Trivia: Standing 6'2", sleek and sexy actress Tamara Dobson is best remembered by fans of blaxploitation films for playing no-nonsense narcotics agent Cleopatra Jones, a mistress of the martial arts who drove a bad ass black Corvette in Cleopatra Jones (1973) and Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold (1975). Before entering films, Dobson was a model. Though at the time, she generated a lot of press attention and developed a substantial cult following (most fans were male), her career was basically over when the genre's popularity played out by the late '70s. Dobson showed up again in films in the 1983 women-in-prison film Chained Heat which starred Linda Blair. In 1984, Dobson appeared in the made-for-television adventure Amazons.

Trivia: Former pro football player Bernie Casey turned to acting in the early 1970s. He has been steadily employed in theatrical films ever since, playing supporting roles in such films as Boxcar Bertha (1972), Cleopatra Jones (1976), Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989), and all three Revenge of the Nerds epics (as "U.N. Jefferson"). Casey's series-TV assignments included the title character (a blue-collar father of five children) in 1979's Harris and Company and the role of baseball coach Ozzie Peoples in Bay City Blues (1983). A ubiquitous TV-movie actor, Bernie Casey was seen in such highly-rated efforts as Brian's Song (1971), Gargoyles (1972) and The Sophisticated Gents (1981).

Trivia: American actress Shelley Winters was the daughter of a tailor's cutter; her mother was a former opera singer. Winters evinced her mom's influence at age four, when she made an impromptu singing appearance at a St. Louis amateur night. When her father moved to Long Island to be closer to the New York garment district, Winters took acting lessons at the New School for Social Research and the Actors Studio. Short stints as a model and a chorus girl led to her Broadway debut in the S.J. Perelman comedy The Night Before Christmas in 1940. Winters signed a Columbia Pictures contract in 1943, mostly playing bits, except when loaned to United Artists for an important role in Knickerbocker Holiday (1944). Realizing she was getting nowhere, she took additional acting instructions and performed in nightclubs.The breakthrough came with her role as a "good time girl" murdered by insane stage star Ronald Colman in A Double Life (1947). Her roles became increasingly more prominent during her years at Universal-International, as did her offstage abrasive attitude; the normally mild-mannered James Stewart, Winters' co-star in Winchester '73 (1950), said after filming that the actress should have been spanked. Winters' performance as the pathetic factory girl impregnated and then killed by Montgomery Clift in A Place in the Sun (1951) won her an Oscar nomination; unfortunately, for every Place in the Sun, her career was blighted by disasters like Behave Yourself (1951).Disheartened by bad films and a turbulent marriage, Winters returned to Broadway in A Hatful of Rain, in which she received excellent reviews and during which she fell for her future third husband, Anthony Franciosa. Always battling a weight problem, Winters was plump enough to be convincing as middle-aged Mrs. Van Daan in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959), for which Winters finally got her Oscar. In the 1960s, Winters portrayed a brothel madam in two films, The Balcony (1963) and A House Is Not a Home (1964), roles that would have killed her career ten years earlier, but which now established her in the press as an actress willing to take any professional risk for the sake of her art. Unfortunately, many of her performances in subsequent films like Wild in the Streets (1968) and Bloody Mama (1970) became more shrill than compelling, somewhat lessening her standing as a performer of stature.During this period, Winters made some fairly outrageous appearances on talk shows, where she came off as the censor's nightmare; she also made certain her point-of-view wouldn't be ignored, as in the moment when she poured her drink over Oliver Reed's head after Reed made a sexist remark on The Tonight Show. Appearances in popular films like The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and well-received theater appearances, like her 1974 tour in Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, helped counteract such disappointments as the musical comedy Minnie's Boys (as the Marx Brothers' mother) and the movie loser Flap (1970). Treated generously by director Paul Mazursky in above-average films like Blume in Love (1974) and Next Stop Greenwich Village (1977), Winters managed some excellent performances, though she still leaned toward hamminess when the script was weak. Shelley Winters added writing to her many achievements, penning a pair of tell-all autobiographies which delineate a private life every bit as rambunctious as some of Winters' screen performances.The '90s found a resurgence in Winters' career, as she was embraced by indie filmmakers (for movies like Heavy and The Portrait of a Lady), although she found greater fame in a recurring role on the sitcom Roseanne. She died of heart failure at age 85 in Beverly Hills, CA, in early 2006.

