Trivia: Actor Ted Knight dropped out of high school in order to enlist for World War II service. During the postwar years, Knight studied acting in Hartford, Connecticut. He became proficient with puppets and ventriloquism, which led to steady work as a TV kiddie-show host. Knight spent most of the 1950s and 1960s doing commercial voice-overs and essaying minor TV and movie roles (he was the nonspeaking cop who handed Norman Bates a robe at the end of Hitchcock's Psycho [1960]). Just barely making ends meet with TV guest spots and cartoon voices, Knight was rescued professionally in 1970 when he was cast in the role of vainglorious TV anchorman Ted Baxter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Three years into the series, Knight threatened to quit because of the one-note stupidity of his character. He was assuaged when the MTM producers "humanized" him with an understanding girlfriend (played by Georgia Engel) -- and it didn't hurt that the actor later won two Emmy awards for his portrayal of the clueless Ted Baxter. When MTM left the air in 1977, Knight attempted to headline a sitcom of his own. After a couple of false starts, he struck pay dirt in 1980 with Too Close for Comfort, playing a comic-strip artist with two nubile daughters. Too Close left the network for syndication in 1984, then matriculated into The Ted Knight Show in 1985. Though gravely ill, Ted Knight valiantly taped a years' worth of episodes before succumbing to cancer at the age of 62.

Trivia: Originally planned to be a schoolteacher. Spent two seasons with the New York City Opera Company, performing in such productions as Carmen and The Mikado. Performed as a soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Made her Broadway debut in 1960 in Do Re Mi. Played Maria in the 1962 Broadway production of The Sound of Music. Was an original cohost of Good Morning America. For five years, she headed the Ray Bolger Endowment for Musical Performances at UCLA. Regularly performs as a cabaret singer.

Trivia: Lead actress, onscreen from the early '80s.

Trivia: Originally aspired to be an evangelistic singer. Caught the acting bug in high school when he played the dad in Bye Bye Birdie. Attended Oklahoma Baptist University on a music scholarship, but departed for Los Angeles after a couple of years. Big break came when he landed the role of Monroe Ficus on Too Close for Comfort in 1980. Famously paired with Tammy Faye Messner for a 1996 talk show titled The Jim J. and Tammy Faye Show. Has played five different roles in theatrical productions of Hairspray, most notably on Broadway as Wilbur Turnblad. Is an active AIDS advocate and has been HIV-positive for more than 20 years.

Trivia: Every Presidential election from the end of Lyndon B. Johnson's terms to the beginning of Bill Clinton's second, the country could count on one thing: Comedian Pat Paulsen would run for office. Like certain real candidates, Paulsen peppered his speeches with meaningless falderal and brouhaha, his takes on the days' issues were short and pithy. When asked about the health care problem, Paulsen replied, "I don't think we need to care for healthy people." On the burgeoning national debt, he said, "Let the kids pay it: They still owe us rent and gas money." Paulsen was born in South Bend, WA, but moved with his family to Point Bonita in northern California where his father was stationed with the Coast Guard. Following his high school gradation, Paulsen served with the Marines during WWII, guarding Japanese prisoners in China following the A-bombing of Japan. Upon his discharge, Paulsen took various odd jobs until enrolling in San Francisco City College to study forestry. He was not there long before he discovered acting and enrolled in drama classes and appeared in college productions. Paulsen embarked on various comic enterprises with his brother, Lorin. During the '60s, the two went separate ways and Paulsen found success writing and performing comical folk songs and doing standup on the coffeehouse circuit. It was fellow funny folk artists, the Smothers Brothers, who provided Paulsen with his break into modest fame. Paulsen sold them one or two songs. In 1967, when the brothers launched their groundbreaking Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, they made a place for Paulsen, who would comment on newsworthy topics and issues. The following year, Paulsen won an Emmy for his shtick. It was the Smothers who suggested Paulsen launch a satirical presidential campaign. Paulsen made his feature-film debut in Hymn Averback's Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (1968). His subsequent film appearances were rare. Though he never actually won any real-life elections, Paulsen did get to play the president in Bloodsuckers From Outerspace (1986). Following the end of the Smothers Brothers program, Paulsen became a popular nightclub act and performed at conventions and in theaters. For years he annually trekked to Muskegon, MI, to produce and star in plays at the Cherry County Playhouse. Paulsen died in April 1997, in Mexico of pneumonia and kidney failure. In the mid-'90s, he received the International Platform Association's coveted Mark Twain Award for his outstanding contributions to topical humor.