Trivia: Of the many performers to leap into films from the springboard of the television sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live, Bill Murray has been among the most successful and unpredictable, forging an idiosyncratic career allowing him to stretch from low-brow slapstick farce to intelligent adult drama. Born in Wilmette, IL, on September 21, 1950, Murray was an incorrigible child, kicked out of both the Boy Scouts and Little League. At the age of 20, he was also arrested for attempting to smuggle close to nine pounds of marijuana through nearby O'Hare Airport. In an attempt to find direction in his life, he joined his older brother, Brian Doyle-Murray, in the cast of Chicago's Second City improvisational comedy troupe. He later relocated to New York City, joining radio's National Lampoon Hour. Both Murray siblings were also in a 1975 off-Broadway spin-off, also dubbed The National Lampoon Hour; there Murray was spotted by sportscaster Howard Cosell, who recruited him for the cast of his ABC variety program, titled Saturday Night Live With Howard Cosell. On the NBC network, a program also named Saturday Night Live was creating a much bigger sensation; when, after one season, the show's breakout star Chevy Chase exited to pursue a film career, producer Lorne Michaels tapped Murray as his replacement. Murray too became a celebrity, developing a fabulously insincere and sleazy comic persona which was put to good use in his first major film, the 1979 hit Meatballs. He next starred as the famed gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson in the film biography Where the Buffalo Roam, a major disaster. However, 1980's Caddyshack was a masterpiece of slob comedy, with Murray memorable as a maniacal rangeboy hunting the gopher that is slowly destroying his golf course. The film launched him to the ranks of major stardom; the follow-up, the armed services farce Stripes, was an even bigger blockbuster, earning over 40 million dollars at the box office. Murray next appeared, unbilled, in 1982's Tootsie before starring with Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis in 1984's Ghostbusters. The supernatural comedy was one of the decade's biggest hits, earning over 130 million dollars and spawning a cartoon series, action figures, and even a chart-topping theme song (performed by Ray Parker Jr.). Murray now ranked among the world's most popular actors, and he next fulfilled a long-standing dream by starring in and co-writing an adaptation of the W. Somerset Maugham novel The Razor's Edge. Few fans knew what to make of his abrupt turn from broad farce to literary drama, however, and as a result the film flopped. Murray spent the next several years in self-imposed exile, making only a cameo appearance in the 1986 musical comedy Little Shop of Horrors. After much deliberation, he finally selected his comeback vehicle -- 1988's Scrooged, a black comic retelling of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. While it performed moderately well, it was not the smash many predicted. Nor was 1989's Ghostbusters II, which grossed less than half of the first picture. The 1990 crime comedy Quick Change, which Murray co-directed with Howard Franklin, was also a disappointment, but 1991's What About Bob? was an unqualified hit. In 1993, Murray earned his strongest notices to date for Groundhog Day, a sublime comedy directed by longtime conspirator Ramis. Beginning with 1994's acclaimed Ed Wood, in which he appeared as a transsexual, Murray's career choices grew increasingly eccentric; in 1996 alone, he starred in the little-seen Larger Than Life as a motivational speaker, co-starred as a bowling champion in Kingpin, and appeared as himself in the family film Space Jam. In 1998, Murray took on a similarly eccentric role in Wes Anderson's Rushmore. Playing a business tycoon competing with an equally eccentric 15-year-old (Jason Schwartzman) for the affections of a first grade teacher (Olivia Williams), Murray did some of his best work in years and won the Best Supporting Actor award from the New York Film Critics Circle. The film's success helped to put the actor back in the forefront, and he drew further exposure that year from his appearance as a sleazy lawyer in the relentlessly trashy Wild Things. The following year, he could be seen in Cradle Will Rock, Tim Robbins' look at the often contentious relationship between art and politics in 1930s America.Though the mere thought of Murray as Polonius in a film adaptation of William Shakespeare's Hamlet may have elicited dumbounded looks and confused laughter early in his career, that was precisely how the versatile thespian ushered in the new millennium in director Micheal Almereyda's modern updating of the classic drama. Subsequently landing laughs as the superspy point person Bosley in the big screen adaptation of the classic 1970's television hit Charlie's Angels, Murray's interpretation of the character would be taken over by popular comic Bernie Mac in the film's 2003 sequel. After taking a brief voyage into gross-out territory with the Farrelly brother's Osmosis Jones in 2001, a re-teaming with Rushmore director Anderson resulted in a small but memorable supporting performance in the same year's The Royal Tenenbaums. In 2003 Murray essayed the role that would offer what was perhaps his most heartfelt combination of personal drama and touching comedy to date in director Sofia Coppola's acclaimed indie film Lost in Translation. Cast as a washed up American actor who strikes up a tentative friendship with the young wife of a superstar photographer while on a stay in Japan to endorse a popular brand of whiskey, Murray's low-key charm proved the perfect balance to co-star Scarlett Johansson's youthful malaise. Virtually across the board, critics were bowled over by the subtle depth of Murray's performance, leading to Best Actor honors from The New York Film Critics Circle, The Boston Society of Film Critics, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association, The San Francisco Film Critics Circle, The National Society of Film Critics, The Golden Globes, and The Independent Spirit Awards. But the one award that remained elusive to Murray was Oscar. Though nominated, the prize ultimately went to Sean Penn for Mystic River.In 2004, along with providing the voice for a CGI version of Garfield the cat, Murray once again teamed up with director Wes Anderson, starring as as a world-renowned oceanographer in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. While The Life Aquatic was met with mixed reviews, Murray's performance in the 2005 Jim Jarmusch film Broken Flowers netted virtually unanimous acclaim. Over the next several years, Murray would maintain his selective film career, appearing in acclaimed films like Get Low, Passion Play, and Moonrise Kingdom.

