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: Was a child extra, along with her siblings, in the 1955 film Picnic. Studied opera and journalism before acting. While a drama student of Jeff Corey and Lee Strasberg, classmates included Jack Nicholson, Sally Kellerman, Dean Stockwell and Robert Blake. First TV role was in 1957 on NBC's Matinee Theater; playing a teen mother opposite Michael Landon. Made her Broadway debut in a 1964 revival of the Anton Chekhov play The Three Sisters, directed by Strasberg and co-starring Geraldine Page. Received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Lake Forest College in 1979.

Trivia: Muscular leading man Ed Nelson started out as a member of quickie-filmmaker Roger Corman's stock company, appearing in such drive-in fodder as Hot Rod Girl (1956), Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957) and Cry Baby Killer. In these and other low-budgeters of the late 1950s, Nelson not only starred, but doubled on the technical crew: he was one of several production assistants portraying the title crustacean in The Attack of the Crab Monsters (1956), and designed and operated the parasite props in 1958's The Brain Eaters, which he also produced. Eventually outgrowing such things, Nelson rose to TV stardom as Dr. Michael Rossi on the prime time soap opera Peyton Place, which ran from 1964 through 1969. He later starred as Ward Fuller on The Silent Force (1970) and as Dr. Michael Wise in Doctor's Private Lives (1979). In 1969, Nelson hosted a daily, syndicated talk show, which he was ultimately forced to give up when he decided to enter politics ("conflict of interests" and "equal time" were still considerations back then). He played President Truman several times, including the 1980 TV movie Enola Gay: The Men, the Mission, the Atomic Bomb, in the 1992 Brooke Shields flick Brenda Starr and onstage in Give 'Em Hell, Harry. Nelson died in 2014 at age 85.

Trivia: Character actor and screenwriter Chris Mulkey is best remembered for his convincing portrayal of creepy former convict Hank Jennings in David Lynch's innovative television series Twin Peaks. A five-year veteran of the Children's Theatre Company of Minnesota, Mulkey, who had previously studied theater at the University of Minnesota, made his feature film debut in the comedy Loose Ends (1975). He made his screenwriting debut in 1988, with Patti Rocks.

Trivia: Red-headed, ruddy-faced American supporting actor Ken Swofford made his movie debut in 1964's Father Goose. Swofford hit his peak on television in the 1970s and 1980s, playing explosive, loudmouthed, stuffy types. He was brilliant as Winchell-like columnist Frank Flannagan in the weekly 1975 version of Ellery Queen, then went on to essay subtler variations of this character in Switch (1975-78) and The Eddie Capra Mysteries (1978-79). He was one of the singular delights of the syndicated version of Fame (1983-87), as the kids' perennial nemesis, vice-principal Morloch. Off camera, the affable Swofford got along famously with his young Fame co-stars, and was one of the series' biggest boosters on the promotional-tour circuit. More recently, Ken Swofford was seen in the recurring role of Lt. Capalano in Murder She Wrote (1984-96).

Trivia: American actor James J. Sloyan's first film was 1970's The Travelling Executioner; he subsequently played major feature roles in films as diverse as The Sting (1973) and Xanadu (1980). Sloyan was a regular on TV's Westside Medical (1977, top-billed as Dr. Sam Lanagan) and Oh Madeline (1987, as Charlie Wayne, husband of series star Madeline Kahn), and a semi-regular as insurance investigator Robert Butler on the 1990-91 season of Murder She Wrote. His many TV-movie roles include Ronald Ziegler in 1978's Blind Ambition. These days, Sloyan is a habitue of science fiction shows, with guest spots on The X-Files, Strange Luck, and all three of the latter-day Star Trek incarnations (The Next Generation, Deep Space 9 and Voyager). James J. Sloyan is married to actress Deirdre Lanahan.

Trivia: Forceful, solidly constructed Australian actor Keith Michell had been an art teacher before climbing upon the stage in 1947. In films from the early 1950s, Michell's best movie effort was the 1961 swashbuckler The Hellfire Club. Blessed with a robust singing voice, he has starred in several London stagings of Broadway musicals, notably Irma La Douce, Man of La Mancha and On the 20th Century. From 1973 through 1977, Michell was artistic director of the Chichester Theatre Festival. In 1971, Michell won several international awards (including an American Emmy) for his virtuoso star turn in the BBC TV miniseries The Six Wives of Henry VIII. Devotees of TV's Murder She Wrote will recall Keith Michell's recurring role as avuncular reformed jewel thief Dennis Stanton during the series' 1990-91 season. He reprised his role of Henry VIII in the 1996 miniseries The Prince and the Pauper. Michell died in 2015.

Trivia: A bona fide member of the American aristocracy (her father was Wall Street magnate E.F. Hutton and her mother, Marjorie Merriweather Post, was heiress to a huge cereal fortune), Dina Merrill (born Nedinia Hutton) dropped out of George Washington University in the 1940s to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and become an actress. She spent ten years on-stage, including Broadway, performed on television, and made her Hollywood debut in Desk Set (1957). The cool, sophisticated, blonde supporting actress was typically cast as an heiress or socialite. She married actor Cliff Robertson in 1966 and took a decade off, but for a few television movie appearances, to raise a family until returning to films in 1975. In 1988, she launched Pavilion, an entertainment development and production company with her new lover, investment banker Ted Hartley. The two married in 1989. After the late '80s, Merrill started appearing more frequently in features and television movies.

Trivia: Born in Arkansas, actress Lisa Blount made her feature film debut at the age of 17 as a teenage girl obsessed with James Dean in 9/30/55, a film shot on-location in Arkansas. After moving to Hollywood, she appeared in the 1979 re-edit of the drama The Swap (aka, Sam's Song) starring Robert De Niro. Her breakthrough role came a few years later as Debra Winger's best friend Lynette Pomeroy in the romantic drama An Officer and a Gentleman. Both Blount and co-star David Keith were nominated for Best New Star at the 1983 Golden Globes. A few leading roles followed, including the war drama Cease Fire opposite Don Johnson. For the rest of the '80s, she had leading roles in several low-budget horror films, starting with the thriller Dead and Buried. On television, Blount starred in the short-lived family dramas Sons and Daughters and Profit, as well as several made-for-TV movies. In 1996, she made a brief comeback as Purlene Dupree, Catherine Keener's sister in Tom DiCillo's Box of Moonlight. She also reunited with David Keith to star in Matthew Modine's 1999 crime drama If...Dog...Rabbit, released on home video as One Last Score. Not long after, Blount married actor/director Ray McKinnon and started making films projects with him. Their short film The Accountant won Best Live Action Short Film at the 2001 Academy Awards. They worked together again on Chrystal, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in the dramatic competition. Blount, who suffered from a condition similar to multiple sclerosis, died of related complications in October 2010, at the age of 53.

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: Portly, balding character actor E.E. Bell worked all kinds of serious entertainment, including mysteries (Murder, She Wrote) and big-budget suspense films (Air Force One). But chances are that he will be best known by the average viewer for his portrayal of Bob Rooney, the not-too-bright but oh-so-enthusiastic neighbor of the Bundy family on Married With Children. A recurring character in dozens of episodes, he was one of the very few supporting players given a reasonably full background as a character. Whether helping Ed O'Neill's Al Bundy make his NEA-funded movie "The Day In The Life of a Shoe Salesman" or trace the wiring in the wall of the Bundy home, Bell was a stitch to watch and listen to, particularly due to his deeply resonant and expressive voice. Bell later ran an unofficial "No Ma'am" site catering to Married With Children fans. After the show's cancellation, he made the rounds of feature films and other sitcoms, including How I Met Your Mother.