Battle Beyond the Stars

Richard Thomas (Actor) .. Shad

Born: June 13, 1951
Birthplace: New York, New York, United States

Trivia: Richard Thomas was seven years old when he made his first Broadway appearance in Sunrise at Campobello (1958). The wide-eyed, mole-cheeked, sensitive-looking Thomas soon found himself very much in demand for television roles. He was seen in the distinguished company of Julie Harris, Christopher Plummer and Hume Cronyn in a 1959 TV presentation of Ibsen's A Doll's House, worked as a regular on the daytime soap operas As the World Turns and Flame in the Wind, and co-starred with Today Show announcer Jack Lescoulie in the captivating 1961 Sunday-afternoon "edutainment" series 1-2-3 Go. While attending Columbia University, Thomas made his theatrical-film debut in Downhill Racer, then settled into a series of unpleasant, psychologically disturbed characters in films like You'll Like My Mother (1971) and such TV series as Bracken's World. In 1971, Thomas was cast as John-Boy Walton in the Earl Hamner-scripted TV movie The Homecoming. Though there would be a number of cast changes before The Homecoming metamorphosed into the weekly series The Waltons in 1972, Thomas was retained as John-Boy, earning a 1973 Emmy for his performance and remaining in the role until only a few months before the series' cancellation in 1981. During the Waltons years, Thomas starred in several well-mounted TV movies, including the 1979 remake of All Quiet on the Western Front. Ever seeking opportunities to expand his range, Thomas has sunk his teeth into such roles as the self-destructive title character in Living Proof: The Hank Williams Jr. Story (1983) and the amusingly sanctimonious Rev. Bobby Joe in the satirical Glory! Glory!. In 1980, Thomas made his first Broadway appearance in over two decades as the paralyzed protagonist of Whose Life is It Anyway. Notable later roles have included a turn as Bill Denbrough in Stephen King's It (1990), an appearance in Curtis Hanson's 2000 drama Wonder Boys, and a bit part as a reverend in Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock (2009). Working through his own Melpomene Productions, Thomas has continued seeking out creative challenges into the 1990s. Richard Thomas has also served as national chairman of the Better Hearing Institute.

Robert Vaughn (Actor) .. Gelt

Born: November 22, 1932
Died: November 11, 2016
Birthplace: New York, New York, United States

Trivia: He got a degree in drama and then broke into films in 1957; he appeared in a film per year through the early '60s, meanwhile returning to school to get his master's degree in acting and a Ph.D. in political science. For his work in The Young Philadelphians (1959) he received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. In the mid '60s he starred in the popular TV spy series The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Although never a movie star, he has sustained a busy screen career through the '90s. He is the author of Only Victims (1972), a study of Hollywood blacklisting during the McCarthy Era.

John Saxon (Actor) .. Sador

Born: August 05, 1936
Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York

Trivia: John Saxon never intentionally set out to be a Brando clone, but his resemblance to Marlon Brando was something he was born with, so what was there to do? A student of Stella Adler at the Actor's Studio, Saxon's first film was Running Wild (1955). Thanks to "hunk" assignments in films like The Restless Years (1957), The Reluctant Debutante (1958), and Summer Youth (1958), Saxon was briefly the object of many a teenage crush. He shed himself of his heartthrob image in the early '60s with a string of unsympathetic roles, making a leading man comeback of sorts as Bruce Lee's co-star in the immensely popular Enter the Dragon (1973). Fans could watch Saxon's expertise as an actor increase (and his hairline recede) during his three-year (1969-1972) stint as Dr. Ted Stuart on the NBC television series The Bold Ones. He later appeared as a semiregular on the prime-time TV soaper Dallas. In 1988, John Saxon made his directorial debut with the low-budget feature Death House.

