History of the World---Part I

Mel Brooks (Actor) .. Moses/Comicus/Torquemada/Jacques/Louis XVI

Born: June 28, 1926
Birthplace: New York City (Brooklyn), New York

Trivia: Farce, satire, and parody come together with Vaudeville roots and manic energy to create the Mel Brooks style of comedy. Born Melvin Kaminsky to a Russian Jewish family in Brooklyn, NY, the writer/producer/director/actor was one of very few people to win an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony award. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, he worked as a standup comic at resorts in the Catskills and started writing comedy. Along with Woody Allen, Neil Simon, and others, he wrote for Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows, which later became Caesar's Hour. Teaming up with fellow staff writer Carl Reiner, he developed the award-winning "2000 Year Old Man" comedy skit, which led to several recordings, television appearances, and a 1998 Grammy. He and writer Buck Henry also created the spy-parody TV series Get Smart (1965-1970) starring Don Adams. During this time, he produced theater, married actress Anne Bancroft, and made his first film: an Oscar-winning animated short parody of modern art called The Critic. He then put together a screenplay based upon his experiences working with Broadway executives that led to his feature-length debut The Producers. He cast stage legend Zero Mostel in the lead role and got B-movie producer Joseph Levine to put up the funds, but the movie didn't get distributed until Peter Sellers saw it and encouraged its release. Brooks ended up winning an Oscar for Best Screenplay and, in 2000, adapted the film into a highly successful Broadway musical. By 1970, after the release of his next film The Twelve Chairs, Hollywood thought his work was "too Jewish." In 1974, Brooks made the marketable move toward parodies with the Western spoof Blazing Saddles, winning him a Writer's Guild award and introducing his stock actors Harvey Korman and Madeline Kahn. Finding his niche, he would continue to make parodies throughout his career by spoofing horror (Young Frankenstein), silent movies (Silent Movie), Hitchcock (High Anxiety), historical epics (History of the World -- Part I), and science fiction (Spaceballs). Working simultaneously as writer, director, and lead actor, Brooks started to generate negative press about his excessive style. In 1983, appearing opposite Bancroft, he concentrated on just acting for the remake of the Ernst Lubitch classic To Be or Not to Be. He continued working with his production company Brooksfilms during the '80s as an executive producer on projects as varied as The Fly, The Elephant Man, Solarbabies, and 84 Charing Cross Road (starring Bancroft). His brief stray into non-parody films in 1991 (Life Stinks) was universally dismissed, so he returned to form with Robin Hood: Men in Tights and Dracula: Dead and Loving It. Other than the occasional cameo or random appearance as voice talent, Brooks spent the late '90s winning awards and playing Uncle Phil on the NBC series Mad About You. In 2001, the Broadway musical version of The Producers (starring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick) led to a successful national tour and broke a new record by winning one Grammy and 12 Tony awards. The stage version would lead to a new big screen adaptation in 2005, creating a whole new generation of fans. Over the coming years, Brooks would lend his voice to Spaceballs: The Animated Series and Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks.

Dom DeLuise (Actor) .. Emperor Caeser

Born: August 01, 1933
Died: May 04, 2009
Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York, United States