Trivia: The daughter of a postal worker, Brenda Sykes seemed bound for an academic career when, at 19, she was made a Teaching Assistant in Black History in the UCLA High Potential Program. One year later, Brenda showed up as a contestant on TV's The Dating Game. Her appearance not only won her an all-expenses-paid trip to New Zealand, but also caught the eyes of several Hollywood talent agents. In 1970, Sykes was personally selected by prestigious film director William Wyler to play a good featured role in The Liberation of L.B. Jones. After an excellent start, she was consigned to the standardized roles usually played by Africa-nAmerican ingenues in the 1970s, showing up in such exploitational fare as The Drum and Cleopatra Jones. Brenda Sykes' series-TV work has included Ozzie's Girls (1973) and Executive Suite (1976).

Trivia: Black supporting actor Antonio Fargas first appeared onscreen in the '70s.

Trivia: A character actor beloved particularly for playing villains, Bill McKinney was born in Chattanooga, TN, in 1931. After spending some time in Los Angeles while on leave in the Navy, McKinney decided to settle there following his discharge in order to pursue his dream of becoming an actor. He studied at the Pasadena Playhouse and Lee Strausberg's Actors Studio while paying the bills as a high-school teacher before he began landing TV roles on shows like The Monkees and I Dream of Jeannie. In 1972, McKinney was cast as a sadistic mountain man in the thriller Deliverance alongside Burt Reynolds and Jon Voight. His visage was soon synonymous with ominousness and violence, leading to a slew of roles as baddies in a wide variety of films over the coming years, like Cleopatra Jones, The Shootist, First Blood, and The Parallax View. McKinney also began collaborating with Clint Eastwood on a series of films, including The Outlaw Josey Wales, The Gauntlet, Every Which Way but Loose, Any Which Way You Can, and Pink Cadillac. By the 2000s, the actor, now in his seventies, was still going strong. He appeared in such films as 2007's Lucky You, 2008's Pride and Glory, and 2010's How Do You Know before passing away in December 2011 at age 80.

