching a particularly lofty rung with his four season-stint (from 1983 to 1987) as government agent Lee Stetson on the TV series Scarecrow and Mrs. King. More recently, Bruce Boxleitner was seen as fictional ballplayer "Jumpin' Joe Dugan" in the 1992 Babe Ruth biopic The Babe.

Trivia: In 1999, Doris Roberts achieved "overnight" stardom in the role of Marie Barone in the series Everybody Loves Raymond, going from working actress -- which she'd been for more than 40 years -- to being an instantly recognized performer. It was an improbable climb to the top rank of popular culture stardom. Roberts was born in St. Louis, MO, in 1925, to a family that was soon shattered when the father abandoned them. She had a difficult but loving childhood as her mother sought to provide for both of them by herself, and eventually Roberts gravitated toward the idea of an acting career. To do this, she had to work at any jobs that she could find, including clerk typist, to afford the lessons that she needed from teachers that included Lee Strasberg and Sanford Meisner. She made her first television appearance in the early '50s, in a Studio One production of Jane Eyre, and made the usual rounds between theater and television. Her theatrical debut came on the a stage at New York's City Center in 1955, and she was Shirley Booth's understudy in the theatrical version of the comedy Desk Set. She distinguished herself in the role of Mommy in the original production of Edward Albee's The American Dream, and since the early '60s, had carved a niche for herself in maternal and neighborly roles, on both stage and screen. Following her screen debut in Jack Garfein's New York-filmed drama Something Wild (1961), she tended more toward comedy (albeit often black comedy), with performances in Jack Smight's No Way to Treat a Lady, where she played the skeptical onlooker whose questions and low-key intervention save the life of a would-be victim; Leonard Kastle's The Honeymoon Killers (1970), in which she played the roommate of the nurse-turned-murderer played by Shirley Stoler; and Alan Arkin's Little Murders (1971), where she played Elliott Gould's mother. Female comics seemed to perceive Roberts' gifts as an actress especially well, as she got two of her better roles, in A New Leaf (1971) and Rabbit Test (1978), from Elaine May and Joan Rivers, respectively. Although she began appearing in television in the 1950s, with appearances on Ben Casey, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Baretta, All in the Family, The Streets of San Francisco, Rhoda, Soap, and Barney Miller, Roberts didn't start to make a lasting impression in the medium -- which would become her vehicle for stardom -- until the 1970s. She was supposed to have a role in a proposed new series starring Mary Tyler Moore, but when that series failed to sell, she was cast in the role of Donna Pescow's mother in the series Angie (1979), which got Roberts her first real notice by the public or the press. After that, the television appearances grew more frequent, and finally in 1983, she joined the cast of Remington Steele midway through the series' run, as Mildred Krebs, an IRS investigator-turned-secretary-turned-detective, working alongside Pierce Brosnan and Stephanie Zimbalist, and often stealing the show with her low-key comedic work. Roberts' first marriage ended in divorce, and her second, to novelist William Goyen, ended when he died in 1983 -- her son from her first marriage, Michael Cannata, has been her manager since the 1970s. It was a dozen years after Remington Steele, and some notable guest star appearances on shows like St. Elsewhere, that she landed the role of Marie on Everybody Loves Raymond. Since then, she has been a guest on talk shows and an acting celebrity, with a brace of Emmy nominations to her credit.In 2003 Roberts published the book Are You Hungry, Dear?: Life, Laughs and Lasagna, and the following year she was appointed a cultural ambassador by the U.S. Department of State. But back on the small screen Roberts was more recognizable than ever before, with appearances in Grey's Anatomy, Hot in Cleveland, and Desperate Housewives keeping her as active as ever. Roberts continued to work steadily until her death in 2016, at age 90.

Trivia: The handsome and sturdy Hispanic-American actor Alexis Cruz chalked up an impressive array of bit and supporting roles from the 1980s onward -- mainly in A-list Hollywood features, and usually of an ethnic nature. He appeared very briefly as Charlie in James Toback's woefully underrated freewheeling comedy The Pick-Up Artist (1987), with Robert Downey Jr. and Molly Ringwald, and -- that same year -- played an equally small role in Arthur Hiller's female "buddy comedy" Outrageous Fortune, starring Shelley Long and Bette Midler. Cruz survived enlistment in a couple of ugly and unmemorable productions, including the 1988 family-oriented telemovie Gryphon and the 1989 Robert Wise musical Rooftops, then shifted gears somewhat and made a fast track for the small screen. On television, Cruz is probably best known as Skaara and Klorel on Stargate SG-1; his resumé also includes guest spots on such blockbuster series as NYPD Blue and ER and more prominent roles on Touched by an Angel and American Family. In 2006, Cruz received one of his highest billings to date as the impossibly hip and street-smart Martin Allende, a member of attorney Sebastian Shark's (James Woods) legal team.