Trivia: With his trademark heavyset figure and attitude of manic glee, the genial Dom DeLuise rose to prominence as one of America's most beloved comedic character actors. Born Dominick DeLuise in Brooklyn in 1933, the future star attended the High School for the Performing Arts in Manhattan, then graduated from Tufts University in Boston. DeLuise wasted no time in making a beeline for television, and though early efforts were low-profiled, including a turn as Tinker the Toymaker on the daytime children's show Tinker's Workshop and the portrayal of a bumbling detective named Kenny Ketchum on The Shari Lewis Show, DeLuise's popularity spread, carrying him swiftly into other formats and venues. DeLuise initially graduated to primetime variety courtesy of The Garry Moore show, where he enjoyed recurring sketches as an inept magician named Dominick the Great. He then appeared on innumerable subsequent variety programs (often as a regular contributor) including The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, The Dean Martin Show, and The Flip Wilson Show. The comic made the leap into filmdom as early as the earnest Cold War thriller Fail-Safe (1964) (as an edgy flier), but drama didn't serve him well. He found a much stronger suit in comedy, initially courtesy of Mel Brooks, who cast him in films beginning with The Twelve Chairs (1970), as a shifty priest, Father Fyodor. Their collaborations extended to the 1976 Silent Movie (as studio man Dom Bell), the 1981 History of the World, Part I (as Emperor Nero), the 1986 Spaceballs (as the voice of Pizza the Hut), and the 1993 Robin Hood: Men in Tights (as the godfather-like Don Giovanni). The actor received additional screen exposure via friendships with Gene Wilder (in whose outings The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother and The World's Greatest Lover he co-starred) and Burt Reynolds, who -- in one of either's finest moments -- cast DeLuise as an around-the-bend asylum resident who tries to assist Reynolds' character with a suicide bid in the jet-black comedy The End (1978). Unfortunately, additional Reynolds collaborations didn't fare so well -- they included such schlocky vehicles as the Cannonball Run series -- but helped DeLuise maintain a familiar profile. He teamed with Mel Brooks' wife, Anne Bancroft, for a starring role in that actress' directorial debut, the comedy-drama Fatso (1980), but it earned mostly lukewarm reviews. In the meantime, DeLuise himself took the director's chair for the nutty caper comedy Hot Stuff, which gleaned a generally positive critical and public reception. As time rolled on, DeLuise unfortunately drifted into filmic material that suffered from serious lapses in quality and judgment, witness his performances as a porn lord in Bob Clark's wretched buddy farce Loose Cannons and convict Dr. Animal Cannibal Pizza in the horror send-up Silence of the Hams, both enormous box office flops. Taking critical and public reactions to these efforts as a cue, the comic accepted fewer and few assignments as the misfires happened and instead began to place a strong emphasis on his own cooking skills; the gifted chef authored two well-received cookbooks, the 1988 Eat This...It'll Make You Feel Better! and the 1997 Eat This Too!...It'll Also Make You Feel Better. DeLuise also published a series of books for children, such as the 1990 Charlie the Caterpillar and the 2007 The Pouch Potato. Dom DeLuise died in May 2009 at the age of 75. He was survived by his wife since 1965, actress Carol Arthur, and three sons, Peter, Michael, and David.

Harvey Korman (Actor) .. Count de Monet

Born: February 15, 1927
Died: May 29, 2008
Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois, United States

Trivia: Like many Chicago born-and-bred actors, Harvey Korman cut his acting teeth at that city's Goodman Theatre. He sold aluminum siding door-to-door while waiting for his Big Break, taking the occasional Broadway walk-on, TV commercial and cartoon voice-over. His earliest significant TV exposure came about during his four seasons (1963-67) as a regular on The Danny Kaye Show. He went on to join The Carol Burnett Show in 1967, remaining with the series until its 1977 demise and winning four Emmies in the process. Korman's versatility was only part of his appeal; it was also a stitch to watch him try to maintain a straight face while enduring the antics of fellow comic actor Tim Conway. One recurring sketch on the Burnett series, "The Family," later spun off into the TV series Mama's Family. While Korman had played Mama's (Vicki Lawrence) vituperative son-in-law Ed on the Burnett Show "Family" sketches, his principal contribution to Mama's Family was confined to his weekly introductory comments as "Alastair Quince"; he also directed a 1983 special based on the "Family" principals, Eunice. Most of Korman's other TV-series projects were lukewarm single-season affairs like The Harvey Korman Show (1978), Leo and Lizz in Beverly Hills (1986) and The Nutt House (1989). Korman's finest film work can be found in his antic appearances in the films of Mel Brooks, especially his portrayal of greedy land baron Hedley Lamarr in 1974's Blazing Saddles. One of his later projects was the voice of the Dictabird in the 1994 box-office hit The Flintstones -- a piquant piece of casting, inasmuch as Korman had supplied the voice of "The Great Gazoo" in the original Flintstonesanimated television series of the 1960s. Korman died of unspecified causes in May 2008.

