Trivia: An attractive blonde actress who scoffed at early typecasting as the pretty ingenue, Kathie Browne was the wife of popular actor Darren McGavin, and a notable talent in her own right. Born in San Luis Obispo, CA, Browne attended L.A. City College while honing her acting skills in numerous local theaters. Spotted by a television director while performing as the lead in a production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, it wasn't long before Browne began working frequently on television. Browne's early roles included appearances in such popular television Westerns as Bonanza and Gunsmoke, and after making her film debut in 1958's Murder by Contract she began a successful film career. Though at first succumbing to the casting agents wishes and appearing in roles where a pretty face and little more was needed, Browne began to branch out in the 1960s with such roles as a scientist on Sea Hunt and a deft grifter in an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Married to McGavin in 1969, the young actress slowly began her fade from the limelight in order to better promote the career of her husband. In addition to being a driving force behind the success of The Night Stalker, Browne would join McGavin in founding their own production company, Formed Taurean Films. Frequently appearing onscreen together, Browne and McGavin would acquire nearly 50 credits together, between film and television. Diagnosed with breast cancer later in life, the strong-willed Browne would make a full recovery and, at age 70, go into full retirement. On April 8, 2003, Kathie Browne-McGavin died in Beverly Hills following a brief illness. She was 63.

Trivia: Born in New York City while his father Noah Beery Sr. was appearing on-stage, Noah Beery Jr. was given his lifelong nickname, "Pidge," by Josie Cohan, sister of George M. Cohan "I was born in the business," Pidge Beery observed some 63 years later. "I couldn't have gotten out of it if I wanted to." In 1920, the younger Beery made his first screen appearance in Douglas Fairbanks' The Mark of Zorro (1920), which co-starred dad Noah as Sergeant Garcia. Thanks to a zoning mistake, Pidge attended the Hollywood School for Girls (his fellow "girls" included Doug Fairbanks Jr. and Jesse Lasky Jr.), then relocated with his family to a ranch in the San Fernando Valley, miles from Tinseltown. While some kids might have chafed at such isolation, Pidge loved the wide open spaces, and upon attaining manhood emulated his father by living as far away from Hollywood as possible. After attending military school, Pidge pursued film acting in earnest, appearing mostly in serials and Westerns, sometimes as the hero, but usually as the hero's bucolic sidekick. His more notable screen credits of the 1930s and '40s include Of Mice and Men (1939), Only Angels Have Wings (again 1939, this time as the obligatory doomed-from-the-start airplane pilot), Sergeant York (1941), We've Never Been Licked (1943), and Red River (1948). He also starred in a group of rustic 45-minute comedies produced by Hal Roach in the early '40s, and was featured in several popular B-Western series; one of these starred Buck Jones, whose daughter Maxine became Pidge's first wife. Perhaps out of a sense of self-preservation, Beery appeared with his camera-hogging uncle Wallace Beery only once, in 1940's 20 Mule Team. Children of the 1950s will remember Pidge as Joey the Clown on the weekly TV series Circus Boy (1956), while the more TV-addicted may recall Beery's obscure syndicated travelogue series, co-starring himself and his sons. The 1960s found Pidge featured in such A-list films as Inherit the Wind (1960) and as a regular on the series Riverboat and Hondo. He kicked off the 1970s in the role of Michael J. Pollard's dad (there was a resemblance) in Little Fauss and Big Halsey. Though Beery was first choice for the part of James Garner's father on the TV detective series The Rockford Files, Pidge was committed to the 1973 James Franciscus starrer Doc Elliot, so the Rockford producers went with actor Robert Donley in the pilot episode. By the time The Rockford Files was picked up on a weekly basis, Doc Elliot had tanked, thus Donley was dropped in favor of Beery, who stayed with the role until the series' cancellation in 1978. Pidge's weekly-TV manifest in the 1980s included Quest (1981) and The Yellow Rose (1983). After a brief illness, Noah Beery Jr. died at his Tehachapi, CA, ranch at the age of 81.

Trivia: Active in Australian radio and stage productions from childhood, Sydney native Michael Pate made his first film in 1949 on his home turf. Pate then moved to Hollywood, where he settled into villainous or obstreperous roles. He is best remembered for his portrayal of Indian chief Vittoro in John Wayne's Hondo (1953), a part he recreated for the 1966 weekly TV adaptation of Hondo, which top-billed Ralph Taeger. Other career highlights include the 1954 TV adaptation of Ian Fleming's James Bond novel Casino Royale, wherein Pate became the first actor to play CIA agent Felix Leiter (though both the character's name and nationality were changed), and PT 109 (1963), in which Pate played the Australian mariner who harangued future President John F. Kennedy (Cliff Robertson).During his Hollywood stay, Pate occasionally dabbled in screenwriting, collaborating on the scripts of Escape from Fort Bravo (1953) and The Most Dangerous Man Alive (1961). In 1968 he returned to Australia where, with such rare exceptions as the weekly TVer Matlock Police, he curtailed his performing activities to concentrate on producing, writing and directing. He produced the 1969 feature film Age of Consent, and later was put in charge of production of Amalgamated Television in Sydney. He made his feature-film directorial debut with the TV movie Tim (1979), which boasted an impressive early starring performance by Mel Gibson. He also adapted the screenplay of Tim from the novel by Colleen McCullough, earning the Australian equivalent of the Emmy Award for his efforts. Michael Pate is the author of two instructional books, The Film Actor and The Director's Eye.

Trivia: Not to be confused with variety-show host Willie Bryant, American general purpose actor William Bryant kept busy in outdoors films. He was featured in such westerns as Ride Beyond Vengeance (1966), Heaven with a Gun (1969) and John Wayne's Chisum (1970). His additional non-western credits include Gable and Lombard (1976), Mountain Family Robinson (1977) (in a leading role) and Corvette Summer (1977). From 1976 through 1978, William Bryant costarred as Lieutenant Shilton on the Robert Wagner/Eddie Albert TV detective series Switch, and also appeared for a time as Lamont Corbin on the daytime serial General Hospital.