Trivia: The son of an Oklahoma dentist, Van Heflin moved to California after his parents separated. Drawn to a life on the sea, Heflin shipped out on a tramp steamer upon graduating from high school, returning after a year to attend the University of Oklahoma in pursuit of a law degree. Two years into his studies, Heflin was back on the ocean. Having entertained thoughts of a theatrical career since childhood, Heflin made his Broadway bow in Channing Pollock's Mister Moneypenny; when the play folded after 61 performances, Heflin once more retreated to the sea, sailing up and down the Pacific for nearly three years. He revitalized his acting career in 1931, appearing in one short-lived production after another until landing a long-running assignment in S. N. Behrmann's 1936 Broadway offering End of Summer. This led to his film bow in Katharine Hepburn's A Woman Rebels (1936), as well as a brief contract with RKO Radio. Katharine Hepburn requested Heflin's services once more for her Broadway play The Philadelphia Story, and while the 1940 MGM film version of that play cast James Stewart in Heflin's role, the studio thought enough of Heflin to sign him to a contract. One of his MGM roles, that of the alcoholic, Shakespeare-spouting best friend of Robert Taylor in Johnny Eager (1942), won Heflin a "Best Supporting Actor" Oscar. After serving in various Army film units in World War II, Heflin resumed his film career, and also for a short while was heard on radio as Raymond Chandler's philosophical private eye Philip Marlowe. He worked in both Hollywood and Europe throughout the 1950s. In 1963, he was engaged to narrate the prestigious TV anthology The Great Adventure. He was forced to pull out of this assignment when cast as the Louis Nizer character in the Broadway play A Case of Libel. Heflin's final film appearance was in the made-for-TV speculative drama The Last Child; he died of a heart attack at the age of 61. Van Heflin was married twice, first to silent film star Esther Ralston, then to RKO contract player Frances Neal (who should not be confused with Heflin's actress sister Frances Heflin).

Trivia: Born in Connecticut to an immigrant Irish couple, Ed Begley ran away from home several times before making a complete break from both his family and his formal education at the age of 13. For the next two decades, Begley knocked around in a variety of activities, from Naval service to working as bowling alley pin boy, before obtaining an announcer's job at a Hartford radio station in 1931. Ten years later, Begley moved to New York, where he became a prolific radio actor; from 1944 through 1948, he played the title role in the radio version of Charlie Chan. His belated Broadway debut at age 43 came in a short-lived play titled Land of Fame. In 1947, Begley created the role of benighted war profiteer Joe Keller in Arthur Miller's All My Sons; that same year, he was assigned a solid supporting part in his first film, Boomerang (1947). He was a familiar figure in TV's "golden age" of the 1950s, co-starring in the original video productions of Twelve Angry Men and Patterns. In 1955, he made the first of 789 appearances as the William Jennings Bryan counterpart in the Broadway drama Inherit the Wind, co-starring first with Paul Muni and then with Melvyn Douglas. Despite his ever-increasing activity, Ed Begley was standing in the unemployment compensation line in 1961 when he was informed that he'd been Oscar-nominated for his performance in Sweet Bird of Youth. Justifiably proud of his Oscar statuette, Begley reportedly carried it with him everywhere he went, even on short airplane flights! Ed Begley died at 69 while attending a party at the home of Hollywood press agent Jay Bernstein; he was the father of popular movie and TV leading man Ed Begley Jr.

Trivia: Trained at the Neighborhood Playhouse, Elizabeth Wilson made her first Broadway appearance as Christine Schoenwalder in the original 1953 production of William Inge's Picnic. Christine Schoenwalder served as Wilson's entrée into films when Picnic was transferred to the Big Screen in 1956. She continued racking up such impressive Broadway credits as Desk Set and The Tunnel of Love throughout the fifties. During the next two decades, Wilson found her particular niche in uptight maternal roles, notably such characters as Marjorie Newquist in the stage and screen versions of Jules Feiffer's Little Murders and Harriet in Joseph Papp's production of Stick and Bones, which earned her an Emmy. She was a favorite of director Mike Nichols, who cast her in The Graduate (1967, as Benjamin Braddock's mother), Catch 22 (1970) and Day of the Dolphin (1973). On television, Elizabeth Wilson had regular roles in such series as East Side/West Side (1963) Dark Shadows (1966-71, as Mrs. Hopewell) and Doc (1975). In 1980, she played office snitch Roz Keith in 9 to 5 and later played the main antagonist in The Addams Family (1991). Wilson continued to work in film and TV movies in her later years, playing the Van Doren matriarch in Quiz Show (1994) and Sara Delano Roosevelt in Hyde Park on Hudson (2012). Wilson died in 2015, at age 94.

