Trivia: Wryly humorous Canadian character actor Conrad Bain was all wrapped up in such athletic pursuits as hockey and speed skating when, in his junior year of high school, he suddenly became fascinated with acting. He studied at Alberta's Banff School of Fine Arts, served in the Canadian army during World War II, then resumed his training at New York's American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He worked at the Stratford (Ontario) Shakespeare Festival and in live television before scoring his first real success in the 1956 Broadway revival of Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh. In the early 1970s, Bain began popping up in such New York-based films as Lovers and Other Strangers (1970) and Woody Allen's Bananas (1973). He gained national fame in the TV role of stuffy next-door neighbor Dr. Arthur Harmon on the Norman Lear sitcom Maude (1974-78). Bain was later awarded top billing as wealthy Phillip Drummond, foster father to Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges, on Diff'rent Strokes. His most recent regular-series assignment was as presidential aide Charley Ross on the George C. Scott TV vehicle Mr. President (1987). Conrad Bain's identical twin brother Bonar Bain occasionally guested on Conrad's various TV series. Conrad died at 89 in early 2013.

Trivia: African-American child star Gary Coleman grew up in Zion, IL, where his father worked as a forklift operator and his mother was a nurse. Before reaching the age of five, Coleman had undergone three operations for a congenital kidney defect known as nephritis. As a result of his medical condition, he would never grow any taller than 4'8". His smallness proved to be a professional advantage when he began appearing in Chicago-area TV commercials; even at the age of nine, he could still pass as a precocious five-year-old. In 1978, Coleman auditioned for a proposed television revival of the old Little Rascals comedy series. Though the project fell through, ABC chief executive Fred Silverman was enchanted by the talented tyke. Silverman cast Coleman as Arnold Jackson on the upcoming sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, which moved to NBC along with Silverman in the fall of 1978. It was this extraordinarily popular series, coupled with the precocious Coleman's spirited TV talk show appearances, that catapulted the ten-year-old to stardom. Within a year of Diff'rent Strokes' debut, Gary Coleman Productions was formed, for the purpose of starring the youngster in theatrical features like On the Right Track (1981) and made-for-TV movies like Scout's Honor (1980) and The Kid With the Broken Halo (1982). This last project was spun off into the Saturday-morning cartoon series The Gary Coleman Show (1983), with Coleman providing his own voice. An instinctive comic performer and extremely quick study, Coleman rapidly grew weary with the rigors of show business. As he grew older, Coleman's spontaneous cuteness faded. After the cancellation of Diff'rent Strokes in 1986, Coleman found the going decidedly rough. Occasionally he'd play a "stunt" part like a villainous gang leader on the TV series 227, in addition to appearances on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The Drew Carey Show and other programs, but his short stature and ever-diminishing acting range made him difficult to cast. He still remained in the public eye, albeit as the central character in a bitter legal squabble between himself and his parents. Gary Coleman's later TV appearances were largely confined to a series of late-night commercials for a "psychic" telephone service, though he made headlines in 2003 when he ran in the Recall Election for Governor of the State of California, placing 8th behind winner Arnold Schwarzenegger and 6 others. Coleman died of cranial bleeding following a fall in late May 2010. He was 42 years old.

Trivia: Actor Todd Bridges is probably best known as big brother Willis on the classic '80s sitcom Diff'rent Strokes. He was only 13 years old when he was cast in the series in 1978, though he had already cut his teeth in the world of television on shows like Little House on the Prairie and The Waltons. Even before that, Bridges had scored gigs in commercials, and his family had relocated from San Francisco to L.A. to support his young career when he was just six. He stayed with Diff'rent Strokes until 1986, when the series ended, and like a lot of child stars, Bridges had a hard time transitioning into the world of adult acting. He began to struggle with drug problems and trouble with the law, and the struggles forced the actor to move his career to the back burner as he battled to become free of addiction. With time and work, however, Bridges did surmount his problems and emerged ready to take on the world of acting again. He began a production company with his brother, Little Bridge Productions, and began working behind the camera too, directing 2003's Blackball. Additionally, Bridges has toured the country, speaking at schools on the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse.

Trivia: Actress Dana Plato is best known to audiences as Kimberly on the classic '80s sitcom Diff'rent Strokes. The California native began acting when she was just 11 in the movie Beyond the Bermuda Triangle, and when she joined the cast of Diff'rent Strokes in 1978, she instantly became a household name. She stayed with the show until 1984, but following its run, she ran into the same problems as many child stars and couldn't find success as an adult actress. She began to struggle with drug and alcohol addiction, facing arrest in the early '90s for robbery and for forging a prescription. In 1999, Plato suffered what the police deemed to be an accidental overdose and died while visiting her fiancé's parents' house.

Trivia: Even as a teenaged performer with the Shorewood Players, a Milwaukee community-theatre group, Charlotte Rae thrived in playing characters much older than herself. Example: at 16, Charlotte starred as Dolly Gallegher Levi in a Shorewood production of Thornton Wilder's The Merchant of Yonkers (her 28-year-old "Horace Vandergelder" was future Broadway director Morton DaCosta). Following graduation from Northwestern University, Rae made her Broadway bow in 1952's Three Wishes for Jamie. The following year, she scored a hit as Mrs. Peachum in the long-running off-Broadway revival of Brecht and Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera, and within three years she was portraying the ancient, wizened Mammy Yokum in Li'l Abner. She was a favorite of TV producer Nat Hiken, who hired her for several guest spots on The Phil Silvers Show. In 1961, Hiken cast the 35-year-old Charlotte as middle-aged hausfrau Sylvia Schnauzer, virago wife of officer Leo Schnauzer (played by fiftyish Al Lewis) on Car 54, Where are You? Rae's other TV series credits include the 1950s daytime drama From These Roots, the 1975 Norman Lear sitcom Hot L Baltimore and the 1976 Summer replacement The Rich Little Show. In 1978, Rae was cast as flibbertigibbet housekeeper Mrs. Garrett on the Gary Coleman series Diff'rent Strokes; the character struck such a responsive chord with audiences that she was spun off into her own starring sitcom The Facts of Life, in 1986. Rae remained with Facts as Mrs. Garrett until 1986, by which time she had been nominated for two Emmies (she has also received Obie and Tony nominations; an actual win is long overdue). More recently, Charlotte has provided voices for such animated offerings as Tom and Jerry: The Movie (1993) and TV's Itsy Bitsy Spider. An off-and-on nightclub and revue performer, Charlotte Rae took her one-woman "Broadway highlights" show on the road in 1994. Rae would continue to act in the decades to come, providing the voice of Nanny on the 101 Dalmations animated series, and appearing in films like You Don't Mess with the Zohan.

Trivia: Grew up in an acting family and used to practice and perform in the basement. After college, she performed on stage in New York before taking a 10-year break to raise her children. Played Scott Baio's mother in three different series—Happy Days, spin-off Joanie Loves Chachi and Charles in Charge. Began actively participating in summer theater in Idaho in 1990. Performed opposite her husband, daughter and sister Margaret in a 2012 production of Hello, Dolly! at the Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre.