Trivia: Charming, handsome, and easy-going, lead actor and megastar Burt Reynolds entered the world on February 11, 1936. He attended Florida State University on a football scholarship, and became an all-star Southern Conference halfback, but - faced with a knee injury and a debilitating car accident - switched gears from athletics to college drama. In 1955, he dropped out of college and traveled to New York, in search of stage work, but only turned up occasional bit parts on television, and for two years he had to support himself as a dishwasher and bouncer.In 1957, Reynolds's ship came in when he appeared in a New York City Center revival of Mister Roberts; shortly thereafter, he signed a television contract. He sustained regular roles in the series Riverboat, Gunsmoke, Hawk, and Dan August. Although he appeared in numerous films in the 1960s, he failed to make a significant impression. In the early '70s, his popularity began to increase, in part due to his witty appearances on daytime TV talk shows. His breakthrough film, Deliverance (1972), established him as both a screen icon and formidable actor. That same year, Reynolds became a major sex symbol when he posed as the first nude male centerfold in the April edition of Cosmopolitan. He went on to become the biggest box-office attraction in America for several years - the centerpiece of films such as Hustle (1975), Smokey and the Bandit (1977) (as well as its two sequels), The End (1978), Starting Over (1979), The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), and The Man Who Loved Women (1983). However, by the mid-'80s, his heyday ended, largely thanks to his propensity for making dumb-dumb bumper-smashing road comedies with guy pals such as Hal Needham (Stroker Ace, The Cannonball Run 2). Reynolds's later cinematic efforts (such as the dismal Malone (1987)) failed to generate any box office sizzle, aside from a sweet and low-key turn as an aging career criminal in Bill Forsyth's Breaking In (1989). Taking this as a cue, Reynolds transitioned to the small screen, and starred in the popular sitcom Evening Shade, for which he won an Emmy. He also directed several films, created the hit Win, Lose or Draw game show with friend Bert Convy, and established the Burt Reynolds Dinner Theater in Florida. In the mid-'90s, Reynolds ignited a comeback that began with his role as a drunken, right-wing congressman in Andrew Bergman's Striptease (1996). Although the film itself suffered from critical pans and bombed out at the box office, the actor won raves for his performance, with many critics citing his comic interpretation of the role as one of the film's key strengths. His luck continued the following year, when Paul Thomas Anderson cast him as porn director Jack Horner in his acclaimed Boogie Nights. Reynolds would go on to earn a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, and between the twin triumphs of Striptease and Nights, critics read the resurgence as the beginning of a second wind in the Deliverance star's career, ala John Travolta's turnaround in 1994's Pulp Fiction. But all was not completely well chez Burt. A nasty conflict marred his interaction with Paul Thomas Anderson just prior to the release of Boogie Nights. It began with Reynolds's disastrous private screening of Nights; he purportedly loathed the picture so much that he phoned his agent after the screening and fired him. When the Anderson film hit cinemas and became a success d'estime, Reynolds rewrote his opinion of the film and agreed to follow Anderson on a tour endorsing the effort, but Reynolds understandably grew peeved when Anderson refused to let him speak publicly. Reynolds grew so infuriated, in fact, that he refused to play a role in Anderson's tertiary cinematic effort, 1999's Magnolia. Reynolds's went on to appear in a big screen adatpation of The Dukes of Hazzard as Boss Hogg, and later returned to drama with a supporting performance in the musical drama Broken Bridges; a low-key tale of a fading country music star that served as a feature debut for real-life country music singer Toby Kieth. Over the coming years, Reynolds would also enjoy occasional appearances on shows like My Name is Earl and Burn Notice.

