Trivia: esilLiza Minnelli grew up on the front lines of entertainment; her mother was the great singer/actress Judy Garland and her father the director/designer Vincente Minnelli. Minnelli made her first film appearance, uncredited, as Garlands daughter (with co-star Van Johnson) in the last few seconds of In the Good Old Summertime (1948). When Garland shared a 1964 concert engagement at the London Palladium with her 18-year-old daughter, Minnelli's performing career was kickstarted. A year later, Minnelli had won the Tony Award for Flora, the Red Menace -- the youngest performer ever to do so -- and by 1974 had won an Oscar as well, for her performance as Sally Bowles in Bob Fosse's dramatic musical Cabaret. Several of her TV specials, particularly Liza with a Z, received critical acclaim. Despite her auspicious beginnings in show business, her film career after Cabaret has been less than notable, with the possible exception of Arthur (1981) with Dudley Moore and Sir John Gielgud. Married four times, first to cabaret artist Peter Allen, then to Jack Haley, Jr., then to artist Mark Gero, and later to David Gest, for a time she was also linked romantically with Desi Arnaz, Jr., and Peter Sellers. In 1997 Minelli returned to Broadway as the lead in Victor/Victoria, though three short years later she was stricked with a case of viral encephalatis that threatened to leave her wheelchair-bound and unable to sing. Incredibly, following an appearance on the Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary concert (produced by Gest), she was back on stage, and in 2002 she drew rave reviews for her nostalgic concert special Liza's Back. Always charming in front of the camera, the boyant actress/comedienne could next be seen as Buster's much-older girlfriend Lucille Austero in the shortlived, critically acclaimed, series Arrested Development. Her concert appearances continue to sell out, at which she often performs the music of John Kander and Fred Ebb, who wrote the score for Cabaret.