Madeline Kahn (Actor) .. Empress Nympho

Born: September 29, 1942
Died: December 03, 1999
Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Trivia: Hofstra graduate Madeline Kahn was trained for an operatic career, but found her most gainful employment in musical comedy and revue work. While reducing audiences to tears of laughter as a member of New York's Upstairs at the Downstairs satirical troupe, Kahn made her first appearance in the short-subject Bergman lampoon The Dove (1968). She was "officially" discovered for films by director Peter Bogdanovich, who cast her as Ryan O'Neal's frowsy fiancee in What's Up Doc (1972). Kahn was nominated for Academy Awards for her portrayals of Southern doxy Trixie Delight in Bogdanovich's Paper Moon (1973) and Dietrich-like chanteuse Lilly Von Schtupp ("Oh, it's twue, it's twue, it's twue!") in Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles (1974). Kahn went on to co-star in Brooks' Young Frankenstein (1974) and High Anxiety (1975), and made a return trip to the Bogdanovich fold in the disastrous At Long Last Love (1976) Her manic comedy style could be appealing, but, to paraphrase the late film encyclopedist Leslie Haliwell, it became a quickly overplayed hand. On Broadway, Kahn co-starred with Danny Kaye in Two by Two and was starred in the musical version of Twentieth Century, a grueling experience that all but destroyed her singing voice. She won a Tony award for her non-musical performance in Wendy Wasserstein's The Sisters Rosenzweig in 1992. Kahn's TV projects include the 1983 sitcom Oh, Madeline (based on the British series Pig in the Middle), a single season as George C. Scott's virago sister-in-law in Mister President (1987) and Cosby, the most recent project of comedian Bill Cosby, a sitcom that premiered in 1996. In 1995, Madeline Kahn was superbly cast as Martha Mitchell in Oliver Stone's Nixon and as a vituperative gossip columnist on the TV series New York News.

Cloris Leachman (Actor) .. Madame de Farge

Born: April 30, 1926
Died: January 26, 2021
Birthplace: Des Moines, Iowa, United States

Trivia: Cloris Leachman seems capable of playing any kind of role, and she has consistently demonstrated her versatility in films and on TV since the 1950s. On the big screen, she can be seen in such films as Kiss Me Deadly (1955), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), The Last Picture Show (1971), for which she won an Oscar; and Young Frankenstein (1974). On TV, she played the mother on Lassie from 1957-58, and Phyllis Lindstrom on both The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-77) and her own series, Phyllis (1975-77). She was a staple on many of the dramatic shows of the '50s, and a regular on Charlie Wild, Private Detective (1950-52), and The Facts of Life. Leachman has won three Emmy Awards and continues to make TV, stage, and film appearances, including a turn as Granny in the film version of The Beverly Hillbillies (1993) and supplying her voice for the animated Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996) and The Iron Giant (1999). In 1999, she could be seen heading the supporting cast in Wes Craven's Music of the Heart.

Ron Carey (Actor) .. Swiftus

Born: December 11, 1935
Died: January 16, 2007
Birthplace: Newark, New

Trivia: The son of a singing waiter, Ron Carey attended Seton Hall University, then embarked on the catch-as-catch-can life of a standup comedian. A huge hit on his first Jack Paar Show appearance, Carey was an enormous flop on his second Paar gig -- the victim, he'd later insist, of overpreparation. After two years away from show business, Carey rebuilt his confidence with nightly appearances at the Improvisation, a New York nightspot which showcased up-and-coming comics. Traveling westward to Hollywood, Carey appeared in dozens of commercials and secured supporting roles on the 1970s TV sitcoms The Corner Bar and The Montefuscos, then played a one-shot role on the last 1975 episode of Barney Miller. Executive producer Danny Arnold decided to use Carey as a Barney Miller regular, and at the beginning of the series' second season, he settled into the role of Levitt, a street cop who aspired to become a plainclothes detective. During his Barney Miller run (which lasted until 1982), Carey became a member of Mel Brooks's movie stock company, appearing in such Brooks yuckfests as Silent Movie (1976), High Anxiety (1977), and History of the World Pt. I (1981). In 1989, Ron Carey starred in the short-lived sitcom Have Faith, playing Father Vincent Paglia -- an ironic turn of events, inasmuch as Carey had once intended to become a priest.

