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: When the film version of the Broadway musical Camelot was released in 1967, critics had a jolly old time lambasting director Joshua Logan for casting non-singers in the leading roles. While it's certainly true that Lynn Redgrave, Richard Harris and Franco Nero seemed to suffer from Tin-Ear Syndrome, the critics were most unfair in picking on the fellow who played Mordred: David Hemmings. The son of a cookie merchant, Hemmings was a successful touring boy soprano at age nine, performing with the English Opera Group. He briefly left the musical world when his voice changed, studying painting at the Epsom School of Art and staging his first exhibition at 15. He returned to singing in his early 20s, first in nightclubs, then on the musical stage. Easing into acting, Hemmings appeared as misunderstood youths and belligerent "Teddy Boys" in a number of British programmers before attaining international stardom as the existential fashion photographer "hero"of Antonioni's Blow-Up (1966). With 1971's Running Scared, the indefatigable Hemmings began yet another new career as director; he has since helmed theatrical and made-for-TV films in England, Australia and Canada. With business partner John Daly, Hemmings formed the Hemdale Corporation for the express purpose of allowing the actor to do pretty much what he pleased both before and behind the cameras. In later years, he added novel writing to his considerable list of accomplishments. David Hemmings was the former husband of American actress Gayle Hunnicutt.

Trivia: The son of actors Robert Walker and Jennifer Jones, Robert Walker Jr. began training for his own show business career at the Actors' Studio in the early '60s. "I would like to develop as an actor in obscurity," Walker commented in reference to his parents' fame, but the young actor's striking resemblance to his father (who died in 1951) made it virtually impossible for the two Robert Walkers to be separated in the minds of the public. The younger Walker worked steadily on television and stage, and co-starred in films of varying quality from 1963 to 1984. Robert Walker Jr. is best remembered for valiantly stepping into the shoes of Jack Lemmon when he was cast in the title role in the Mister Roberts sequel Ensign Pulver (1964).

Trivia: The daughter of a contractor father and an artist mother, Kate Mulgrew was the second oldest of eight children. At 18, Mulgrew headed to New York to study acting with Stella Adler. She spent a grueling year or so pounding on casting-agency doors and making ends meet as a waitress and model. Then, on the same day in 1975, she landed two plum roles: Emily Webb in a stage revival of Our Town, and Mary Ryan on the new ABC TV soap opera Ryan's Hope. Four years later, she was tapped to play Kate Columbo, the previously never-seen wife of dishevelled TV detective Columbo (Peter Falk), on the prime-time series Mrs. Columbo, later retitled Kate Loves a Mystery. Columbo himself would never be seen on Mrs. Columbo; for that matter, few viewers saw Kate Mulgrew, since the rather ill-conceived series never built up much of an audience. Despite this setback, the actress persevered, starring in the 1981 miniseries The Manions of America and appearing in such theatrical features as A Stranger is Watching (1982), Remo Williams (1985) and Throw Mama from the Train (1987). She went on to co-star with James Garner in the short-lived weekly Man of the People (1991), and in 1995 joined the ever-growing "Star Trek" family as Captain Kathryn Janeway in Star Trek Voyager (she replaced Genevieve Bujold, who dropped out of the role in the middle of filming the first episode). Her significant TV guest appearances include a Boston councilwoman who carries on a torrid romance with Sam Malone (Ted Danson) in a 1986 episode of Cheers, and an alcoholic broadcast journalist on a 1992 installment of Murphy Brown; this last-named performance earned her a Tracey Humanitarian Award. Throughout her film and TV career, she has periodically returned to the stage, most recently in an all-star Broadway revival of Peter Schaffer's Black Comedy. In recognition of twenty years' worth of "artistic contributions," Kate Mulgrew was made an Honorary Doctor of Letters by Seton Hall University.Her career changed forever when she was cast as Captain Kathryn Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager, becoming the first woman to lead one of the ships in the durable sci-fi franchise. The program ran for seven years. She was in 1998's Riddler's Moon, 2002's big-screen effort Star Trek: Nemesis. In 2011 she was part of the Star Trek documentary The Captains.

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: A former stage director, Walter Grauman turned to films in 1957. Most of Grauman's big-screen efforts were unremarkable, with the exception of his taut 1964 thriller Lady in a Cage. He is best known for his TV work on such weekly series as The Untouchables and The Twilight Zone. Grauman also directed a wealth of worthwhile TV-movies and miniseries, among them The Old Man Who Cried Wolf (1970), The Streets of San Francisco (1971), The Memory of Eva Riker (1980), Bare Essence (1982), and the slicked-down 1981 remake of Valley of the Dolls. His final directorial effort was a handful of episodes of Murder, She Wrote. Grauman died in 2015, at age 93.

