Trivia: Robert Fuller spent his first decade in show business trying his best to avoid performing. After his film debut in 1952's Above and Beyond, Fuller studied acting with Sanford Meisner at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse but never exhibited any real dedication. He tried to become a dancer but gave that up as well, determining that dancing was "sissified." Fuller rose to nominal stardom fairly rapidly in the role of Jess Harper on the popular TV western Laramie (1959-63). Once he found his niche in cowboy attire, he stuck at it in another series, Wagon Train, turning down virtually all offers for "contemporary" roles. When westerns began dying out on television in the late 1960s, Fuller worked as a voiceover actor in commercials, earning some $65,000 per year (a tidy sum in 1969). On the strength of his performance in the Burt Topper-directed motorcycle flick The Hard Ride, Fuller was cast by producer Jack Webb as chief paramedic Kelly Brackett on the weekly TVer Emergency, which ran from 1972 through 1977. In 1994, Robert Fuller was one of several former TV western stars who showed up in cameo roles in the Mel Gibson movie vehicle Maverick.

Trivia: Sultry blues vocalist Julie London began her film career long before she achieved fame as a recording artist. In 1945, 18-year-old London was selected to play a bargain-basement jungle princess, appearing opposite a gorilla in the PRC cheapie Nabonga. She was pretty bad, but no worse than the film itself. By the time she was cast as a sexy teenager in The Red House (1947), her acting had improved immensely, and by the time she played the female lead in the 1951 programmer The Fat Man, it looked as though she actually had a future in films. Still, London's greatest claim to fame was her long string of hit records ("Cry Me a River" et. al.) of the 1950s; many male admirers bought her albums simply to gaze upon her come-hither countenance on the dust jacket. Her status as every red-blooded American boy's wish dream was gently lampooned in Frank Tashlin's The Girl Can't Help It (1956), in which she appears as a spectral vision who transfixes a wistful Tom Ewell. Her best dramatic film appearances of this period include her leading-lady gigs in Voice in the Mirror (1958) and Man of the West (1958). From 1945 through 1955, Julie London was the wife of actor/producer Jack Webb; years after the divorce, London played Nurse Dixie McCall on the popular Jack Webb-produced TV series Emergency, in which she co-starred with her second husband, actor/jazz musician Bobby Troup.

Trivia: Often introduced as "one of America's most familiar faces," it's likely that you've caught a glimpse of Ron Masak either in one of his over 300 appearances in various television shows, on that commercial that lingers in the back of your memory somewhere (he was once blessed with the moniker "king of commercials" and was the voice of the Vlassic Pickle Stork for 15 years), or maybe in one of his 15 feature film appearances. Whatever you might recognize him from, if you don't remember his name, he's the guy that you know you've seen somewhere before, but just might not be able to place where. A native of Chicago, IL (he was once offered a contract with the Chicago White Sox by Hall-of-Famer Rogers Hornsby), Masak was classically trained as an actor at the Windy City's own CCC. A tireless performer, Masak found an initial platform for his talents in the Army, where he toured the world entertaining in an all-Army show in which he served as writer, performer, and director. Masak became well-known not only for his acting abilities, but for the fact that he was a dedicated performer who never missed a show. Proving himself adept at roles ranging from Shakespeare to his almost decade-long stint as the sheriff on Murder She Wrote, Masak thrived in theater and in commercial work around Chicago in the late '50s and early '60s.After a few minor roles in such television series as Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, The Monkees, and The Flying Nun (not to mention what many consider to be one of the earliest Elvis impersonations on the Spade Cooley Show in 1958), Masak was spotted by producer Harry Ackerman early in his career and went to California to audition for a lead in a pilot. Though that particular prospect fell through, Masak was introduced to John Sturges, a meeting which resulted in his feature debut in the cold-war thriller Ice Station Zebra (1968). Masak's work as an emcee is another testament to his universal appeal and versatile likeability; he has served as host for some of the biggest names in show business, including such talents as Kenny Rogers and Billy Crystal. Masak also starred in four of the most successful sales motivational videos of all time, including Second Effort with Vince Lombardi and Ya Gotta Believe with Tommy Lasorda (which Masak also wrote and directed). The first recipient of MDA's Humanitarian of the Year Award, Masak's work as field announcer for the Special Olympics and his eight-year stint as host of The Jerry Lewis Telethon represents only a fraction of his remarkable work as a compassionate philanthropist, and though Masak's film work may not be as prolific or as frequent as his extensive television work, his roles in such films as Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) are always memorable and constantly ring true with an appeal that often leaves a lasting impression, even though his screen time may be brief and his characters secondary.

Trivia: Peter Leeds played straight man to some of the most popular comedians of the mid- to late 20th century, including Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, Milton Berle, Carole Burnett, and Johnny Carson. Leeds was also a fine dramatic actor. He spent most of his 40-plus-year career on television, appearing an astonishing 8,000 times on situation comedies and variety shows. Leeds has appeared on Broadway, in feature films, and on over 3,000 radio shows and was a popular voice-over artist. A native of Bayonne, NJ, Leeds received his training at the Neighborhood Playhouse. He made his film debut with a bit part in Public Enemies (1941). Leeds hooked up with Bob Hope in 1954 for a television special and continued working with Hope on specials and 14 U.S.O. tours through 1991. During the '70s, Leeds spent five years as the president of the Los Angeles chapter of AFTRA and later served on the actors' union's national and local Board of Directors. In 1992, AFTRA repaid his many years of service with its highest honor, the Gold Card. Leeds later served on the Board of Governors for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Leeds died of cancer on November 12, 1996, at age 79.

Trivia: Olan Soule was so familiar as a character actor in movies and television during the 1950s and 1960s -- and right into the 1980s -- that audiences could be forgiven for not even reckoning with his 25-year career on radio. Soule was born in 1909 in La Harpe, Illinois, to a family that reportedly could trace its ancestry back to three passengers on the Mayflower. He began acting in tent shows in his teens, and made his first appearance on radio in 1926. With his rich, expressive voice -- which frequently seemed to belong to characters that audiences thought of as more physically imposing than the slightly built, 135-pound actor -- he quickly found himself in demand for a multitude of roles. Soule ultimately became closely associated with two series, spending more than a decade on the radio soap opera Bachelor's Children, and a nine-year run on The First Nighter, starting in the 1940s. He made the jump to television in 1949, but even in the visual medium his voice was initially part of his fortune -- one of his early movie assignments was as the narrator of the feature film Beyond The Forest (1949), starring Bette Davis. And many of those early on-screen assignments in features were uncredited, such as his appearance as Mr. Krull in Robert Wise's The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951). Still, Soule did attract attention, with his signature thin physique and the fact that he seemed to show up dozens of times a year, all over television and in movies. By the start of the 1960s, he'd amassed literally hundreds of screen appearances, making him one of the most recognizable character actors of the time period.One producer who took full advantage of Soule's skills early and often was Jack Webb, himself a radio veteran, who cast him in well over two dozen episodes of the original in 1950s Dragnet television series, principally in the recurring role of Ray Pinker. When Webb revived Dragnet in the second half of the 1960s, Soule was no less active, showing up at least a half dozen times each season, often in the role of police-lab scientist Ray Murray. Soule's studious, cerebral portrayal of Murray was reminiscent of the lab technician portrayed by Webb himself in He Walked By Night, the movie that led Webb to create Dragnet in the first place. In between those assignments, Soule appeared in dozens of features and was seen on the small screen in everything from Bonanza and Petticoat Junction to My Three Sons and the Herschel Bernardi series Arnie. Later in his career, Soule returned to his roots, lending his vocal talent to the animated series Super Friends.