Trivia: Portly American character actor Ned Beatty originally planned to enter the clergy, but after appearing in a single high-school play, he changed his mind and decided to become a thespian instead. By his early twenties, Beatty was playing Broadway and it was his work in the play The Great White Hope that attracted the interest of film director John Boorman, who cast him as one of the four main stars in his gripping backwoods thriller Deliverance (1972). Forever immortalized in the notorious "squeal like a pig" rape scene, Beatty subsequently went on to become one of the screen's more prolific supporting actors, frequently appearing in up to four films per year. His more notable film work includes Nashville (1975), All the President's Men (1976), Network (for which he earned an Oscar nomination), The Big Easy (1987), Hear My Song (1991), A Prelude to a Kiss (1992), Radioland Murders (1994), and He Got Game (1998). In 1999, he could be seen as a small-town sheriff in the Robert Altman ensemble film Cookie's Fortune.At the start of the 21st century the always-employed character actor continued to work steadily in projects as diverse as Roughing It, Where the Red Fern Grows, Shooter, and Charlie Wilson's War. He joined the Pixar family when he voiced Lotso, the bad guy in Toy Story 3, and he provided the voice of Mayor in 2011's Oscar winning animated feature Rango.

Trivia: Jim Nabors, he of the vacuous expression and the dumbstruck expletives "Gawwwleee" and "Shazzayam," graduated from the University of Alabama with a degree in business administration. Nabors' first TV job was as an apprentice film cutter; shortly afterward, he launched a fitfully successful career as a cabaret singer. In 1963, he was hired to play the one-shot role of gas station attendant Gomer Pyle on the top-rated The Andy Griffith Show. Essentially a build-up to a punchline (Griffith explained to a nonplused stranger that the goofy Gomer planned to become a brain surgeon), Nabor's hayseed character proved so popular that he became a regular on the series. In 1964, with Griffith's manager Richard O. Linke calling the shots, Nabors was spun off into his own weekly sitcom, Gomer Pyle USMC, which ran for five successful seasons. Televiewers got their first inkling that there was more to Nabors than Gomer when, on a 1964 Danny Kaye Show, he revealed his rich, well-modulated baritone singing voice. He went on to record 16 popular record albums, utilizing his high-pitched Gomer voice in only one of them (1965's Shazzam). Nabors' larynx was further deployed on his TV variety series The Jim Nabors Show (1969-72), on the 1967 opening episode (and every subsequent season opener) of The Carol Burnett Show, and in countless personal appearances all over the world. Additionally, Nabors starred in such 1970s Saturday morning kiddie efforts as Krofft Supershow, The Lost Saucer and Buford and the Galloping Ghost (voice only). He played his first serious role as a vengeful hillbilly on a 1973 episode of TVs The Rookies, and essayed comic supporting parts in such good-ole-boy films as Cannonball Run (1978) and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), both starring his close friend Burt Reynolds. Because Nabors never married, he found himself the target of numerous ugly and unfounded rumors concerning his private life. When he became deathly ill in the mid-1980s, there were those who jumped to the conclusion that Nabors had contacted AIDS. In fact, he had fallen victim to a particularly vicious form of hepatitis, picked up (according to Nabors) when he cut himself while shaving in India. Nabors recovered from his ailment after a highly publicized liver transplant saved his life.

Trivia: Loni Anderson's first acting appearance, at age 10, was in the auditorium of her St. Paul grammar school. An art student at the University of Minnesota, Loni worked her way through her freshman year by winning beauty contests. Married and divorced at 18, Loni was compelled to take a teaching job to support herself and her infant daughter, but she was able to eventually complete her college education. Still a brunette in the early stages of her professional career, Loni acted in Midwestern repertory companies and TV commercials before coming to Hollywood with her second husband in 1975. Three years later, a newly blonde Loni was cast as "look but don't touch" radio station receptionist Jennifer Marlowe on the popular sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati. After the series' cancellation in 1982, Loni appeared in films and starred in two subsequent series, Partners in Crime (1984) and Easy Street (1986), as well as a syndicated WKRP revival in 1990. One of the uncrowned queens of the TV movies, Loni has starred in the made-for-television biopics of Jayne Mansfield and Thelma Todd, and through the auspices of her own production company appeared in TV remakes of Leave Her to Heaven and Sorry Wrong Number. Loni Anderson's most recent husband was film superstar Burt Reynolds, whom she met on the set of Stroker Ace (1983); after several months of well-publicized courtroom histrionics (most stemming from a custody battle over their adopted son), Loni and Burt's marriage came to a comparatively swift and silent end in 1994.She would work in frequently from that point on, though she starred in 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain and appeared in the SNL adaptation A Night at the Roxbury. In 2011 she was one of the people who appeared in the affectionate documentary Carol Channing: Larger Than Life.

