Trivia: Of the many performers to leap into films from the springboard of the television sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live, Bill Murray has been among the most successful and unpredictable, forging an idiosyncratic career allowing him to stretch from low-brow slapstick farce to intelligent adult drama. Born in Wilmette, IL, on September 21, 1950, Murray was an incorrigible child, kicked out of both the Boy Scouts and Little League. At the age of 20, he was also arrested for attempting to smuggle close to nine pounds of marijuana through nearby O'Hare Airport. In an attempt to find direction in his life, he joined his older brother, Brian Doyle-Murray, in the cast of Chicago's Second City improvisational comedy troupe. He later relocated to New York City, joining radio's National Lampoon Hour. Both Murray siblings were also in a 1975 off-Broadway spin-off, also dubbed The National Lampoon Hour; there Murray was spotted by sportscaster Howard Cosell, who recruited him for the cast of his ABC variety program, titled Saturday Night Live With Howard Cosell. On the NBC network, a program also named Saturday Night Live was creating a much bigger sensation; when, after one season, the show's breakout star Chevy Chase exited to pursue a film career, producer Lorne Michaels tapped Murray as his replacement. Murray too became a celebrity, developing a fabulously insincere and sleazy comic persona which was put to good use in his first major film, the 1979 hit Meatballs. He next starred as the famed gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson in the film biography Where the Buffalo Roam, a major disaster. However, 1980's Caddyshack was a masterpiece of slob comedy, with Murray memorable as a maniacal rangeboy hunting the gopher that is slowly destroying his golf course. The film launched him to the ranks of major stardom; the follow-up, the armed services farce Stripes, was an even bigger blockbuster, earning over 40 million dollars at the box office. Murray next appeared, unbilled, in 1982's Tootsie before starring with Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis in 1984's Ghostbusters. The supernatural comedy was one of the decade's biggest hits, earning over 130 million dollars and spawning a cartoon series, action figures, and even a chart-topping theme song (performed by Ray Parker Jr.). Murray now ranked among the world's most popular actors, and he next fulfilled a long-standing dream by starring in and co-writing an adaptation of the W. Somerset Maugham novel The Razor's Edge. Few fans knew what to make of his abrupt turn from broad farce to literary drama, however, and as a result the film flopped. Murray spent the next several years in self-imposed exile, making only a cameo appearance in the 1986 musical comedy Little Shop of Horrors. After much deliberation, he finally selected his comeback vehicle -- 1988's Scrooged, a black comic retelling of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. While it performed moderately well, it was not the smash many predicted. Nor was 1989's Ghostbusters II, which grossed less than half of the first picture. The 1990 crime comedy Quick Change, which Murray co-directed with Howard Franklin, was also a disappointment, but 1991's What About Bob? was an unqualified hit. In 1993, Murray earned his strongest notices to date for Groundhog Day, a sublime comedy directed by longtime conspirator Ramis. Beginning with 1994's acclaimed Ed Wood, in which he appeared as a transsexual, Murray's career choices grew increasingly eccentric; in 1996 alone, he starred in the little-seen Larger Than Life as a motivational speaker, co-starred as a bowling champion in Kingpin, and appeared as himself in the family film Space Jam. In 1998, Murray took on a similarly eccentric role in Wes Anderson's Rushmore. Playing a business tycoon competing with an equally eccentric 15-year-old (Jason Schwartzman) for the affections of a first grade teacher (Olivia Williams), Murray did some of his best work in years and won the Best Supporting Actor award from the New York Film Critics Circle. The film's success helped to put the actor back in the forefront, and he drew further exposure that year from his appearance as a sleazy lawyer in the relentlessly trashy Wild Things. The following year, he could be seen in Cradle Will Rock, Tim Robbins' look at the often contentious relationship between art and politics in 1930s America.Though the mere thought of Murray as Polonius in a film adaptation of William Shakespeare's Hamlet may have elicited dumbounded looks and confused laughter early in his career, that was precisely how the versatile thespian ushered in the new millennium in director Micheal Almereyda's modern updating of the classic drama. Subsequently landing laughs as the superspy point person Bosley in the big screen adaptation of the classic 1970's television hit Charlie's Angels, Murray's interpretation of the character would be taken over by popular comic Bernie Mac in the film's 2003 sequel. After taking a brief voyage into gross-out territory with the Farrelly brother's Osmosis Jones in 2001, a re-teaming with Rushmore director Anderson resulted in a small but memorable supporting performance in the same year's The Royal Tenenbaums. In 2003 Murray essayed the role that would offer what was perhaps his most heartfelt combination of personal drama and touching comedy to date in director Sofia Coppola's acclaimed indie film Lost in Translation. Cast as a washed up American actor who strikes up a tentative friendship with the young wife of a superstar photographer while on a stay in Japan to endorse a popular brand of whiskey, Murray's low-key charm proved the perfect balance to co-star Scarlett Johansson's youthful malaise. Virtually across the board, critics were bowled over by the subtle depth of Murray's performance, leading to Best Actor honors from The New York Film Critics Circle, The Boston Society of Film Critics, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association, The San Francisco Film Critics Circle, The National Society of Film Critics, The Golden Globes, and The Independent Spirit Awards. But the one award that remained elusive to Murray was Oscar. Though nominated, the prize ultimately went to Sean Penn for Mystic River.In 2004, along with providing the voice for a CGI version of Garfield the cat, Murray once again teamed up with director Wes Anderson, starring as as a world-renowned oceanographer in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. While The Life Aquatic was met with mixed reviews, Murray's performance in the 2005 Jim Jarmusch film Broken Flowers netted virtually unanimous acclaim. Over the next several years, Murray would maintain his selective film career, appearing in acclaimed films like Get Low, Passion Play, and Moonrise Kingdom.