Trivia: Manhattan-born Everett Sloane first set foot on-stage at age seven, in the role of Puck in a school production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. At 18, he dropped out of the University of Pennsylvania to join a stock company. Poor reviews convinced Sloane that his future did not lie in the theater, so he secured a job as a Wall Street runner -- only to return to acting after the 1929 crash. He went into radio, playing anything and everything (he was the standard voice of Adolph Hitler on "The March of Time"), then made his Broadway bow with Orson Welles' Mercury Theater. Welles brought Sloane to Hollywood in 1940 to play the wizened Mr. Bernstein in the cinema classic Citizen Kane; Sloane remained a Mercury associate until 1947, when he played the crippled attorney Bannister in Welles' Lady From Shanghai. Outside of the Welles orbit, Sloane was seen in the 1944 Broadway hit A Bell for Adano, and starred as the ruthless business executive in both the television and screen versions of Rod Serling's Patterns. Sloane's additional TV work included a 39-week starring stint on the syndicated series Official Detective, the voice of Dick Tracy in a batch of 130 cartoons produced in 1960 and 1961, and several episodic-TV directorial credits. Reportedly depressed over his encroaching blindness, Everett Sloane committed suicide at the age of 55.

Trivia: "Beatrice who?" This was the standard reaction of younger filmgoers when Beatrice Straight won the 1976 "Best Supporting Actress" Academy Award for her performance as Louise Schumacher, the wife of philandering TV producer William Holden, in Network. Older fans with longer memories knew full well who Beatrice Straight was--and also knew that she'd won her Oscar not merely for her brief Network stint, but for the work of a lifetime. Extensively trained in the Classics by such instructors as Tamara Daykarhanova and Michael Chekhov, Straight made her first Broadway appearance in 1935. She went on to appear in such New York stage productions as The Heiress, Ghosts, and A Streetcar Named Desire, winning the coveted Tony Award for her portrayal of Elizabeth Proctor in 1953's The Crucible. In films from 1951, she was often constrained by minor roles far beneath her talents; exceptions to this rule included her portrayal of Michael Rennie's widow in Phone Call from a Stranger (1952) and the wife of up-and-coming executive Van Heflin in Patterns (1956). Even after winning her Oscar, she found herself in so-so parts that any character actress could have played--though again, there were exceptions, notably her performance as the overconfident paranormal investigator in Poltergeist (1982). Like many another stage stalwart, Straight supplemented her Broadway income in such Manhattan-based TV soap operas as Love of Life. Her prime-time TV roles included Mrs. Hacker in Beacon Hill (1975), the Queen Mother in Wonder Woman (1976), Louisa Beauchamp in King's Crossing (1982), and Rose Kennedy in the 1985 miniseries Robert Kennedy and His Times. Beatrice Straight was at one time the wife of film and Broadway actor Peter Cookson.

Trivia: Began taking piano, dance and vocal lessons at W.O. Smith Music School as a young child growing up in Nashville. After moving to Atlanta during middle school, began performing in local stage productions with the Alliance Theatre and Horizon Theatre Company. Earned a bachelor's degree in psychology and worked in marketing before deciding to move to New York City to pursue a master's degree in acting at the New School. Made her New York stage debut in The 24 Hour Plays at Lucille Lortel Theatre. Nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her breakout role as Black Cindy in Orange Is the New Black in 2014. Starred in a short film titled #HowWeDoIt for the Make it Work campaign, an initiative that aims to alleviate the daily hardships of working class families. Performed in a Shakespeare in the Park production of The Taming of the Shrew at the Delacorte Theater. Is a mentor to young artists and supports the 52nd Street Project and Naked Angels, initiatives that support performing arts.

Trivia: Born in Indiana and raised in Texas, Andrew Duggan attended Indiana University on a speech and drama scholarship. He was starred there in Maxwell Anderson's The Eve of St. Mark, which was being given a nonprofessional pre-Broadway tryout; on the basis of this performance, Duggan was cast in the professional Chicago company of the Anderson play. Before rehearsals could start, however, Duggan was drafted into the army. After wartime service, Duggan began his acting career all over again, working at his uncle's Indiana farm in-between Broadway and stock engagements. In Hollywood in the late 1950s, Duggan was co-starred in the Warner Bros. TV series Bourbon Street Beat and was featured in such films as The Bravados (1958), Seven Days in May (1964) and In Like Flint (1967). He also was starred on the 1962 TV sitcom Room for One More and the 1968 video western Lancer. Because of his marked resemblance to Dwight D. Eisenhower, Duggan was frequently cast as generals and U.S. presidents. Andrew Duggan's last screen appearance was in The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover.

Trivia: Actor Edward Binns possessed two qualities that many of his contemporaries lacked: he was always reliable, and always believable. On Broadway, he was shown to good advantage in such hit productions as Command Decision, The Lark, A View From the Bridge, and Caligula. In films from 1951's Teresa, Binns' roles ranged from the vacillating Juror #6 in 12 Angry Men (1957) to the authoritative Major General Walter Bedell Smith in Patton (1970). On television, Binns played the title role in the 1959 cop drama Brenner, Dr. Anson Kiley in The Nurses (1962-1964), and secret-service contact man Wallie Powers in It Takes a Thief (1969-1970 season). Edward Binns died suddenly at the age of 74, while traveling from New York to his home in Connecticut.

