Trivia: An eighth-generation Texan, actor Tommy Lee Jones, born September 15th, 1946, attended Harvard University, where he roomed with future U.S. Vice President Al Gore. Though several of his less-knowledgeable fans have tended to dismiss Jones as a roughhewn redneck, the actor was equally at home on the polo fields (he's a champion player) as the oil fields, where he made his living for many years.After graduating cum laude from Harvard in 1969, Jones made his stage debut that same year in A Patriot for Me; in 1970, he appeared in his first film, Love Story (listed way, way down the cast list as one of Ryan O'Neal's fraternity buddies). Interestingly enough, while Jones was at Harvard, he and roommate Gore provided the models for author Erich Segal while he was writing the character of Oliver, the book's (and film's) protagonist. After this supporting role, Jones got his first film lead in the obscure Canadian film Eliza's Horoscope (1975). Following a spell on the daytime soap opera One Life to Live, he gained national attention in 1977 when he was cast in the title role in the TV miniseries The Amazing Howard Hughes, his resemblance to the title character -- both vocally and visually -- positively uncanny. Five years later, Jones won further acclaim and an Emmy for his startling performance as murderer Gary Gilmore in The Executioner's Song. Jones spent the rest of the '80s working in both television and film, doing his most notable work on such TV miniseries as Lonesome Dove (1989), for which he earned another Emmy nomination. It was not until the early '90s that the actor became a substantial figure in Hollywood, a position catalyzed by a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his role in Oliver Stone's JFK. In 1993, Jones won both that award and a Golden Globe for his driven, starkly funny portrayal of U.S. Marshal Sam Gerard in The Fugitive. His subsequent work during the decade was prolific and enormously varied. In 1994 alone, he could be seen as an insane prison warden in Natural Born Killers; titular baseball hero Ty Cobb in Cobb; a troubled army captain in Blue Sky; a wily federal attorney in The Client; and a psychotic bomber in Blown Away. Jones was also attached to a number of big-budget action movies, hamming it up as the crazed Two-Face in Batman Forever (1995); donning sunglasses and an attitude to play a special agent in Men in Black (1997); and reprising his Fugitive role for the film's 1998 sequel, U.S. Marshals. The following year, he continued this trend, playing Ashley Judd's parole officer in the psychological thriller Double Jeopardy. The late '90s and millennial turnover found Jones' popularity soaring, and the distinguished actor continued to develop a successful comic screen persona (Space Cowboys [2000] and Men in Black II [2002]), in addition to maintaining his dramatic clout with roles in such thrillers as The Rules of Engagement (2000) and The Hunted (2003).2005 brought a comedic turn for the actor, who starred in the madcap comedy Man of the House as a grizzled police officer in tasked to protect a house full of cheerleaders who witnessed a murder. Jones also took a stab at directing that year, helming and starring in the western crime drama The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. In 2006, Jones appeared in Robert Altman's film adaptation of A Prairie Home Companion, based on Garrison Keillor's long running radio show. The movie's legendary director, much loved source material and all-star cast made the film a safe bet for the actor, who hadn't done much in the way of musical comedy. Jones played the consumate corporate bad guy with his trademark grit.2007 brought two major roles for the actor. He headlined the Iraq war drama In the Valley of Elah for director Paul Haggis. His work as the veteran father of a son who died in the war earned him strong reviews and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. However more people saw Jones' other film from that year, the Coen brothers adaptation of No Country for Old Men. His work as a middle-aged Texas sheriff haunted by the acts of the evil man he hunts earned him a Screen Actors Guild nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The actor co-starred with Stanley Tucci and Neal McDonough for 2011's blockbuster Captain America: The First Avenger, and reprised his role as a secret agent in Men in Black 3 (2011). In 2012 he played a Congressman fighting to help Abraham Lincoln end slavery in Steven Spielberg's Lincoln, a role that led to an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Trivia: The stepdaughter of the fire chief of Salisbury, MD, Linda Hamilton began her acting career with local children's theater groups. After college training and dramatic lessons conducted by former director Nicholas Ray, Hamilton was cast in a handful of inexpensive film programs. She briefly costarred in the prime-time TV soap opera Secrets of Midland Heights (1980) which led to an equally short stint on the weekly series King's Crossing (1982). Hamilton's stock in the film industry rose substantially when she was cast as Sarah Connor, the target for the homicidal intentions of futuristic android Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator (1984). No shivering ingenue, the agile and athletic Hamilton proved a formidable foe for the forces of evil in both The Terminator and its sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, where at times she came off tougher than the "kinder, gentler" Arnold. From 1987-1989, Hamilton starred as Catherine Chandler on the cult TV fantasy series Beauty and the Beast, eventually leaving the show to have her first child. In 1995 Hamilton earned a Golden Globe nomination for her performance as a single mother who learns she has contracted AIDS in A Mother's Prayer, and though with the exception of Dante's Peak (1997) she stuck mainly to made-for-television movies in the following decade, notable guest spots on Showtime's Weeds and NBC's Chuck served as strong reminders of her onscreen charisma. Married to actor Bruce Abbot throughout much of the '80s, Hamilton later wed Terminator 2 director James Cameron, though their union ended after just two years.

