Trivia: Born Jack Golenor, this brawny, handsome leading man of Hollywood films appeared onscreen from 1956; he was once hyped as the next Rock Hudson. From 1952-56 he was an air intelligence officer with the Navy, specializing in Pan American Affairs. When a friend offered him a screen test, he was signed by Universal and played leads for a decade-plus, after which his film work decreased; he also served for a time as president of the Screen Actors Guild. After starring on the TV series Destry and Convoy, he debuted on Broadway in Seesaw in 1973. In 1981 Gavin was appointed by President Reagan as U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, a position he held for five years. Besides his Navy service, he had other qualifications for the post: having been born to a Spanish mother, he spoke impeccable Spanish; he had studied Latin American issues in college; and during his years of screen stardom he served as special advisor to Jose Mora and Galo Plaza, secretaries general of the Organization of American States.

Trivia: Promoted in the 1950s as "the English Marilyn Monroe," curvaceous blonde Briton Diana Dors in fact began her screen career long before Marilyn did, and was a far better actress. The daughter of a railroad employee, Diana was a stage performer from adolescence, and in films from the age of 15. She attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, then rose to film stardom in sexy "party girl" roles. By the mid-1950s, she was permitted a few solid dramatic assignments (Yield to the Night was one of the best) and not a few comedy parts (she was George Gobel's co-star in RKO's I Married a Woman). In the late 1960s, Diana continued to be cast in worthwhile supporting roles, notably as the ex-wife of Peter Sellers in There's a Girl in My Soup (1972), though films like these were outnumbered by such tripe as Swedish Wildcats (1974). In the years before her death from meningitis, Diana devoted most of her time to religious and charity work. At one time, Diana Dors was the wife of comedian/TV emcee Richard Dawson.

Trivia: A onetime lumberjack, Scott Brady distinguished himself as a Navy boxing champion during the war. After VJ Day, Brady took drama classes, appearing in his first film, Canon City, in 1948. Usually assigned rough-and-tumble roles (many villainous in nature), Brady exhibited a normally untapped comic prowess in the 1952 film The Model and the Marriage Broker. He continued taking lead roles in cheap westerns, horror films and science-fiction pictures into the 1960s, occasionally surfacing in "A" films like Marooned (1969) and Gremlins (1985, his last film). In 1959, Brady starred in a syndicated western series, Shotgun Slade, which allowed him the opportunity to act opposite several of his non-showbiz idols, including war hero Pappy Boyington and athlete Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch; he also had a recurring role in the 1970s anthology Police Story. Scott Brady is the younger brother of Lawrence Tierney, an actor best known for his gangster portrayals.

Trivia: Carl Benton Reid determined he wanted to be an actor and nothing else while still in high school. Graduating from the drama department at Carnegie Tech, Reid worked for several seasons with the Cleveland Playhouse in the 1920s. He appeared in abbreviated Shakespearean productions at the Chicago World's Fair in 1933, then went on to a fruitful Broadway career. Reid was brought to Hollywood in 1941 to re-create his stage role of Oscar Hubbard in the film version of Lillian Hellman's play The Little Foxes. Trafficking in "heavy" roles for most of his film career, Reid's favorite film assignment was also his least villainous: Clem Rogers, father of the title character in 1953's The Story of Will Rogers. As busy on television as he'd previously been on-stage and in films, Carl Benton Reid was seen regularly as "the Man," a shadowy espionage chief, in the 1965 TV series Amos Burke, Secret Agent.

Trivia: Tom Skerritt is probably the best-known actor whose name is never remembered. A rugged "outdoors" type, Skerritt briefly attended Wayne State University and UCLA before making his film bow in War Hunt (1962). His subsequent film and TV roles were sizeable, but so adept was Skerritt at immersing himself in his character that he seemed to have no tangible, recurrent personality of his own. Billed second as "Duke" in the original M*A*S*H* (1970), Skerritt did his usual finely-honed job, but audiences of the time preferred the demonstrative, mannered acting technique of Elliott Gould, Donald Sutherland and Robert Duvall; significantly, Skerritt's character was not carried over into the even more unsubtle M*A*S*H TV series. Finally, in 1980, Skerritt began to attain a following with his authoritative performance in Alien. Since that time, there's been no stopping him. He posed in a popular series of "Guess?" Jeans ads, appeared as a 1987-88 regular on "Cheers," starred in 1992's A River Runs Through It (directed by his long-ago War Hunt costar Robert Redford), and won a 1994 Emmy for his work on the TV series "Picket Fences."Skerritt would continue to work at a remarkable pace, usually appearing in several projects a year. From 1999's family drama The Other Sister to 2003's war thriller Tears of the Sun, the actor could be spotted by fans of seemingly every area of film throughout the 90's and 2000's. In 2006, he took a recurring role in the hit primetime drama Brothers and Sisters, and in 2008 he signed on for the redneck comedy Beer for my Horses. He went on to appear in Whiteout, Multiple Sarcasms, and he made a cameo as himself in the R rated talking teddy bear movie Ted.

Trivia: American character actor Lew Brown has been appearing on stage, screen and television for over 50 years.