Trivia: Best known as housekeeper Pearl Gallagher on the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, actress Mary Jo Catlett got her start on the stage, appearing in numerous musicals like Hello Dolly! and Promenade. Moving from the stage to the screen, the comedienne paid her dues in show business during the '70s, appearing on everything from Fantasy Island to The Smurfs. After playing Pearl for four years between 1982 and 1986, Catlett got right back into the habit, wracking up a massive list of appearances throughout the '80s, '90s, and 2000s, even taking on the recurring role of Mrs. Poppy Puff on the animated series SpongeBob SquarePants.

Trivia: The son of legendary vaudevillian Pat Harrington Sr., comic actor Pat Harrington Jr. rose to prominence via his many appearances on The Steve Allen Show and The Jack Paar Program in the late 1950s. However, few viewers recognized him as Pat Harrington Jr.: instead, he passed himself off as Italian golf pro Guido Panzini, a guise so convincing that he was invited to play in several major tournaments. Once the public at large was apprised that Harrington was neither Italian nor a master duffer, demands for his services as an actor increased immeasurably. In 1959, he was cast on The Danny Thomas Show as Danny's new son-in-law Pat Hannigan (Thomas had planned to spin off Harrington and his TV daughter Penney Parker into their own series, but this was not to be). In 1962, he served as host of Stump the Stars, a revamped version of the old Summer replacement perennial Pantomime Quiz. Seven years later, he was seen as sharkish PR man Tony Lawrence on the short-lived TV adaptation of Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. In 1975, Harrington landed his signature role as macho, aphorism-spouting handyman Dwayne Schneider on the TV sitcom One Day at a Time; he remained with the series until its cancellation in 1984, earning an Emmy along the way. In films, Pat Harrington Jr. has been seen in a gallery of diverse portrayals, most amusingly as smoothly villainous telephone company spokesman Arlington Haven in The President's Analyst (1967). Harrington continued to act until 2012; his last acting appearance was a guest-spot on Hot in Cleveland, starring his former One Day at a Time co-star Valerie Harper. He died in 2016, at age 86.

Trivia: Nineteen-year-old Leander Berg billed himself as Gene Berg when he made his professional debut as a skater in Sonja Henie's LA-based ice show. He was still Gene Berg when, while serving in World War II, he was featured as a dancer in the 1942 Broadway revue This is the Army. It wasn't until the 1948 stage musical Lend an Ear that Gene Berg reemerged as Gene Nelson. Signed to a 20th Century-Fox contract in 1947, Nelson co-starred in several of that studio's Technicolor song-and-dance fests, then moved on to the musical unit at Warner Bros. His best-known filmusical assignment was as high-kickin' cowpoke Will Parker in the 1955 superproduction Oklahoma. After briefly attempting to establish himself in dramatic roles, Nelson turned to directing. He called the shots in several Sam Katzman productions of the 1960s, notably the Elvis Presley vehicles Kissin' Cousins (1963) and Harum Scarum (1965), and the 1965 Hank Williams Sr. biopic Your Cheatin' Heart. He also directed dozens of TV episodes, working on such weeklies as The Rifleman, The Donna Reed Show and Mod Squad. There was talk that a serious injury in the mid-1950s had forced Gene Nelson to forego dancing in favor of directing; if so, he was sufficiently recovered in the 1970s, displaying his still-impressive terpsichorean skills in the Broadway musicals Follies and Good News.

Trivia: Hawaii-born leading man James Shigeta made his first film appearance in 1959. Generally cast as everything but Hawaiian--Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tibetan--Shigeta alternated between heroes and villains, depending on the requirements of the script (e.g. whether or not the plot is set during World War II). He briefly became a fan-magazine heartthrob when he played the romantic lead in the 1961 filmization of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song and had a memorable supporting role as a Nakatomi executive in Die Hard (1988). Though he was never a television series regular, he frequently popped up as a TV guest star. His final film role was 2009's The People I've Slept With. Shigeta died in 2014 at age 81.

Trivia: American actor Gerald York has played supporting roles on stage and screen. In theater he acted while attending the University of Chicago and was a member of the Second City theater company. Later in his career he began writing scripts for television series.

Trivia: Lead actor, onscreen from 1959.