Trivia: Whenever Monte Markham guest-stars on a TV whodunit these days, chances are it was Markham who "done it." Long before he became everybody's favorite mystery killer, however, Markham was a likeable leading man in the Jimmy Stewart mode. A graduate of the University of Georgia, Markham started out as a stage actor. In 1967, he landed the starring role in his first-ever TV series, playing the dual role of a "quick-frozen" 99-year-old man and his 33-year-old grandson on The Second Hundred Years. Two years later, he essayed the Gary Cooper role in the weekly TV version of Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. And in 1973, he played the title character in the ill-advised New Perry Mason. That same year, Markham made his Broadway debut in Irene, winning a Theatre World Award for his performance. In the 1980s, he played Clint Ogden in the prime-time serial Dallas (1981) and Carter Robinson in the syndicated soap opera Rituals (1984); he also briefly hosted the daily informational series Breakaway (1984). Contemporary TV viewers know Markham as Captain Don Thorpe in Baywatch and Mr. Parker in Melrose Place. In addition to his extensive acting credits, Monte Markham has directed two feature films, Defense Play (1988) and Neon City (1992).

Trivia: Born into a show business family, George Kennedy made his stage debut at the age of two in a touring company of Bringing up Father. By the time he was seven, he was spinning records on a New York radio station. Kennedy' showbusiness inclinations were put aside when he developed a taste for the rigors of military life during World War II, and he wound up spending 16 years in the army. His military career ended and his acting career began when a back injury in the late 1950s inspired him to seek out another line of work.Appropriately enough, given his background, Kennedy first made his name with a role as a military advisor on the Sergeant Bilko TV series. In films from 1961, the burly, 6'4" actor usually played heavies, both figuratively and literally; quite often, as in Charade (1963) and Straitjacket (1964), his unsavory screen characters were bumped off sometime during the fourth reel. One of his friendlier roles was as a compassionate Union officer in Shenandoah (1965), an assignment he was to treasure because it gave him a chance to work with the one of his idols, Jimmy Stewart.Kennedy moved up to the big leagues with his Academy Award win for his portrayal of Dragline in Cool Hand Luke (1967). An above-the-title star from then on, Kennedy has been associated with many a box-office hit, notably all four Airport films. Unlike many major actors, he has displayed a willingness to spoof his established screen image, as demonstrated by his portrayal of Ed Hocken in the popular Naked Gun series. On TV, Kennedy has starred in the weekly series Sarge (1971) and The Blue Knight (1978), and was seen as President Warren G. Harding in the 1979 miniseries Backstairs at the White House. During the mid '90s, he became known as a persuasive commercial spokesman in a series of breath-freshener advertisements. In 1997, he provided the voice for L.B. Mammoth in the animated musical Cats Don't Dance, and the following year again displayed his vocal talents as one of the titular toys-gone-bad in Small Soldiers. Kennedy continued to steadily work through the next two decades; his final role was in The Gambler in 2014. He died in 2016, at age 91.

Trivia: Whitmore attended Yale, where he joined the Yale Drama School Players and co-founded the Yale radio station. After serving in World War II with the Marines, he did some work in stock and then debuted on Broadway in 1947's Command Decision. He entered films in 1949, going on to play key supporting roles; occasionally, he also played leads. For his work in Battleground (1949), his second film, he received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. He starred in the early '60s TV series "The Law and Mr. Jones." He won much acclaim for his work in the one-man stage show Give 'Em Hell, Harry!, in which he played Harry Truman; he reprised the role in the 1975 screen version, for which he received a Best Actor Oscar nomination. After 1980 his screen appearances were infrequent. He is the father of actor James Whitmore Jr.