Gregory Hines (Actor) .. Josephus

Born: February 14, 1946
Died: August 09, 2003
Birthplace: New York, New York, United States

Trivia: Talented, amiable American actor and dancer Gregory Hines began tap dancing at age four with his brother Maurice in an act called the Hines Kids; the two later studied with tap whiz Henry LeTang, renamed themselves the Hines Brothers in 1962, and in 1964, teamed up with their father in an act called Hines, Hines, and Dad. The trio appeared on The Tonight Show and opened for big-name performers at a number of top-flight clubs. Hines left the trio in 1973, then spent five years in Venice, California, living what he called a "hippie" lifestyle and working with a jazz-rock band. In 1978 he returned to New York and, helped by his brother, auditioned for new shows, ultimately landing excellent parts in three musicals (Eubie!, Comin' Uptown, and Sophisticated Ladies); he received Tony nominations for each of the three shows. He finally received a Tony for his performance as Jelly Roll Morton in the Broadway show Jelly's Last Jam. All of this led to invitations from Hollywood, and he debuted onscreen in 1981's horror film Wolfen. He went on to make a few more films before landing a breakthrough role in Robert Evans's and Francis Ford Coppola's The Cotton Club (1984), one of the year's biggest movies; he also served as choreographer for that film. In 1988 he released an album titled Gregory Hines.

Pamela Stephenson (Actor) .. Mademoiselle Rimbaud

Born: January 01, 1950

Trivia: New Zealand-born lead actress, onscreen from 1977.

Andreas Voutsinas (Actor) .. Bearnaise

Born: January 01, 1931
Died: June 08, 2010

Shecky Greene (Actor) .. Marcus Vindictus

Born: April 08, 1926

Trivia: Veteran nightclub comedian Shecky Greene is more of a storyteller than a dispenser of one-liners, and this fact might be the secret behind his durability. Greene started out in his home turf of Chicago in 1947; within six years, he was headlining in Las Vegas and making the first of thousands of TV appearances. Not entirely comfortable playing anyone other than "himself," he has nonetheless essayed character parts in such films as Tony Rome (1968), The Love Machine (1970), History of the World Part One (1981), and Splash (1984, as Mr. Buyrite). He also played wisecracking Private Braddock on the first (1962-63) season of the TV war drama Combat. Shecky Greene has been the recipient of many honors and industry awards for his stand-up work.

Sid Caesar (Actor) .. Chief Caveman

Born: September 08, 1922
Died: February 12, 2014
Birthplace: Yonkers, New York, United States

Trivia: The son of a Yonkers restaurant owner, Sid Caesar first discovered he could get laughs by imitating the colorful dialects of his multinational classmates. But Caesar actually wanted to be a musician and to that end studied diligently at Juilliard. He paid for his education by working in various Catskills resorts as a saxophone player, dancer, and comedian. While serving in WWII, Caesar was engaged to perform in a touring musical revue staged by Coast Guard personnel called Tars and Spars. When the show was transformed into a motion picture by Columbia Pictures, Caesar went along for the ride, performing his classic war film monologue intact before the cameras. This led to a brief Columbia contract, which came to an end with Caesar's three-minute cameo appearance in The Guilt of Janet Ames (1947). While appearing in the Broadway revue Make Mine Manhattan in 1949, he was hired to co-star with Imogene Coca in a weekly TV variety series, The Admiral Broadway Revue. This in turn led to Your Show of Shows, one of the true landmarks of television's Golden Age. For five inspired seasons, Caesar and his cohorts Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, and Howard Morris kept America laughing with an unending stream of brilliant monologues, movie parodies, and various sundry other sketches. Throughout the '50s and early '60s Caesar continued to star on TV in several Show of Shows spinoffs, and in 1963 returned to Broadway in the musical comedy Little Me, playing no fewer than eight roles within the play's two-hour running time. During this period he also returned to films, first as a member of the all-star ensemble in It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963), then as star of The Busy Body (1967) and The Spirit is Willing (1968). Unfortunately, the pressures of show business, combined with an overabundance of personal problems, led to a dangerous dependency upon alcohol and prescription drugs. So far gone was Caesar during the 1960s and 1970s that, according to his 1982 autobiography Where Have I Been?, there were times that he'd wander on-stage or before the cameras with no idea where he was or what he was saying. He hit rock bottom in 1978, suffering a total nervous breakdown while appearing in a Toronto dinner theater production of The Last of the Red Hot Lovers. Slowly and painfully, Caesar overcame his addictions and a multitude of psychological difficulties and made a near-complete recovery. Modern audiences, to whom Your Show of Shows is but a dim and distant memory, remember Sid Caesar best for his supporting appearances in such films as Silent Movie (1976) (directed by Caesar's onetime gag writer Mel Brooks), Fire Sale (1978), Grease (1982), and National Lampoon's Vegas Vacation (1997). Caesar died in 2014 at age 91.