Darlanne Fluegel (Actor) .. Nanelia

Born: January 01, 1956

Trivia: Blonde, pouty leading lady Darlanne Fluegel made her screen debut as one of Faye Dunaway's stable of models in The Eyes of Laura Mars. A brief cult following built up around Fluegel due to her appearances in violent cop dramas and sci-fiers. When she wasn't being horribly murdered (Once Upon a Time in America), she was shooting up and betraying her loved ones (To Live and Die in LA). In recent years, Darlanne Fluegel has been most closely associated with gritty crime-and-punishment TV shows: she was seen as Julie Torello during the 1986-87 season of Crime Story, as Lacey in the climactic 1990 episodes of Wiseguy, and as officer Joanne Molenski in the 1990-91 installments of Hunter.

George Peppard (Actor) .. Cowboy

Born: October 01, 1928
Died: May 08, 1994
Birthplace: Detroit, Michigan, United States

Trivia: Though actor George Peppard could have succeeded on his looks alone, he underwent extensive training before making his first TV and Broadway appearances. The son of a building contractor and a singer, Peppard studied acting at Carnegie Tech and the Actor's Studio. His early TV credits include the original 1956 production of Bang the Drum Slowly, in which he sang the title song. He made his film debut in 1957, repeating his Broadway role in Calder Willingham's End As a Man, retitled The Strange One for the screen. His star continued to ascend in such films as Home From the Hill (1960) with George Hamilton, and Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) as the boyfriend/chronicler of carefree Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn). He was also effective as James Stewart's son in How the West Was Won (1962), a characterization that required him to age 30 years, and as the Howard Hughes counterpart in The Carpetbaggers (1963), in which he co-starred with the second of his five wives, Elizabeth Ashley. In 1978 he made a respectable directorial debut with Five Days From Home, but never followed up on this. A familiar television presence, he starred on the TV series Banacek (1972-1973), Doctors Hospital (1975), and The A-Team (1983-1987), and delivered a powerhouse performance as the title character in the 1974 TV-movie Guilty or Innocent: The Sam Sheppard Case. Forced to retire because of illness, George Peppard died of cancer in the spring of 1994.

Sybil Danning (Actor) .. Saint-Exmin

Born: May 24, 1952
Birthplace: Ried im Innkreis

Trivia: Austrian actress Sybil Danning went straight from the girlie magazines to the exploitation-flick field. She first grabbed audience attention in the 1970 melodrama Albino. By the end of the '70s, she had chalked up a number of credits in such mainstream films as Bluebeard (1972), The Three Musketeers (1974) Crossed Swords (1978) and Concorde: Airport 79 (1979). But while she was mere decoration in mainstream movies, she was a star in the soft-core field, displaying her talents in such esoterica as Swedish Love Games and Love of a French Pussycat. No helpless victim or mere boy-toy, Danning gained her widest audience with a series of sweat-drenched action pictures in the 1980s. Danning seemed born to appear in "babes behind bars" epics like Chained Heat (1983) and Reform School Girls (1986), and was equally well-suited to portray femme fatales (They're Playing with Fire [1985]), vengeful cops (L.A. Bounty [1989]) and queens of outer space (Phantom Empire [1989]). She could always be counted upon to possess the widest bustline in any picture she appeared in, though Lou Ferrigno gave her tough competition in The Seven Magnificent Gladiators (1984). Danning was wise enough to package that image in an amusing fashion as hostess of a series of R-rated sex 'n' violence videocassettes of the mid '80s.