Trivia: His long and fruitful association with Canada's Second City comedy troupe has led some to assume that Harold Ramis was Canadian; actually he hailed from the original "Second City," Chicago. After college, Ramis worked as editor of the Party Jokes page of Playboy magazine. He later performed with Chicago's Second City aggregation, and was a cast member of the Broadway revue National Lampoon's Lemmings, a major spawning ground of most of Saturday Night Live's cast. Ramis didn't join the SNL folks, but instead headed for Edmonton, where he was a writer/performer on the weekly Second City TV sketch comedy series. Like the rest of his talented co-stars, Ramis played a rich variety of roles on the series, the most prominent of which was TV station manager Moe Green (a character name swiped from the second Godfather movie); his other characters tended to be nerdy or officious types. Ramis' film activities have included screenwriting (National Lampoon's Animal House) and directing (1980s Caddyshack and 1984's Club Paradise). His best remembered screen appearance was as paranormal troubleshooter Egon Spengler in the two Ghostbusters flicks. Retaining close ties with his Second City compadres (on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border), Ramis directed the 1993 Bill Murray vehicle Groundhog Day and the 1995 Al Franken starrer Stuart Saves His Family. Though Groundhog Day was generally lauded as one of the most fresh and original comedies to come down the pipe in quite some time, Stuart Saves His Family didn't prove any where near as successful despite some generally positive critical nods. To be fair, audiences had certainly had their fill of SNL spinoff movies by this point and the movie did have a somewhat hard time balancing its drama with comedy, but with well written characters and a smart script many eventually succumbed to its charm when the film was released on home video shortly thereafter. Where Stuart Saves His Family had scored with critics and bombed with the masses, Ramis' next film, the Michael Keaton comedy Multiplicity, did almost the exact opposite. Generally regarded as only a mediocre effort by the press, audiences seemed to enjoy the idea of multiple Keatons and the film performed fairly well at the box office. It seemed that Ramis was a director in need of balancing critical and mass reception, and with his next film he seemed to do just that. An inventive comedy that paired Robert DeNiro and Billy Crystal as a troubled mob boss and his tentative psychiatrist respectively, Analyze This seemed to get a fair shake from just about everybody. As one of DeNiro's first straight comedies, audiences had a cathartic blast watching him gleefully deconstruct the hardened, fearsome persona he had been perfecting since the early days of his career. Ramis next stepped behind the camera for Bedazzled - a remake of the beloved Dudley Moore/Peter Cooke comedy classic. Unfortunately the film proved to be one of the director's biggest failures to date. Opting next to stick with more familiar, but again not altogether original ground, Ramis headed up the sequel to Analyze This - amusingly titled Analyze That - in 2002. Though it may not have been the most necessary sequel in the history of film, fans were generally pleased and the film proved a moderate success. Sure all of Ramis' work as a director left little time for other endeavors, but the busy filmmaker somehow found time to serve as a producer on many of his own projects (in addition to such non-Ramis directed films as The First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest) as well as step in front of the camera for such efforts as As Good As It Gets (1997), Orange County (2002), Knocked Up (2007), Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007), and Year One (2009), which he also wrote and directed. Ramis died at age 69 in 2014.

