Trivia: Best known as the rumpled television detective Columbo, character actor Peter Falk also enjoyed a successful film career, often in association with the groundbreaking independent filmmaker John Cassavetes. Born September 16, 1927, in New York City, Falk lost an eye at the age of three, resulting in the odd, squinting gaze which later became his trademark. He initially pursued a career in public administration, serving as an efficiency expert with the Connecticut Budget Bureau, but in the early '50s, boredom with his work sparked an interest in acting. By 1955, Falk had turned professional, and an appearance in a New York production of The Iceman Cometh earned him much attention. He soon graduated to Broadway and in 1958 made his feature debut in the Nicholas Ray/Budd Schulberg drama Wind Across the Everglades.A diminutive, stocky, and unkempt presence, Falk's early screen roles often portrayed him as a blue-collar type or as a thug; it was as the latter in 1960's Murder Inc. that he earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, a major career boost. He was nominated in the same category the following year as well, this time as a sarcastic bodyguard in Frank Capra's Pocketful of Miracles. In 1962, Falk won an Emmy for his work in the television film The Price of Tomatoes, a presentation of the Dick Powell Theater series. The steady stream of accolades made him a hot property, and he next starred in the 1962 feature Pressure Point. A cameo in Stanley Kramer's 1963 smash It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World preceded Falk's appearance in the Rat Pack outing Robin and the Seven Hoods, but the film stardom many predicted for him always seemed just out of reach, despite lead roles in 1965's The Great Race and 1967's Luv.In 1968, Falk first assumed the role of Columbo, the disheveled police lieutenant whose seemingly slow and inept investigative manner masked a steel-trap mind; debuting in the TV movie Prescription: Murder, the character was an immediate hit, and after a second telefilm, Ransom for a Dead Man, a regular Columbo series premiered as part of the revolving NBC Mystery Movie anthology in the fall of 1971, running for seven years and earning Falk a second Emmy in the process. In the meantime, he also continued his film career, most notably with Cassavetes; in 1970, Falk starred in the director's Husbands, and in 1974 they reunited for the brilliant A Woman Under the Influence. In between the two pictures, Falk also returned to Broadway, where he won a Tony award for his performance in the 1972 Neil Simon comedy The Prisoner of Second Avenue. In 1976, Cassavetes joined him in front of the camera to co-star in Elaine May's Mikey and Nicky, and directed him again in 1977's Opening Night.After Columbo ceased production in 1978, Falk starred in the Simon-penned mystery spoof The Cheap Detective, followed by the William Friedkin caper comedy The Brink's Job (1978). After 1979's The In-Laws, he starred two years later in ...All the Marbles, but was then virtually absent from the screen for the next half decade. Cassavetes' 1986 effort Big Trouble brought Falk back to the screen (albeit on a poor note; Cassavetes later practically disowned the embarrassing film) and and in 1987 he starred in Happy New Year along with the Rob Reiner cult favorite The Princess Bride. An appearance as himself in Wim Wenders' masterful Wings of Desire in 1988 preceded his 1989 resumption of the Columbo character for another regular series; the program was to remain Falk's focus well into the next decade, with only a handful of film appearances in pictures including 1990's Tune in Tomorrow and a cameo in Robert Altman's The Player. After the cancellation of Columbo, he next turned up in Wenders' Desire sequel Far Away, So Close before starring in the 1995 comedy Roommates. Falk continued to work in both film and television for the next decade and a half, starring in various Columbo specials through 2003, appearing with Woody Allen in the made-for-TV The Sunshine Boys in 1997, and playing a bar owner caught up in mafia dealings in 1999's The Money Kings. Other projects included the Adam Sandler-produced gangster comedy Corky Romano (2001), the Dreamworks animated family film A Shark Tale (as the voice of Ira Feinberg), and the Paul Reiser-scripted, Raymond de Felitta-directed comedy-drama The Thing About My Folks (2005). In 2007, Falk starred opposite Nicolas Cage and Julianne Moore in Lee Tamahori's sci-fi thriller Next. That same year, Falk announced to the public that he had Alzheimer's disease. He died in June 2011 at age 83.

Trivia: RADA alumnus Donald Moffat made his London stage debut in 1954, playing the First Murderer in MacBeth. On stage, the wiry, angular Moffat excelled in the plays of Ibsen and Moliere; on screen, he has since carved his niche in eccentric, unpredictable roles. He has also sparkled in authoritative characterizations, both bombastic (a tantrum-tossing LBJ in 1981's The Right Stuff, a fascistic Colonel Ruppert in the 1991 TV movie Babe Ruth) and cool-headed (the fictional U.S. president in 1993's A Clear and Present Danger, Kennedy in-law Hugh Auchincloss in the 1982 video presentation Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy). In addition, Moffat has brightened many a Robert Altman production, most prominently as the ubiquitous bike-riding tax collector in Popeye (1980). Donald Moffat's TV-series resumé includes such roles as an immigrant Scandinavian minister in The New Land (1974), a lovable android in Logan's Run (1977), and all-knowing Dr. Marcus Polk on the ABC daytimer One Life to Live.

