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.

Trivia: Fans of the long-running television sitcom Facts of Life (1979-1988) will remember Nancy McKeon as Jo, the tough-talking, golden-hearted girl from Brooklyn who struggled to fit in at a posh girls school, but she has been involved with television, and to some extent, feature films, since she was two years old and cast in a commercial for which her brother, Philip McKeon (he is 18 months older), was auditioning. After shooting the spot, McKeon became a model and even appeared in Sears catalogs. Her brother was also a successful child model. In 1978, nine-year-old McKeon and her father moved to Los Angeles -- her brother was already out there appearing on the popular sitcom Alice (1976-1985) -- but she would not have a successful audition until at age 12, she landed a part on Starsky and Hutch (1975-1979) and then a part in the television movie Return to Fantasy Island (1978). She joined the cast of Facts of Life in its second season and remained until the show's end. While on the show, McKeon frequently appeared in television movies such as Strange Voices (1987). In 1995, McKeon returned to series television with the short-lived sitcom Can't Hurry Love, which she also produced.