Trivia: Parker Stevenson had been appearing in films and TV for five years before he was cast as teen-aged sleuth Frank Hardy on the 1977 TVer The Hardy Boys Mysteries. While the 25-year-old Stevenson was a skilled enough actor to convey his character's extreme youth, his contribution to the series was overshadowed by the teen-heartthrob attention afforded his 19-year-old co-star Shaun Cassidy. Cassidy's season in the sun was brief, but Stevenson has continued to flourish as a TV leading man. He has been blessed with the good fortune of being associated with three of the Small Screen's biggest hits: he played Joel McCarthy on Falcon Crest (1984-85 season), Craig Pomeroy on Baywatch (1989-90) and Steve McMillan on Melrose Place (1993 season only). Parker Stevenson was the husband of actress Kirstie Alley. In the years to come, Stevenson would remain active on screen, appearing on shows like Legend of the Seeker.

Trivia: Short-statured, pokerfaced nightclub comic John Byner rose to fame during the 1966 edition of TV's The Garry Moore Show. Byner went on to join the supporting ensemble on the 1967 summer-replacement weekly The Steve Allen Comedy Hour, and five years later headlined his own five-week summer series. He has appeared as a regular on the TV sitcoms The Practice (1976) and Soap (1977), and can be spotted in such lampoonish theatrical films as Transylvania 6-5000 (1985). An accomplished impressionist -- he provided the voice for the Jackie Mason-ish aardvark in DePatie-Freleng's Ant and the Aardvark cartoon shorts -- one of Byner's most enduring routines concerns a bad impressionist, whose concept of Walter Brennan consists of kicking the left leg in the air and screeching "Luke, the barn! Luke, the barn!" A Las Vegas headliner into the 1990s, John Byner's TV contributions have included a stint as host of a series of Bowery Boys films on the A&E cable network.

Trivia: A pretty, conservative-looking redhead, Cassandra Peterson made a name for herself in sexy, extroverted roles. Her first film, 1973's Working Stiff, offered a rare glimpse of Cassandra el buffo; afterwards, she preferred to tease her audience with provocative costuming. Throughout the 1980s, she could be glimpsed in such comedy cameo roles as "Biker Mama" in Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (1985). Cassandra climbed to cult status in the early 1980s when she donned the black wig, vampiric makeup and tight floor-length gowns of "Elvira, Mistress of the Dark." As hostess of the weekly horror-flick series Elvira's Movie Macabre, Ms. Peterson offset her spooky sensuality with a steady stream of raunchy one-liners and horrendous puns. The popularity of the Elvira persona peaked around 1988 (a feature film based on the character took a nosedive at the box office), but Cassandra Peterson continued to make personal appearances as the Mistress of the Dark into the late 1990s.

Trivia: During his stay at Michigan State University in the mid-1960s, Charles "Bubba" Smith achieved legendary status for his gridiron activities. The All-American defensive lineman joined the Baltimore Colts as a first-round draft choice in 1967. After playing in two Super Bowls, Smith was sidelined with a knee injury in 1972; he made a comeback the following year with the Oakland Raiders, then played with the Houston Oilers, but by 1975 his football days were over. After a few seasons as a sportscaster, Smith started a whole new career as an actor, beginning with the role of Puddin in the 1980 TV-series version of the 1977 film Semi-Tough. He went on to play regular roles in weekly TVers Open All Night (1982, as Robin) Blue Thunder (1984, as Bubba Kelsey) and Half Nelson (1985, as Beau). In films from 1983, Bubba Smith's best screen showings were as the misleadingly mild-mannered Moses Hightower in the six low-budget, high-grossing Police Academy flicks.