Trivia: Well-reputed for his "extreme" cinematic personifications in multiple genres, the American character player Peter Boyle doubtless made his onscreen personas doubly intense by pulling directly from his own personal journey to the top -- a wild, unlikely, and occasionally tortuous trek that found Boyle aggressively defining and redefining himself, and struggling constantly with a number of inner demons. Born October 18, 1935, in the hamlet of Northtown, PA, Boyle graduated from La Salle College and joined the Christian Brothers monastic order, under the name "Brother Francis." He prayed endlessly and earnestly until he developed callouses on his knees, but could never quite adjust to the monastic life, which he later declared "unnatural," with its impositions of fasting and celibacy. Dissatisfied, Boyle dropped out and headed for the Navy, but his brief enlistment ended in a nervous breakdown. With no other options in sight that piqued his interest, Boyle opted to pack his bags and head for New York City, where he worked toward making it as an actor. It made perfect sense that Boyle -- with his distinctively stocky frame, bald pate, oversized ears, and bulbous nose -- would fit the bill as a character actor -- more ideally, in fact, than any of his contemporaries on the American screen. He trained under the best of the best -- the legendary dramatic coach Uta Hagen -- while working at any and every odd job he could find. Boyle soon joined a touring production of Neil Simon's Odd Couple (as Oscar Madison) and moved to Chicago, where he signed on with the sketch comedy troupe The Second City -- then in its infancy. Around 1968, Haskell Wexler -- one of the most politically radical mainstream filmmakers in all of Los Angeles (a bona fide revolutionary) -- decided to shoot his groundbreaking epic Medium Cool in the Windy City, and for a pivotal and notorious sequence, mixed documentary and fictional elements by sending the members of his cast (Verna Bloom and others) "right into the fray" of the 1968 Democratic National Convention riots. Boyle happened to still be living in Chicago at the time of the tumult, which dovetailed rather neatly with Wexler's production and brought Boyle one of his first credited Hollywood roles -- that of the Gun Clinic Manager in the film. Unfortunately (and typically), Paramount cowed when faced with the final cut of the film -- terrified that it could incite riots among its youthful audience -- and withheld its distribution for a year. In the interim, Boyle landed the role that would help him "break through" to the American public -- the lead in neophyte writer-director John G. Avildsen's harrowing vigilante drama Joe (1970). The film casts Boyle as a skin-crawling redneck and bigot who wheedles an Arrow-collared businessman (Dennis Patrick) into helping him undertake an onslaught of death against the American counterculture. This sleeper hit received only fair reviews from critics (and has dated terribly), and Boyle reputedly was paid only 3,000 dollars for his contribution. But even those who detested the film lavished praise onto the actor's work -- in 1970, Variety called the picture "flawed" but described Boyle as "stunningly effective." Film historians continue to exalt the performance to this day. Innumerable roles followed for Boyle throughout the '70s, many in a similar vein -- from that of Dillon, the slimy underworld "friend" who betrays career criminal Robert Mitchum by handing him over to death's jaws in Peter Yates' finely-wrought gangster drama The Friends of Eddie Coyle, to that of Wizard, a veteran cabbie with a terrifying degree of "seen it all, done it all" jadedness, in Martin