Trivia: Angela Lansbury received an Oscar nomination for her first film, Gaslight, in 1944, and has been winning acting awards and audience favor ever since. Born in London to a family that included both politicians and performers, Lansbury came to the U.S. during World War II. She made notable early film appearances as the snooty sister in National Velvet (1944); the pathetic singer in The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), which garnered her another Academy nomination; and the madam-with-a-heart-of-gold saloon singer in The Harvey Girls (1946). She turned evil as the manipulative publisher in State of the Union (1948), but was just as convincing as the good queen in The Three Musketeers (1948) and the petulant daughter in The Court Jester (1956). She received another Oscar nomination for her chilling performance as Laurence Harvey's scheming mother in The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and appeared as the addled witch in Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971), among other later films. On Broadway, she won Tony awards for the musicals Mame (1966), Dear World (1969), the revival of Gypsy (1975), Sweeney Todd (1979) and, at age 82, for the play Blithe Spirit (2009). Despite a season in the '50s on the game show Pantomime Quiz, she came to series television late, starring in 1984-1996 as Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote; she took over as producer of the show in the '90s. She returned to the Disney studios to record the voice of Mrs. Potts in Beauty and the Beast (1991) and to sing the title song and later reprised the role in the direct-to-video sequel, The Enchanted Christmas (1997). Lansbury is the sister of TV producer Bruce Lansbury.

Trivia: Ohioan Eleanor Parker chose a career in acting when she was still in her teens and began appearing in professional stage productions in Cleveland and at California's Pasadena Playhouse. Signed at Warner Bros. in 1941, the red-haired actress was given the slow buildup in such B's as The Mysterious Doctor before graduating to leads in prestige pictures like Pride of the Marines (1945). As the sluttish Mildred in the 1946 remake Of Human Bondage, Parker was not nearly as effective as Bette Davis in the 1934 version, but she learned from this comparative failure and matured into a versatile actress, equally adept at comedy and heavy dramatics. She was Oscar nominated for Caged (1950), in which she plays an utterly deglamorized prison inmate; Detective Story (1951), wherein, as Kirk Douglas' wife, she agonizingly harbors the secret of a past abortion; and Interrupted Melody (1955), in which she portrays polio-stricken opera diva Marjorie Lawrence. Though she tended toward down-to-earth portrayals, Eleanor could be flamboyantly sexy if required, like her performance as a tempestuous lover in Scaramouche. Still regally beautiful into the 1960s and 1970s, Eleanor Parker was always worth watching no matter if the role was thankless (the Countess in Sound of Music [1965]) or "Baby Jane"-style horrific (the terrorized, elderly cripple in Eye of the Cat [1969]). Parker spent the majority of her career in the 1970s and '80s in TV movies and the occasional guest appearance on television series like Hawaii Five-O and The Love Boat before retiring from acting in 1991. She died in 2013 at age 91.

Trivia: Born in Ireland, actor Edward Mulhare built up his stage and film reputation in all corners of the world. Mulhare happened to be in Israel when he made his first film in 1955. His subsequent screen roles ranged from the benign priest in Von Ryan's Express (1965) to the megalomaniac villain in Our Man Flint (1966). In 1957, Mulhare made his Broadway debut, replacing Rex Harrison as Henry Higgins in the long-running musical My Fair Lady; before long the actor was globetrotting again, touring with the My Fair Lady company in the Soviet Union. In 1968, Mulhare again replaced Harrison after a fashion, starring in the American TV sitcom The Ghost and Mrs. Muir as the ghostly Captain Gregg--a role originated by "sexy Rexy" in the 1947 film version of the same property. TV action aficionados are most familiar with Edward Mulhare for his work as the erudite, impeccably dressed Devon Miles in the 1982-86 weekly series Knight Rider, a role he recreated in a 1991 "reunion" TV-movie.

Trivia: Dan O'Herlihy studied architecture at the National University of Ireland, but his heart was in the acting highlands. After racking up stage credits with the Gate Theater and the Abbey Players, O'Herlihy turned to films in 1946, impressing critics and filmgoers alike with his breakthrough role in Odd Man Out. He made his American movie bow in Orson Welles' MacBeth (1948), playing the not inconsiderable role of MacDuff; shortly thereafter, he appeared with his MacBeth co-star Roddy MacDowall in an economically budgeted adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped. In 1952, he earned an Academy Award nomination for his near-solo starring turn in Luis Bunuel's The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. Maturing into a versatile character player, he could also be seen as FDR in MacArthur (1977), the frothing-at-the-mouth villain in Halloween 3: Season of the Witch (1983), a benign lizardlike alien in The Last Starfighter (1984), and the dark-purposed cyborg-firm exec in the RoboCop films. His TV credits include blarney-spouting Doc McPheeters in The Travels of Jamie McPheeters (1963), town boss Will Varner in The Long Hot Summer (1965), "The Director" in A Man Called Sloane (1979), intelligence agent Carson Marsh in Whiz Kids (1984), and Andrew Packard in Twin Peaks (1990). Dan O'Herlihy was the brother of director Michael O'Herlihy.

