Trivia: Though perhaps best remembered for playing the suave, mysterious Mr. Roarke on the popular television series Fantasy Island (1978-1984), and for his car commercials in which he seductively exhorted the pleasures of the upholstery ("Rich, Corinthian leather") in his distinctive Spanish accent, Ricardo Montalban once played romantic leads in major features of the '40s and '50s. He also had a successful career on-stage. Born Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalban y Merino in Mexico City, Montalban spent part of his youth in the U.S. The tall, dark, handsome, and curly haired actor first worked as a bit player on Broadway before returning to Mexico in the early '40s and launching a film career there. By 1947, he had returned to the States and signed with MGM. That year, Montalban played his first leading role opposite Cyd Charisse in the romantic musical Fiesta (1947). It would be the first of many roles in which he would play a passionate singing and dancing "Latin Lover." He and Charisse again teamed up as dancers in the Esther Williams musical water extravaganza in On an Island With You (1948). At one point, it was a toss-up between Montalban and fellow MGM "LL" Fernando Lamas as to which was more popular. It would not be until 1949 before Montalban had the opportunity to play a non-romantic role as a border agent who gets revenge upon the killers of his partner in Border Incident. His second serious role in Battleground (1949) ranks among his best performances. By the late '50s, he had become a character actor, often cast in ethnic roles, notably that of a genteel Japanese Kabuki actor in Sayonara (1957). He had occasionally appeared on television since the late '50s, but did not appear regularly until the mid-'70s. In 1976, Montalban earned an Emmy for his portrayal of a Sioux chief in the television miniseries How the West Was Won. In the early '70s he was part of a touring troupe that read dramatic excerpts from Shaw's Don Juan in Hell. In 1982, Montalban reprised a role he had made famous on the original Star Trek TV series as the ruthless Khan to star in the second Star Trek feature, The Wrath of Khan. In the '80s, Montalban only sporadically appeared in feature films. His television career also slowed, though he occasionally appeared on series such as The Colbys (1985-1987) and Heaven Help Us! (1994). Montalban has written an autobiography, Reflections: A Life in Two Worlds (1980). Confined to a wheelchair after a 1993 spinal operation left him paralyzed from the waist down, Montalban remiained in good health despite being in constant pain, and continued to play an active role in promoting Nostros - a non-profit organization founded by Montalban in 1970 and dedicated to improving the image of Latinos within the entertainment industry. In the late 1990s and early 2000s Moltalban's career recieved something of a second wind when he began performing vocal work on such animated television series' as Freakazoid!, Dora the Explorer, and Kim Possible, with a role as the kindly grandfather in Robert Rodriguez's Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams and Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over even giving the wheelchair-bound actor an opportunity to triumphantly rise once again thanks to the magic of special effects. Additional vocal work in the 2006 animated family adventure The Ant Bully continued to keep Montalban busy despite his physical limitations. His brother, Carlos Montalban, was also an actor.

Trivia: Born in France to Eurasian parents, actress France Nuyen made her screen bow as Liat in the 1958 film version of South Pacific. Her gamine image didn't last long, however; later in 1958 she starred as the been-around heroine of the Broadway play The World of Suzie Wong. In 1960, she appeared in a recurring role on the American TV series Hong Kong, and some 25 years later could be seen on the weekly hospital drama St. Elsewhere. In the late '60s, France Nuyen was briefly the wife of actor Robert Culp.

Trivia: Samantha Eggar's father was a British Army brigadier and her mother was of Dutch/Portuguese extraction. Convent educated, Eggar became a stage actress in her teens. While performing in a Shakespeare play, Eggar was discovered by film producer Betty Box, who cast the tall, auburn-haired 23-year-old actress as a sluttish college coed in The Wild and the Willing (1961). Eggar's first international success was The Collector (1965), replacing Natalie Wood (who'd turned down the film) as the harried kidnap victim of obsessive Terence Stamp. Eggar garnered an Oscar nomination for her demanding performance, and also won the Cannes Film Festival award. Then followed a succession of unremarkable roles in films like Walk, Don't Run (1966) and Doctor Doolittle (1967) (which at least gave Eggar a chance to sing). She was better served in The Molly Maguires (1970) and Seven Per Cent Solution (1976), playing the wife of Sherlock Holmes crony Dr. Watson (Robert Duvall) in the latter. Eggar's prolific American TV work has included the role of Anna Leonowens in the expensive, short-lived weekly Anna and the King (1972). Samantha Eggar has managed to maintain her dignity and integrity despite far too many horror flicks like The Brood (1979).

Trivia: The son of a milliner from New York City's Lower East Side, Aaron Chwatt became a performer after winning an amateur contest at age 12. Six years later he was a singing bellboy in a Bronx tavern. It is from the uniform that he took his famous moniker, Red Buttons. A talented and versatile performer of stage, screen, and television, Buttons is equally at home in dramatic or comedic roles, but it was as a burlesque comedian working in the Catskills Mountains that he first made a name for himself. Buttons first appeared on Broadway playing a supporting role in Vickie (1942). Buttons appeared in the play Winged Victory a short while later, and he reprised his role in the 1944 screen version. In 1952, the red-haired comedian starred in the CBS television series The Red Buttons Show. Extremely popular during its first season -- Button's distinctive theme song in which he'd clap his hands together as if in prayer and sing, "Ho Ho! He He! Ha Ha! Strange things are happening!" was a sort of hit amongst American kids -- it was a blend of variety acts and a weekly sitcom. The show declined in popularity its second season and was canceled, then picked up by NBC the following year where it ran in different formats until 1955. Button's career went into decline, but the feisty little performer made an auspicious comeback playing a love-struck American soldier who defies the racist policies of the U.S. military and marries a Japanese woman in the tragic Sayonara (1957). His role landed him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. After that Buttons became a prolific character actor who could always be counted upon to bring an extra dinemsion of believablity to the roles he played. From television to film it was always an adventure for Buttons, with his role as a soft-spoken survivor in The Poseidon Adventure and small screen roles in The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, The Cosby Show, and Roseanne serving well to keep the amiable actor busy and in the public eye. At the 2005 Emmys, Buttons was nominated for a "Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series" for his recurring role as Jules "Ruby" Rubadoux in the long-running medical drama ER. Just one year later Buttons would succumb to vascular disease at the age of 87.

Trivia: An alumnus of City College-Los Angeles, Earl Bellamy spent the immediate postwar years in various secondary Hollywood production capacities. A film director from 1955, Bellamy specialized in second-feature westerns. He was also extremely busy in all facets of filmed television: his most fondly remembered TV association was with the tongue-in-cheek western series Laredo (1965-67).

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.