Trivia: In films from 1951, handsome actor Warren Stevens' better-known roles include the Howard Hughes-ish Kirk Edwards in The Barefoot Contessa (1954) and the authoritative Lieutenant "Doc" Ostrow in Forbidden Planet (1956). A tireless TV performer, Stevens was starred as Lt. William Storm in the 1956 adventure series Tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers; was among the eleven "repertory actors" appearing in the 1963 anthology The Richard Boone Show; and was heard but not seen as movie mogul John Bracken on the 1969 prime-timer Bracken's World (ironically, when Bracken did appear, he was played by Stevens' old Forbidden Planet co-star Leslie Nielsen). In 1972, Warren Stevens was cast as Elliot Carson in the daytime soap opera Return to Peyton Place; nine years later, he played Merritt Madison in Behind the Screen, a short-lived series which took place on the set of a fictional soap opera.

Trivia: American general-purpose actor Alfie Wise was evidently some sort of good luck charm to film luminary Burt Reynolds. Though his movie appearances were usually nondescript (this description could also apply to the actor's participation in such busted TV pilots as Call Her Mom and Young Tom Christian), Wise could always count on a moment or two to shine whenever cast in a Reynolds vehicle. He was seen as a state trooper in The Longest Yard (1974), as "patrolman in a traffic jam" in Smokey and the Bandit (1977), and as Tony in Hooper (1978). Additional Alfie Wise bits were included in the Burt Reynolds pictures The End (1978), Starting Over (1979), and Paternity (1981). On television, Alfie Wise had recurring roles on As the World Turns, Trauma Center, and the kiddie show Uncle Croc's Block (dressed appropriately -- and ridiculously -- for his role as Mr. Rabbit Ears).

Trivia: Left a legacy matched by few athletes in any sport after a career as one of NASCAR's most polarizing figures from his 1975 debut until his 2001 death in a last-lap crash at the Daytona 500. Drove to 76 Cup Series victories and a record-tying seven series championships (1980, '86, '87, '90, '91, '93, '94), becoming the first driver to capture the series title the year after winning NASCAR Rookie of the Year honors. Won the 1998 Daytona 500 after famously coming up short in NASCAR's premier race for years due to racing mishaps and bad luck. Crew members for every team lined up to congratulate Earnhardt on pit road after his long-sought victory. Honored by NASCAR with the removal of his No. 3, which only reappears under special circumstances. Among others paying tribute was baseball manager Ned Yost, a friend of Earnhardt's who wore No. 3 while managing in Milwaukee. Inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame (2002), the International Motorsports Hall of Fame (2006) and the NASCAR Hall of Fame as a member of the inaugural 2010 class. Remembered throughout North Carolina, but especially in his hometown of Kannapolis, home of Dale Earnhardt Boulevard as well as minor-league baseball's Intimidators (an Earnhardt nickname---team was formerly the Piedmont Boll Weevils). Earnhardt co-owned the team but was never able to see them play.

Trivia: Won eight races in 829 starts in NASCAR's top series (Cup), including two victories in 1992, when he finished sixth in the Daytona 500 and fifth in the points standings (also fifth in 1993). Appeared in the Burt Reynolds movie Stroker Ace in 1983. Served as CEO of Petty Enterprises in the last decade of its 60-year run as a NASCAR race-team owner, a stretch that began in legendary father Richard's rookie season of 1958. Opened the Victory Junction Gang camp in 2004 in North Carolina, dedicated to children with serious illnesses. Kyle's son Adam was heavily involved in establishing the camp before his death in a stock-car crash in 2000. Kyle hosts an annual motorcycle ride to benefit the camp. Often wears a black hat displaying the race-car number 45, in Adam's memory. Completed the 2005 Las Vegas Marathon (in 4:16:01) and 2006 Disney Marathon (4:46). Inducted into the Philanthropy Hall of Fame (2006) and the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame (2007).