Trivia: An actor forever associated with his portrayal of Ralph Malph, the wisecracking redheaded pal of Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard) and The Fonz (Henry Winkler) on Happy Days, Don Most (also occasionally credited as Donny Most) grew up in Brooklyn, as the son of a homemaker and an accountant. He bowed on-camera at the age of 16 in an advertisement for Chex cereal, then -- midway through his enrollment at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania -- impulsively dropped out and high-tailed it to Hollywood, where he promptly landed the role of Malph. Most, who harbored serious acting ambitions, remained with the program from 1974 through 1980, four years before it folded; he would later recall that the part (popular though it was) typecast him for decades and made it virtually impossible for him to score weighty dramatic roles. Though the actor certainly tried, he succeeded mainly in supporting himself via residuals from Days and modest parts on-stage and in television. He then turned to directing in the late '90s, with occasional feature efforts such as The Last Best Sunday (1999) and Moola (2006).

Trivia: While growing up in Chicago, Tom Bosley dreamed of becoming the star left-fielder for the Cubs. As it turned out, the closest Bosley got to organized athletics was a sportscasting class at DePauw University. After additional training at the Radio Institute of Chicago and two years' practical experience in various dramatic radio programs and stock companies, he left for New York in 1950. Five years of odd jobs and summer-theater stints later, he landed his first off-Broadway role, playing Dupont-Dufort in Jean Anouilh's Thieves' Carnival. Steadier work followed at the Arena Theatre in Washington, D.C.; then in 1959, Bosley landed the starring role in the Broadway musical Fiorello!, picking up a Tony Award, an ANTA Award, and the New York Drama Critics Award in the bargain. In 1963, he made his film bow as Natalie Wood's "safe and secure" suitor Anthony Colombo in Love With the Proper Stranger. Occasionally cast as two-bit criminals or pathetic losers (he sold his eyes to blind millionairess Joan Crawford in the Spielberg-directed Night Gallery TV movie), Bosley was most often seen as a harried suburban father. After recurring roles on such TV series as That Was the Week That Was, The Debbie Reynolds Show, and The Sandy Duncan Show, Bosley was hired by Hanna-Barbera to provide the voice of flustered patriarch Howard Boyle on the animated sitcom Wait Til Your Father Gets Home (1972-1973). This served as a dry run of sorts for his most famous series-TV assignment: Howard Cunningham, aka "Mr. C," on the immensely popular Happy Days (1974-1983). The warm, familial ambience of the Happy Days set enabled Bosley to weather the tragic death of his first wife, former dancer Jean Elliot, in 1978. In addition to his Happy Days duties, Bosley was narrator of the syndicated documentary That's Hollywood (1977-1981). From 1989 to 1991, he starred on the weekly series The Father Dowling Mysteries, and thereafter was seen on an occasional basis as down-to-earth Cabot Cove sheriff Amos Tupper on Murder, She Wrote. Reportedly as kind, generous, and giving as his Happy Days character, Tom Bosley has over the last 20 years received numerous honors for his many civic and charitable activities.

Trivia: American actor John Astin was the son of Dr. Allen V. Astin, director of the National Bureau of Standards. Evidently inheriting his intellectual bent from his father, Astin was a voracious reader and mathematician, at one point in his high school career mastering an entire semester's worth of study in one evening (that's his story, anyway). A part in the senior play at Johns Hopkins University (where he was majoring in math) cemented his desire to act, and in 1952 Astin did graduate work in dramatics at the University of Minnesota, where he appeared in 40 plays in and around the campus, played the violin, and gambled incessantly (and badly). With $100 in his pocket, Astin headed to New York, where he did janitorial work in theatres until securing a role in the off-Broadway Threepenny Opera for a princely $15 per week. Better money came Astin's way when he started doing voice-over work for animated commercials; in 1961 he extended his acting skills to films in a small but memorable part as a smarmy social worker in the Oscar-winning West Side Story. In 1962, Astin was teamed with Marty Ingels on the blue-collar sitcom I'm Dickens, He's Fenster, which despite a loyal following failed to garner ratings. The show did, however, establish Astin as a reliable laugh-getter, leading to a more successful run as Gomez Addams, the macabre but passionate paterfamilias on The Addams Family. This series ran from 1964 to 1966, after which Astin spent a great deal of time touring the country in theatrical productions - often living out of a van, a lifestyle he seemed to thrive upon. Joining Astin during his barnstorming days was his second wife, actress Patty Duke, who called herself Patty Duke Astin for the duration (Astin and Duke raised a son, Sean Astin, who grew up to become a popular film actor in his own right). The marriage ultimately dissolved due in part to Astin's bohemian point of view, though while the union lasted both Astin and Duke were tireless workaholics who were rarely without acting gigs. His many credits during this time period include 1974's Skyway to Death, and playing the dad in the original version of Freaky Friday. He directed and appeared in the TV movie Operation Petticoat. In the 1980's he landed recurring roles on both Murder, She Wrote and the sitcom Night Court. His marriage to Patti Duke ended in 1985, but Astin maintained a busy schedule appearing as a game-show host in National Lampoon's European Vacation, Teen Wolf Two, and Return of the Killer Tomatoes! As the 90s got under way he made two more Killer Tomatoes movies, appeared on the TV shows Mad About You and The Adventures of Brisco County Jr., and earned favorable reviews for his appearance in The Frighteners.

