Trivia: Never the typical ingénue, American actress Mariette Hartley was distinguished by attractively offbeat facial features and a full, throaty voice -- acting tools that enabled her to play a wide spectrum of ages and personalities even when she was barely out of her teens. The granddaughter of behavioral psychologist John B. Watson, Hartley began her training at Carnegie Tech, then studied acting under Eva LeGalleine . Shakespeare was Hartley's forte in her salad days; thus, she was a full-blown professional before the age of 21. Hartley's first film, Ride the High Country (1961), may well have been her best; as the runaway bride of a mentally deficient mountain man, Hartley was permitted to forego cutesiness and glamour, spending most of the film in dusty male western garb. She was so good in this first appearance that MGM literally had no idea what to do with her; the solution was to cast her as a garden-variety damsel in distress in Drums of Africa (1963), which Hartley now regards as her worst film (and it is -- far worse than the more obvious candidate, 1971's The Return of Count Yorga). Then as now, Hartley was better served on TV than in films. Appearing with regularity on such programs as Twilight Zone and Bonanza, Hartley exuded an intelligence and versatility rare in so young an actress. She gained a following with her recurring role on the nighttime soapera Peyton Place (1965), then provided the only bright moments of the misfire satirical sitcom The Hero (1966), in which she played the wife of a bumbling TV cowboy (Richard Mulligan). Her TV work load increased in the '70s, during which time she appeared as futuristic heroine Lyra-a in Gene Roddenberry's TV pilot Genesis II, a role which gained a great deal of press attention due to Hartley's exotic midriff makeup (her character was endowed with two navels). She also won an Emmy for her appearance in a 1978 installment of The Incredible Hulk. A popular talk-show raconteur, Hartley was able to parlay her no-nonsense persona into a series of lucrative camera commercials, in which she co-starred with James Garner. Her easy rapport with Garner led many to believe that she was married to the Rockford Files star, compelling her to make public appearances wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with the message "I am NOT Mrs. James Garner" (she was, in fact, married to producer/director Patrick Boyriven). Her high audience "Q" rating led certain TV producers to believe that Hartley would be ideally cast as a news reporter on the 1983 sitcom Goodnight, Beantown. The casting was good, the show wasn't. Nor were follow-ups in this vein, including a foredoomed hitch as co-host of the 1987 revamping of CBS Morning News titled The Morning Program and the very short-lived newsroom-oriented weekly drama WIOU (1990). That the actress took to kidding about her many TV failures only added to her upbeat public image -- an image which masked a surfeit of grief brought on by the alcoholism and suicide of Hartley's father, which formed the basis of her 1990 book Breaking the Silence. Audiences were able to see this serious side of Mariette Hartley in her frequent TV-movie appearances, notably her performance as grieving mother Candy Lightner in M.A.D.D.: Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Mariette Hartley remained busy on films and in television into the '90s; once again, the TV work was more rewarding than the movie assignments, which included such negligible entertainments as Encino Man (1992).

Trivia: Actor Edward Binns possessed two qualities that many of his contemporaries lacked: he was always reliable, and always believable. On Broadway, he was shown to good advantage in such hit productions as Command Decision, The Lark, A View From the Bridge, and Caligula. In films from 1951's Teresa, Binns' roles ranged from the vacillating Juror #6 in 12 Angry Men (1957) to the authoritative Major General Walter Bedell Smith in Patton (1970). On television, Binns played the title role in the 1959 cop drama Brenner, Dr. Anson Kiley in The Nurses (1962-1964), and secret-service contact man Wallie Powers in It Takes a Thief (1969-1970 season). Edward Binns died suddenly at the age of 74, while traveling from New York to his home in Connecticut.

Trivia: Born Robert Brown, actor Robert Lansing borrowed his stage name from the capital city of Michigan. Lansing first appeared on Broadway in Stalag 17 (1951); throughout his film career he periodically returned to the New York stage, making his last such appearance in 1991. He made his film bow in 1959 with The 4-D Man, delivering one of the finest performances ever seen in a medium-budget science fiction film. His first TV-series stint was as detective Steve Carella in 87th Precinct (1961). In 1964, he was cast as Brigadier General Frank Savage in 12 O'Clock High. At the beginning of the series' second year, Lansing was written out of the program with startling finality, dying in an air crash in the second season's opening episode. Turning up none the worse for wear in the fall of 1966, Lansing starred in the short-lived espionage series The Man Who Never Was, essaying the dual role of secret agent Peter Murphy and millionaire Mark Wainwright. He then busied himself with film and stage work, returning to TV as Lt. Jack Curtis in Automan (1983) and as The Control in The Equalizer (1985-89). His last regular TV assignment was as Captain Paul Blaisdell in Kung Fu: The Legend Continues (1992-1994). In the series' last episode of 1994, Captain Blaisdell was forced to retire; mortally ill with cancer, he died three weeks before the airing of his final episode, which was dedicated to his memory. At one time, Robert Lansing was married to General Hospital star Emily McLaughlin; and from 1991 to 1993, he was president of The Players, a theatrical fraternal organization.