Trivia: The first person ever to appear on the cover of TV Guide, Desi Arnaz Jr. was not afforded this honor for his film or TV credits, but by virtue of his lineage. The son of television legends Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, Desi Jr. was born by Cesarean section on January 19, 1953--the very same day that his fictional counterpart "Little Ricky" was born on the immensely popular TV show I Love Lucy. So momentous was this event (at least to those people who had TV sets at the time) that it squeezed out the news of Eisenhower's inauguration on the front pages of the nation. When he was old enough to decide that he wanted to earn his celebrity rather than merely enjoy it, Desi helped form the rock band Dino, Desi and Billy with two teen-aged friends, one of whom was the son of Dean Martin. Desi made his acting debut (in a manner of speaking) on I Love Lucy in 1957, learned the rudiments of his craft in small parts on his mother's subsequent The Lucy Show (1962-68), then graduated to "regular" status on Mom's Here's Lucy. His first film appearance was in Red Sky at Morning in 1970. Although most of his films were not first rate, Desi Arnaz Jr.'s best film showing was in 1992's The Mambo Kings, in which he offered an intimidatingly accurate portrayal of Desi Arnaz Sr.

Trivia: James Stacy had passed the quarter-century mark before deciding upon an acting career. In 1956, Stacy's James Dean-ish handsomeness landed him a part in a Pepsi-Cola commercial. Afterward, Stacy put together a portfolio and started making the casting rounds. Unfortunately, his difficult attitude managed to get him fired from his first film role in South Pacific (1958), and had his lines taken away from him in Sayonara (1957). His recurring appearances as Fred on TV's The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet started the ball rolling again, and by 1965 Stacy was Columbia Pictures' answer to Frankie Avalon, starring in such Beach Party rip-offs as A Swingin' Summer and Winter a Go Go. He also found time to marry actress Connie Stevens, only to lose her to singer Eddie Fisher. Stacy's second wife was Kim Darby. From 1968 through 1971, Stacy starred on the TV western Lancer. Two years after the series' cancellation, he was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident, which cost him his left arm and leg. Courageously refusing to retire, he began appearing in roles specially written to accommodate his handicap. His comeback film was the 1975 Kirk Douglas western Posse, in which he was cast in the nonambulatory role of newspaper editor Hellman. In 1977, he starred in the TV-movie Just a Little Inconvenience, playing a double-amputee Vietnam veteran. And in Disney's 1982 fantasy film Something Wicked This Way Comes, Stacy plays a crippled, embittered bartender, who makes the mistake of his life when he wishes to be "whole" again. His last regular TV role was Rogosheske in the weekly cop series Wiseguy. In 1996, once he was retired from acting, he served a six-year prison sentence after pleading no contest to the molestation of a minor (Stacy's erratic behavior around his arrest negated the hope of only getting probation for the incident). He was released in 2001 and resumed his life as a private citizen. Stacy died in 2016.

Trivia: From Howdy Doody to Beanie & Cecil to H.R. Pufnstuff to Kermit the Frog, the history of children's television has been peppered with beloved puppets and their masters. Though lacking in the sophistication and elaborate flash of many of her peers, ventriloquist Shari Lewis and her feisty sock puppet Lamb Chop reigned supreme as the queen and princess of modern puppetry. Though adults loved the playful, peppery exchanges between Lewis and her wooly alter ego, her primary appeal was to children and it was as a teacher that Lewis made her greatest impact. Her awards included 12 Emmys, a Peabody, and seven Parents' Choice Awards. The New York City native was raised amidst culture and Lewis herself had many more talents than belly talking. Lewis' mother began teaching her piano when she was two, while her father taught her ventriloquism and a few magic tricks. As a teen, she attended the city's prestigious High School of Music and Art, where she studied piano, violin, music theory, and orchestration. She learned to dance at the School of American Ballet and honed her acting skills at the Neighborhood Playhouse. She made her first television appearance on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scout and won.Lewis and Lamb Chop, as a team, made their television debut on a 1957 episode of Captain Kangaroo. The diminutive redhead and her simple puppet were instant hits with both children and their parents, and within a few months Lewis was hosting her first children's program, simply titled The Shari Lewis Show. Though it featured other Lewis-created creatures, Lamb Chop was the undisputed star. As an entertainer, Lewis was also a talented dancer, musician, singer, and the author of 30 books. Her first show ran between 1960 and 1963, but due to the increasing popularity of televised cartoons, it was cancelled. In many episodes, the mischievous Lamb Chop would get herself into a fix that would culminate with a lesson reinforced by Lewis with a gentle discussion or a song. Lewis believed that children achieved self-esteem through positive actions. Whereas cartoons by their nature promoted passive viewing, Lewis tried to encourage a form of interaction between herself and young viewers. Shows always offered some kind of activity. Years later, she took the next step and made several interactive CD-Roms. After her show folded, Lewis made a few appearances in Las Vegas and also appeared on many game shows. She also made a name for herself as a symphony conductor and played with orchestras the world over. In 1968, Lewis again hosted her own show, this time for the British Broadcasting Corporation and stayed on the air through 1976. She would not return to American television until 1992, when she created and starred in Lamb Chop's Play-Along for the PBS network. Five of her Emmy awards were given to Lewis for her work on this program. In addition to performing, she was passionately involved as a member on the National Board of the Girl Scouts and the International Board of the Boy Scouts. She was on the Board of the International Reading Association. Other awards received by Lewis include the John F. Kennedy Center Award for Excellence and Creativity and the Action for Children's Television Award. In the spring of 1993, she accepted an honorary doctorate in education from New York state's Hofstra University. In 1998, Lewis was working on her latest children's series for PBS, The Charlie Horse Music Pizza when she was diagnosed with uterine cancer and had to stop production to undergo chemotherapy. Unfortunately, six weeks into treatment, Lewis contracted pneumonia and passed away. She was 65. She is survived by her husband of 40 years, publisher Jerry Tarcher.

Trivia: Heather Menzies made her film debut at 15, as Louisa von Trapp in The Sound of Music (1965). Menzies followed this assignment with several well-scrubbed ingenue roles; she was prominently featured in one of the deathless anti-drug Dragnet episodes of the late 1960s. She underwent a startling image change in the 1970s, playing sexy roles with a minimum of clothing. In the 1977 TV-series version of Logan's Run, she was cast as Jessica 6, accruing a great deal of press attention for her extremely revealing costumes. She apparently retired after 1982's Endangered Species. Heather Menzies was married to actor Robert Urich.