Howard Morris (Actor) .. Court Spokesman

Born: September 04, 1919
Died: May 21, 2005
Birthplace: Bronx, New York

Trivia: Diminutive (5'7") comic actor Howard Morris was in his teens when, while attending the National Youth Administration's radio workshop in New York City, he befriended another aspiring actor named Carl Reiner. The two were reunited in Honolulu during World War II, when Morris was Reiner's sergeant in an entertainment unit. Both Morris and Reiner played supporting roles in Maurice Evans' army-camp tour of Hamlet and MacBeth; after the war, the two performers toured in the musical Call Me Mister before joining the cast of Sid Caesar's TV comedy-variety series. Only after finishing nine seasons with Caesar were Morris and Reiner able to establish their own individual showbiz identities: Reiner as a novelist, film supporting actor, director and creator of The Dick Van Dyke Show, and Morris as one of the most prolific TV guest stars and directors of the 1960s. Relocating from New York to LA in 1961, Morris played the recurring role of goonish, rock-throwing Ernest T. Bass on The Andy Griffith Show, and a whole slew of one-shot assignments on series ranging from The Danny Thomas Show to The Twilight Zone. Morris forever shed the "third banana" status he'd had during his Sid Caesar days by directing episodes of such TV weeklies as Andy Griffith, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Gomer Pyle USMC, and the unforgettable black-and-white pilot for Get Smart. He also served as producer of the 1972-73 sitcom The Corner Bar. In films, Morris sparkled in such supporting parts as Jerry Lewis' browbeaten father in The Nutty Professor and German psychiatrist Dr. Lilloman in Mel Brooks' High Anxiety (1977). His theatrical-film directorial credits include the all-star comedy Who's Minding the Mint (1967), Doris Day's swan song With Six You Get Eggroll (1968), a very WASP-ish adaptation of Woody Allen's Don't Drink the Water (1969), and the Donny & Marie Osmond opus Goin' Coconuts (1978). Howard Morris is also a fixture of the animated cartoon voice-over world, supplying voices and directing recording sessions for many a Hanna-Barbera, Filmation and Walt Disney production: If you can't place the voice, think of Morris as Atom Ant, Beetle Bailey, Jughead Jones, and futuristic rock star Jet Screamer ("Eep, opp, ork, ah-ah") on The Jetsons.

Rudy DeLuca (Actor) .. Capt. Mucus

Trivia: Supporting actor Rudy DeLuca, who first appeared onscreen in the '70s, is also a director and comedy writer.

Mary-Margaret Humes (Actor) .. Miriam

Born: April 04, 1954
Birthplace: Florida, United States

Trivia: New York native Mary-Margaret Humes began her career in show business competing on the pageant circuit, winning the 1975 Miss Florida USA pageant and taking home third place in the same year's Miss USA. She soon transitioned into film, making a memorable appearance as a Vestal Virgin in Mel Brooks' History of the World, Part I, and making several guest appearances over the years on everything from The A-Team to Grey's Anatomy.

Bea Arthur (Actor) .. Clerk

Born: May 13, 1922
Died: April 25, 2009
Birthplace: New York, New York, United States

Trivia: Tall, deep-voiced American actress Beatrice Arthur, born Beatrice Frankel, was best known for her television work on the long-running series Maude and The Golden Girls, but she also occasionally appeared in films. Her most famous film is 1973's Mame in which she played Vera Charles, the role she originated on Broadway.