Scorsese's masterful neo-noir meditation on urban psychosis, Taxi Driver (1976), to Andy Mast, a sleazy private dick, in Paul Schrader's Hardcore (1979). In 1974, however, Boyle broke free from his pattern of creepy typecasting and temporarily turned a new leaf. He unveiled a deft comic flair by playing the lead in Young Frankenstein, Mel Brooks' daffy spoof of old Universal horror pictures. The film's two comic highlights have Boyle and Gene Wilder (as the grandson of Dr. Victor Frankenstein) soft-shoeing to "Puttin' on the Ritz," and Boyle and Gene Hackman (as a hapless, bearded blind man) farcically sending up the gothic cabin scene from Mary Shelley's novel in a riotous pas de deux. Boyle's subsequent forays into big-screen comedy proved decidedly less successful on all fronts, however. He played Carl Lazlo, Esquire, the solicitor of Bill Murray's Hunter S. Thompson, in producer/director Art Linson's Where the Buffalo Roam, the pirate Moon in Mel Damski's dreadful swashbuckling spoof Yellowbeard (1983), and Jack McDermott, a Jesus-obsessed escaped mental patient with delusions of healing, in Howard Zieff's The Dream Team (1989) -- all of which received lukewarm critical reactions and flopped with ticket-buyers. (Though it went undocumented as such, the Zieff role appeared to pull heavy influence from Boyle's monastic experience). A more finely tuned and impressive comic role arrived in 1992, when Boyle teamed with Andrew Bergman for an outrageous bit part in Bergman's madcap farce Honeymoon in Vegas. As Chief Orman, a moronic Hawaiian Indian who bears more than a passing resemblance to Marlon Brando, Boyle delighted viewers, and caught the attention of critics. Many read the role as less of an homage than a dig at Brando, who had viciously insulted one of Bergman's movies in the press. For many viewers, this ingenious sequence made the entire film worthwhile. On the whole, the actor continued to fare best with big-screen dramatic roles throughout the '80s and '90s. Highlights include his role as Detective Jimmy Ryan in Wim Wenders' film noir Hammett (1982); Commander Cornelius Vanderbilt, the assistant of South-American explorer William Walker, in Alex Cox's 1987 biopic Walker; and Captain Green in Spike Lee's Malcolm X (1992). In 1996, Boyle transitioned to the small screen for a permanent role as Frank Barone, the father of comedian Ray Romano's Ray Barone, on the hit CBS sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond. The series brought the actor his broadest popularity and exposure, especially among younger viewers -- a popularity not only attested to by the program's seemingly endless syndicated appearance on local stations and cable affiliates such as TBS, but by its initial series run -- it lasted nine seasons. Tragically, Peter Boyle died of multiple myeloma and heart disease almost exactly one year after Raymond took its final network bow, and shortly after his appearance in the holiday film The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause. He passed away in New York's Presbyterian Hospital, on December 12, 2006, only two months after his seventy-first birthday. Alongside his film and television work, Boyle occasionally acted on Broadway, off-Broadway, and repertory stages, in such productions as Carl Reiner's The Roast (1980), Sam Shepard's True West (1982), and Joe Pintauro's Snow Orchid (1982). Boyle met journalist Laraine Alderman in the early '70s, while she was interviewing Mel Brooks for Rolling Stone. They wed in 1977, with former Beatle John Lennon as Boyle's best man; the marriage lasted until Peter's death. The Boyles had two daughters, Lucy and Amy, both of whom outlived their father.

