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: Began her TV career as the Statue of Liberty on Happy Days opposite Ron Howard. Both of her parents had music careers, as her mother, Judy, was a singer and TV star, and her father, Filberto, a radio personality. Inspired to follow in her parents' footsteps after seeing Angela Lansbury perform on stage. Best known to many as Corrine Tate on the controversial late-1970s satirical TV series Soap. Stage credits include They're Playing Our Song and Company. Active in a local theater in Connecticut, where she raises funds and is a summer-theater director. Teaches voice at Manhattanville College in the state of New York.

Trivia: The younger brother of former child star Darryl Hickman, Dwayne Hickman was himself a professional actor from the age of 10. Dwayne's early film roles were essentially bits; one of his first worthwhile assignments was a 1950 episode of TV's The Lone Ranger, in which he played a young orphan who grew up to be a character played by his older brother. After guesting on such series as The Stu Erwin Show, Hickman was cast as Bob Cummings' girl-happy nephew Chuck on the popular sitcom Love That Bob (1954-58). Claiming to have no natural talent, Hickman has insisted that he learned everything he knows about comic acting from Cummings, whom he admired to the point of idolatry. In 1958, he landed his first major screen role, playing a small-town Brando wannabe in Rally Round the Flag Boys. Max Shulman, author of the novel upon which the film was based, was impressed by Hickman, and recommended that the actor be starred in another Shulman adaptation, the weekly TV series The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. During the Dobie run, Hickman briefly enjoyed Top-40 radio airplay with his recording of the folk-song parody "I'm a Lover, Not a Fighter." When Dobie Gillis folded in 1963, Hickman returned to feature films, offering comedy support to Jane Fonda in Cat Ballou (1965) and Frankie Avalon in The Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1966). Temporarily retiring from acting in 1970, Hickman worked as a publicist, and later as entertainment director of Las Vegas' Landmark Hotel. In 1977, he followed brother Darryl's lead by joining the production staff at CBS television. Hickman served as CBS' executive in charge of daytime programming, and as supervisor of the network's comedy series. Every so often, he'd accept an acting role, and on two occasions revived his Dobie Gillis characterization for a brace of "retro" TV movies. In 1994, Dwayne Hickman and his wife Joan collaborated on his autobiography, Forever Dobie.

Trivia: American actor Bruce Kirby made his Broadway bow at age 40 in the 1965 production Diamond Orchid. More stage work followed, and then movie assignments, commencing with the all-star Catch 22 (1970), and continuing into the 1980s with such productions as Sweet Dreams (1985) and Throw Momma from the Train (1987). Kirby's TV career has embraced both series successes (1989's Anything But Love, as Jamie Lee Curtis' father), ignoble failures (1976's Holmes and Yoyo, as Henry Sedford), and a few projects which never sold (Kirby was in two busted pilots for something called McNamara's Band). In 1984, Kirbyreturned to Broadway to understudy Dustin Hoffman as Willy Loman in the revival of Death of a Salesman. Bruce Kirby, sometimes billed as Bruce Kirby Sr., was the father of actor Bruno Kirby, who formerly billed himself as B. Kirby Jr.

Trivia: A longtime television actress who has also branched out into film, brunette beauty Talia Balsam also gained Hollywood recognition for her brief marriage to a pre-superstar George Clooney. Born to actors Martin Balsam and Joyce Van Patten in New York City in 1960, the young aspiring actress received her education at the Treehaven School in Tucson, AZ, before making her bid for the big-time shortly thereafter. In the late '70s, Balsam warmed to television audiences with recurring roles in the small-screen hits Happy Days and Taxi and feature roles in such made-for-TV films as The Survival of Dana and Sunnyside (both 1979) proved a testament to her dramatic range. A dizzying onslaught of similar television features followed, and the 1980s found Balsam becoming something of a staple in such made-for-TV efforts as Kent State (1981) and The Ladies (1987). Endearing roles on Family Ties and Punky Brewster provided just the right balance to such feature screamers as The Supernaturals (1986) and The Kindred (1987); by the time the 1990s rolled around, Balsam was married to up-and-comer Clooney and turning heads on Murder, She Wrote, thirtysomething, and Law & Order. Despite the fact that her most successful roles came with dramatic small-screen roles, Balsam continued to prove that she was an actress of little pretense by appearing in such quirky feature efforts as Coldblooded (1995) and Camp Stories (1997). Married to John Slattery following her divorce from Clooney in 1993, Balsam was later seen in the TV series L.A. Doctors and the feature Valerie Flake (1999).