Trivia: Actor Thomas Calabro has nurtured a career not only onscreen, but also on-stage, as a member of New York's Actor's Studio and Circle Repertory Lab. He began appearing on television in the mid-'80s, with roles on episodes of Father Dowling Mysteries and Law & Order. In 1992, he joined the cast of a new primetime soap called Melrose Place, which turned out to be a massive hit. Calabro played Dr. Michael Mancini until 1999, becoming the only member of the original cast to remain with the series for its entire duration. He would go on to make many more appearances in various projects, finding continued success in television. He made memorable appearances on Nip/Tuck, Greek, and Without a Trace, and later joined the cast of the movie Locker 13. After the demise of Melrose Place he appeared in a number of projects including Creepy Crawlers, The Perfect Husband, and Safehouse, but in 2009 he was back in his signature role when Melrose Place relaunched for a new generation.

Trivia: Possessing a dark and delicate beauty enhanced by an alluringly hypnotic pair of large and deeply expressive eyes, actress Joanna Going gained notice early on with appearances in such soap operas as Another World and the early-'90s revival of Dark Shadows. Though her early work would consist mostly of soap operas and made-for television features, the mid-'90s found Going making a slow but steady transition into feature film territory. A Washington, D.C., native who was raised in Newport, RI, Going was the oldest of six siblings and graduated from Rogers High School in 1981. Later moving on to Emerson College, Going would subsequently study acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. Her television debut in Search for Tomorrow followed shortly thereafter, and by 1987 Going was entering into a two-year stint on the long-running soap opera Another World. Remaining on the small screen for Dark Shadows immediately following Another World, Going made her feature debut in 1994's Wyatt Earp. A touching performance in the little-seen 1996 feature Eden ensured that Going would continue to climb the credits, and subsequent roles in Keys to Tulsa and Inventing the Abbots (both 1997) continued to find Going in good company. Though appearances in Still Breathing (1997) and Cupid & Cate (2000) would go largely unseen, Going would later maintain visibility opposite Helen Mirren in the television series Georgetown. In 2003 Going could be spotted in the dramatic thriller The Runaway Jury (2003).

Trivia: Lead actor, onscreen from the '80s. He is the brother of actor Patrick Swayze.

Trivia: American character actor Cliff Emmich has been appearing on stage, screen, television and in commercials since 1960.

Trivia: No stranger to emotionally and psychologically challenging roles, Doug Savant broke through the fear barrier that separates many actors from achieving their full onscreen potential. In the process, he tackled many characterizations somewhat removed from himself. These included a sociopathic rapist (in the 1995 TV movie Fight for Justice: The Nancy Cohn Story), a gay social worker (Matt Fielding on the prime-time soap opera Melrose Place), and -- most prominently -- a businessman-turned-stay at home dad (Tom Scavo, on the domestic black comedy Desperate Housewives). The latter, of course, required less of a stretch for Savant; it was perhaps ironic, then, that the Scavo characterization (opposite actress Felicity Huffman) reeled in Savant's largest audience and virtually turned him into a household name. Savant's resumé also includes brief appearances in such features as Secret Admirer (1985), Teen Wolf (1985), The Hanoi Hilton (1987), and Godzilla (1998). His second wife is actress Laura Leighton, whom he met on the set of Melrose.

Trivia: French-Cajun actor Lance LeGault broke into films as a stand-in for several male stars, foremost among them Elvis Presley. LeGault also worked as a stunt double, occasionally playing speaking roles in films like 1968's The Young Runaway. He has also been steadily employed as a nightclub and lounge singer. In the 1980s, he was busy on television in a variety of rough-hewn characterizations. Lance LeGault's regular TV-series roles include antagonistic Col. Roderick Decker in The A-Team (1983-86) and gonzo bounty hunter Alamo Joe in Werewolf (1987-88).

Trivia: The daughter of actor John Mills and novelist-playwright Mary Hayley Bell and the sister of actress Hayley Mills, she first appeared onscreen as an 11-week-old baby in her father's film In Which We Serve (1942), which was co-directed by her godfather, Noel Coward. Before the age of ten she acted in two more of her father's films. Her first adult role (and lead role) was in No, My Darling Daughter (1961), after which her film work was intermittent; she was rarely onscreen after the mid '70s. Her main focus has been the stage, mostly in London and occasionally on Broadway. She starred in the TV sitcom Nanny and the Professor and starred in a number of TV productions, winning an Emmy for her work in the TV movie QB VII (1975). She is married to actor Maxwell Caulfield, who is 18 years her junior.

Trivia: Blonde, fresh-faced supporting actress Patricia Huston never made it to stardom, but still enjoyed a busy career in feature films and television. Her film credits include Hot Shots (1956) and Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (1965). On television, she guest starred on series ranging from Westerns (Wells Fargo) and mysteries (Columbo) to medical dramas (Dr. Kildare) and sitcoms (Cheers).

Trivia: Black supporting actor, onscreen from 1972.