Trivia: Oates first acted in a student play while attending the University of Louisville. He moved to New York in 1954, hoping to find work on the stage or TV; instead he had a series of odd jobs. Eventually he appeared in a few live TV dramas, and when this work slowed down he moved to Hollywood; there he became a stock villain in many TV and film Westerns. Over the years he gained respect as an excellent character actor; by the early '70s he was appearing in both unusual, unglamorous leads and significant supporting roles. His breakthrough role was in In the Heat of the Night (1967). He played the title role in Dillinger (1973).

Trivia: American actress P.J. Soles (her initials stand for Pamela Jayne) has specialized in playing sexy, sometimes villainous young women. She debuted as one of the nasty girls who makes life a living hell for an awkward young woman with psychokinetic powers in Carrie (1976). In 1978, she played Jamie Lee Curtis' best friend in Halloween and had her first starring role the following year as a rabid Ramones fan in Rock 'n' Roll High School. Though she is most frequently cast in supporting parts, she occasionally wins leads in films such as Stripes (1981) and the low-budget thriller Innocent Prey. In addition to her American filmwork, Soles has worked in several international films.

Trivia: Tall, slender, and graceful brunette actress Sean Young has had a busy film career, but has yet to make it past mid-range stardom. This may be partially due to some of the negative publicity generated through her personal life. Before coming to Hollywood in 1980 to perform in Jane Austen in Manhattan, Young had been a New York model and a dancer. Fans of the sci-fi epic Blade Runner (1982) remember Young for playing the sympathetic "replicant" Rachael. Although she appeared in several major features by 1987, Young didn't get much notice as a potential star until after she co-starred with Kevin Costner in the thriller No Way Out (1987). Her love scenes with Costner generated considerable heat on and off the screen. In 1989, Young made entertainment news when her former co-star from The Boost (1988), James Woods, filed a harassment suit against her claiming that she had repeatedly threatened him after their affair soured. Young retaliated by hitting the talk show circuit to deny the claims, all the while continuing her acting career. That year, she was scheduled to play Vicki Vale in Tim Burton's Batman, but broke her collarbone during a riding scene with Michael Keaton and was replaced by Kim Bassinger, something she publicly disputed with Burton. Through the '90s, Young continued to appear regularly onscreen.

Trivia: Canadian comic actor John Candy was geared toward a performing career even while studying for a journalism degree in college. Candy's bulky frame and built-in likability enabled him to secure small roles in Canadian film and TV productions. In the early '70s, Candy joined Canada's Second City Troupe, sharing the spotlight with such potent talent (and subsequent close friends) as Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas, Andrea Martin, and Catherine O'Hara. Second City TV, popularly known as SCTV, entered the Canadian TV airwaves in 1975 and was syndicated to the United States two years later. Candy scored an instant hit with such characters as porcine poseur Johnny LaRue, overly unctuous talk show sidekick William B., and ever-grinning "Lutonian" musician Yosh Shmenge. So popular did Candy become that suddenly many of his obscurer pre-starring Canadian films (It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time, The Clown Murders) became hot properties on the video rental circuit. Candy stayed with the various SCTV syndicated and network programs until 1983, earning two Emmys in the process. One of the few genuine nice guys in the realm of comedy, Candy was beloved by both co-workers and fans -- even when this lovability was stretched to the breaking point in substandard films. He scored in supporting roles (Splash [1984], Brewster's Millions [1985]), but such thinnish starring features as Summer Rental (1985) and Who's Harry Crumb (1989) seemed to suggest that Candy couldn't carry a film by himself. Then he starred in Uncle Buck (1989), a disarming comedy about a ne'er-do-well with hidden nobility. Receiving relatively little promotion, Uncle Buck was a surprise hit, and stands today as perhaps Candy's best-ever vehicle after Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Unfortunately, most of his follow-up films were on a par with the disastrous Nothing but Trouble (1990) and Delirious (1992). At the same time, Candy's leading role in Only the Lonely (1991) and his supporting performance in JFK (1992) proved that a major talent was being squandered by the film industry. Candy was as frustrated as his fans, manifesting this frustration in excessive eating, drinking, and smoking. The actor's superlative seriocomic turn as a disgraced Olympic star in Cool Runnings (1993), which Candy also co-produced, seemed to point toward a career upswing. But while filming Wagons East in Mexico, 43-year-old John Candy suffered a heart attack and died in his sleep. Wagons East was released in the summer of 1994, utilizing Candy's existing footage as well as possible; it proved, sadly, an inadequate epitaph for one of film comedy's funniest and most ingratiating stars.

