Trivia: The scion of a prosperous California ranching family, actor Cliff Robertson took up drama in high school simply because it was the only "legal" way to cut classes. After wartime service, Robertson entered Ohio's Antioch College, beginning his professional career as a radio announcer. His first extensive stage work consisted of two years with the touring company of Mister Roberts. He made it to Broadway in 1952 in a play directed by Joshua Logan, and in 1955 made his film debut in the Logan-directed movie version of Picnic. As Joan Crawford's schizophrenic boyfriend in Autumn Leaves (1955), Robertson achieved the critical acceptance that would enable him to seek out choice film roles. In 1963, Robertson became the first American actor to portray a living American president when he was selected to play John F. Kennedy in PT 109; one year later, he showed up as a paranoid Nixon type in The Best Man. Equally busy on television, Robertson was universally applauded for his grueling performance as an alcoholic in the 1958 TV staging of Days of Wine and Roses, and in 1965 won an Emmy for a guest appearance on the dramatic anthology Bob Hope Chrysler Theatre. Having lost the film version of Wine and Roses to Jack Lemmon, Robertson made certain that he'd star in the filmization of his 1961 TV drama The Two Worlds of Charly Gordon by buying up the story rights. The result was the 1968 film Charly, in which Robertson played a retarded adult turned into a genius by a scientific experiment -- for which he won an Academy Award. In 1977, Robertson made headlines when he was one of the whistle-blowers in the embezzlement scandal involving Columbia executive David Begelman -- a fact that did more harm to Robertson's career than Begelman's. Robertson continued to act into the 2000s, including the recurring role of Ben Parker in the Spider-Man franchise reboot. He died of natural causes a day after his 88th birthday in 2011.

Trivia: A luminous beauty, Jean Simmons was a star in her native Britain and in the U.S. who first appeared onscreen at age 14 in Give Us the Moon (1944), but did not become a true star until she played Estella in David Lean's Great Expectations (1946). In 1948, she was handpicked by Laurence Olivier to play the doomed Ophelia in his classic version of Hamlet and won a Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival and an Academy Award nomination for her efforts. Simmons traveled to Hollywood in 1950 after marrying Stewart Granger. Their marriage lasted a decade and Simmons then became Mrs. Richard Brooks in 1960, the year he starred her in Elmer Gantry. During the '50s and '60s, Simmons had an extremely busy film career appearing in everything from costume epics to romances to musicals to straight dramas. Simmons received an Oscar nomination in 1969 for The Happy Ending. By the mid-'70s, Simmons started working less frequently and divided her time between features and television work. In the late '80s, she had a burst of character roles, but thereafter, her forays into acting became increasingly sporadic. She died at age 80 in January 2010.

Trivia: Possessing an almost hypnotic earthy beauty that perfectly compliments her effectively understated acting style, Jenny Agutter made a lasting impression on cinema lovers worldwide with appearances in such films as The Railway Children (1970), Walkabout (1971), and Logan's Run (1976). Although she continued to appear in features in the ensuing decades, the actress also made a notable name for herself as both a high-profile philanthropist and photographer. Born in Taunton, Somerset, England, in the winter of 1952 of military parents, Agutter had seen most of the world by the age of 11, when she was enrolled in the Elmhurst Ballet School in Cambury, Surrey. She made her film debut in East of Sudan (1964) when only 12, and, after utilizing her dance skills in Ballerina the following year, she made her biggest impression to date in the feature version of The Railway Children (1970). (She had previously appeared in a television series based on the story.) Entering drama school at the age of 17 while living in London, the demands of her studies frequently conflicted with an increasingly busy film schedule. Around the time of her appearance in Nicolas Roeg's surreal outback drama Walkabout, Agutter decided to move to Hollywood. There, she quickly gained a reputation as a formidable talent, and her 1971 performance in a made-for-TV production of The Snow Goose (opposite Richard Harris) earned the actress her first Emmy award. Frequently alternating between television and film during the following few years, Agutter once again turned heads as the heroine of Logan's Run (1976). A fugitive of a system that terminates all citizens over the age of 30, the futuristic movie proved to be a hit and the actress became well known to stateside science fiction aficionados. Agutter was appeared on-stage frequently during this period, and her love for the theater was clearly on display in such efforts as The Man in the Iron Mask (1976) and Othello (1981). Following her high-profile role as a nurse who falls for a lycanthrope in John Landis' An American Werewolf in London, Agutter kept things low-key through the remainder of the '80s, although eagle-eyed fans could catch a quick glimpse of her in such features as Amazon Women on the Moon (1987) and King of the Wind (1988). In the late '80s, she met Swedish hotelier Johan Tham while attending an arts festival in Bath, and the two were married the following year; a son following shortly thereafter. Moving back to England following their marriage, the couple made a home in Cornwall. Although her film roles would become increasingly sporadic over the next decade, Agutter did appear in small capacities in such features as Darkman (1990), Child's Play 2 (1990), and Blue Juice (1995). More frequent during this period were television roles, which included The Buccaneers (1995), Bramwell (1998), and a small-screen remake of The Railway Children in 2000 (this time playing the mother). Drawn back into films at the dawn of the new millennium, Agutter appeared in The Parole Officer (2001) and Number One Longing, Number Two Regret (2002). In addition to her acting career, Agutter published a book of photography in 1984, Snap: Observations of London and Los Angeles, and, over the years, became increasingly involved with such charitable causes as The Cystic Fibrosis Trust and Action for Children, an organization which provides shelter and resources for homeless children.