Trivia: Character and supporting actor Bruno Kirby (he also billed himself as B. Kirby or Bruce Kirby) made his film debut in Young Graduates (1971). Kirby was born Bruno Quidaciolu Jr. and is the son of actor Bruce Kirby. For a while he appeared regularly on the television education drama Room 222 (1969-1974) and launched into steady carefree appearances in made-for-TV movies such as The Summer Without Boys (1973) and features such as The Harrad Experiment (1973). He first gained notice for a small role he played as Clemenza in The Godfather, Pt. II (1974). It was not until the late '80s that he began getting much larger roles and greater respect. The turn-around came when Kirby was cast as Lieutenant Hauk, the hilariously untalented wanna-be comedian, in charge of zany Robin Williams' morning radio show in Good Morning Vietnam (1987). One of his most memorable roles of the '80s was that of Billy Crystal's best buddy, a man who finds romantic bliss with Carrie Fisher, in When Harry Met Sally (1989). In 1991, he again turned in another charming performance as Ed Furillo in City Slickers (1991). In 1997, he played a supporting role in Donnie Brasco. In addition to feature-film work, he also continued to appear frequently on television series as a guest star and in movies-of-the-week. He died suddenly of leukemia, at age 57, on August 14, 2006.

Trivia: Birmingham-born R.G. Armstrong attended the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, where he was active with the Carolina Playmakers. On the New York stage since the 1940s, Armstrong is best remembered for creating the role of Big Daddy in the original 1955 Broadway production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. In film since 1957, Armstrong appeared in more than his share of westerns, usually as an able-bodied sheriff or thick-necked land baron. A frequent visitor to television, R. G. Armstrong was a regular on the 1967 adventure series T.H.E. Cat.

Trivia: While his name might suggest a birthplace somewhere in France -- or at the very least Quebec -- actor Rene Auberjonois was born in New York City. However, his well-to-do parents were of noble European blood, thus French was the language of choice in his household. Despite his first-born-American status, Auberjonois was shunned by many of his schoolmates as a foreigner, and teased for having a "girl's" name. As a defense mechanism, Auberjonois became the class clown, which somehow led naturally to amateur theatricals. The influence of such neighborhood family friends as Burgess Meredith and Lotte Lenya solidified Auberjonois' determination to make performing his life's work. He was cast in a production at Stratford (Ontario)'s Shakespeare company by John Houseman -- another neighbor of his parents' -- and after moving with his family to England, Auberjonois returned to complete his acting training at Carnegie-Mellon University. There he decided to specialize in character parts rather than leads -- a wise decision, in that he's still at it while some of his handsomer and more charismatic Carnegie-Mellon classmates have fallen by the wayside. Three years with the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. led Auberjonois to San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre, of which he was a founding member. Movie and TV work was not as easy to come by, so the actor returned to New York, where he won a Tony for his Broadway role in the musical Coco. An introduction to director Robert Altman led Auberjonois to his first film, M*A*S*H (1970), in which he introduced the character that would later be fleshed out on TV as Father Mulcahy (with William Christopher in the role). He worked in two more Altman films before he and the director began to grow in opposite directions. More stage work and films followed, then TV assignments; Auberjonois' characters ranged from arrogant dress designers to snooty aristocrats to schizophrenic killers on film, while the stage afforded him more richly textured roles in such plays as King Lear and The Good Doctor. In 1981, Auberjonois was cast as Clayton Endicott III, the terminally fussy chief of staff to Governor Gatling on Benson. Like so many other professional twits in so many other films, Auberjonois' job was to make life miserable for the more down-to-earth hero, in this case Robert "Benson" Guillaume. Blessed with one of the most flexible voiceboxes in show business, Auberjonois has spent much of his career providing voice-overs for cartoon characters in animated projects like the Disney's The Little Mermaid, The Legend of Tarzan, Justice League, and Pound Puppies. In 1993, Rene Auberjonois assured himself a permanent place in the hearts of "Trekkies" everywhere when he was cast as Odo (complete with understated but distinctive "alien" makeup) on the weekly syndicated TV show Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, which he appeared on until 1999.Auberjonois would remain extremely active on screen in the years to come, appearing in movies like The Patriot, and on shows like Boston Legal.