Trivia: American actor John Larroquette began gaining public attention as a disc jockey. For several years, he paid the bills with TV and movie voiceovers, notably as the (uncredited) narrator of Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). Larroquette started getting on-camera assignments in the mid 1970s, making his network TV bow in the role of Dr. Paul Herman in the prime time weekly Doctors' Hospital (1975-76); this was followed by a two-year stint as Robert Anderson on the Robert Conrad TV vehicle Black Sheep Squadron (1976-78). From 1984 through 1992, Larroquette portrayed assistant DA and self-styled ladies man Dan Fielding on the popular sitcom Night Court, a role which won him four Emmy awards. In 1994, the actor starred in his own series, The John Larroquette Show, playing an erudite recovering alcoholic who manages a St. Louis bus depot.His film career never quite matched the success he found on the small- screen, but he had small parts in The Twilight Zone Movie and Choose Me before he reached the height of his Night Court Fame. He was a friend to Bruce Willis in the Blake Edwards comedy Blind Date and appeared opposite his fellow NBC sitcom star Kirstie Alley in the flop Madhouse. He was one o the adult leads in the 1994 version of Richie Rich. As the '90s came to a close he returned to the small-screen in Payne, an attempt to update the classic British series Fawlty Towers. As the new century began, Larroquete could be seen in The 10th Kingdom, and a few years later he lent his voice as the narrator of the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - just as he did for the original thirty years before. He appeared in diverse projects such as Beethoven's 5th, and the 2006 Southland Tales. He scored a recurring role for a couple of seasons on Boston Legal.

Trivia: Following his training at the North Carolina School of the Arts, actor Judge Reinhold worked in regional repertory, dinner theaters, and "outdoor" dramas. He gained prominence in TV roles as gawky teenagers, notably the lead in the syndicated Capital Cities Special A Step Too Slow. In films from 1979, Reinhold's first major role was high schooler Brad in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. He hit his stride in 1984, playing the nice-guy detective sent to trail Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop (1984). Though he has proven a convincing villain when the need has arisen, Judge Reinhold has thrived in parts calling for decency and dependency. Reinhold's career slowed down a bit during the '90s and in the early part of the decade he seemed destined to be relegated to B-movies and television films such as Four Eyes and Six Guns (1993), but in 1994, he appeared in two major features, Beverly Hills Cop III and The Santa Clause.

Trivia: On the New York theatrical scene, American actor John Diehl is best known for his work in a variety of avant-garde and experimental productions. Diehl's film characterizations are among the more traditional lines of petty thieves and psycho killers (vide 1984's Angel). After seeing Diehl portray an assortment of punks, wackos, and malcontents, it came as a surprise (and a bit of a relief) to see him cast as a normal suburban dad -- albeit an obnoxious one -- in Falling Down (1993). John Diehl may be most familiar to television viewers for his multi-season stint as laid-back Detective Larry Zito on TV's Miami Vice.

Trivia: French-Cajun actor Lance LeGault broke into films as a stand-in for several male stars, foremost among them Elvis Presley. LeGault also worked as a stunt double, occasionally playing speaking roles in films like 1968's The Young Runaway. He has also been steadily employed as a nightclub and lounge singer. In the 1980s, he was busy on television in a variety of rough-hewn characterizations. Lance LeGault's regular TV-series roles include antagonistic Col. Roderick Decker in The A-Team (1983-86) and gonzo bounty hunter Alamo Joe in Werewolf (1987-88).

Trivia: Character actor Antone Pagan landed his first big break under the aegis of Ivan Reitman, as one of the training recruits in the 1981 Bill Murray comedy Stripes. He followed it up with minor roles and bit parts in such features as Dirty Dancing (1987) and Hangin' with the Homeboys (1991), and occasional guest appearances on series such as New York Undercover and Law & Order. In 2007, Pagan signed for one of the lead roles in Mulberry Street -- a natural horror opus about a plague sweeping New York City and turning Manhattanites into carnivorous, rat-like creatures.

