Trivia: An offbeat character actor whose stark features lent him to effective portrayals of villains and seedy figures, Stanley Kamel grew up in New Jersey and attended Boston University, where he received formalized dramatic training under the aegis of noted instructor Sanford Meisner. Kamel began his acting career with roles in off-Broadway productions during the early '70s, and quickly landed his first major on-camera role, as Eric Peters, on the daytime soap Days of Our Lives. His subsequent work over the following three decades consisted largely of recurring roles and guest parts in prime-time series including Cagney & Lacey, Hunter, Melrose Place, and -- most visibly -- the Tony Shalhoub sitcom Monk, as the lead character's shrink, Dr. Charles Kroger.

Trivia: A paragon among character actors, the late American thesp Lewis Arquette faded smoothly and imperceptibly into his individual roles with such efficiency and success that many television devotees and filmgoers will sooner recognize the names of Arquette's craggily-voiced, cantankerous personages than his own name -- from Seinfeld's Leapin' Larry, the crippled furniture magnate whose establishment burns to the ground as the result of a freak accident, to retired taxidermist Clifford Wooley in Christopher Guest's uproarious mockumentary Waiting for Guffman (1996) to the pot-bellied law enforcement officer, Chief Louis Hartley, in Scream 2 (1997). The son of television personality Cliff Arquette (a Tonight Show mainstay), Lewis Arquette was born December 14, 1935. He launched his career as a Broadway stage actor, then returned home to the Windy City and enlisted with the infamous Second City troupe. As a member of that ensemble, Arquette fine-tuned his own aptitude for spur-of-the-moment improvisation -- a gift that, combined with Arquette's distinctive look, prompted Hollywood to summon him for numerous character roles. Arquette began on the small screen (on an uncharacteristically somber note) as J.D. Pickett in the melancholic, tragedy-laden seventh season of the hit CBS series The Waltons -- a role that lasted for several years, until the program wrapped in August 1981. Arquette spent the late '70s, '80s, and '90s filling his resumé with bit parts in alternately forgettable and memorable pictures. Roles (in addition to the aforementioned turns) included Hatcher in The China Syndrome (1979), the warden in the "coming attractions" parody Loose Shoes (1980), a foreman in Badge of the Assassin (1985), Mr. Stokes in the Lily Tomlin-Bette Midler comedy Big Business (1988), Herm in The Great Outdoors (1988), Wyler in Tango & Cash (1989), Sheriff Bugiere in Chopper Chicks in Zombietown (1991), Texas Joe in The Linguini Incident (1992), Mr. Ingersol in Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman (1993), and a cardinal in the Adam Sandler comedy-fantasy Little Nicky (2000). Arquette was still active onscreen when he died of congestive heart failure on February 10, 2001 -- just two months after his 65th birthday. Arquette was the father of actresses Rosanna and Patricia Arquette, as well as actors David Arquette, Alexis Arquette, and Richmond Arquette. He co-starred with his sons and daughters in many of his pictures.

Trivia: Sigrid Thornton first set foot on the Australian stage at age 9; four years later she made her first TV appearance. At 18, she made her big-screen bow as Maria in The Getting of Wisdom (1977). Audiences outside Australia are most familiar with Thornton for her portrayal of Jessica in 1982's The Man From Snowy River and its 1988 sequel Return to Snowy River. She also starred in the Australian mini-series All the Rivers Run (1984), which received American airplay on the HBO Cable Service. Additional Sigrid Thornton projects include the 1988 American TV series Paradise, the British TV weekly Guns of Promise, and 1990's Great Expectations: The Untold Story, for which she did double duty as star and associate producer.