Sam Jaffe (Actor) .. Dr. Hephaestus

Born: March 10, 1891
Died: March 24, 1984

Trivia: Nature obviously intended for Sam Jaffe to spend much of his screen career playing eccentric scientists and peppery little old men. As a child, Jaffe appeared in Yiddish stage productions with his mother, a prominent actress. He gave up the theater to study engineering at Columbia University, then served for several years as a mathematics teacher in the Bronx. He returned to acting in 1915 and never left, despite efforts by the more rabid communist-hunters of the 1950s to prevent the gently liberal-minded Jaffe from earning a living. Jaffe's now-familiar shock of wild, white hair was first put on view before the cameras in 1934's The Scarlet Empress, in which he played the insane Grand Duke Peter (several critics compared Jaffe's erratic behavior and bizarre appearance to Harpo Marx). Still only in his mid-40s, Jaffe went on to play the centuries-old High Lama in Capra's Lost Horizon (1937). In 1939, he essayed the title character in Gunga Din, though Hollywood protocol dictated that top billing go to Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Jaffe was Oscar-nominated for his performance as Doc, the "brains" in the 1950 crime film The Asphalt Jungle. His resemblance to Albert Einstein (minus the bushy moustache, of course) led to Jaffe being cast in Einsteinlike roles in Gentleman's Agreement (1947) and The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). Jaffe was the lifelong best friend of Edward G. Robinson, with whom he appeared in the made-for-TV film The Old Man Who Cried Wolf (1971). TV viewers with long memories will recall Sam Jaffe as snowy-haired father-figure Dr. Zorba on the 1960s TV series Ben Casey, in which Jaffe was co-starred with his second wife, Bettye Ackerman.

Morgan Woodward (Actor) .. Cayman

Born: September 16, 1925

Trivia: Rough-edged character actor Morgan Woodward is the son of a Texas physician. Specializing in Westerns, the 6'3" Woodward has been seen in scores of big-screen oaters, and in 1956 held down the semi-regular role of Shotgun Gibbs in the TV series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp. He has also made quite a few non-Western appearances on such video weeklies as Star Trek and The A-Team. In his spare time, Morgan Woodward is a licensed pilot.

Steve Davis (Actor) .. Quopeg

John McGowans (Actor) .. Nestor

Lynn Carlin (Actor) .. Nell

Born: January 31, 1930

Trivia: Pencil-thin Canadian actress Lynn Carlin was Oscar-nominated for her very first film, the John Cassavetes-directed Faces. Ms. Carlin had some difficulty matching that early career peak in her subsequent roles, often taking pedestrian assignments; in one 1974 episode of Hawaii 5-0, she was killed off before the second commercial! The actress was better served with her top-billed portrayal of Buck Henry's "liberated" middle-aged wife in Milos Forman's Taking Off (1971). In 1977, Lynn Carlin was seen as the mother of mixed-up teenager Lance Kerwin on the critically praised TV series James at 15.

Jeff Corey (Actor) .. Zed

Born: August 10, 1914
Died: August 16, 2002
Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York

Trivia: American actor Jeff Corey forsook a job as sewing-machine salesman for the less stable world of New York theatre in the 1930s. The 26-year-old Corey was regarded as a valuable character-actor commodity when he arrived in Hollywood in 1940. Perhaps the best of his many early unbilled appearances was in the Kay Kyser film You'll Find Out (40), in which Corey, playing a game-show contestant (conveniently named Jeff Corey), was required to sing a song while stuffing his mouth full of crackers. The actor was busiest during the "film noir" mid-to-late 1940s, playing several weasely villain roles; it is hard to forget the image of Corey, in the role of a slimy stoolie in Burt Lancaster's Brute Force, being tied to the front of a truck and pushed directly into a hail of police bullets. Corey's film career ended abruptly in 1952 when he was unfairly blacklisted for his left-leaning political beliefs. To keep food on the table, Corey became an acting coach, eventually running one of the top training schools in the business (among his more famous pupils was Jack Nicholson). He was permitted to return to films in the 1960s, essaying such roles as a wild-eyed wino in Lady in a Cage (64), the louse who kills Kim Darby's father in True Grit (68), and a sympathetic sheriff in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (68). In addition to his film work, Jeff Corey has acted in and directed numerous TV series; he was seen as a regular on the 1985 Robert Blake series Hell Town and the 1986 Earl Hamner Jr. production Morningstar/Eveningstar. The following decade found Corey appearing in such films as Sinatra (1992), Beethoven's 2nd (1993) and the action thriller Surviving the Game (1994). Shortly after suffering a fall at his Malibu home in August of 2002, Corey died in Santa Monica due to complications resulting from the accident. He was 88.