Trivia: Dependable American character actor Bill Lucking has seldom had any professional "down time" since his 1969 film debut. In 1980 alone, Lucking showed up in four movies, not to mention any number of TV programs. One of his more rewarding film assignments was in Doc Savage (1975) as the doc's trusted cohort Renny. In addition to his many TV-movie appearances (e.g. Brother Matthias in 1991's Babe Ruth) and guest spots, Bill Lucking has had regular weekly roles on Big Hawaii (1977, as ranch foreman Oscar Kalahani), Shannon (1981, as NYPD detective Norm White), The A-Team (1983-84, as the team's nemesis Col. Lynch), Jessie (1984, as Sgt. McClellan) and Outlaws (1986, as bank robber Harland Pike).

Trivia: A familiar presence on the Chicago theatrical scene, American character actress Fran Ryan has kept busy in films since the late 1960s. Often cast as tight-lipped "battle-ax" types (albeit with the proverbial twinkle in the eye), Ryan was an invaluable presence in several Disney films. On TV, she has thrice found herself in the unenviable position of last-minute replacement: she took over the role of Doris Ziffel from Barbara Pepper during the 1969-70 season of Green Acres; as Miss Hannah, she succeeded Kitty Russell (Amanda Blake) as proprietress of the Long Branch Saloon in the 1974-75 season of Gunsmoke; and on the Saturday-morning kiddie show Sigmund and the Sea Monsters (1974-77), she replaced the departing Mary Wickes as the series' requisite wisecracking housekeeper. Fran Ryan's other TV-series credits include The Doris Day Show (1968-69 season, as housekeeper Aggie Thompson), No Soap, Radio (1982, as hotelier Mrs. Belmont) and The Wizard (1987, as yet another housekeeper, this one named Tillie).

Trivia: An alumnus of the famous Second City improvisational troupe that produced some of the best comics of the '70s and '80s, Joe Flaherty is best remembered for playing Guy Caballero, the Argentine owner of the fictional Channel 109, the home of Second City TV (1977-1981), a hilarious Toronto-based parody of all things television. Flaherty made his feature-film debut in Alex and the Gypsy (1976). He has subsequently gone on to play small character roles in numerous films of widely varying quality. Flaherty also occasionally appeared as a television guest star in shows such as Ellen (1994-1998).

Trivia: "...And Dave Thomas as the Beaver" was the voice-over billing given this Canadian entertainer on the 1970s TV series Second City Television. But while Thomas may have had the adolescent face and short stature of Jerry Mathers, his taste in comedy was as mature and as wickedly satirical as any of his Second City confreres. Among Thomas' dozens of comic characterizations during his Emmy-winning SCTV years, the best known and most popular were his dead-on impression of Bob Hope and his deadhead interpretation of donut-munching, bacon-ingesting, beer-swilling "typical" Canadian Doug McKenzie. Together with his onscreen "brother," Bob McKenzie (better known as Rick Moranis), Thomas starred in the goofy feature film Strange Brew (1982), the first and last film ever made in "Hose-a-rama" (the origin of this phrase and a rundown of the rest of the McKenzie brothers' catchphrases could be given here, but it's known what happens when humor is dissected and left to die). Dave Thomas' career hasn't quite reached the heights of such SCTV alumni as Moranis, Martin Short, and the late John Candy, but he's still plugging away, producing, directing, writing, and starring in uproarious cable TV specials; Thomas was cast in the regular role of Russell on the popular Brett Butler sitcom Grace Under Fire.

Trivia: A graduate of Alfred University, American actor Robert Klein spent the 1960s and 1970s amassing a respectable list of stage and film credits (he played George Segal's befuddled roomie in The Owl and the Pussycat [1970]), but his bread and butter turned out to be his career as a stand-up comic. First gaining national attention as host of the 1970 TV variety series Comedy Tonight, Klein went on to transcribe his comedy routines in a series of popular record albums. A "reporter" of humor, the raspy-voiced, heavily eyebrowed Klein is at his best commenting offhandedly on the absurdities of everyday life. Some of his best routines involve the dissection of such pop-culture icons as The Little Rascals, My Little Margie, and Babe Ruth; other monologues recall such childhood experiences as civil defense drills and the first dance (complete with imitations of the Johnny Mathis records heard on the PA). Klein continued taking acting jobs into the 1970s and 1980s: one of his longer engagements during this period was in the Neil Simon Broadway musical They're Playing Our Song. In 1991, Robert Klein found himself the unofficial spokesperson for the Comedy Central cable service, hosting the weekly series Dead Comics Society and Stand Up Stand Up. He also appeared occasionally on the NBC drama Sisters. Klein continued to take small roles in respectable films throughout the late 1990s and 2000s; among his credits include Primary Colors (1998), Next Stop Wonderland (1998), and Ira & Abby (2006). In 2007 he appeared in the noted documentary Sputnik Mania, and continues to be active in film and television.

