Trivia: Began his acting career at the age of 4 with an appearance in the Broadway play Green Pastures. Was drafted by the Army and served a tour of duty in Vietnam. Guest-starred on an Emmy-winning episode of All in the Family, which helped him earn a lead role on the popular sitcom Sanford and Son. Scaled back his acting work after experiencing a spiritual awakening and becoming a minister in 1983. Is also a writer whose works include several children's books and the memoir Second Banana: The Bitter Sweet Memoirs of the Sanford & Son Years.

Trivia: A comedienne turned actress who rose to fame as outspoken bible-thumper Aunt Ester in Redd Foxx's hit sitcom Sanford and Son, LaWanda Page performed with such other famous contemporaries as Richard Pryor and Rudy Ray Moore before finding success on the small screen. A native of Cleveland who grew up in St. Louis, Page first hit the stage as an exotic dancer and chorus girl billed "the Bronze Goddess of Fire" (due to her penchant for playing with fire on-stage) before fully realizing her talents as a standup comic. Subsequently approached by Foxx to star in Sanford and Son, Page tickled television viewers' funny bones with her memorable role as Foxx's aggressively religious sister-in-law in the original series' spin-off The Sanford Arms, and the 1980 revival Sanford. Throughout the 1980s and '90s, Page crafted a feature-film career with minor roles in such comedies as Zapped! (1982), My Blue Heaven (1990), Friday (1995), and Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood (1996). Always retaining her fiery approach to comedy, Page also performed on-stage in productions of The Inquest of Sam Cooke and Take It to the Lord...Or Else. On September 14, 2002, LaWanda Page died from complications of diabetes in Los Angeles, CA. She was 81.

Trivia: Believe it or don't: comedian Don Rickles--the "Merchant of Venom," "The Caliph of Calumny," "Mister Warmth"--was once a dedicated student at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. As a movie-struck kid, Rickles aspired to share the Big Screen with such idols as Clark Gable and James Cagney. He got his wish in his first film, 1958's Run Silent Run Deep, wherein Gable topped the cast. Rickles went on to receive critical plaudits for his villainous performance in 1960's The Rat Race, and also popped up with regularity on such TV series as The Thin Man and The Twilight Zone. But truly good roles for a short, baldpated young character actor were relatively few and far between. During a long period between acting assignments, Rickles decided to work up a nightclub act. He began as a traditional stand-up comic, but when annoyed by hecklers, he instinctively insulted the insulters back as a defense mechanism. Audiences laughed harder at his impromptu insults than his prepared material, and thus the dye was cast for Rickle's show-business future. The story goes that, upon spotting Frank Sinatra in one of his audiences, Rickles impulsively cried out "Come right in, Frank. Make yourself at home. Hit somebody." The normally combative Sinatra exploded with laughter, and from that point on Rickles was "in." While the bulk of his fame and fortune rested upon his nightclub work, Rickles still kept a hand in acting, playing guest spots on TV programs like F Troop, The Andy Griffith Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, I Spy and Run for Your Life (he was particularly good in the last-named series as a washed-up comedian facing a statutory rape charge). As his own vitriolic "self" (though rumors persist that Rickles is a pussycat off-camera), he convulsed the stars of such variety series as The Dean Martin Show and The Andy Williams Show. When Dean Martin altered his series to a "roast" format in the early 1970s, Rickles could always be counted upon for a steady stream of hilarious invectives; conversely, he took it as well as he dished it out when the Friar's Club elected him Entertainer of the Year in 1974. The one sore spot in Rickles' latter-day career was his failure to sustain a weekly TV series. The 1968 variety outing The Don Rickles Show was axed after thirteen weeks, while a 1972 sitcom of the same name barely survived the season. He had better luck as star of the 1976 comedy series C.P.O. Sharkey, which lasted two years; but in 1993, Daddy Dearest, which co-starred Rickles with "neurotic" comedian Richard Lewis, was on and off in only two months. In comparison, Rickles has done quite well in films, with choice secondary roles in such productions as Where It's At?, Kelly's Heroes (1970) and several of the "Beach Party" frivolities. In 1995, after several years away from films, Don Rickles resurfaced with a solid supporting part in Martin Scorsese's Casino, and as the voice of a singularly abrasive Mr. Potato Head in the animated Toy Story. He had a brief but memorable cameo in the comedy Dirty Work, and was the subject of his own documentary, Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project. He returned to voice Mr. Potato Head in two Toy Story sequels as well as a number of Pixar shorts, and he gave voice to one of the animals in the Kevin James vehicle Zookeeper. Rickles died in 2017, at age 90.

Trivia: For years, character actor Howard Platt qualified as one of the small screen's most familiar faces. Devoted viewers of 1970s television will easily remember Platt; he played Hoppy the Cop, the quintessentially weird, by-the-book white police officer who made frequent stops at Fred Sanford's junkyard on the hit NBC sitcom Sanford and Son (1972-1977). Additional recurring roles included Dr. Phil Newman on The Bob Newhart Show and Marvin the Jewelry Salesman on Alice. Platt briefly enjoyed a main starring role as airline pilot Captain Doug March on the CBS adventure drama Flying High (1978) opposite Pat Klous and Connie Sellecca; unfortunately, it was canceled in late January 1979, soon after it premiered. He remained active for the following several decades, however, and extended his work into occasional features such as The Cat from Outer Space (1978), Nixon (1995), and The Rock (1996) while establishing himself as a nearly constant presence in theater as an actor and director. In 2008, Platt starred opposite Tim Robbins and Rachel McAdams in the Iraq veteran-themed drama The Lucky Ones.

Trivia: Marlene Clark, a black supporting actress and occasional lead, appeared on screen beginning in the '70s.

Trivia: Moved to LA from his native Ohio in 1968; worked for the California Youth Authority while trying to break into show business. First TV guest role was in a 1970 episode of That Girl. Had a recurring role on Sanford and Son as Officer "Smitty" Smith. Reprised his role of Sgt. L.C. Ross from Private Benjamin in the 1981-83 CBS sitcom version of the film. Costarred with Marla Gibbs in 227 on-stage in Los Angeles before it became an NBC series in 1985. Set up a scholarship fund for minority students studying TV communications in memory of his son Mark, who died in a camping accident in 1977. With 227 costar Gibbs, was honored at the Giving Back Corporation's spring 2010 Celebrity Roast & Toast.