Trivia: Born in New York City to parents of Cuban extraction, American actor Cesar Romero studied for his craft at Collegiate and Riverdale Country schools. After a brief career as a ballroom dancer, the tall, sleekly handsome Romero made his Broadway debut in the 1927 production Lady Do. He received several Hollywood offers after his appearance in the Preston Sturges play Strictly Dishonorable, but didn't step before the cameras until 1933 for his first film The Shadow Laughs (later biographies would claim that Romero's movie bow was in The Thin Man [1934], in which he was typecast as a callow gigolo). Long associated with 20th Century-Fox, Romero occasionally cashed in on his heritage to play Latin Lover types, but was more at home with characters of indeterminate nationalities, usually playing breezily comic second leads (whenever Romero received third billing, chances were he wasn't going to get the girl). Cheerfully plunging into the Hollywood social scene, Romero became one of the community's most eligible bachelors; while linked romantically with many top female stars, he chose never to marry, insisting to his dying day that he had no regrets over his confirmed bachelorhood. While he played a variety of film roles, Romero is best remembered as "The Cisco Kid" in a brief series of Fox programmers filmed between 1939 and 1940, though in truth his was a surprisingly humorless, sullen Cisco, with little of the rogueish charm that Duncan Renaldo brought to the role on television. The actor's favorite movie role, and indeed one of his best performances, was as Cortez in the 1947 20th Century-Fox spectacular The Captain From Castile. When his Fox contract ended in 1950, Romero was wealthy enough to retire, but the acting bug had never left his system; he continued to star throughout the 1950s in cheap B pictures, always giving his best no matter how seedy his surroundings. In 1953 Romero starred in a 39-week TV espionage series "Passport to Danger," which he cheerfully admitted to taking on because of a fat profits-percentage deal. TV fans of the 1960s most closely associate Romero with the role of the white-faced "Joker" on the "Batman" series. While Romero was willing to shed his inhibitions in this villainous characterization, he refused to shave his trademark moustache, compelling the makeup folks to slap the clown white over the 'stache as well (you can still see the outline in the closeups). As elegant and affluent-looking as ever, Romero signed on for the recurring role of Peter Stavros in the late-1980s nighttime soap opera "Falcon Crest." In the early 1990s, he showed up as host of a series of classic 1940s romantic films on cable's American Movie Classics. Romero died of a blood clot on New Year's Day, 1994, at the age of 86.

Trivia: A high school teacher and athletic coach in his native Alabama, George Lindsey decided in his early 20s that his destiny lay in the theater. Lindsey and his wife packed themselves off to New York, where he studied diligently at the American Theatre Wing. He spent a great deal of time losing his Southern accent, only to be forced to regain it when he found he couldn't get any work as a "Yankee." At first cast in unpleasant or sinister roles, Lindsey was forever pigeonholed as comedian when he played the one-shot role of Goober Beasley on a 1963 episode of The Andy Griffith Show, scoring a bull's-eye of hilarity with his inept celebrity impressions. When next he appeared on Griffith, he was Goober Pyle, cousin to Mayberry's resident village idiot Gomer Pyle. And when Gomer (aka Jim Nabors) was spun off into his own series, Lindsey became a Griffith regular. He stayed with Goober until 1971, by which time The Andy Griffith Show had evolved into the Griffith-less Mayberry RFD. He then joined the Hee Haw troupe, remaining with that popular syndicated TV variety series for two decades. Lindsey extended his oafish TV persona into his big-screen work, appearing in such films as Take This Job and Shove It and Cannonball Run II. Far wittier and more versatile than the hapless Goober, Lindsey has remained a popular attraction on the TV convention/country-western concert/rodeo circuit; he has made several singing appearances on The Grand Ole Opry, and for many years was a judge at the Miss USA pageant. In 1995, George Lindsey (assisted by Jim Beck and Ken Clark) published his autobiography, Goober in a Nutshell.

Trivia: "Titian-haired" is the manner in which actress Tina Louise is usually described. Despite her numerous comic performances, she prefers to be regarded as a serious actress; according to some of her co-workers, her preference in this manner often takes the form of an ultimatum. Louise was born near Brooklyn, where her father ran a candy store. She studied drama at Miami University, the Neighborhood Playhouse, and the Actors' Studio. A nightclub singer in the mid-1950s, Louise came to Broadway as Appasionatta von Climax in the original 1956 production of the musical Li'l Abner. Two years later she made her first film, the then-torrid God's Little Acre. By the early 1960s, Louise was shuttling between Hollywood and Europe, often appearing in productions of the shoestring variety. Louise is fondly remembered for her three-year (1964 through 1967) stint as Marilynesque movie star Ginger Grant on Gilligan's Island, though she despised the role and made no secret of it on the set. Nor did she wish to have anything to do with the Gilligan cartoon and TV movie follow-ups of the 1970s and 1980s, choosing instead to carve a reputation as a versatile, no-nonsense actress, though she eventually capitulated and appeared in The Castaways on Gilligan's Island. Though she would go on to make other film and TV appearances in the decades to come, even penning a children's book and earning her helicopter pilot's license, Louise would forever remain the most well known for the role of Ginger.