Trivia: Of Franco-Spanish descent, American actor Reni Santoni began his show business career as a comedy writer. Santoni's big film break came when director Carl Reiner cast him in the leading role of aspiring thespian David Kolowitz (Reiner's blatantly obvious alter ego) in Enter Laughing (1967). Thereafter, Santoni could be seen in supporting parts in such films as Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982, again directed by Carl Reiner), Brewster's Millions (1985), and Cobra (1986). He has also provided voice-over characterizations for crowd scenes in Rain Man (1988), Bright Lights, Big City (1988), and other films. Reni Santoni's weekly TV credits include the roles of lawyer Danny Paterno in Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law (1973-1974 season only) and police captain Nick Rivera in Manimal (1983).

Trivia: Former pro football player Bernie Casey turned to acting in the early 1970s. He has been steadily employed in theatrical films ever since, playing supporting roles in such films as Boxcar Bertha (1972), Cleopatra Jones (1976), Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989), and all three Revenge of the Nerds epics (as "U.N. Jefferson"). Casey's series-TV assignments included the title character (a blue-collar father of five children) in 1979's Harris and Company and the role of baseball coach Ozzie Peoples in Bay City Blues (1983). A ubiquitous TV-movie actor, Bernie Casey was seen in such highly-rated efforts as Brian's Song (1971), Gargoyles (1972) and The Sophisticated Gents (1981).

Trivia: Veteran character actor Joe Don Baker has been playing rugged good ol' boys since his uncredited role in Cool Hand Luke in 1967. Born in Texas, his Southern drawl and ample proportions made him suitable to play countless numbers of simple-minded sheriffs, cops, and detectives in everything from big-budget blockbusters to low-grade action movies, although he more often appeared in the latter. On TV in the '60s, he guest starred on Bonanza, Gunsmoke, and Mission: Impossible before starring in his own show, the short-lived detective series Eischied. On the big screen, he played the drifter in Sam Peckinpah's Junior Bonner in 1972. He same year he made the "hicksploitation" classic Walking Tall, followed by Charley Varrick, Golden Needles, Framed, and plenty of other poorly made action thrillers that have since gained a small but appreciative audience on home video. The best example is 1975 crime flick Mitchell, which was featured on an important transitional episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Baker plays the titular slob detective who goes after drug dealers while drinking a lot of Schlitz malt liquor and eating pork rinds. After this movie, he became something of a legendary figure to a small but loyal fan base, and his persona as a lovable rascal was fixed for the next few decades. In the '80s he appeared in bad comedies (Fletch, Leonard, Part 6) as well as bad action thrillers (Final Justice, Getting Even). In 1989, he returned to television to play acting chief Tom Dugan on In the Heat of the Night and made small appearances in films, like the police chief who drinks Pepto-Bismol in Cape Fear (1991). He did branch out a little in the '90s to play Senator Joseph McCarthy in the made-for-TV movie Citizen Cohn as well as Winona Ryder's yuppie dad in Reality Bites. His later accomplishments include three James Bond appearances, first in Living Daylights as a bad guy, then in Goldeneye and Tomorrow Never Dies as good guy Jack Wade. He returned to his stereotypical roots playing white-trash slobs as Richie's trailer park dad in Mars Attacks! and in an uncredited role in Joe Dirt. In 2003, he appeared with veterans Martin Landau, Martin Sheen, and Edward Asner in The Commisson.

Trivia: American actor Scott Thomas got his start in 1962 as part of the National Shakespeare Festival. From there he appeared in a few feature films and on television.

Trivia: Though best known for his Native American characterizations, Michael Ansara was actually of Lebanese descent. Ansara, born in Syria and raised in Lowell, Massachusetts, entered Los Angeles City College in 1941, planning to become a doctor. His shyness in class prompted his professor to suggest that Ansara take a dramatics course to bolster his self-confidence. The medical profession's loss turned out to be the acting community's gain: after training at Pasadena Playhouse, Ansara blossomed as a classical actor with such groups as the Hollywood Players' Ring. The role that brought Ansara to the attention of Hollywood's higher-ups was his brief, uncredited appearance as the tormented Judas in The Robe (1953). He went on to be cast as Cochise in the 1956 TV series version of the 1950 20th Century-Fox feature Broken Arrow; while the role brought him fame and fortune, Ansara noted that "the acting range was rather limited. Cochise could do one of two things--stand with his arms folded, looking noble; or stand with his arms at his sides, looking noble." He was allowed a more flexible acting range, as well as a wider vocabulary, in his next Indian assignment, that of Harvard-educated federal marshal Sam Buckhart in the 1959 western series Law of the Plainsman. In later years, Ansara was active in the lucrative world of TV cartoon voiceover work. He was married for several years to actress Barbara Eden.