Trivia: Considered one of the best actors of his generation, Robert De Niro built a durable star career out of his formidable ability to disappear into a character. The son of artists, De Niro was raised in New York's Greenwich Village. The young man made his stage debut at age 10, playing the Cowardly Lion in his school's production of The Wizard of Oz. Along with finding relief from shyness through performing, De Niro was also entranced by the movies, and he quit high school at age 16 to pursue acting. Studying under Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg, De Niro learned how to immerse himself in a character emotionally and physically. After laboring in off-off-Broadway productions in the early '60s, De Niro was cast alongside fellow novice Jill Clayburgh in film-school graduate Brian De Palma's The Wedding Party (1969). He followed this with small movies like Greetings, Hi, Mom!, Sam's Song, and Bloody Mama.De Niro's professional life took an auspicious turn, however, when he was re-introduced to former Little Italy acquaintance Martin Scorsese at a party in 1972. Sharing a love of movies as well as their neighborhood background, De Niro and Scorsese hit it off. De Niro was immediately interested when Scorsese asked him about appearing in his new film, Mean Streets, conceived as a grittier, more authentic portrait of the Mafia than The Godfather. De Niro's appearance in the film made waves with critics, as did his completely different performance as a dying simple-minded catcher in the quiet baseball drama Bang the Drum Slowly (1973). Francis Ford Coppola was impressed enough by Mean Streets to cast De Niro as the young Vito Corleone in the early 1900s portion of The Godfather Part II. Closely studying Brando's Oscar-winning performance as Don Corleone in The Godfather, and perfecting his accent for speaking his lines in subtitled Sicilian, De Niro was so effective as the lethally ambitious and lovingly paternal Corleone that he took home a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for the role.De Niro next headed to Europe to star in Bernardo Bertolucci's opus, 1900 (1976) before returning to the U.S. to collaborate with Scorsese on the far leaner (and meaner) production, Taxi Driver. After working for two weeks as a Manhattan cabbie and losing weight, De Niro transformed himself into disturbed "God's lonely man" Travis Bickle. One of the definitive films of the decade, Taxi Driver earned the Cannes Film Festival's top prize and several Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and De Niro's first nod for Best Actor. Controversy erupted about the film's violence, however, when would-be presidential assassin John W. Hinckley cited Taxi Driver as a formative influence in 1981.De Niro and Scorsese would reteam for the lavish musical New York, New York (1977), and though the film was a complete flop, De Niro quickly recovered with another risky and ambitious project, Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter (1978). One of the first wave of Vietnam movies, The Deer Hunter starred De Niro as one of three Pennsylvania steel-town friends thrown into the war's inferno who emerged as profoundly changed men. Though the film provoked an uproar over its portrayal of Viet Cong violence as (literally) Russian roulette, The Deer Hunter won several Oscars.Returning to the realm of more personal violence, De Niro followed The Deer Hunter with his and Scorsese's masterpiece, Raging Bull, a tragic portrait of boxer [%Ray La Motta]. Along with his notorious 60-pound weight gain that rendered him unrecognizable as the middle-aged Jake, De Niro also trained so intensely for the outstanding fight scenes that La Motta himself stated that De Niro could have boxed professionally. Along with his physical dedication, De Niro won over critics with his ability to humanize La Motta without softening him. Raging Bull received eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.Though he was well suited to star in Sergio Leone's epic homage to gangster films, Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Leone's tough, transcendent vision couldn't survive the studio's decision to hack 88 minutes out of the American release version. De Niro next took a breather from films to return to the stage, playing a drug dealer in the New York Public Theater production Cuba and His Teddy Bear. During his theater stint, De Palma made De Niro a movie offer he couldn't refuse when he asked him to play a small role in his film version of The Untouchables (1987). As the rotund, charismatic, bat-wielding Al Capone, De Niro was a memorable adversary for Kevin Costner's upstanding Elliot Ness, and The Untouchables became De Niro's first hit in almost a decade. De Niro followed The Untouchables with his first comedy success, Midnight Run (1988), costarring as a bounty hunter opposite Charles Grodin's bail-jumping accountant.Though he earned an Oscar nomination for his touching performance as a patient in Penny Marshall's popular drama Awakenings (1990), movie fans were perhaps more thrilled by De Niro's return to the Scorsese fold, playing cruelly duplicitous Irish mobster Jimmy "The Gent" opposite Ray Liotta's turncoat Henry Hill in the critically lauded Mafia film Goodfellas (1990). De Niro worked with Scorsese again in the thriller remake Cape Fear (1991), sporting a hillbilly accent and pumped-up physique. It was Scorsese and De Niro's biggest hit together and earned another Oscar nod for the star. De Niro subsequently costarred as a geeky cop in the Scorsese-produced Mad Dog and Glory (1993).De Niro also revealed that he had learned a great deal from his work with Scorsese with his own directorial debut, A Bronx Tale (1993). A well-observed story of a boy torn between his father and the local mob, A Bronx Tale earned praise, but De Niro was soon back to working with Scorsese, starring as Vegas kingpin Sam Rothstein in Casino (1995) -- based on the story of real-life handicapper Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal -- staged with Scorsese's customary visual brilliance and pairing De Niro with his Raging Bull brother and Goodfellas associate Joe Pesci.Appearing in as many as three films a year after 1990, De Niro was particularly praised for his polished reserve in Michael Mann's glossy policer Heat (1995), which offered the rare spectacle of De Niro and Pacino sharing the screen, if only in two scenes. After indifferently received turns in The Fan (1996), Sleepers (1996), and Cop Land (1997), De Niro stepped outside his comfort zone to play an amoral political strategist in Barry Levinson's sharp satire Wag the Dog (1997) and a dangerously dimwitted crook in Quentin Tarantino's laid-back crime story Jackie Brown (1997). De Niro was front and center -- and knee deep in self-parody -- in the comedy Analyze This (1999), aided and abetted by a nicely low-key Billy Crystal as his reluctant psychiatrist. De Niro would continue to lampoon his own tough-guy image in the sequel Analyze That, as well as the popular Meet the Parents franchise. As the decade wore on, De Niro took on roles that failed to live up to his acclaimed earlier work, such as with lukewarm thrillers like The Score, Godsend, Righteous Kill, and Hide and Seek. However, De Niro continued to work on his ambitious and long-planned next foray behind the camera, the acclaimed CIA drama The Good Shepherd.He continued to work steadily in a variety of projects including Stardust, What Just Happened, and Everybody's Fine. He became a Kennedy Center honoree in 2009. He reteamed with Ben Stiller for Little Fockers in 2010, and played a corrupt politician in Machete that same year. In 2011 he appeared opposite Bradley Cooper in the thriller Limitless, which seemingly laid the groundwork for their reteaming as father and son in the 2012 comedy Silver Linings Playbook. For his work in that movie, De Niro earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Trivia: New Yorker Barry Primus is primarily an actor, but has also doubled and tripled as writer and director. Primus worked on stage for the first decade of his career, then made his screen bow in the Manhattan-filmed The Brotherhood (1968). Additional films include Boxcar Bertha (1972), Heartland (1979) Night Games (1980) and Guilty by Suspicion (1991). Primus also had a continuing role on the TV series Cagney and Lacey (1982-88) as Cagney's(Sharon Gless) erstwhile boyfriend Sgt. Dory McKenna, whose drug problem compromised his value as a cop. After working as director Mark Rydell's assistant on The Rose (1981) Barry Primus has increased his behind-the-camera activities; in 1992, Primus directed his first theatrical feature, the "inside" Hollywood comedy/drama Mistress.