Trivia: A former Miami Beach lifeguard, strapping Ohio-born Bob Wilke performed stunt work in Hollywood films from 1936, often working for low-budget studios such as Republic Pictures and Monogram. He began earning better roles in the mid- to late '40s, mostly villainous, and went on to become one of the busiest supporting players on television in the 1950s and 1960s, appearing in small-screen Western fare ranging from Gene Autry to Lancer.

Trivia: Red-haired, occasionally bearded American actor Timothy Busfield was a stage professional virtually from the moment he left East Tennessee State University. His earliest regular TV work was on the short-lived 1983 sitcom Reggie, playing the layabout aspiring-actor son of Richard Mulligan. One year later, Busfield was cast as Pernell Roberts' intern son on Trapper John, MD. He also appeared as Poindexter in Revenge of the Nerds and its sequel. In 1987, Busfield was fortuitously cast on the "yuppie" TV weekly thirtysomething, playing Elliot Weston, the business partner and best friend of series lead Michael Steadman (Ken Olin). From this point onward, Busfield was able to secure choice film supporting roles, generally as a stuffy, snotty "upwardly mobile" type. In addition to being honored with Emmy nominations from 1988-1990 for his work on thirtysomething, Busfield won a Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Emmy in 1991. His most likeable screen portrayal was as Kevin Costner's uptight, money-conscious, and essentially decent brother-in-law in the 1989 blockbuster Field of Dreams.Busfield forged a career behind the scenes as well, starting with directing episodes of thirtysomething while he was acting on that show. Among the series for which he has directed episodes are Sports Night, Ed, Las Vegas, and Joan of Arcadia. He also took on co-executive producing with the shows Ed and Without a Trace. Busfield still acted regularly throughout the '90s and into the new millenium in both film and television, but his more major roles tended to be on the small screen. He starred in the family drama Byrds of Paradise and the sitcom Champs, also making guest-starring appearances on numerous shows, including Ed and Without a Trace. But Busfield's most memorable and notable TV role of this period was that of White House reporter Danny Concannon on the critically acclaimed series The West Wing. Busfield played the character off-and-on through the whole series, appearing in the second-to-last episode, wooing Allison Janney's C.J. Cregg. Busfield worked on Aaron Sorkin's follow-up series, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, playing director Cal Shanley on the show, and also helmed six episodes. Studio 60 was canceled after only one season, and since then, Busfield has alternated between guest spots and directing gigs.