Trivia: Actress Leann Hunley attended the University of Washington before embarking on a film career, soon becoming a star of daytime TV with the role of Anna Fredericks-DiMera on Days of Our Lives from 1982 to 1986. She later took on the role of Dana Waring Carrington on Dynasty and eventually played recurring roles on Dawson's Creek and Gilmore Girls before returning to her roots to reprise her role on Days of Our Lives in 2007.

Trivia: Tall, deceptively distinguished-looking Tim Thomerson first gained attention as a comedian, and it was in this capacity that he was hired as an ensemble player for the 1976 Bill Cosby TV variety series Cos. That same year, Thomerson made his first film appearance as Ken in Car Wash (1976). He made several additional movies under the watchful eye of producer/director Robert Altman. Latter-day filmgoers will recognize Thomerson as the Bogartlike adventurer Jack Deth in the three Trancers movies, and also as Brick Bardo in the brief Doll Man cinema series. In the final analysis, Thomerson is probably best known for his prolific TV-series work. He played lascivious hairstylist Gianni in Angie (1979), horny mailboy Johnny Danko in The Associates (1979), egotistical Regis Philbin takeoff Reggie Cavanaugh in The Two of Us (1981), bumbling bandit Theodore Ogilvie in Gun Shy (1983), philosophical derelict Jerry in Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1987), and Sgt. James "Buddy" Zunder, confined to a desk job because of his irregular heartbeat, in the first two seasons of Sirens (1993-96). Video cultists are fondest of Tim Thomerson's fascinatingly funny portrayal of transmuted male-female Gene/Jean on the brief sci-fi spoof Quark (1978).

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: Widely beloved by television viewers for his memorable stint on the popular late-'70s sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati, longtime actor Gary Sandy has had a rich career both before and after the show that found him nationwide fame. From stage to screen and virtually everything in between, Sandy proved equally adept at comedy, drama, and even musicals. Born in Dayton, OH, in 1945, Sandy discovered his love of acting early in life. Attending Wilmington College in Ohio before pursuing his dreams at New York's American Academy of Dramatic Arts, a role on the long-running soap opera As the World Turns gave Sandy his first chance to shine in a role created specifically for him. Villainous roles in such daytime dramas as Somerset and Another World quickly followed, and, in 1971, Sandy made his feature debut in the social drama Some of My Best Friends Are.... Simultaneously finding off-Broadway success in such productions as The Children's Mass, it was only a matter of time before the bright lights of Broadway came calling and Sandy was cast in the Franco Zeffirelli-directed production of Saturday, Sunday, Monday. In the following years, Sandy belted out tunes in such plays-turned-Broadway musicals as Sheba (from Come Back, Little Sheba), Luv, and Windy City (from The Front Page). It was during this time that roles in such small-screen features as Shell Game and The Kansas City Massacre found him increasingly recognizable to audiences nationwide. In 1978, he was cast in the role of station manager Andy Travis in the classic sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati. As with many sitcom stars, the role would ultimately make it difficult for him to find work due to people associating Sandy too closely with his television counterpart when the show ended a successful four-year run in 1982. But two things that separated him from the pack: his talents on the stage and his marked determination to break the curse of typecasting. While subsequent appearances on Murder, She Wrote, Diagnosis Murder, and Martial Law found Sandy continuing on the small screen, feature roles in such efforts as the Oscar-nominated The Insider and a coast-to-coast tour of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas found the dedicated actor remaining in the public eye while staying true to his craft. In 2004, Sandy was featured in the television family drama Til' the River Runs Dry.