Trivia: Supporting actor Danny Goldman first appeared onscreen in the '70s.

Trivia: Rafael Campos moved from the Dominican Republic to New York City at the age of fourteen. After appearing in a handful of Spanish-language plays, Campos rose to fame portraying troubled Hispanic youths in such films as The Blackboard Jungle (1955), Trial (1955) and Dino (1957). His gift for comedy was seldom touched upon, save for his role as a college-bound busboy in 1957's This Could Be the Night. Campos both acted and directed on the New York stage, making his Broadway debut in Infidel Caesar. He also essayed important roles in the TV series Rhoda (as Ramon Diaz Jr.) and Centennial (as Nacho) and wrote articles for Manhattan-based Spanish publications. Rafael Campo's last film was 1985's Fever Pitch, directed by his Blackboard Jungle mentor Richard Brooks.

Trivia: Supporting actor, onscreen from the late '60s. For his portrayal of Motel the tailor in Fiddler on the Roof (1971) he received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. He came to prominence as the character Harold in the stage and screen versions of The Boys in the Band (film, 1970). He died of AIDS.

Trivia: At the outset of the 1970s, a teenaged DeWayne Jessie had a promising start to an acting career, just at the point when gifted young black performers were getting more work than ever before. But after eight years of steady screen work and small but enlarging supporting roles, he was sidetracked by a part so unexpectedly big in a movie so unexpectedly successful, that in the 25 years since, he's only appeared in five more movies, but never lacked for work as a performer on-stage, growing out of that movie. In 1978, Jessie was cast in National Lampoon's Animal House in the role of Otis Day, leader of Otis Day & the Knights, who are seen performing "Shout" and "Shama Lama Ding Dong" in two key scenes -- ever since then, like Clayton Moore donning the mask of the Lone Ranger in 1949 and never getting too far from it, DeWayne Jessie has worked regularly as the leader of Otis Day & the Knights. Ironically, Jessie's most prominent role before National Lampoon's Animal House was probably in The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings, in which he played Rainbow, a ball player in the Negro Leagues who is mute. Born in 1953, Jessie made his screen debut at age 17 as a high-school student who is unable to read in the topical drama Halls of Anger (1970), directed by Paul Bogart and starring Jeff Bridges. He had an uncredited role in The New Centurions (1972) and bounced between television and films over the next few years, guest starring in episodes of series such as Love American Style, Kojak, Starsky and Hutch, and Laverne & Shirley, interspersed with small feature roles in Darktown Strutters, Car Wash, and Fun With Dick and Jane. The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings earned him good reviews for a portrayal as poignant as it was inspiring, and earned Jessie an Image Award from the NAACP as Best Supporting Actor. In 1978, he appeared in two movies, one the abominable Thank God It's Friday and the other National Lampoon's Animal House (which earned over 70 million dollars on its first-run release), playing Otis Day, a part that he almost turned down. Within weeks of the movie's opening, he was seeing positive repercussions from his performance, despite the fact that one of his two featured songs, "Shama Lama Ding Dong," was dubbed using the voice of singer Lloyd Williams -- the actor's main contribution in his all-important second scene was his physical presence and the announcement, "It feels so good to be back here at the Dexter Lake Club. We'd like to do a tune entitled "Shama Lama Ding Dong." So hit it." But he looked so good doing it, and fronting the band (which included a young, pre-stardom Robert Cray), that he started getting offers to perform as Otis Day. It took a little time before Jessie actually took the Otis Day & the Knights show on the road, but by 1982, he was a top attraction at frat dances, college-town clubs, and other venues catering to students who'd seen or knew of the movie -- and there were tens of millions of them. Twenty-one years later (a testament to the movie's lingering appeal and constant renewal of its audience, as well as Jessie's skills as a performer), he was still at it, even appearing at B.B. King's in New York. He's been working on-stage as Otis Day longer than he worked onscreen as DeWayne Jessie -- his last movie role was in D.C. Cab in 1983, 13 years into his career. But he made it into the documentary accompanying the 2003 DVD re-release of Animal House, playing (surprise) Otis Day.