Trivia: Possessing a special talent for totally immersing himself in his roles, Bill Paxton did not always get the recognition he deserves. Tall, rangy, and boyishly good looking, Paxton's career was a curiosity that found the character actor-turned-filmmaker succeeding in intermittently pulling the rug from under filmgoers' feet with a constantly expanding sense of maturity and range.Paxton's interest in films emerged during his teens when he began making his own movies with a Super-8 camera. He formally entered the entertainment industry in 1974 as a set dresser for Roger Corman's New World Pictures. Paxton made his acting debut as a bit player in Crazy Mama (1975), and afterward, the young thespian moved to New York to hone his skills. Following performances in a couple of horror quickies, Paxton formally launched his Hollywood career with a tiny part in Ivan Reitman's Stripes (1981) and this led to a steady if not unremarkable career in film and television during the '80s. In addition to acting, Paxton made short independent films such as Fish Heads, (1982) which became a favorite on NBC's Saturday Night Live. Paxton's acting career got a much-needed boost in 1985 when he was cast as Ilan Mitchell-Smith's obnoxious big brother Chet Donolley in John Hughes' Weird Science. Some of Paxton's more memorable subsequent roles include that of a cocky intergalactic soldier in James Cameron's Aliens (1986), a crazed vampire in Kathryn Bigelow's Near Dark, and sickly astronaut Freddie Hayes in Ron Howard's Apollo 13. In 1996, Paxton landed a starring role, opposite Helen Hunt, in the special-effects blockbuster Twister; his career took an upward turn and Paxton got more leads than ever. Though few audiences saw it in its limited release, critics were quick to praise Paxton's turn as con-artist Traveler in the 1997 movie of the same name. Following a doomed voyage on the Titanic the same year, the workhorse actor once again intrigued filmgoers as a small-town dweller struggling with his conscience after stumbling into over a million dollars in usually flamboyant director Sam Raimi's strikingly subdued A Simple Plan. A quiet and intense performance enhanced by a talented cast including Billy Bob Thornton and Bridget Fonda, the psychological crime drama once again provided further proof that Paxton's impressive range of emotion stretched beyond what many filmgoers may have previously suspected. Though subsequent performances in Mighty Joe Young (1998) and U-571 (2000) did little to backup the promise shown in A Simple Plan, Paxton still had a few tricks up his sleeve, as evidenced by his directorial debut Frailty (2002), a surprisingly competent and genuinely frightening tale of religious fervor and questionable sanity. Though cynical filmgoers may have initially viewed the trailer-touting praises of former collaborators Raimi and James Cameron as favors from old friends, the taut tale of a father who claims that God has provided him with a list of "demons" that he and his sons must cast from the earth blind-sided critics and filmgoers with its disturbingly minimalistic yet complex psychological thriller that recalled the thematic elements of previous efforts as Michael Tolkin's The Rapture (1991). His performance as a loving father who reluctantly embarks on God's mission was a vital component of the films emotional impact, and was once again proof that this former supporting player still had a few tricks up his sleeve.Though he hadn't paid much attention to television since his early career, in 2006, Paxton took on the lead role in HBO's Big Love, playing a polygamous husband with three wives. The show was a hit and garnered critical acclaim, including three Golden Globe nominations for Paxton. When the show wrapped up after five seasons, Paxton joined the miniseries Hatfields & McCoys, earning his only Emmy nomination of his career for the role. In 2014, Paxton took on a recurring role in Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., playing the villainous John Garrett. He also played Sam Houston in 2015 miniseries Texas Rising. In 2017, his new network show Training Day (a small-screen version of the film) aired only three episodes before Paxton suddenly died of complications from surgery at age 61.

Trivia: It sounds apocryphal, but it's true: 13-year-old Kevin Pollak did begin his Bar Mitzvah speech with "A funny thing happened on the way to the temple..." In fact, Pollak's rabbi had encouraged him to do so: even at this early stage, the boy evinced a gift for comic timing. By 17, he was doing stand-up in his native San Francisco. He went on to play the West Coast comedy-club and improv circuit, and was briefly teamed with Dana Carvey, a professional collaboration that ended amicably when Carvey was hired by Saturday Night Live. Though Pollak himself didn't make it to SNL, he flourished as an impressionist, writer and film and TV supporting actor. He was given several opportunities to shine in such films as Barry Levenson's Avalon (1990), Mick Jackson's LA Story (1991) and Rob Reiner's A Few Good Men (1992). Reiner went on to team Pollak with Bob Amaral in the weekly TVer Morton and Hayes (1991) a hit-and-miss homage to the 2-reel comedies of the 1930s and 1940s (Pollak had previously played a featured role in the short-lived 1988 sitcom Coming of Age). Kevin Pollak's film career went into warp-drive in the 1990s, with such choice roles as Jacob in the two Grumpy Old Men flicks, Todd Hockney in The Usual Suspects (1995), Phillip Green in Casino (1995), and Boss Vic Koss in That Thing You Do (1996).His film and television career still going strong into the 2000s, Pollak found a way to work his passion for poker into his schedule as host of Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown in 2003, and in 2009 he launched a weekly internet series entitled Kevin Pollak's Chat Show.

Trivia: Robert J. Wilke's first taste of popularity came while he was performing with a high-dive act at the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago. Encouraged to give Hollywood a try, Wilke entered films as a stunt man and bit player in 1936. He spent most of his movie career in Westerns like High Noon (1952), Arrowhead (1953), The Lone Ranger (1955), and The Magnificent Seven (1960), generally playing bad-guy roles which required both menace and physical dexterity. In 1965, Robert J. Wilke was seen on a weekly basis as Sheriff Sam Corbett on the TV sagebrusher The Legend of Jesse James.