Trivia: Karen Black began acting shortly after college, appearing in off-Broadway satirical revues. She trained with Lee Strasberg at the Actors' Studio. Her Broadway debut was in a play that closed within a month, The Playroom (1965), but she was acclaimed for her performance and nominated for a Critics Circle award. A year later, 26-year-old filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola cast her in his first professional film, You're a Big Boy Now (1967), a comedy in which she co-starred as one of three women involved with a young man learning about sex. After another film she landed her first important role, as an LSD-taking prostitute in the surprise hit Easy Rider (1969), which featured Jack Nicholson; she went on to appear again with Nicholson in her next two films: Five Easy Pieces (1970), for which she won the New York Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress and an Oscar nomination; and Drive He Said (1971), Nicholson's directorial debut. She went on from there to be one of the screen's busiest actresses, though the quality of her films has been wildly uneven.

Trivia: The oldest of three sons of a high school art teacher, Timothy Bottoms was 17 when he toured Europe as a member of the Santa Monica Madrigal Society. Enjoying the "rush" of appearing before live audiences, Bottoms pursued a theatrical career. While playing the lead in a stage production of Romeo and Juliet, he was selected by writer/director Dalton Trumbo to play the blind, deaf, armless, and legless protagonist in the 1971 film version of Trumbo's Johnny Got His Gun. That same year, Bottoms was tapped by Peter Bogdanovich to star as Texas teenager Sonny Crawford in the award-winning The Last Picture Show (1971), which featured Tim's younger brother Samuel. Bottoms followed these triumphs by creating the role of harried first-year law student Hart in the 1973 sleeper The Paper Chase. Thereafter, his film roles seemed haphazardly selected. On TV, Bottoms was given an opportunity to age nearly 30 years as Adam Trask in the 1981 miniseries version of East of Eden; he also co-starred with brothers Joseph and Sam in the feature-length TV pilot Favorite Son (1987). Again appearing opposite younger sibling Joseph, Tim made his Broadway bow in The 5th of July (1951). Bottoms surprised no one when he balked at the opportunity of re-creating his Sonny Crawford characterization in Texasville, the 1991 sequel to Last Picture Show. Eventually he not only agreed to co-star in Texasville, but also served as executive producer of a documentary on the making of that film, Picture This (1990).

Trivia: A student of mime artist Marcel Marceau, LA-born Laraine Newman utilized her artistic training in the cause of comedy. In 1972, she joined the Groundlings improvisational troupe (spawning ground for such major comic talents as Phil Hartman and Paul "Pee-wee Herman" Reubens), making her film debut with several fellow improvvers in the 1975 pastiche Tunnelvision. She went on to work as an ensemble player on the 1975 summer-replacement TV variety series Manhattan Transfer. From 1975 through 1980, Laraine was a regular on the ground-breaking weekend comedy series Saturday Night Live. While her contributions were always well-received, Laraine tended to play third banana to the other SNL ladies Gilda Radner and Jane Curtin, reportedly because of her acute shyness. Her best moments on the series occurred when she played alien teenager Laarta in the "Coneheads" sketches; her particular low point was the time she nearly drowned during a "witch-hunt" sketch starring Steve Martin. Free of her SNL duties in 1980, Laraine played a supporting role in Woody Allen's Stardust Memories, and was featured in such "comedy salads" (Ms. Newman's own term for feature films overloaded with TV comedians) as Wholly Moses (1980) and Yellowbeard (1982). The world first saw Ms. Newman's new nose job when she co-starred in the 1985 John Travolta-Jamie Lee Curtis starrer Perfect. The following year, Laraine hosted a syndicated "bad movie" TV anthology, Canned Film Festival. Laraine Newman's screen appearances of the 1990s have included the role of Susan Rock in 1993's The Flintstones and a revival of Laarta in the like-vintage The Coneheads.

Trivia: Character actor Karen has had a 40-year career as an actor. He made his Broadway bow with Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Elia Kazan. Since then, he has worked continuously in theater, television and film, with such greats as his idol Buster Keaton, and on up to director Oliver Stone. His best-known films include Return of the Living Dead (1985) and Return of the Living Dead II (1988). Karen has also appeared in All the President's Men (1976), China Syndrome (1979), Poltergeist (1982), and Wall Street (1987). He was a regular on Eight is Enough (1977-81), starred in the science fiction series The Powers of Matthew Star as Major Wymore (1983) and had a recurring role on the cable series The Larry Sanders Show. Karen took on a series of small roles in notable films throughout the early 2000s; among his credits include Any Given Sunday (1999), Thirteen Days (2000), and Mulholland Dr. (2001). He played a supporting role alongside Will Smith and Thandie Newton in the 2006 drama The Pursuit of Happyness, and appeared in Superman Returns the same year. He worked with Chevy Chase and Christopher Lloyd in director Gary J. Tunnicliffe's adaptation of Jack and the Beanstalk in 2009, and took a small part in 2010's psychological drama Sympathy for Delicious.