Trivia: Wende Wagner (sometimes credited as Wendy Wagner) was a gorgeous actress who never reached the stardom to which she seemed destined. This was mostly owing to her free-spirited nature, which made her a poor fit to the careerist demands of movie and television success. She was a natural athlete, her Naval officer father a former Olympic coach and her mother an ex-skier. She came by her dark, exotic looks naturally, a product of her mixed German, French, and Native American ancestry. Wagner got her start as a model in her late teens, and she made her screen acting debut at age 19 in an episode of Wagon Train. She might well have parlayed that appearance into more acting work, but Wagner was much more interested in seeing exotic locations and in athletics, especially swimming. Her next steady entertainment work was as a stunt double in the underwater sequences on the series Sea Hunt. That job put her in contact with underwater filming expert Ricou Browning and producer Ivan Tors, who later used Wagner in the series The Aquanauts, and also on the film September Storm, where she met her future husband, fellow stunt diver Courtney Brown. When Tors and Browning were working on the series Flipper in the mid-'60s, Wagner finally got a credited acting role -- and a co-starring one at that -- in one episode, entitled "Flipper's Monster," in which she showed her considerable onscreen charm for the first time, playing (surprise) an actress/diver making an underwater adventure film. Wagner did straight acting roles in the movies Rio Conchos (1964), in which she portrayed a Native American girl, and she later brought her acting and swimming abilities together in the movies Out of Sight and Destination Inner Space (both from 1966). That same year, she was cast in a co-starring role in the 20th Century Fox television series The Green Hornet as Lenore "Casey" Case, the secretary to the hero, Britt Reid (Van Williams), and one of three people who knows his secret identity. The series lasted only one season. Wagner's biggest film role came in 1968 in Rosemary's Baby, playing Tiger, the girlfriend of Rosemary (Mia Farrow). She had a role in Guns of the Magnificent Seven (1969), but the rest of her work was in television, through the early '70s. Wagner left the business in 1973 to raise a family. She passed away in 1997 from cancer.

Trivia: Jamaican-born Frank Silvera attended Northeastern Law School before inaugurating his acting career. One of the few black actors of the 1950s who was able to avoid being typecast by the color of his skin, Silvera played a wide variety of ethnic types, from Latin to Middle Eastern to Oriental. He made his film bow in 1952's Viva Zapata, and shortly thereafter was prominently cast in two of Stanley Kubrick's seminal films, Fear and Desire (1953) and Killer's Kiss (1955). Silvera was founder of The Theatre of Being, which was devoted to helping young African-American actors get started in show business; he also directed several stage plays in New York and Los Angeles. Frank Silvera was electrocuted in his home at the age of 56, while trying to repair an electrical appliance. At the time of his death, he was a regular on the TV series The High Chapparal.

Trivia: An architecture student, Fernando Rey interrupted his studies to fight in the Spanish Civil War against the Frangiste. He entered films as an extra in 1940. Resembling a Goya painting come to life, the cadaverous Rey is best remembered internationally for his appearances in such Luis Bunuel projects as Viridiana (1961), The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972), That Obscure Object of Desire (1977), and for his work in such costume epics as The Last Days of Pompeii (1960), The Castillians (1961), and the made-for-TV Jesus of Nazareth. In 1977, he won a Cannes Film Festival award for his work in Elisa Vida Mia. Often cast as a world-weary, cosmopolitan villain, Fernando Rey's most celebrated performance within this character range was as drug lord Alain Charnier in the two French Connection pictures of the 1970s.