Trivia: To hear him tell it, Robert Vaughn has spent most of his acting career getting very well paid for being artistically frustrated. Born in Manhattan and raised in Minnesota, Vaughn went straight from college drama classes to his first film, the juvenile delinquent opus No Time to Be Young (1957). Ever on the search for "meaningful" roles, Vaughn signed to play a survivor of a nuclear apocalypse in what he assumed would be a serious, politically potent drama: the film was released as Teenage Caveman (1957). Though Oscar-nominated for his performance as a crippled, alcoholic war veteran in The Young Philadelphians (1959), Vaughn didn't rise to full stardom until 1964, where he was signed to play ultra-cool secret agent Napoleon Solo in the TV espionage series The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (1964-1968). He swore at that time that he'd never, ever subject himself to the rigors of another television series, but in 1972 he was back to the weekly grind in the British series The Protectors. In films, Vaughn has been most effective as an icy, corporate heavy, notably in Bullitt (1968) and Superman III (1982). On-stage, Vaughn has exhibited a special fondness for Shakespeare (Hamlet in particular); he was given an excellent opportunity to recite the Bard's prose on film when he played Casca in Julius Caesar (1970). A dyed-in-the-wool liberal activist, Vaughn worked on his Masters and Ph.D. in political science at L.A. City College during his U.N.C.L.E. years; his doctoral thesis was later expanded into the 1972 history of the HUAC, Only Victims. Vaughn later had several recurring roles on TV shows like The Nanny and Law & Order and the British series Hustle and Coronation Street. He died in 2016, just shy of his 84th birthday.

Trivia: Born R. Hanley Jaeckel (the "R" stood for nothing), young Richard Jaeckel arrived in Hollywood with his family in the early 1940s. Columnist Louella Parsons, a friend of Jaeckel's mother, got the boy a job as a mailman at the 20th Century-Fox studios. When the producers of Fox's Guadalcanal Diary found themselves in need of a baby-faced youth to play a callow marine private, Jaeckel was given a screen test. Despite his initial reluctance to play-act, Jaeckel accepted the Guadalcanal Diary assignment and remained in films for the next five decades, appearing in almost 50 movies and playing everything from wavy-haired romantic leads to crag-faced villains. Between 1944 and 1948, Jaeckel served in the U.S. Navy. Upon his discharge, he co-starred in Sands of Iwo Jima with John Wayne and Forrest Tucker. In 1971, Jaeckel was nominated for a "Best Supporting Actor" Oscar on the strength of his performance in Sometimes a Great Notion. Richard Jaeckel has also been a regular in several TV series, usually appearing in dependable, authoritative roles: he was cowboy scout Tony Gentry in Frontier Circus (1962), Lt. Pete McNeil in Banyon (1972), firefighter Hank Myers in Firehouse (1974), federal agent Hank Klinger in Salvage 1 (1979), Major Hawkins in At Ease (1983) (a rare -- and expertly played -- comedy role), and Master Chief Sam Rivers in Supercarrier (1988). From 1991-92, Jaeckel played Lieutenant Ben Edwards on the internationally popular series Baywatch. Jaeckel passed away at the Motion Picture & Television Hospital of an undisclosed illness at the age of 70.

