Trivia: Chicago-born Robert Young carried his inbred "never give up" work ethic into his training at the Pasadena Playhouse. After a few movie-extra roles, he was signed by MGM to play a bit part as Helen Hayes' son in 1931's Sin of Madelon Claudet. At the request of MGM head Irving Thalberg, Young's role was expanded during shooting, thus the young actor was launched on the road to stardom (his first-released film was the Charlie Chan epic Black Camel [1931], which he made while on loan to Fox Studios). Young appeared in as many as nine films per year in the 1930s, usually showing up in bon vivant roles. Alfred Hitchcock sensed a darker side to Young's ebullient nature, and accordingly cast the actor as a likeable American who turns out to be a cold-blooded spy in 1936's The Secret Agent. Some of Young's best film work was in the 1940s, with such roles as the facially disfigured war veteran in The Enchanted Cottage (1945) and the no-good philanderer in They Won't Believe Me (1947). In 1949, Young launched the radio sitcom Father Knows Best, starring as insurance salesman/paterfamilias Jim Anderson (it was his third weekly radio series). The series' title was originally ironic in that Anderson was perhaps one of the most stupidly stubborn of radio dads. By the time Father Knows Best became a TV series in 1954, Young had refined his Jim Anderson characterization into the soul of sagacity. Young became a millionaire thanks to his part-ownership of Father Knows Best, which, despite a shaky beginning, ran successfully until 1960 (less popular was his 1961 TV dramedy Window on Main Street, which barely lasted a full season). His second successful series was Marcus Welby, M.D. (1968-1973). Young's later TV work has included one-shot revivals of Father Knows Best and Marcus Welby, and the well-received 1986 TV-movie Mercy or Murder, in which Young essayed the role of a real-life pensioner who killed his wife rather than allow her to endure a painful, lingering illness. Young passed away from respiratory failure at his Westlake Village, CA, home at the age of 91.

Trivia: Blonde leading lady Constance Moore started in films as a contract player at Universal. She appeared as Wilma Deering in the 1938 serial Buck Rogers, and was Edgar Bergen's love interest in the W.C. Fields vehicle You Can't Cheat an Honest Man (1939). A band singer before and after her Universal sojourn, Moore briefly forsook films to star in the 1942 Broadway musical comedy By Jupiter, then returned to Hollywood as the star of a string of above-average Republic musicals. She virtually retired from filmmaking in 1947, making unexpected return appearances in 1951's The Thirteenth Letter and 1967's Spree. Sporadically active on TV in the 1960s, Constance Moore was a regular on the 1961 Robert Young "dramedy" Window on Main Street and the 1965 soap opera The Young Marrieds.

Trivia: In films since 1949's White Heat, American actor Ford Rainey most often played judges, doctors and police officials. Rainey's weekly TV roles included small-town newspaper editor Lloyd Ramsey in Window on Main Street (1961), research director Dr. Barnett in Search (1972) James Barrett in The Manhunter (1974) and Jim in The Bionic Woman (1975). Undoubtedly his most rewarding TV-series assignment was The Richard Boone Show (1963), in which, as a member of Boone's "repertory company," he was allowed to essay a different role each week. When last we saw Ford Rainey, he was playing a big-time counterfeiter on Wiseguy (1987).

Trivia: Described by one film historian as a "hand-wringing 'Oh-Jed-don't-go'" type actress, Coleen Gray did, in all fairness, have a few roles requiring more than sidelines suffering. After graduating with honors from the drama department of Hamline University, Gray was signed by 20th Century-Fox in 1945. There she enjoyed some of her best roles, including the female lead in Kiss and Death (1947) and the dumb-but-honest girlfriend of smart-but-shifty Tyrone Power in Nightmare Alley (1947). Free-lancing in the 1950s, Gray appeared in several westerns, getting the opportunity to play an adventuress of sorts in Tennessee's Partner (1955). Always willing to give her all for her art, Gray even managed to bring some artistry to such Grade-Z efforts as The Leech Woman (1960). In 1961, Coleen Gray played Miss Wycliffe on the short-lived Robert Young TV "dramedy" Window on Main Street.

Trivia: As a child actor, Tim Matheson was billed under his fuller family name of Matthieson. His first weekly TV co-starring assignment was opposite Robert Young in the 1961 "dramedy" Window on Main Street. The young actor's voice became familiar to a generation of cartoon fans via his "role" as the title character in Hanna-Barbera's Jonny Quest. The handsome Matheson appeared on-screen during his maturation years on such western series as The Virginian, Bonanza, and The Quest. He remained busy in films during this period, scoring his biggest 1970s success as party animal Otter in National Lampoon's Animal House (1978). Matheson also kept his hand in the voiceover business, providing the truculent mutterings of "Blood" the dog in Harlan Ellison's A Boy and His Dog (1975) and recording the narration for the 1985 revival of Disney's Fantasia. His adult TV appearances have included weekly stints on the TV series Tucker's Witch (1982), Just in Time, (1988) and Charlie Hoover (1991). Turning to directing in 1985, Matheson has been active in episodic television, music videos and direct-to-cassette movies. In 1989, he became CEO of the National Lampoon Company, though he still manages to find time for the occasional acting assignment, appearing in everything from the theatrical feature Drop Dead Fred to the live-action prologue for one of the "thrill rides" at Disneyworld.