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: In films from 1970, George DiCenzo is best known for his portrayals of scowling urban authority types. DiCenzo's TV and movie characterizations have included Vincent Bugliosi in Helter Skelter (1976), Major Benchley in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1978), Arnold Rothstein in The Gangster Chronicles (1981), and Sam Baines in Back to the Future (1984). Numbering among his series-TV assignments are McClain's Law (1981; as Lt. Edward DeNisco), Dynasty (1984-1985 season; as Charles), Equal Justice (1990, top-billed as Pittsburgh D.A. Arnold Bach), and Joe's Life (1993; as Stan Gennaro). George DiCenzo has also kept busy behind the scenes as an associate producer.

Trivia: After beefing up his bank account as a sales clerk (handling everything from men's clothing to farm machinery), Canadian actor Len Cariou began his formal theatrical training at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre. Cariou's first professional appearance was in the chorus of the Canadian company of Damn Yankees. On Broadway from 1968, Cariou was prominently featured in such long-running musicals as Applause and A Little Night Music. In 1972, he was appointed artistic director of his old stomping grounds, the Tyrone Guthrie; and in 1979 he won a Tony award for his portrayal of the title character in the Stephen Sondheim musical drama Sweeney Todd. His film roles include Frederick in A Little Night Music (1978) and Nick Callan in The Four Seasons (1981). On television, Len Cariou was perhaps never busier than during the 1993-1994 season, when he appeared in five made-for-TV movies, including Charles Bronson's remake of The Sea Wolf. Over the coming years, Cariou would remain active on screen, appearing in movies like The Greatest Game Ever Played and on TV shows like Brotherhood, Damages, and Blue Bloods.

Trivia: Some actors and actresses remain forever associated with one memorable role that outshines all others; that is particularly true of beautiful and glamorous Deidre Hall, better known as Dr. Marlena Evans on the NBC daytime soap opera Days of Our Lives -- a part that Hall held for years. A native of Milwaukee, WI, Hall was born in the autumn of 1947 as an identical twin, and raised by her parents (a postal worker father and a high-school secretary mother) in Lake Worth, FL. She experienced her first brush with fame by vying for -- and winning -- the title of Junior Orange Bowl Queen at age 12, and subsequently attended a local junior college before moving to Los Angeles and kick-starting a modeling and acting career. Hall made her first several dramatic appearances as a television guest star, on episodes of such programs as Adam-12 and The Streets of San Francisco, then landed the lead role of ElectraWoman on the Saturday-morning children's program ElectraWoman and DynaGirl.It was Days, however, that brought Hall her broadest recognition; producers enlisted her to play Evans in 1976, and she remained with the program until 1987, when she temporarily withdrew from the part to focus all of her attentions on a much different prime-time role: Jesse Witherspoon, a widow raising several children with the assist of her lovable and slightly cantankerous father-in-law (Wilford Brimley), on the Sunday-night family-oriented drama Our House. That series lasted two seasons, and in the years that followed, Hall focused her energies solely on prime-time work, in telemovies such as Take My Daughters, Please (1988) and Perry Mason: The Case of the All-Star Assassin (1989). By 1991, however, Hall opted to re-join Days of Our Lives with a much-publicized return of Dr. Marlena Evans, and remained with the iconic series over the ensuing decades.Off-camera, Hall made headlines as the mother of two children born to a surrogate, experiences dramatized for viewers when she played herself in the ABC made-for-television feature Never Say Never: The Deidre Hall Story (1995). Hall received numerous laurels over the years for her acting work, including Soap Opera Digest awards and multiple Emmy nominations.

Trivia: Character actor, onscreen from 1957.

Trivia: British stage and film actor Ian Ogilvy was able to obtain leading-man roles in both mediums despite his relatively short, slight frame. His entree into films was by way of such horrific productions as The Sorcerers (1967) and The Witchfinder General (1968). Casual American TV viewers first became aware of Ogilvy through his appearances in such Masterpiece Theatre serials as "The Spoils of Poynton" and "Upstairs Downstairs;" and in 1978, the actor stepped into the Simon Templar role vacated by Roger Moore in TV's The Return of the Saint. Ian Ogilvy also appeared as Reginald Hewitt in the American-produced daytime drama Generations, which ran from 1989 to 1991.

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: British character actor John Standing has a pedigree in performing that spans seven generations and includes his grandfather Sir Guy Standing, the son of actress Kay Hammond, and Sir Ronald George Leon. Considered one of his country's most important actors, he has appeared frequently on British television and also guest starred in many American television series, including L.A. Law, Murder She Wrote, and Civil Wars. He is a distinguished stage actor in both London and New York. Standing made his feature film debut in The Wild and Willing (1963). In film, Standing primarily works as a supporting actor. When not performing, Standing has earned a reputation as a fine painter.

Trivia: Supporting actor Daniel Trent appeared in a few feature films of the 1980s and also on a few television shows, notably Three's Company, wherein he played the boyfriend of Suzanne Sommers' ditzy character Chrissy. His movie credits include Best Seller (1987) and the made-for-television feature Fall From Grace.