Trivia: Best known for his multi-decade contributions to film as a character actor, Mark Metcalf began life in Ohio but came of age in St. Louis. Though Metcalf entered college with engineering ambitions, he soon gravitated to theater and decided to shift majors, almost on a whim, then moved into the Manhattan theatrical community in his mid-twenties and accepted stage roles in productions of varying magnitudes. 1976-1977 represented Metcalf's breakthrough period -- the period that witnessed him turning heads with a performance in David Rabe's military-themed play Streamers (he reportedly received personal backstage visits and hearty praise from the likes of Warren Beatty and Bette Davis) and another acclaimed supporting turn in the 1977 Best Picture nominee Julia. Metcalf scored broadest recognition, however (and the role with which he permanently became associated), as equestrian Douglas C. Neidermeyer, the sadistic, obnoxious ROTC officer and Omega fraternity president at Faber College, in director John Landis' anarchic blockbuster comedy National Lampoon's Animal House (1978). Metcalf purportedly went in auditioning for lady-killer Otter -- the part eventually given to Tim Matheson -- but picked up the Neidermeyer role when he deceptively convinced Landis that he could ride a horse. At about the same time, Metcalf stepped behind the camera and set up shop with actor Griffin Dunne (another future Landis associate), as well as actress Amy Robinson (Mean Streets), to form the production shingle Triple Play Productions in the late '70s. The trio turned out a single effort -- the critically well-received but commercially unsuccessful 1979 romantic drama Head Over Heels (later reedited and renamed Chilly Scenes of Winter). After that, however, Metcalf jumped ship and moved squarely into acting for many years, prompting Dunne and Robinson to rename the production company Double Play. Subsequent projects (which placed a particularly strong emphasis on comedic turns) included Where the Buffalo Roam (1980), Mr. North (1988), Hijacking Hollywood (1997), and Warden of Red Rock (2001). The outings Oscar and The Stupids re-teamed him with director Landis. In the late '90s, Metcalf enjoyed a recurring role as The Master on the syndicated supernatural drama series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and became acquainted with producer David E. Kelley, on whose Ally McBeal he occasionally guest starred. Off-camera, Metcalf and his wife made headlines when they purchased a Mequon, Wisconsin-based restaurant from Kelley, called Kelley's, and co-ran it.

Trivia: American stage leading man Linden Chiles made his first film appearance as Randy in the 1961 adaptation of William Faulkner's Sanctuary. When time came for Chiles to settle into character roles, he was most often cast as a businessman -- honest and otherwise -- and suburban father. His TV-series work includes the role of Chief Officer Steve Kirland in Convoy (1965) and the title character's dad in James at 15 (1978). Linden Chiles also spent several years as Edward Nichols on the NBC daytime drama Santa Barbara (1984-1992).

Trivia: Supporting actress, onscreen in the early '80s.

Trivia: Diminutive actor Jerry Maren achieved his first coup as a performer (and an incredible one at that) in 1939, when cast as one of the Munchkins in Victor Fleming's seminal The Wizard of Oz. He subsequently built up a remarkably extensive resumé, from the early '40s through the late '90s, with portrayals of midgets, gremlins, mole men, and any other character parts that called for thespians of small stature. Seinfeld aficionados may recall Maren as the aging circus performer father of Kramer's buddy Mickey in "The Yada Yada," a 1997 episode of that sitcom. Maren made headlines in 2007, when -- after a period of onscreen inactivity -- he was selected for his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Trivia: Sonny Carl Davis came to the movies from an earlier stint on the music scene in Austin, TX. His rock group, Sons of Coyote, appeared for a time in the 1970s before metamorphosing into the Sons of Uranium Savage. His entertainment career took an upward turn when director Eagle Pennell cast him as one of the two lead characters in the offbeat film The Whole Shootin' Match (1979). Thus began the actor's career of making memorable portrayals of the diverse character parts assigned to him. After playing a redneck entrepreneur in The Whole Shootin' Match, Davis performed in one more Pennell film. Turning in one of his most outstanding performances, Davis played the aging Don Juan character in Last Night at the Alamo (1983). One of the great scenes in film occurs when the handsome, suave, pick-up artist removes his cowboy hat only to reveal a balding head. The change in persona is so great that audiences gasped out loud at the contrast.Davis is perhaps best known for his portrayal of the businessman with attitude in the highly acclaimed film Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), in which Davis set the benchmark for how to make yourself heard at a fast-food restaurant. Davis also starred as Louise's restaurant co-worker in Thelma & Louise (1991).Throughout the '80s and '90s, Davis appeared in dramas and comedies in the theaters as well as made-for-television movies, often turning in performances that deserved a wider audience than these limited vehicles gave him. Notable among these were his portrayals in Nowhere to Run (1988); A Pair of Aces (1990); Bad Channels, Seedpeople, and Ned Blessing, all made in 1992; and Fair Game in 1995. Davis' next performances included his 2001 portrayal of a Santa Claus at the wrong place at the wrong time, in I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus; and in Big Time, made the same year.