Trivia: When James Brolin was 15, his parents invited Hollywood producer/director William Castle to dinner. Impressed by Brolin's self-confidence and teen-idol looks, Castle invited him to audition for a film role at Columbia Pictures. When he failed to land the part, Brolin decided to "show 'em" by studying diligently for an acting career, eventually logging 5,000 hours of class time. While still attending U.C.L.A., he landed a small role on the Bus Stop TV series, which led to a 20th Century Fox contract. For the next five years, he marked time with bits and minor roles in such Fox features as Take Her, She's Mine (1963), Goodbye Charlie (1964), Von Ryan's Express (1965), Our Man Flint (1966), and Fantastic Voyage (1966). His first real break came with a peripheral but noticeable recurring role on the 1966 TV Western The Monroes. In 1968, Brolin finally attained stardom with his Emmy-winning characterization of Dr. Steve Kiley on the popular TV medical series Marcus Welby, M.D. During his five years with Welby, Brolin returned to films to play such choice roles as the unbalanced Vietnam vet in Skyjacked (1972) and ill-fated vacationer John Blaine in Westworld (1973). The most conspicuous of his post-Welby film assignments was 1976's Gable and Lombard, a cinematic atrocity redeemed only slightly by Brolin's earnest portrayal of Clark Gable. His most endearing screen assignment was his extended cameo as P.W. in Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (1985), and in 1992 he had one of his strongest roles to date as a wayward father in Allison Anders' Gas Food Lodging. Periodically returning to television, Brolin has starred on the weekly series Hotel (1983), Angel Falls (1993), and Extremities (1995). James Brolin is the father of actor Josh Brolin, who co-starred with his dad in the made-for-cable Finish Line (1989). In 1998, Brolin assumed one of his most high-profile real-life roles to date as the husband of Barbra Streisand, whom he married in July of that year.He remained one of the most respected actors of his generation and continued to work steadily for directors all over the world. In 2002 he was cast in Martin Scorsese's epic historical drama Gangs of New York. In 2003 he took a cameo part in Bright Young Things. In 2004 he returned for the Bridget Jones sequel, and took a bit part in Mike Leigh's Vera Drake. He worked in a number o animated films including Doogal, Valiant, and Robots. In 2007 he had the title role in Longford, a historical drama about the infamous Moor Murders, and the next year he was part of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls.He became part of the Harry Potter family with Half-Blood Prince, and played King William in the costume drama The Young Victoria, all in 2009. In 2010 he reunited with Mike Leigh and earned excellent reviews yet again for Another Year, and the next year he helped support Meryl Streep to an Oscar play the dutiful husband to The Iron Lady.

Trivia: American comic actor Henry Gibson acted professionally since childhood, but didn't gain prominence until his discovery by Jerry Lewis for a role in The Nutty Professor (1963). Gibson quickly developed a comedy act for TV variety shows, in which he passed himself off as a fey, Southern-accented "blank verse" poet. So convincing was this persona that many viewers believed Gibson was a genuine Southerner, though he actually hailed from Pennsylvania. He played a cruder variation of his yokel character as a patron of the "Belly Button" bar in Billy Wilder's Kiss Me Stupid (1964), and was hilarious as a hip-talking Indian in the Three Stooges' feature film The Outlaws is Coming (1965). Gibson might have continued in small roles indefinitely had he not been catapulted to stardom in 1968 as part of the ensemble on TV's Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, where his introductory "A poem...by Henry Gibson" became a national catchphrase. Gibson stayed with Laugh-In until 1971, whereupon he launched a reasonably successful career as a straight character actor. One of his best film roles of the '70s was Haven Hamilton, a hard-driving, flag-waving country-western star in Nashville (1975). Gibson not only delivered an expert performance but also co-wrote the songs sung by Haven Hamilton, including the deliberately banal Bicentennial ballad, "200 Years", in one of the film's early scenes. Henry Gibson continued throughout the next two decades playing strong movie character parts (the neo-Nazi commander in 1980's The Blues Brothers) and bright little cameos (the closet-smoking security guard in 1990's Gremlins 2). Gibson was also ubiquitously available as a guest star on such cable-TV reruns as Bewitched (he played a leprechaun) and F Troop (he was jinxed Private Wrongo Starr). He died of cancer in September 2009, about a week before his 74th birthday.