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: A familiar face to a nation of television viewers thanks to his role as the more-than-slightly demented father on the popular FOX sitcom Malcolm in the Middle, longtime stage and screen actor Bryan Cranston has had a rich and varied career, lending his talents to everything from anime voice work (Armitage III and Macross Plus) to daytime television (as an original cast member of Loving). His commanding but off-kilter presence and quirky charm have easily provided Cranston with the necessary range to essay such diverse roles, and the longtime actor can always be counted on to inject a healthy dose of personality into his performances, no matter how large or small the role may be. Though the San Fernando Valley native made his television debut as a commercial actor at the age of eight, it wasn't until college that Cranston truly realized his calling as an actor. Following college graduation, Cranston's passion eventually drew him to Daytona Beach, FL, where the burgeoning actor appeared in such community-theater productions as Barefoot in the Park and Death of a Salesman. In 1982, he joined the cast of the then-new soap opera Loving, and though he would only remain with the daytime drama for a short time, appearances in Airwolf and Hill Street Blues, among various other series, found the actor maintaining a notable presence on television. Following a series of supporting feature performances, Cranston moved back to the small screen with a regular role in the 1988 sitcom Raising Miranda. In the years that followed, he would frequently shift between film (Clean Slate) and television (The Louie Show) while supplementing his income with voice-over work for such popular anime series as Armitage III. Supporting performances in such high-profile features as That Thing You Do! and Saving Private Ryan helped to increase the busy actor's recognition factor, and in 1999, Cranston wrote, produced, directed, and starred in his first feature film, a low-key drama entitled Last Chance. Though the film failed to gain much attention, Cranston was soon receiving numerous positive notices for his Emmy-nominated role as the hapless father in the breakout television hit Malcolm in the Middle. His performance alternately eccentric and endearing, Cranston injected the role with the perfect balance of fatherly weirdness and down-to-earth charm, and the series embarked on a healthy run. In the years that followed, Cranston became an increasingly familiar face to television and film viewers, and in addition to offering vocal work for the short-lived animated television series Clerks, he would contribute to such family-friendly fare as 'Twas the Night and The Santa Claus Brothers. After taking the lead in the 2003 made-for-television feature Thanksgiving Family Reunion, Cranston could be spotted opposite screen legend Kirk Douglas in the 2004 drama The Illusion. He appeared in the 2006 miniseries Fallen, and had a bit part in the Oscar nominated Little Miss Sunshine.However, in 2008 his career entered a whole new phase when he began work on the AMC series Breaking Bad, playing a chemistry teacher who becomes a meth dealer. His work on the critically lauded program would earn him four Emmys for Best Actor in a Drama Series (plus another two as a producer on the series). It also made him an in-demand character actor for movies and he worked steadily appearing in projects as radically different as Drive, Larry Crowne, Red Tails, John Carter, and Rock of Ages among many others.In 2014, Cranston made his Broadway debut in the play All The Way, playing President Lyndon Baines Johnson. The role earned him a Tony Award, and he committed to reprising the role for a TV movie. The following year, he played blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo in the film Trumbo (2015), nabbing Cranston his first Academy Award nomination.

Trivia: Supporting and occasional leading actress Dey Young made her screen debut playing Kate in the rollicking Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979). Her sister Leigh Taylor-Young is also an actress.

Trivia: Character actor Alan Fudge essayed an exhausting variety of roles while a member of New York's APA repertory troupe in the late 1960s. In films, Fudge has largely been limited to playing rule-bound corporate types, lawyers, doctors and urban detectives. He was prominently billed in The Natural (1984) as Ed Hobbs, father of baseball whiz Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford), but his appearance was confined to a non-speaking precredits bit, lensed in long-shot. He was far more visible in his many TV guest appearances on such series as MASH and Knight Rider, and in such made-for-TV movies as The Blue Knight (1973), Children of An Lac (1980), I Know My First Name is Steven (1989) and MANTIS (1994). Alan Fudge's weekly-series stints include the roles of C W Crawford in Man From Atlantis (1977), Det. Commissioner Kimbrough on Escheid (1979), Dr. Van Adams in Paper Dolls (1984) and Chief Frank Leland in Bodies of Evidence (1992).

Trivia: Inspired to act by his mother, who worked in a community-theater props department. Joined a children's summer theater at age 9. Made film debut in director Blake Edwards' 1986 movie That's Life! Best known for his role as Theodore 'T-Bag' Bagwell on Prison Break.

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.