Trivia: Solidly built American actor Craig T. Nelson started out as a comedy writer and performer, doing radio and nightspot gigs in the Los Angeles area. Success was not immediately forthcoming, and Nelson took a four-year sabbatical from show business, moving with his family to a remote cabin in Northern California. In 1979, he made his first film, ...And Justice For All, written by his onetime partner Barry Levinson. While subsequent roles in Poltergeist and Silkwood followed, Nelson would find true stardom on television. For eight seasons beginning in 1989, he starred as college athletics instuctor Hayden Fox on the top-ranked ABC sitcom Coach. Appearing alongside supporting players Jerry Van Dyke and Shelly Fabares, Nelson received an Emmy for his work on the show in 1992.After Coach, Nelson showed up in a few small roles in feature films and television mini-series before returning to series work in 2000, leading the cast of CBS's D.C.-based cop-drama The District. While enjoying the success of that show, Nelson found time for his first high-profile feature film role in over a decade, providing the voice of the head of a family of superheroes in the 2004 Disney/Pixar animated film The Incredibles. In 2005 he played the patriarch of the dysfunctional clan in The Family Stone, and followed that up two years later as skating coach in the comedy Blades of Glory. He was Ryan Reynolds disapproving dad in the hit comedy The Proposal in 2009. He was cast as the head of the Braverman clan in NBC's relaunch of Parenthood in 2010, and appeared in the inspirational Soul Surfer in 2011.

Trivia: Supporting actor, onscreen from the '60s.

Trivia: Quite possibly the quintessential cinematic personification of the sexually repressed high school gym teacher, Nancy Parsons had a curiously interesting and diverse catalog of film roles, though that of fearsome phys ed nightmare Beulah Balbricker in Porky's and its sequels will likely live eternally in the hearts of teen sex-comedy aficionados as her defining role.A native of Lake Minnetonka, MN, Parsons' passion for Shakespeare led her to California at the age of 16, where she studied acting at the Pasadena Playhouse. Though she found work in the L.A. theater scene early on, Parsons soon turned away from acting in favor of marriage and family life. Her marital bliss short-lived, Parsons returned to her passion after her divorce, finding small roles in such films as I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977). Though her comic abilities were hinted at in the 1980 Bill Murray comedy Where the Buffalo Roam, that same year yielded her breakout role in the horror-spoof Motel Hell, playing opposite Jimmie Dean wannabe Rory Calhoun in the gruesomely humorous tale of a farmer with questionable practices in sausage manufacturing. Following the next year with Pennies From Heaven and Porky's, Parsons' fate was sealed as a talented and versatile actress with a good sense of humor.The following years brought Parsons a number of comedic roles, always shifting effortlessly between the dramatic and comedic with roles in such polar opposites as Porky's Revenge (1985) and Steel Magnolias (1989). Parsons also appeared frequently on television, in roles ranging from Charlie's Angels to Star Trek: The Next Generation (on the set of which she frequently traded Shakespearian dialogue with fellow Bard-fan Patrick Stewart). Continuing her television work through the '90s with recurring roles in Days of our Lives, one of Parsons' fondest memories of that decade's film appearances was her role in The Doctor (1991). A fan of actor William Hurt, Parsons cherished the opportunity to appear with Hurt on film. Though ailing in health in the later '90s, Parsons continued to appear on television in L.A. Law and The Pretender, before her death in early 2001 after an extended battle with diabetes.