Trivia: During his stay at Michigan State University in the mid-1960s, Charles "Bubba" Smith achieved legendary status for his gridiron activities. The All-American defensive lineman joined the Baltimore Colts as a first-round draft choice in 1967. After playing in two Super Bowls, Smith was sidelined with a knee injury in 1972; he made a comeback the following year with the Oakland Raiders, then played with the Houston Oilers, but by 1975 his football days were over. After a few seasons as a sportscaster, Smith started a whole new career as an actor, beginning with the role of Puddin in the 1980 TV-series version of the 1977 film Semi-Tough. He went on to play regular roles in weekly TVers Open All Night (1982, as Robin) Blue Thunder (1984, as Bubba Kelsey) and Half Nelson (1985, as Beau). In films from 1983, Bubba Smith's best screen showings were as the misleadingly mild-mannered Moses Hightower in the six low-budget, high-grossing Police Academy flicks.

Trivia: Supporting actor, onscreen from the late '70s.

Trivia: Gangly American character actor William Sanderson has done all right by himself in "Bubba" roles. He was seen in such bucolic characterizations as Lee Dollarhide in Coal Miner's Daughter (1980), Sleets in Rocketeer (1989), Zeke in Wagons East (1994), and Lippy in the first two Lonesome Dove TV miniseries. He rose to prominence in the early 1980s as one-third of the backwoods trio Larry, Daryl and Daryl on the TV sitcom Newhart (1982-90); Sanderson was Larry, the interpreter for his two tight-lipped, dull-witted siblings. Despite the illusion created by his specialty, Sanderson is no hayseed. Following his military discharge, Sanderson graduated from Memphis State University and after that became a law student until the acting bug bit and led him to drop out of school to launch a successful theater career in New York; Sanderson moved into television and feature films. As a change of pace, William Sanderson was heard as urbane, authoritative robotmaster Karl Rossum in the daily Fox TV Network attraction Batman: The Animated Series (1992). In 1998, William Sanderson co-starred opposite Beau Bridges in the satirical television series Maximum Bob.

Trivia: Actor Keenan Wynn was the son of legendary comedian Ed Wynn and actress Hilda Keenan, and grandson of stage luminary Frank Keenan. After attending St. John's Military Academy, Wynn obtained his few professional theatrical jobs with the Maine Stock Company. After overcoming the "Ed Wynn's Son" onus (his father arranged his first job, with the understanding that Keenan would be on his own after that), Wynn developed into a fine comic and dramatic actor on his own in several Broadway plays and on radio. He was signed to an MGM contract in 1942, scoring a personal and professional success as the sarcastic sergeant in 1944's See Here Private Hargrove (1944). Wynn's newfound popularity as a supporting actor aroused a bit of jealousy from his father, who underwent professional doldrums in the 1940s; father and son grew closer in the 1950s when Ed, launching a second career as a dramatic actor, often turned to his son for moral support and professional advice. Wynn's film career flourished into the 1960s and 1970s, during which time he frequently appeared in such Disney films as The Absent-Minded Professor (1960) and The Love Bug (1968) as apoplectic villain Alonso Hawk. Wynn also starred in such TV series as Troubleshooters and Dallas. Encroaching deafness and a drinking problem plagued Wynn in his final years, but he always delivered the goods onscreen. Wynn was the father of writer/director Tracy Keenan Wynn and writer/actor Edmund Keenan (Ned) Wynn.

