Trivia: The product of a tough, impoverished upbringing, African American actor Robert Guillaume fought his way out of the St. Louis slums by virtue of talent, persistence and an unwillingness to bow down to anyone. After military service and college, Guillaume held down short-term jobs ranging from cook to streetcar conductor, all the while training his voice for potential musical comedy work--training that paid off with his first Broadway show, 1961's Kwamina. Among his many stage credits were the musical versions of Golden Boy (with Sammy Davis Jr.) and Purlie Victorious, and the long-running review Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. When New York stage work was scarce, Guillaume created his own opportunities by giving one-man concerts. After guesting in several of the black-oriented TV sitcoms of the 1970s, Guillaume was cast in 1977 as the imperious, outspoken family retainer Benson in the daytime-drama parody Soap (the actor would be first to admit that many of Benson's more contentious traits sprang from Guillaume's own prickly personality). The role won Guillaume a 1978 Emmy as "Outstanding Supporting Actor." In 1979, Guillaume carried over his Soap role into his own starring series, the now classic sitcom Benson, which ran until 1986 and which won Guillaume another Emmy, this time as "Outstanding Lead Actor." Robert Guillaume also headlined the appropriately titled 1989 series The Robert Guillaume Show, wherein for approximately five months he starred as divorced marriage counselor Edward Sawyer. In the several years to follow, Guillaume would star in shows like Sports night, as well as a number of films like Big Fish and Satin.

Trivia: The son of a Dallas wholesale coal dealer, American actor James Noble spent much of his youth attending pool halls and movie houses. Noble retained his expertise with a pool cue throughout his life, while his stronger interest in acting (fueled by movies) manifested itself in local stage productions and drama studies at Southern Methodist University. Following Navy service in World War II, Noble went to New York to study at the Actors Studio, then went on to a stage revival of Pygmalion wherein he met his future wife, actress Carolyn Coates. The actor appeared on such TV soap operas as As the World Turns, The Doctors, A World Apart and such Broadway productions as 1776, spending much of his spare time in psychotherapy to handle his ongoing feelings of self-doubt. In films from the mid '70s, Noble principally played small roles as authority figures and politicians (Being There, The Nude Bomb), with occasional larger roles such as Bo Derek's father in 10 (1978). In 1981 Noble was cast as the genially absent-minded Governor Gene Gatling on the Robert Guillaume sitcom Benson, a role in which he remained until the series' 1986 cancellation. Two years later, James Noble resurfaced on TV in the role of a Nebraska-based recording engineer on the very short-lived situation comedy First Impressions. Noble continued to act, sticking to mostly guest roles on shows like Perfect Strangers and Law & Order, through the 1990s, and then appeared only sporadically onscreen in the next decade, though he kept up his stage work during that time. Noble died in 2016, at age 94.

Trivia: Supporting actress, onscreen from 1961. She played the housekeeper in the TV sitcom Benson.

Trivia: Many remember actress Caroline McWilliams for the role of Marcy on the popular sitcom Benson. Born in Washington and raised in Rhode Island, McWilliams began her career on screen in the late '60s, taking on the role of Janet Mason Norris on the long-standing soap opera The Guiding Light in 1969. She'd stick with the series until 1975, and eventually moved into comedy, parodying the daytime TV world she was so familiar with on the series Soap from 1979 to 1981. She'd simultaneously appear on Benson and married actor Michael Keaton in 1982, giving birth to a son the following year. McWilliams would go on to spend the 1980s making frequent guest appearances on everything from Hill Street Blues to Cagney and Lacey. The next decade would begin on a bittersweet note for the actress. While she made a prominent appearance in the 1990 film Mermaids, this was also the year she and Keaton divorced. The actress remained on top of her game professionally, however, with a recurring role on Beverly Hills 90210, and later on the 2003 drama Judging Amy. McWilliams also found a tremendous niche as a director, staging critically lauded productions of Divorcons (Let's Get a Divorce) and The Smoke and Ice Follies. Tragically, the actress died in 2010 at the age of 64.