Trivia: Character and voice actor Bob Hastings is best known for his television work on series such as McHale's Navy and All in the Family, but he also appeared in some feature films. Born in New York in 1921, he was busy on the radio in his twenties, specializing in male ingenue and comedy roles, including portraying Archie Andrews in an NBC radio adaptations of Archie Comics in 1944. His first credited television appearance was in 1955, in the U.S. Steel Hour production of No Time for Sergeants. Hastings made his feature film debut in 1962 in the Disney production Moon Pilot, starring Tom Tryon, and that same year got his first regular series role as Lt. Elroy Carpenter, the obsequious aide to Joe Flynn's Captain Binghamton on McHale's Navy. He was with the series for four seasons, and it led to his subsequent big-screen work in the features McHale's Navy (1964) and McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force (1965). He also played Bert Ramsey on the daytime drama General Hospital and managed to work in occasional big-screen work, in pictures such as The Flim-Flam Man. In the 1970s, Hastings played the recurring character of Kelsey the tavern-keeper on All in the Family. Hastings' on-screen acting generally saw him cast as nervous, sycophantic mid-level bureaucrats, or, occasionally, as rough-hewn working-class types. But as a voice artist he has had a much wider range of portrayals, including heroes and authority figures, including the voice of Clark Kent in the 1960s Batman/Superman Hour and, in more recent decades, the voice of Commissioner Gordon on the animated Batman from Fox network. Bob Hastings is the older brother of actor Don Hastings, who is perhaps best remembered by viewers of one generation for his portrayal of the Video Ranger in Captain Video; Bob also appeared in the series, in a much less prominent role. He died in 2014, at age 89.

Trivia: American utility actor John Pleshette has been seen on screen since 1970. Pleshette's first regular TV role was Dr. Danvers in the 1975 series Doctor's Hospital. One of his handful of starring assignments was the title character in the speculative TV movie The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald (1978). Knot's Landing fans will remember Pleshette as arrogant, duplicitous attorney Richard Avery, a role he filled from 1979 to 1983. John Pleshette is no relation to actress Suzanne Pleshette.

Trivia: One was always reminded of a startled chipmunk when viewing the work of American actor John Schuck. After theatre and improv-comedy work, Schuck was cast as Painless Pole in the irreverent Robert Altman comedy M*A*S*H (1970). Midway through the film, Schuck's character contemplates killing himself, which segues into the film's famous "Last Supper" sequence and a full rendition of the M*A*S*H theme song Suicide is Painless. Schuck appeared in a few other Altman projects, then in 1971 was hired for the role of Sgt. Charles Enright on the TV series McMillan and Wife. Enright's function was to keep the plot wheels turning while stars Rock Hudson and Susan St. James battled for the best camera angles. Schuck left McMillan and Wife in 1975 to play a robot cop (that's what we said) in the short-lived Holmes and Yoyo. Later, equally brief TV series assignments of John Schuck included Turnabout (1979) and The New Odd Couple (1982); there was also a more widely seen performance as Ordell in the groundbreaking miniseries Roots (1977).

Trivia: Actress Ann Turkel briefly graduated to film stardom with the 1974 suspenser 99 and 44/100% Dead. Ann's co-star was Richard Harris, whom she later married. During a memorable mid-1970s installment of The Tonight Show, guest Shelley Winters congratulated Turkel for exerting a calming influence on the volatile Harris. Alas, after eight rocky years of marriage, they were divorced in 1982. In the years since, Ann Turkel has continued showing up in secondary roles, many of them villainous or predatory in nature; one of her more recent credits was the 1995 thriller The Fear.