Trivia: One of many handsome studio contractees of the '50s, American actor Ray Stricklyn seldom rose any farther than "second lead" status. After a few years' stage work and his film debut in Paramount's Proud and the Profane (1956), Stricklyn signed with 20th Century-Fox, where he offered steadfast support to such larger luminaries as Richard Widmark (The Last Wagon [1956]), Gary Cooper (Ten North Frederick [1957]) and Claude Rains (The Lost World [1960]). Good-looking in an assembly line way, Stricklyn was a stalwart of second-feature westerns in the '60s like Young Jesse James (1960) and Arizona Raiders (1965). Ray Stricklyn never quite achieved full stardom, but it certainly wasn't from lack of exposure.

Trivia: American actress Merry Anders was a professional model when she signed her first studio contract in 1951. After two years of uncredited bits in such 20th Century-Fox features as Belles on Their Toes (1952) and Titanic (1953), Merry found more rewarding work on TV. From 1953 through 1955, she appeared in The Stu Erwin Show, replacing Ann Todd in the role of Joyce, Erwin's oldest daughter. While most of her film assignments were along the bargain-basement lines of The Dalton Girls (1957) and The Hypnotic Eye (1960), Merry built up a reputation as "queen" of the TV pilot films. If she appeared as guest star in the pilot episode of a potential series, that series would most likely be sold. Merry would be the last person to insist that she was a great actress; her "versatility" in her many TV roles consisted of changing her hair color as often as possible. It was as a redhead that Merry was cast in the lead of the syndicated sitcom How to Marry a Millionaire, which ran from 1958 through 1960. After this assignment, Merry continued to show up as a blonde, brunette and redhead in such deathless movie offerings as Women of the Prehistoric Planet (1966) and Legacy of Blood (1973). In the late 1960s, she had a semi-recurring role on Dragnet as a super-efficient policewoman; the character was meant to develop into a love interest for Joe Friday (Jack Webb), but the series never went in that direction. It can be argued that Merry Anders' most memorable performance (and the one most often seen these days) was as a woman who is drowned in a phone booth (!) on a 1966 episode of Get Smart.

Trivia: Anyone born with a name like Worster Van Eps probably had no choice but to become a top tennis pro. But when he entered films in 1937, Van Eps altered his name to the more hero-friendly Willard Parker. A leading man at Columbia in the 1940s, Parker, a handsome hunk in the Sonny Tufts mold (though a far better actor), never quite reached the summit. His best-remembered performance was as the bombastic, clueless "other man" in the 1953 musical Kiss Me Kate. From 1955 through 1957, Parker built up a kiddie fan following as co-star (with Harry Lauter) of the TV series Tales of the Texas Rangers. Retiring from acting in the late '60s to become a thriving real estate agent, Willard Parker was married from 1951 to actress Virginia Field, with whom he co-starred in The Earth Dies Screaming (1966) -- the last film for both.

Trivia: The career of American character actor Robert Dix (son of leading man Richard Dix) has embraced both British and Hollywood productions since 1955. Many of Dix's earliest appearances were in swashbucklers and Westerns; among his larger roles was Frank James in 1960's Young Jesse James. He later showed up in low-budget cycle flicks bearing such titles as Satan's Sadists, Rebel Rousers, and Cain's Cutthroats. In 1970, Robert Dix penned the screenplay for the self-explanatory melodrama Five Bloody Graves.

Trivia: American actor Emile G. Meyer had the squat, sinister features that consigned him nearly exclusively to western villains. Still, he was a good enough actor to transcend the stereotype, and audiences often found themselves understanding if not approving of his perfidy. The Meyer performance that most quickly comes to mind is in the movie Shane (1953), in which he played Ryker, the wealthy landowner who hires gunman Jack Palance to force the homesteaders off his turf. At first glance a two-dimensional baddie, Meyer delivers a heartfelt speech in which he bemoans the fact that pioneers like himself had to fight and die for their land, only to watch as outsiders rode in to stake claims on territory they hadn't truly earned. By the time Meyer is finished, half the audience is inclined towards his side, villain or no! In addition to his acting work, Emile G. Meyer also wrote TV and movie scripts. On that subject, Meyer was given to complaining in public as to how the old-boy network of Hollywood producers tended to freeze out any writer without a long list of screenplay credits -- and he complained as eloquently and persuasively as he had as Ryker in Shane (1953).

Trivia: A staple of Western-themed films and television series, veteran character actor Rayford Barnes began his onscreen career with John Wayne in Hondo, and in recent years appeared on television in Walker, Texas Ranger and ER. After beginning his career in New York training with Stella Adler and the Neighborhood Playhouse, Barnes moved to San Francisco to open his own theater, and later relocated to San Francisco, where he landed his role in Hondo. A veteran of WWII, Barnes made regular appearances on such TV series as Gunsmoke, The Virginian, and Little House on the Prairie while concurrently appearing in Westerns like The Wild Bunch and The Hunting Party. Rayford Barnes died on November 11, 2000, at St. Andrews Medical Center in Santa Monica, CA. He was 80.

Trivia: A one-time Miss California, American actress Sheila Bromley came to films relatively late; she was 26 when she appeared in her first movie, Idol of the Crowds (1937). While she had several short-term starlet contracts over the years, principally at Columbia, Fox and Warner Bros., Bromley's credits are hard to trace, simply because she spent so much time not being Sheila Bromley. At various points in her career she billed herself as Sheila Manners, Sheila Mannors and Sheila Fulton, seldom rising above B-picture status under any of those names. On TV, she was a regular on the popular sitcom I Married Joan (1952-55), billed again as Sheila Bromley. After nearly twenty years in such disposable second features as Torture Ship (1939), Calling Philo Vance (1940), Time to Kill (1942) and Young Jesse James (1950), "Sheila Bromley/Manners/Mannors/Fulton" retired, returning several years later for small roles in major 1960s productions like Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) and Hotel (1966). In 1965, Sheila Bromley had a continuing featured role on the NBC TV daytime drama Morning Star.

Trivia: In films from 1941, American character actor Norman Leavitt spent much of his career in uncredited bits and supporting roles. Leavitt can briefly be seen in such "A" pictures of the 1940s and 1950s as The Inspector General (1949) and Harvey (1950). His larger roles include Folsom in the 1960 budget western Young Jesse James. Three Stooges fans will immediately recognize Norman Leavitt from The Three Stooges in Orbit (1962), in which he player scientist Emil Sitka's sinister butler--who turned out to be a spy from Mars!

Trivia: American singer and character actor Howard Wright was best known for starring in stage musicals following WWI. Much later, he began performing on radio, television, and in movies of the '50s and '60s.

Trivia: Character actor, onscreen from 1951.