Trivia: Scion of renowned maverick director John Cassavetes and extraordinary actress Gena Rowlands, Nick Cassavetes was an actor for over a decade before he added writing and directing to his Hollywood repertoire. Born and raised in New York, Cassavetes appeared in two of his father's films, Husbands (1970) and A Woman Under the Influence (1974), while growing up. The sturdy, 6'4" Cassavetes did not, however, want to be an actor and attended Syracuse University on a basketball scholarship. After an injury ended his collegiate athletic career, Cassavetes re-thought his aspirations and headed to his parents' alma mater, the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.Though he scored his first role as an adult in Peter Bogdanovich's acclaimed drama Mask (1985), Cassavetes made his living appearing in numerous B-movies during the 1980s and early '90s. Along with such actioners as Black Moon Rising (1986), Under the Gun (1988), and The Wraith (1987) (with fellow Hollywood offspring Charlie Sheen), Cassavetes also starred in several softcore movies, including Body of Influence (1991). By the mid-'90s, Cassavetes left B-movies for a role as Dorothy Parker's lover, writer Robert Sherwood, in Alan Rudolph's Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994) and his own debut as a movie writer and director. Drawing on his mother's experience after his father's 1989 death and featuring a superb performance by Rowlands, Unhook the Stars (1996) was a perceptive slice-of-life drama about a widow's relationship with her young single-mother neighbor. Further paying homage to his roots, Cassavetes then directed one of his father's unproduced screenplays, She's So Lovely (1997). Starring Sean Penn and Robin Wright Penn as a couple that defines l'amour fou and John Travolta as Wright Penn's tough yet paternal second husband, She's So Lovely was true to the elder Cassavetes' distinct, keen voice and won prizes for cinematography and Penn's flamboyant performance at the Cannes Film Festival. Cassavetes also appeared onscreen that same year with Travolta, as super criminal Castor Troy's bald cohort Dietrich in John Woo's summer blockbuster Face/Off (1997). Appearing in higher profile fare than most of his prior acting work, Cassavetes followed Face/Off with roles in the Johnny Depp-Charlize Theron sci-fi thriller The Astronaut's Wife (1999) and Ted Demme's Eddie Murphy-Martin Lawrence prison movie Life (1999). Continuing his associations with Demme and Depp, Cassavetes subsequently co-wrote the director's final film Blow (2001), about the rise and fall of a 1970s and '80s American cocaine kingpin. Returning to the director's chair for a project that spoke to his experience with his own daughter's heart disease, Cassavetes took on his first big-budget Hollywood genre film, John Q. (2002). Starring Denzel Washington as a desperate working-class father who turns to violence when his HMO won't cover his son's heart transplant, this unconvincing piece of schlock received devastating reviews across the board. American critics described it, alternately, as "So lacking in shame that it finally seems laughable, "[a] movie [that] transcends stupidity and soars into the empyrean of true idiocy," and "A shamelessly manipulative commercial on behalf of national health insurance." The director fared immeasurably better in 2004 with The Notebook. As penned by Jeremy Leven and Jan Sardi, this gentle and evocative adaptation of Nicholas Sparks' bestselling novel follows an elderly man (James Garner) who reads a heartbreaking period love story aloud to a female nursing home resident (Gena Rowlands). The film then plays out the story-within-the-story, about a couple who share the greatest summer of their lives with one another, and are then irrevocably separated by their parents and the rise of World War II. The press responded far more kindly to The Notebook when it premiered in the U.S. on June 25, 2004. Michael Wilmington's comments typified the response: "[It] may be corny," he noted, "But it's also absorbing, sweet, and powerfully acted. It's a film about falling in love and looking back on it, and it avoids many of the genre's syrupy dangers." Audiences flocked to the picture, and turned it into one of the sleeper hits of the year.Cassavetes' fifth directorial outing, Alpha Dog (2007), constitutes a biopic of Jesse James Hollywood (played by Emile Hirsch), a young murderer, thief, kidnapper, junkie, and dealer who became one of the youngest individuals in history to make the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List. The film finds Hollywood foolishly attempting to clear the account of one of his clients by nabbing the boy's younger brother and holding him for ransom. He thus sets into motion a horrifying cycle of violence that precipitates his own demise. The picture co-stars Justin Timberlake and Sharon Stone. Over the coming years, Cassavetes would direct movies like My Sister's Keeper.

Trivia: Actor and screenwriter Don Keith Opper is the man who helped bring audiences the Critters series of sci-fi/horror/comedies in which small, cute, fuzzy, and voraciously hungry creatures from space wreak havoc on the Midwest. In addition to assisting with the screenplays, Opper also starred in all four series' entries. Opper made his acting and writing debut in Android (1982). After 1991, Opper rarely appeared in films and when he did, it was in strictly supporting roles.