Trivia: Dan Frazer has spent so many years playing police officers and detectives that it's been suggested he should qualify for a departmental pension from the New York Police Department. Most familiar to television audiences for his portrayal of Captain Frank McNeil, the superior to Telly Savalas' Lt. Theo Kojak on the series Kojak, Frazer has also played police officers in dozens of other television shows and movies, although the full range of his work is far more vast, in a career dating back to the late '30s. Born in the Hell's Kitchen section of New York (west and north of Times Square) during the early '20s, Dan Frazer was one of ten children. He was drawn to acting at a relatively early age, and made his professional debut at 14 with the WPA's Federal Theatre Project. Following his appearance in the play Three Steps Down, he was offered a screen test at MGM, but the outbreak of World War II intervened. Frazer served in the army and was fortunate enough to be placed in Special Services, where he got some exposure to theatrical writing and directing. Frazer (whose name was sometimes misspelled in credits as "Don Frazier") resumed his career after the war and made his Broadway debut in the play Christopher Blake; he subsequently appeared in Who Was That Lady I Saw You With, Once More With Feeling, Goodbye Charlie, The Grass Is Always Greener, and A Stone for Danny Fisher. Frazer's television career dates from the end of the 1940s, when he portrayed Louie, the wheelchair-bound chess-playing G.I. in an installment of the 1949 ABC documentary series Crusade in Europe. He appeared on Lux Video Theatre and other anthology shows during the 1950s, and could be seen in episodes of The Andy Griffith Show, The Untouchables, and McHale's Navy. His defining television performance, however, was probably in the Car 54, Where Are You? episode "Change Your Partner" as Chief Bradley, the well-meaning NYPD departmental chief who is flabbergasted by the duration of the successful partnership of patrolmen Toody and Muldoon. During the 1960s, in between appearances on programs such as Route 66, The F.B.I., and My Favorite Martian, and on the few remaining anthology series such as Kraft Suspense Theater, Frazer also moved into motion picture work. He was among the favorite actors of filmmaker Ralph Nelson, playing prominent roles in two of the director's best films, Father Murphy in Lilies of the Field (1963) and Ira Jackson in Tick...tick...tick (1970), as well as his lesser known Counterpoint (1968). Lilies of the Field remains one of the films of which Frazer is proudest, although he has recalled, with some amusement, that United Artists balked at putting up the budget requested by Nelson; almost everyone involved with the film seems to have kicked in something to get it made, but UA's management said that if the film could be re-written as a vehicle for Steve McQueen instead of Sidney Poitier, the distributor would double the proposed budget. Frazer also had prominent roles in George Axelrod's satire Lord Love a Duck (1966), Woody Allen's Take the Money and Run (1969) and Bananas (1971), and a little-known 1972 feature starring Jackie Mason entitled The Stoolie. It was his performance as Lt. Byrnes in the 1972 crime thriller Fuzz, however, that brought Frazer his most visible part -- the producers of the upcoming series Kojak were examining a clip from the movie, looking at the idea of casting another actor as one of the squad room detectives; they rejected the actor they were thinking of but spotted Frazer as the harried squad commander and suddenly realized they had found their Captain Frank McNeil. For the next five years, he was seen weekly in the role of Kojak's superior officer and friend, and became something of a celebrity in his native New York (though the show itself was filmed almost entirely in Hollywood), mentioned in the television gossip pages and interviewed by journalists. His film appearances became relatively infrequent, though they included performances in Cleopatra Jones (1973) and Breakout (1975). Frazer later appeared in the Kojak made-for-television film The Belarus File (1985), and was on As the World Turns from 1989 until 1996 in the recurring role of Dan McClosky. In later years, producer Dick Wolf has used Frazer as a guest star, and the actor, in the seventh decade of his career, completed the trifecta of essaying major guest roles on Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

Trivia: Although he has been appearing in films since the late '60s, black actor Mike Warren is best known for playing officer Bobby Hill on the television series Hill Street Blues. Prior to his film career he attended college at U.C.L.A. where he was a basketball teammate of Lew Alcindor (aka Kareem Abdul-Jabbar).

Trivia: The ninth in a family of 18 children, Esther Rolle left her family's Florida home for New York once she came of age. She worked her way through Hunter College, Spellman College and the New School for Social Research. Even after her 1962 New York stage debut in The Blacks, Esther was compelled to hold down a day job in the city's garment district. She appeared in such Broadway productions as The Crucible and Blues for Mr. Charlie, and toured extensively with Robert Hooks' Negro Ensemble Company. Her breakthrough role was Florida the maid in the 1972 Norman Lear sitcom Maude. Though she balked at playing a domestic, Rolle was impressed by Florida's independence and pugnaciousness. In February of 1973, the Florida character was spun off into her own series, Good Times, the saga of a tightly-knit black family surviving in the Chicago projects. Rolle welcomed the series as an opportunity to depict a poor but proud African-American family with a strong father figure (played by John Amos) at the center. But when Amos, upset that co-star Jimmie "J.J." Walker was dominating the series, left Good Times in 1974, Rolle echoed the words of such groups as the National Black Media Coalition in chastising the renovated series, wherein an irresponsible, wisecracking teenaged cut-up was now "head" of the household. When her contract ran out in 1977, Esther joined John Amos in bolting Good Times. After a year of pursuing other projects -- one of which, the made-for-TV film Summer of My German Soldier, won Rolle an Emmy -- she was back on Good Times, having been assured that she would be given full script approval and that the J.J. character had matured. But by this time, audiences had wearied of Good Times, and the series was cancelled in 1979. Since that time, Rolle has hardly wanted for work: her most recent credits include the strong role of Idella in the 1989 Oscar-winner Driving Miss Daisy, the starring part of the black owner of a Jewish deli in the 1990 sitcom Singer and Son, and a guest appearance as the dying Mammy in the 1994 Gone with the Wind sequel Scarlet. In addition, Esther Rolle has been nominated honorary chairperson of the President's Committee on the Employment of the Handicapped, and has been honored with several Image Awards from the NAACP.