Trivia: London-born Simon Ward had pretty fair idea of what he wanted to do with his life from an early age. At 15, Ward became a member of what was later formalized as the National Youth Theatre. Trained at Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, he made his professional stage debut with the Northhampton Repertory in 1963 and his London theatrical bow one year later in The 4th of June. His first film appearance was an uncredited role as one of the sociopathic students in Ken Russell's If.... (1968). In 1972, he played the title role in Young Winston (Churchill, that is), and the following year played the Duke of Buckingham in Richard Lester's The Three Musketeers (1973). He was also seen as a fictional Nazi functionary (the "nice" one, with whom the audience is supposed to identify) in Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973). Later film roles ran the gamut from author/veterinarian James Herriot in All Creatures Great and Small (1977) to Zor-El in Supergirl (1984). Simon Ward is the father of actress Sophie Ward.

Trivia: Smirking, wiry-nosed British character actor Ron Moody matriculated from standup comic to one of the most delightfully despicable "professional villains" in show business. The son of a plasterer, Moody didn't embark on his acting career until he was 29; before that, he'd planned to become either an economist or sociologist. After plenty of stage and TV work as an improvisational humorist, Moody made his film debut in 1957; he attained stardom in 1959 when he was selected to head the cast of the London company of Leonard Bernstein's Candide. He was best known to American audiences of the 1960s through his tongue-in-cheek villainous portrayals on such British TV series as The Avengers. Moody went on to earn an Academy Award nomination for his bravura performance as Fagin (a character that he'd played for years on the London stage) in Oliver! (1968); two years later, he gave an equally good showing as Uriah Heep in the all-star British TV production of David Copperfield. In 1980, Moody starred in the American TV series Nobody's Perfect as bumbling Clouseau-like detective Roger Hart. He continued to act well into older age, appearing in films like A Kid in King Arthur's Court and had a run on the British soap Eastenders. Despite his frequent on-screen perfidy, Ron Moody remained a comedian at heart -- as well as a staunch advocate of lessening the violence quotient in action films. Moody also continued to associate with the role that earned him his most acclaim, appearing at reunions and in documentaries for Oliver!, including 2004 appearance for a British series, where, at age 80, he performed a dance from the film. Moody died in 2015, at age 91.

Trivia: She was a Bronze Medalist graduate from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, meanwhile debuting onstage at age 19. She was outstanding character player in both classic and modern plays on London's West End, and occasionally appeared on Broadway. She entered films in 1931, and worked in Hollywood from 1939-46. For her work in Saratoga Trunk she received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination. While remaining a prominent stage actress, she continued appearing in films intermittently until the early '80s. In recognition of her long, distinguished career, in 1960 she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Trivia: After briefly toiling away as an apprentice accountant, Michael Jayston trained for a theatrical career at Britain's Guildhall School. Jayston made his professional debut at age 27 in The Amorous Prawn then made up for lost time by appearing in as many stage, film and TV projects as his schedule would allow. A Shakespearean specialist at such august organizations at the Old Vic and the RSC, he also thrived in contemporary roles, touring extensively in Peter Schaffer's Equus. His film roles include Czar Nicholas II in Nicholas and Alexandria (1971) and Captain Hardy in The Nelson Affair (1971), while numbering among his TV-miniseries credits are the internationally distributed Smiley's People and Tinker, Soldier, Sailor, Spy. In addition, Michael Jayston has starred in two weekly British TV series, playing Colonel Mustard in Cluedo (1991) and Bob in Outside Edge (1994).

Trivia: Trained for an acting career from childhood, Judy Geeson was a busy juvenile player on television before making her screen debut at 18 in To Sir, With Love. She spent the early stages of her film career playing "jail bait" teenagers, then moved on to more conservative leading-lady assignments. In 1979, Geeson was a regular on the BBC serial Danger UXB, which aired in America on PBS' Masterpiece Theatre. More recently, she has specialized in elegant, landed-gentry roles. Once married to actor Kristoffer Tabori, Judy Geeson is also the sister of actress Sally Geeson, best known for her work on the TV series Star Maidens and Bless This House.

Trivia: British character actor Jack Warner began his film career in the early '40s. He is usually cast as a sympathetic fellow and occasionally played leads. Before coming to film, he worked as a comedian.

Trivia: With his military bearing and regulation-cut mustache, actor David Tomlinson looked as though he'd just stepped out of a recruiting poster for the British army. A stage actor from 1935, Tomlinson at first specialized in "silly ass" roles, but his wartime service with the RAF apparently instilled in him a permanent air of authority that he was unable to shrug off for his film appearances. Even so, Tomlinson liked nothing better than to undercut his dignified demeanor in flustered comedy roles, invariably sputtering such expletives as "My word!," "I say!," and "What the deuce!" David Tomlinson is most fondly remembered for his '60s work at the Walt Disney studios, beginning with his Henry Higgins-ish portrayal of Mr. Banks in Mary Poppins (1964).

Trivia: A performer since the age of ten (his first major film role was in 1921's The Fifth Form at St. Dominic's), British actor Leslie Dwyer matured into an agreeable character player. His plump frame and jaunty cockney dialect were familiar ingredients to many films of the '40s and '50s. Dwyer could be seen in such internationally distributed British productions as In Which We Serve (1942), The Way Ahead (1944), Vacation from Marriage (1946), Laughter in Paradise (1951), the remake of Hitchcock's The 39 Steps (1959) and Die, Monster, Die (1966). When not before the cameras, Leslie Dwyer could be found at the cricket fields, either as player or enthusiastic spectator.