Trivia: Rough-hewn American leading man Richard Boone was thrust into the cold cruel world when he was expelled from Stanford University, for a minor infraction. He worked as a oil-field laborer, boxer, painter and free-lance writer before settling upon acting as a profession. After serving in World War II, Boone used his GI Bill to finance his theatrical training at the Actors' Studio, making his belated Broadway debut at age 31, playing Jason in Judith Anderson's production of Medea. Signed to a 20th Century-Fox contract in 1951, Boone was given good billing in his first feature, Halls of Montezuma; among his Fox assignments was the brief but telling role of Pontius Pilate in The Robe (1953). Boone launched the TV-star phase of his career in the weekly semi-anthology Medic, playing Dr. Konrad Steiner. From 1957 through 1963, Boone portrayed Paladin, erudite western soldier of fortune, on the popular western series Have Gun, Will Travel. He directed several episodes of this series. Boone tackled a daring TV assignment in 1963, when in collaboration with playwright Clifford Odets, he appeared in the TV anthology series The Richard Boone Show. Unique among filmed dramatic programs, Boone's series featured a cast of eleven regulars (including Harry Morgan, Robert Blake, Jeanette Nolan, Bethel Leslie and Boone himself), who appeared in repertory, essaying different parts of varying sizes each week. The Richard Boone Show failed to catch on, and Boone went back to films. In 1972 he starred in another western series, this one produced by his old friend Jack Webb: Hec Ramsey, the saga of an old-fashioned sheriff coping with an increasingly industrialized West. In the last year of his life, Boone was appointed Florida's cultural ambassador. Richard Boone died at age 65 of throat cancer.

Trivia: The son of an itinerant sharecropper, Roy Barcroft harbored dreams of becoming an army officer, and to that end lied about his age to enter the service during World War I. Discouraged from pursuing a military career by his wartime experiences, Barcroft spent the 1920s in a succession of jobs, ranging from fireman to radio musician. In the 1930s he and his wife settled in California where he became a salesman. It was while appearing in an amateur theatrical production that Barcroft found his true calling in life. He eked out a living as a movie bit player until finally being signed to a long contract by Republic Pictures in 1943. For the next decade, Barcroft was Republic's Number One villain, growling and glowering at such cowboy stars as Don "Red" Barry, Wild Bill Elliot, Sunset Carson, Allan Lane, Roy Rogers and Gene Autry. His best screen moments occurred in Republic's serial output; his favorite chapter-play roles were Captain Mephisto in Manhunt of Mystery Island (1945) and the invading Martian in The Purple Monster Strikes (1945). In the 1948 serial G-Men Never Forget, Barcroft played a dual role--an honest police commissioner and his less-than-honest look-alike--ending the film by shooting "himself." In contrast to his on-screen villainy, Barcroft was one of the nicest fellows on the Republic lot, well-liked and highly respected by everyone with whom he worked. When the "B"-picture market disappeared in the mid-1950s, Barcroft began accepting character roles in such A-pictures as Oklahoma (1955), The Way West (1967), Gaily Gaily (1969) and Monte Walsh (1970). Heavier and more jovial-looking than in his Republic heyday, Roy Barcroft also showed up in dozens of TV westerns, playing recurring roles on Walt Disney's Spin and Marty and the long-running CBS nighttimer Gunsmoke.

Trivia: One of England's best and most successful action directors of the '30s, Robert Stevenson became a filmmaker whose work was seen by tens of millions of filmgoers well into the late '60s His name was seldom noticed, however, as the director of such Walt Disney hits as Mary Poppins, Son of Flubber, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Old Yeller, The Absent-Minded Professor, and The Love Bug. The son of a businessman, Stevenson was a science student at Cambridge, and was led to film through his graduate work in psychology. He began directing movies in 1932, and soon proved himself equally adept in all genres and subject material, capable of deriving bracing tension and excitement from material as diverse as historical drama, African adventure epics, and contemporary thrillers -- among his most notable movies in those categories, respectively, are Tudor Rose, King Solomon's Mines (the 1937 version with Paul Robeson), and Non-Stop New York. Like Alfred Hitchcock, he was signed by David O. Selznick in 1939 and brought to America, but unlike Hitchcock, Stevenson never made a movie for Selznick during the 10 years he was under contract to him. He joined the Disney organization in 1957, and became their top filmmaking hand in live-action films, directing at least a half-dozen Disney classics and another half-dozen confirmed hits over the next 20 years.

Trivia: Edward Faulkner is a general-purpose actor most notable for his appearances in 1960s John Wayne films. Born in 1932 in Lexington, Kentucky, Faulkner had an early fascination with stage magic and did some acting as a teen and during his college years. In 1958, following a stint in the U.S. Air Force, Faulkner decided to try professional acting. He was fortunate enough to become friends with Andrew V. McLaglen, the director son of Victor McLaglen, who saw the 6-foot-3 Faulkner, a skilled horseman, as a natural for Westerns. Faulkner became a familiar presence in the genre with small supporting roles in Have Gun - Will Travel and other series during the early 1960s.Faulkner entered feature films with the John Wayne vehicle McLintock! (1963), directed by McLaglen, playing a prominent supporting role as the rival/antagonist to Patrick Wayne's young hero. His muscular build and intense eyes made him a good "friendly enemy" in that picture, and he would often play middle-level authority figures as well as opponents to the hero in subsequent screen work. Faulkner's other John Wayne-film credits include The Green Berets, Hellfighters, The Undefeated, Rio Lobo, and Chisum.In addition to his work in Westerns, Faulkner appeared in such films as How To Murder Your Wife and the Elvis Presley vehicles Tickle Me and Sergeant Deadhead (all 1965). His television work includes episodes of The Odd Couple and Adam-12. Faulkner left the movie and television industries in the late 1970s.

Trivia: Following Korean War service as a paratrooper, Hal Needham drifted into movies as a bit player. His remarkable physical dexterity and willingness to "take it" enabled him to rise up the professional ladder from stuntman to stunt coordinator to 2nd unit director. A longtime chum of Burt Reynolds (himself an ex-stuntman), Needham was given his first chance to direct a theatrical feature with Reynolds' Smokey and the Bandit (1977); the film was a huge hit, assuring Needham future assignments as both director and scriptwriter. The 1980 Reynolds vehicle Hooper was widely recognized as Reynolds and Needham's tribute to the entire fraternity of Hollywood stunters. For television, Needham directed several installments 1989 Burt Reynolds adventure series B. L. Stryker (1989) and the pilot for the syndicated adventure semi-weekly Bandit (1994); there was also a 1992 animated cartoon series titled Stunt Dawgs, wherein the central character was named Needham. Founder of the troubleshooting aggregation Stunts Unlimited (which also served as the title of a 1980 TV movie), Needham has also served as chairman for another movie-industry organization, Camera Platforms International. In addition, Hal Needham is owner of the "world's fastest car," the Budweiser Rocket, now on display at the Smithsonian Institute. Needham was awarded an Honorary Oscar in 2012 for his innovations, just one year before he died at age 82.