Trivia: Following study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and subsequent stage and modeling experience, legendary actress Lauren Bacall gained nationwide attention by posing for a 1943 cover of Harper's Bazaar magazine. This photo prompted film director Howard Hawks to put her under personal contract, wanting to "create" a movie star from fresh, raw material.For her screen debut, Hawks cast Bacall opposite Humphrey Bogart in To Have and Have Not (1944). The young actress was so nervous that she walked around with her chin pressed against her collarbone to keep from shaking. As a result, she had to glance upward every time she spoke, an affectation which came across as sexy and alluring, earning Bacall the nickname "The Look." She also spoke in a deep, throaty manner, effectively obscuring the fact that she was only 19-years-old. Thanks to the diligence of Hawks and his crew -- and the actress' unique delivery of such lines as "If you want anything, just whistle..." -- Bacall found herself lauded as the most sensational newcomer of 1944. She also found herself in love with Humphrey Bogart, whom she subsequently married. Bogie and Bacall co-starred in three more films, which increased the actress' popularity, but also led critics to suggest that she was incapable of carrying a picture on her own. Bacall's disappointing solo turn in Confidential Agent (1945) seemed to confirm this, but the actress was a quick study and good listener, and before long she was turning in first-rate performances in such films as Young Man With a Horn (1950) and How to Marry a Millionaire (1953). Bogart's death in 1957 after a long and painful bout with cancer left Bacall personally devastated, though, in the tradition of her show-must-go-on husband, she continued to perform to the best of her ability in films such as Designing Woman (1957) and The Gift of Love (1958). In the late '60s, after Bacall's second marriage to another hard-case actor, Jason Robards Jr., she received only a handful of negligible film roles and all but dropped out of moviemaking. In 1970, Bacall made a triumphant comeback in the stage production Applause, a musical adaptation of All About Eve, in which she played grand dame Margo Channing, a role originally played by Bette Davis in the film version. Her sultry-vixen persona long in the past, Bacall spent the '70s playing variations on her worldly, resourceful Applause role, sometimes merely being decorative (Murder on the Orient Express, 1974), but most often delivering class-A performances (The Shootist, 1976). After playing the quasi-autobiographical part of a legendary, outspoken Broadway actress in 1981's The Fan, she spent the next ten years portraying Lauren Bacall -- and no one did it better. In 1993, Bacall proved once more that she was a superb actress and not merely a "professional personality" in the made-for-cable film The Portrait, in which she and her Designing Woman co-star Gregory Peck played a still-amorous elderly couple. During the filming of The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996), Bacall traveled to France to accept a special César Award for her lifetime achievement in film. For her role in Mirror, which cast her as Barbra Streisand's mother, Bacall earned a Golden Globe award and an Oscar nomination. She continued to work on a number of projects into the next decade, including Diamonds, in which she appeared alongside Kirk Douglas, with whom she last co-starred in the 1950 romantic drama Young Man with a Horn.In the new century she worked twice with internationally respected filmmaker Lars von Trier, appearing in Dogville and Manderlay. She was in the Nicole Kidman film Birth, and appeared in the documentary Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff. Bacall won an Honorary Oscar in 2010. She died in 2014 at age 89.

Trivia: A master of suspense and the bizarre, Rod Serling is best remembered for his groundbreaking sci-fi television anthology series The Twilight Zone (1959-1965). Born in Syracuse, NY, the son of a wholesale meat dealer, Serling had a life-long interest in science fiction and the supernatural. During WWII, he served as a paratrooper in the U.S. Army 11th Airborne Division. While in the military, Serling was also a noted boxer. Following an honorable discharge in 1946, the result of a shrapnel wound, he attended Antioch College and majored in physical education and then literature. While there, he began writing, directing, and acting in locally produced radio plays. In 1949, he sold his first television script, "Grady Everett for the People." He came to Hollywood to write teleplays full-time in the mid-'50s. Early on, Serling was noted for his intelligent and offbeat scripts. His teleplay Patterns earned him his first of five Emmys. With the Twilight Zone, Serling served as the host and oversaw each of the two stories presented per episode. He wrote many of the stories himself, most of which were known for their ironic twists. Serling also wrote a few screenplays, including Planet of the Apes (1968). Later, he returned to television to launch other anthology series such as Rod Serling's Night Gallery. He also was noted as the distinctive narrator of the Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau documentaries. In addition to his television career, Serling often did cross-country college campus lectures and for a time was a professor at Antioch College. He died in 1975 during open-heart surgery.