Trivia: Louise Fletcher's acting career can be divided into two stages. She started out appearing on television shows such as Wagon Train and The Untouchables during the late '50s, but left acting in 1964, two years after marrying movie producer Jerry Bick, to raise a family. She did not return to her craft until appearing in Robert Altman's well-regarded feature film Thieves Like Us in 1974. Fletcher then appeared in the spy thriller Russian Roulette (1975) before Milos Forman cast her in what was to become her signature role, that of the iron-willed, sadistic Nurse Ratched who tormented Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). Her believable portrayal won her a Best Actress Oscar and a Golden Globe. Perhaps the highest honor is that her Ratched has become a movie icon, one that has been frequently emulated and parodied in numerous subsequent films. Fletcher was born in Birmingham, AL, to a deaf Episcopalian minister and a deaf mother. She started acting in summer stock following her graduation from the University of North Carolina. Fletcher next moved to Los Angeles and found work as a receptionist before breaking into television. Standing 5'10", the strikingly beautiful Fletcher was often taller than her leading men, something that hindered her first bid at stardom. Since her success with One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Fletcher has found steady employment as a supporting and character actress on television -- where she received a 1996 Emmy nomination for a guest-star appearance on the highly acclaimed CBS series Picket Fences -- and in feature films. She also has a busy stage career.

Trivia: Inasmuch as there was already a Wally Cox, American actor Walter Edward Cox chose the stage name Bud Cort when applying for his Equity card. Straight off the stage, Cort was cast in the small role of an intern browbeaten into tears by Robert Duvall in M*A*S*H* (1970). This brief appearance was enough to encourage M*A*S*H director Robert Altman to entrust Cort with the lead in his next film, Brewster McCloud (1971), a Vonnegut-like pastiche about a flying boy. Cort was not "standard leading man" material, thus many of his roles were in the offbeat vein of Brewster McCloud, even in more down-to-earth material like The Strawberry Statement (1971). Thus Cort was in many ways perfect for the suicidal teen protagonist of Hal Ashby's Harold and Maude (1972), whose life would be turned inside out (and back on track) by septuagenarian "free spirit" Ruth Gordon. It wasn't that Cort quit acting after Harold and Maude; it's simply that many of his subsequent films tried too hard to emulate Harold and Maude's cult status, and fell so short of this goal as to be forgettable. The later Cort films in this "midnight movie wannabe" vein included Electric Dreams (1984), Invaders From Mars (1989), Love at Stake (1991), and Ted & Venus (1992), a charmingly outdated "crazy for love" opus which Cort also directed.

Trivia: LA native Jimmy Hunt was seven years old when he was selected by an MGM talent scout to play Van Johnson as a child in High Barbaree (1947). From that point onward, the freckle-faced Hunt remained in great demand as a general-purpose juvenile. He went on to play Evelyn Keyes' foster child (and plot motivator) in The Mating of Millie (1947), "mean widdle kid" Junior in Red Skelton's Fuller Brush Man (1948), and Ronald Reagan's son in Louisa (1950). At 20th Century-Fox, he appeared as William Gilbreth, one of the twelve offspring of efficiency expert Frank Gilbreth(Clifton Webb) in Cheaper by the Dozen (1950); two years later, he played another member of the Gilberth clan in the Dozen sequel Belles on the Toes (1952). It wasn't until his 38th film that he essayed his most famous role: wide-eyed David Maclean in the "child's eye view" sci-fier Invaders from Mars (1953). At fourteen, Hunt decided that he didn't want to pursue an acting career any more. After college, he worked in military intelligence in Germany; more recently, he was an industrial tool and dye salesman in the San Fernando Valley. At the request of director Tobe Hooper, Jimmy Hunt made one last, nostalgic fling at acting, essaying the role of the police chief in the 1986 remake of Invaders from Mars.

Trivia: A character actor predominantly specializing in "tough" types, such as guards, military personnel, and the like, screen performer Christopher Allport worked in a myriad of genres but placed a markedly strong emphasis on horror and science fiction outings. Efforts included the 1981 zombie movie Dead and Buried, Tobe Hooper's 1986 sci-fi remake Invaders from Mars, and the slasher comedies Jack Frost (1997) and Jack Frost 2 (2000). In the 2000s, Allport increased his television presence via guest work on such series as ER, NYPD Blue, and Mad Men. An avid backcountry skier, Allport was killed in early 2008 by an avalanche in California's San Gabriel Mountains.

Trivia: At 19, he was diagnosed with malignant melanoma (skin cancer), the same disease that had claimed his father a year earlier. Moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting when he was 23. Met his wife while filming a movie in Berlin, Germany. With his wife, founded an organization called Balanced Life, geared at helping people improve their lives. Is a self-taught artist who was inspired to get back into painting after a visit to the Sistine Chapel. Owns several galleries across the country where he shows his art. Is a black belt in two different forms of karate.

Trivia: Enlisted in the U.S. Marines at age 19; was wounded three times (and received a Bronze Star) during three tours of duty in Vietnam. Was a public-affairs officer in Beirut when the Marine base there was attacked by terrorists in 1983; retired from the USMC as a captain in 1984. Trained anti-communist guerrillas in Nicaragua and El Salvador while writing for Soldier of Fortune magazine in 1984-85. Founded Warriors, Inc., a company offering military advice to filmmakers, in 1985. First client: Oliver Stone, for Platoon (the first of seven Stone collaborations). All told, has advised on more than 40 movies and TV shows, including Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers, The Pacific,The Thin Red Line, and Forrest Gump. Has acted in many of the films he advised on, as well in as such TV series as L.A. Law, JAG, Chuck, Cold Case and Entourage. Hosted a talk show on KFI radio in Los Angeles from 2003 to 2010. Has published numerous novels, including a novelization of Platoon. Son Chris is a member of the rock band The Fire Violets.