Trivia: British actor Hedley Mattingly primarily played character roles on television and only occasionally appeared in feature films of the 1960s. The London-born Mattingly launched his career as a Shakespearean actor. Following service in the Royal Air Force during WWII, he worked as the Front of House manager at the Theatre Royal, Windsor. Mattingly and his wife, costume designer Barbara Mattingly, emigrated to Canada in the early '50s. He became an actor for CBC Television and appeared in several dramas. The couple became Hollywood residents in the 1960s. Mattingly made his feature film debut in 1963, playing a chauffeur in Norman Jewison'sThe Thrill of It All. His subsequent film credits include King Rat (1965), Lost Horizon (1973), and All of Me (1984).

Trivia: American actor George Reynolds played supporting roles on television and in feature films during the '70s.

Trivia: Not to be confused with jazz musician Teddy Wilson, African-American actor Theodore Wilson was busy in all aspects of acting. While he toted up significant stage and movie credits (The River Niger and Carny were among the stage performances, while his movies included A Fine Mess [1986] for Blake Edwards and Life Stinks [1991] for Mel Brooks), Wilson rose to prominence as a result of his television efforts. His earliest recurring TV role was as High Strung on Roll Out! (1973), a World War II sitcom about an all-black Army supply outfit. The following year, Wilson played mail carrier Earl Chambers on another black-oriented comedy weekly, That's My Mama, which lasted two seasons. Wilson then headed the cast of Sanford Arms (1977), NBC's feeble attempt to keep Sanford and Son going without its stars, Redd Foxx and Demond Wilson; the actor played Phil Wheeler, who tried to convert the Sanford junkyard into an office and the adjacent property into a hotel. Having failed to replace Redd Foxx, Wilson subsequently found himself working for the ex-Fred Sanford; he succeeded Nathaniel Taylor in the role of Jim-Jam on the short-lived The Redd Foxx Show (1986). Theodore Wilson's final regular sitcom stint was on the syndicated You Can't Take It With You (1987), a comedy series based on the play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart; Wilson essayed the role of Mr. Pinner, an amalgam of two of the original play's characters, Mr. DePinna and Donald the handyman.

Trivia: Worked as an insurance salesman before turning to jobs in television and radio. Was a news announcer at WCIU in Chicago in the 1960s when he started hosting dance parties around the city and had the idea to create Soul Train. Hosted Soul Train from 1971 to 1993, when a series of guest hosts took over. Created the Soul Train Music Awards in 1987.

Trivia: An influential figure in urban/contemporary radio of the late '70s and early '80s, Frankie Crocker's career as program director and on-air personality stretched across almost three decades and cross-country from Los Angeles to New York. Named "Program Director of the Year," and "Air Personality of the Year" by Billboard magazine, Crocker's Harlem-based WBLS-FM general-market afternoon radio show was No. 1 with New York City audiences 12-and-over for years. Crocker was also simultaneously No. 1 as a DJ and program director in the Arbitron Radio Ratings, and was recently named a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame honoree. In addition to radio, Crocker was one of VH1's original VJs and hosted both NBC's Friday Night Videos and Solid Gold. On October 21, 2000, Crocker died of pancreatic cancer in Miami. He was 62.