Trivia: University of Tulsa graduate Mary Kay Place hightailed it to Hollywood in hopes of becoming a writer and performer of comedy material. She was hired for 1970s The Tim Conway Comedy Hour as a production assistant to both star Conway and producer Norman Lear. It was Conway who gave her her first on-camera break, while Lear saw to it that Place received her first writing credit on his subsequent All in the Family. Lear displayed her to even better advantage in the role of senseless, tactless, and eminently lovable would-be C&W star Loretta Haggers on the satirical soap opera Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976-1977). She won an Emmy for her work as Loretta, and was later nominated for a Grammy for her spin-off musical album, Tonight! At the Capri Lounge...Loretta Haggers. She wrote scripts for such TV sitcoms as The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Phyllis, and MASH, usually in collaboration with her professional partner (and future Designing Women producer), Linda Bloodworth. In films since 1976's Bound for Glory, Place has only occasionally been given a chance to shine on the big screen; the best of her movie roles include the washout nightclub singer who briefly replaces Liza Minnelli in New York, New York (1976), and the reconstituted "child of the '60s" who eagerly volunteers for surrogate motherhood in The Big Chill (1983). Place then continued to work on a variety of projects throughout the 80's and 90's, playing family friend Camille Chersky on the tragically-cancelled dramatic series My So-Called Life, and directing episodes of TV shows like Friends and Arli$$. With the new millennium, Place turned once again towards the big screen, enjoying appearances in films like Being John Malkovich and Girl, Interrupted, but she continued to work in TV as well, with a recurring role on the Showtime series Big Love -- which earned her an Ammy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress on a Drama Series in 2010.

Trivia: Rotund supporting actor, onscreen from the '70s.

Trivia: Large and muscular at an early age, American actor Dick Miller entered the Navy during World War II while still a teenager, distinguishing himself as a boxer. He attended CCNY, Columbia University and New York University, supporting himself with semi-pro football jobs, radio DJ gigs and as a psychological assistant at Bellevue. At age 22, he was host of a Manhattan-based TV chat show, Midnight Snack. Stage and movie work followed, and Miller joined the stock company/entourage of low-budget auteur Roger Corman. His first great Corman role was as the hyperthyroid salesman in Not of this Earth (1956); a handful of rock-and-roll quickies followed before Miller received his first sci-fi lead in War of the Satellites (1958). In Corman's Bucket of Blood (1959), Miller originated the role of Walter Paisley, the nebbishy sociopath who "creates" avant-garde sculpture by murdering his subjects and dipping them in plaster. He was then cast in the immortal Little Shop of Horrors (1960); Miller not only makes a terrific entrance by buying a bouquet of flowers and then eating them, but also narrates the picture. Miller stayed with Corman into the 1970s, at which time the director was in charge of New World Pictures. Seldom making a liveable income in films, Miller remained an unknown entity so far as the "big" studios were concerned -- but his teenaged fans were legion, and he was besieged on the streets and in public places for autographs. When the adolescent science-fiction fans of the 1950s became the directors of the 1980s, Miller began receiving some of the best roles of his career. In Joe Dante's Gremlins (1984), Miller was paired with his Little Shop costar Jackie Joseph, as a rural couple whose house is bulldozed by a group of hostile gremlins. Miller and Joseph returned in the sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1989), in which the actor heroically helped squash the gremlins' invasion of New York. Miller's most Pirandellian role was as the "decency league" activist in Matinee (1993) who is actually an actor in the employ of William Castle-like showman John Goodman. Directed again by longtime Miller fan Dante, Matinee contains a wonderful "in" joke wherein Miller is identified as a fraud via his photograph in a Famous Monsters of Filmland-type fanzine -- the very sort of publication which canonized Miller throughout the 1970s.

Trivia: Took up the saxophone when he received an alto sax for Christmas at age 9; he later switched to tenor sax because King Curtis, one of his idols, played it. Attended college on a football-and-music scholarship. Prevented from pursuing a career in pro football by a knee injury he suffered in a car accident. Worked as a counselor in a state-run youth home in New Jersey. Joined Bruce Springsteen's not-yet-named E Street Band in 1972; "10th Avenue Freeze-Out" explains how it happened (he's the "Big Man" to Springsteen's "Bad Scooter"). Was introduced last—and always to thunderous applause—at E Street concerts by Springsteen, who often egged on the crowd with "do I have to say his name?!" Owned a rock club, Big Man's West, in Red Bank, NJ, during the early 1980s. Fronted his own group, Clarence Clemons and the Red Bank Rockers, during the 1980s. Scored a Top 20 hit in 1985 with "You're a Friend of Mine," a duet with Jackson Browne. Jammed with President Clinton at the 1993 inaugural ball. Published a memoir, Big Man, in 2009. Played saxophone on records by Gary U.S. Bonds, Aretha Franklin, Lady Gaga, Twisted Sister and others; and performed on stage with the likes of Ringo Starr and the Grateful Dead. Little Kids Rock, an organization that helps schools provide music instruction, gave him a 2009 "Big Man of the Year Award" for his assistance. His death in 2011 from stroke complications set off widespread grief among rock fans and heartfelt tributes from the likes of Bono, Eddie Vedder and Springsteen (who recalled him as "my great friend, my partner.")