Julia Duffy (Actor) .. Mol

Born: June 27, 1951
Birthplace: Minnesota, United States

Trivia: Landed earliest acting gigs on a few soap operas during the 1970s, including Gerry Brayley on CBS's daytime sudser Love of Life, Penny Davis on the NBC serial The Doctors and Karen Wolek on the ABC soap One Life to Live. Made her Broadway debut in 1978's acclaimed revival of Once in a Lifetime. Breakout role was as Stephanie Vanderkellen, a former rich girl-turned-maid, in the popular sitcom Newhart, which she joined in its sophomore season. Joined the cast of the Designing Women as Allison Sugarbaker, the cousin of Julia and Suzanne, in the sixth season. Played the wife of Peter Scolari in two shows; first on Newhart, then later on the Jason Alexander sitcom Listen Up!

Eric Morris (Actor) .. Feh

Born: November 19, 1931

Marta Kristen (Actor) .. Lux

Doug Carleson (Actor) .. Pok

Ron Ross (Actor) .. Dab

Terrence McNally (Actor) .. Gar

Born: November 03, 1939

Don Thompson (Actor) .. Cush

Daniel Carlin (Actor) .. Pez

Ansley Carlin (Actor) .. Wok

Earl Boen (Actor) .. Nestor No. I

Born: November 07, 1944

Trivia: A character actor with a deadpan delivery, Earl Boen is known to many for the role of psychiatrist Peter Silberman in Terminator, a role he reprised for the hit sequel Terminator 2: Judgement Day, as well as for Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. A veteran of TV, film, and stage, Boen spent decades racking up a résumé packed with literally hundreds of appearances beginning in the early '70s. Many of Boen's credits came in the form of single-episode guest appearances on TV shows like The Paper Chase and M*A*S*H, while others took the form of recurring roles, like that of adman Jim Petersen on the sitcom Who's the Boss?, a role Boen would reprise for five episodes between 1984 and 1986. Boen also worked extensively in animation, lending his voice to cartoons like Justice League, Kim Possible, and Pirates of Dark Water, as well as many video games, such as World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, and EverQuest.

Whitney Rydbeck (Actor)

Born: March 13, 1945

Dallas Clarke (Actor)

Dan Vincent (Actor)

Rick Davidson (Actor)

Tom Henschel (Actor)

Brian Coventry (Actor)

Kerry Frank (Actor)

Larry Broyles (Actor)

Dick Davalos (Actor)

Born: November 05, 1935
Died: March 08, 2016
Birthplace: New York City, New York

Trivia: American actor Richard Davalos might have been a star had it not been for the formidable competition in his star-making movie. Davalos was cast as Aron the upright, dutiful son of Raymond Massey in the expensive 1955 filmization of East of Eden. The film, however, belonged to the boy playing Cal, Aron's supposedly ne'er-do-well younger brother: James Dean. One recent magazine article figuratively robbed Davalos of the best scene in the movie, wherein, after learning that his mother was a prostitute, he taunts his erring father by laughingly smashing his head through a glass window; the magazine attributed this unforgettable moment to James Dean! It's too bad, since Davalos was actually a lot more versatile than Dean (if not as charismatic), having proven this in a multitude of TV guest roles. As for movies, except for the meaty role of Blind Dick in Cool Hand Luke (1967), the best Davalos could do after Eden were such negligible starring stints as Pit Stop (1969) and indifferent character roles in films like Kelly's Heroes (1971). In 1961, Richard Davalos co-starred with Darryl Hickman on the short-lived television Civil War series The Americans. His last film was 2008's Ninja Cheerleader. Davalos died in 2016, at age 85.

Lara Cody (Actor) .. Kelvin

Born: September 08, 1957

John Gowans (Actor)

Terrence E. Mcnally (Actor) .. Gar

Birthplace: USA

Larry Meyers (Actor) .. Kelvin

Rob Reece (Actor)

Gary D. Robbins (Actor)

Steve Says (Actor)

Kimberly Sommer (Actor)

Galen Thompson (Actor)

Born: July 03, 1940

Dick Carlos (Actor)

Lawrence Steven Meyers (Actor)

Doug Carlsson (Actor)

03:20 am - 05:30 am, Wednesday, October 29 on WNYW Movies! (5.2)