Trivia: Before he inaugurated his professional career, African-American actor Paul Winfield received a well-rounded education: He trained at the University of Portland, Los Angeles City College, Stanford, U.C.L.A., the University of Hawaii, and the University of Santa Barbara. After stage work, Winfield received his first major Hollywood break as Paul Cameron on the TV sitcom Julia (1968-1971). In films from 1969, he received an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of a fiercely proud sharecropper in Sounder (1972). Back on the small screen, he earned Emmy nominations for his interpretation of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1978 miniseries King and his work as Dr. Huguley in 1979's Roots: The Next Generation. An indispensable purveyor of authoritative roles, he has played several judges, winning a 1994 Emmy for his performance in this capacity on TV's Picket Fences. Paul Winfield has also been seen on a regular basis in three television series, playing Julian C. Barlow in the 1989-1990 episodes of 227, Isaac Tuhle in Wiseguy (1987-1991), and a no-nonsense Magic Mirror (voice only) in the 1987 Cinderella spoof The Charmings. In 2004, not long after playing a small role in a remake of Sounder, Winfield suffered a heart attack and passed away at the age of 62.

Trivia: Performed with his older brother Ricky when they were both younger. Worked as a cook and dishwasher (when he wasn't singing on stage) at the Nashville Palace in the early 1980s. Storms of Life, his 1986 debut album, sold more than 4 million copies. Inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 1986. Has an uncredited cameo in Young Guns (1988). Appeared in seven episodes of Touched By An Angel and also lent the song "When Mama Prayed" to the series finale. Released Anniversary Celebration in 2011, a collection of duets and collaborations in honor of the 25 years since the release of his debut album. Suffered a stroke in 2013.

Trivia: A performer widely regarded as one of the most distinguished and eloquent actors of his or any generation, Ossie Davis combined an overwhelming amount of dramatic talent and instinct (evident via both stage and film work) with an indomitable fervor for social crusade. A native of Cogdell, GA, and a graduate of Howard University, Davis moved to Harlem at an early stage and trained with the Rose McClendon players. The actor then drew a considerable amount of attention -- alongside wife since 1948 Ruby Dee -- for helping to spearhead the American civil rights movement in the 1940s, over 20 years before it caught fire with the general public and mass media. Their combined efforts culminated in involvement with the triumphant March on Washington of August 1963, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his iconic "I Have a Dream" speech. In subsequent years, Davis also helped Dr. King raise money for the Freedom Riders and delivered a poignant eulogy at the funeral of Malcolm X. Meanwhile, Davis and Dee both established themselves as forces in theater and on film. Davis himself debuted on Broadway in 1946, and took his film bow with the 1950 No Way Out, but 13 years passed before his sophomore cinematic effort, the 1963 Gone Are the Days -- an adaptation of his own play Purlie Victorious. Unfortunately, the actor spent much of the '60s appearing in programmers that were either underappreciated (Shock Treatment, 1964) or unworthy of his talents (Sam Whiskey, 1969), and didn't fully realize his potential until he scripted and directed the 1970 Cotton Comes to Harlem, a gritty crime comedy (with a predominantly African-American cast including Godfrey Cambridge and Redd Foxx) that almost singlehandedly jump-started the blaxploitation movement and predated Sweet Sweetback and Shaft by a year. Several additional directorial projects followed throughout the 1970s and '80s and found Davis growing deeper and more profound, and setting his sights higher; these included the ambitious -- if not quite successful -- Kongi's Harvest (1971) and the finely-wrought, socially charged coming-of-age drama Black Girl (1972), arguably Davis' best film. Unfortunately, Davis' third and fourth efforts behind the camera, Gordon's War (1973) and Countdown at Kusini (1976), disappointed on many counts, relegating him (for better or worse) back to acting. He appeared in the racially themed, made-for-television dramas Roots (1977), King: The Martin Luther King Story (1978, in which he played Dr. King Sr.), and Roots: The Next Generations (1979), then -- around a decade later -- achieved a career resurgence thanks to the intelligence and bravura of wunderkind Spike Lee, who cast Davis in six major films: School Daze (1988), Do the Right Thing (1989), Jungle Fever (1991), Malcolm X (1992, as an off-camera narrator), Get on the Bus (1996), and She Hate Me (2004). Two of those films also included Dee in the cast. Davis also enjoyed a renewed profile on television during the early '90s when he was tapped to play a regular character on the charming and laid-back Burt Reynolds sitcom Evening Shade (1990-1994); he portrayed Ponder Blue, the series' narrator and the owner of a barbecue restaurant. Davis remained not only active but astonishingly prolific over the following ten years. Subsequent projects included small supporting roles in Grumpy Old Men (1993), The Client (1994), and Doctor Dolittle (1998), and participation in a series of documentaries, among them Christianity: The First Thousand Years (1998) and We Shall Not Be Moved (2001). Davis died in February 2005, in Miami, while shooting the movie Retirement. He was 87. Davis and Dee co-authored a dual autobiography, In This Life Together, in 1998.