Trivia: Actor Norman Palmer appeared in a few films of the late '70s and early '80s. He also made frequent guest appearances on television series.

Trivia: African-American actress Diahnne Abbott played supporting roles in films of the 1970s and '80s, including Taxi Driver. At one time, Abbott was the wife of actor Robert De Niro. In 1983, she also appeared with De Niro in The King of Comedy.

Trivia: Not to be confused with Billy Baldwin of the Baldwin brothers' fame, Bill Baldwin is much more recognizable to the ear than he is to the eye. Despite landing a slew of small supporting roles between the early '50s and the year of his death, 1982, Baldwin's career revolved around his strong, carrying voice. In 1956, Baldwin played a fight announcer in The Leather Saint, an unremarkable prizefighting drama that nonetheless foreshadowed his most famous vocal role: that of the ringside announcer in Rocky (1976), nearly 20 years later. Baldwin's voice could also be heard in Rocky II and III, as it could in fellow boxing films The Champ (1979) and Goldie and the Boxer Go to Hollywood (1981). When he wasn't offering play-by-plays, Baldwin was likely immersed in the role of radio announcer for a variety of showbiz dramas and television programs, among them With a Song in My Heart (1952), The One and Only (1978), and a long stint on The Beverly Hillbillies. Interestingly enough, one of his non-voice-related performances was a bit part in a film as acclaimed as Rocky: Baldwin appeared briefly as a salesman in Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby (1968).

Trivia: Best known as a radio and television personality and host of several popular Weekly Top 40 radio programs, Casey Kasem (born Kemal Kasem, he was of Lebanese descent) occasionally appeared in feature films as a supporting actor. In addition, he was also a well-known voice actor whose most famous cartoon characterization was that of Shaggy from the Scooby Doo series. Kasem died at age 82 in June 2014.

Trivia: Having spent most of his career with his fingers in the hair of some of Hollywood's most glamorous stars, Sydney Guilaroff knew the value of an exceptional coif in creating a stellar image. It was he who gave Claudette Colbert her distinctive bangs and Lucille Ball that amazing red hair. He was the first hairstylist to receive credit on film. Over 40 years, most of it spent at MGM studios, Guilaroff was the preferred hairdresser for a broad range of celebrities, including Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Shirley MacLaine, Spencer Tracy, Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Stewart, Katharine Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman, Liza Minnelli, Clark Gable, Fred Astaire, and Nancy Reagan. A native of London, England, Guilaroff started out studying to become an architect. His interest in hair resulted from a porter's job at the Hotel McAlpin beauty salon after he moved to New York City. Guilaroff joined the staff at the prestigious Antoine's in 1925 and soon became one of their best coiffeurs. He moved to Hollywood and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the '30s at the request of Joan Crawford, who discovered him during a New York visit. Guilaroff's work can be seen in numerous films, including Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), The Wizard of Oz (1939), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), and The Graduate (1967). In 1996, Guilaroff published his memoirs, Crowning Glory: Reflections of Hollywood's Favorite Confidante.

Trivia: Long a familiar presence on the New York stage and TV scene, Louis Guss has specialized in blue-collar ethnic roles. Guss' earliest screen credit was as Dominic in Harry and Tonto (1974). His showiest screen portrayal was as Raymond Coppomaggi in the irresistible romantic comedy Moonstruck (1987). On network television, Louis Guss was seen as Uncle Bennie on the 1991 sitcom Man in the Family.

Trivia: Character actress Shera Danese specialized in bit parts, initially ones of a slightly sultry nature. She landed one of her earliest big-screen roles as one of saxophone player Jimmy Doyle's (Robert De Niro) girlfriends in Martin Scorsese's revisionist musical New York, New York (1977), then drew attention away from Rebecca De Mornay as one of two prostitutes who accompany a high-school senior (Tom Cruise) out for a wild evening on the town, in Paul Brickman's satire on teen angst, Risky Business (1983). Subsequent projects included the 1987 Baby Boom (as a cloak room attendant), the 2002 John Q., and the 2006 Alpha Dog. Danese also appeared in numerous Columbo telemovies opposite longtime off-camera husband Peter Falk.