Charlie Callas (Actor) .. Soothsayer

Born: December 20, 1927
Died: January 27, 2011

Trivia: Rubber-faced comedian and comic actor Charlie Callas appeared onscreen from the '60s.

Dena Dietrich (Actor) .. Competence

Born: December 04, 1928

Paul Mazursky (Actor) .. Roman Officer

Born: April 25, 1930
Died: June 30, 2014
Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York, United States

Trivia: Although actor/director Paul Mazursky enjoyed a lengthy and successful career spanning several decades, he rose to his greatest prominence during the 1970s, an era during which his films probed with uncommon insight and depth. Born Irwin Mazursky on April 25, 1930, in Brooklyn, NY, he studied literature at the nearby Brooklyn College. There he began acting, winning acclaim for a leading role in a 1950 campus revival of Leonid Andreyev's He Who Gets Slapped. His performance caught the eye of scenarist Howard Sackler, who introduced the young actor to an aspiring filmmaker named Stanley Kubrick. Mazursky then took a leave of absence from his studies to travel to California to appear in Kubrick's little-seen debut feature, Fear and Desire, for which he changed his first name to Paul. Upon graduating in 1951, he migrated to Greenwich Village, where he studied method acting under Lee Strasberg. He also appeared in a number of stock productions, ranging from Death of a Salesman to The Seagull. In 1955, Mazursky returned to the screen, appearing as a juvenile delinquent in Richard Brooks' The Blackboard Jungle. Major success continued to elude him, however, and he spent the next several years regularly appearing in small roles on television and both on and off-Broadway. He also appeared as a standup comic, first performing with fellow comedian Herb Hartig in an act billed as "Igor and H" and later touring the nation as a solo act. In 1959, Mazursky relocated to Los Angeles, forging a collaboration with fellow struggling performer Larry Tucker while working with the U.C.L.A. repertory company. In 1963, he and Tucker were both signed as writers for television's Danny Kaye Show, and two years later they penned the pilot for The Monkees. In 1966, Mazursky also appeared in Vic Morrow's low-budget Deathwatch, making his first return to film in over a decade. With the short subject Last Year at Malibu -- a parody of the Alain Resnais masterpiece Last Year at Marienbad -- Mazursky made his directorial debut, and in 1968 he and Tucker wrote the screenplay for the feature I Love You, Alice B. Toklas. Strong reviews allowed Mazursky the leverage to direct the duo's next script, 1969's Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice; a frank comedy about the "new morality" of the sexual revolution, the film was a massive hit, earning close to 20 million dollars. Its success offered Mazursky the freedom to make movies according to the wishes and demands of no one but himself, and he responded with 1970's Alex in Wonderland, the clearly autobiographical tale of a young filmmaker pondering his future. The picture was an unmitigated critical and financial disaster, however, and injured by its reception, he traveled to Europe to take stock of his career. Upon returning to Los Angeles, Mazursky ended his partnership with Larry Tucker and began work on his first solo screenplay, Harry and Tonto. Finding no takers for the project, he instead turned to 1973's Blume in Love, a return to reviewers' good graces. After securing the backing of 20th Century Fox, he finally made Harry and Tonto in 1974, directing star Art Carney to an Academy Award. Next, he again turned reflective, going back to his youth for the inspiration behind 1976's Next Stop, Greenwich Village, followed by an appearance in the 1976 Barbra Steisand remake of A Star Is Born. Mazursky's next directorial effort, 1978's An Unmarried Woman, remains the most highly regarded of his pictures, scoring an Oscar nomination for Best Picture as well as a Best Actress nod for star Jill Clayburgh. The 1980 Willie and Phil -- an homage to Francois Truffaut's masterpiece Jules et Jim -- met with a mixed reception, as did its follow-up, 1982's Tempest, an update of the Shakespeare drama. He then helmed the 1984 culture-clash comedy Moscow on the Hudson, a vehicle for Robin Williams which restored some of his critical and box-office lustre, and in 1986 Mazursky scored his biggest success in years with the satire Down and Out in Beverly Hills, a remake of the 1932 Jean Renoir classic Boudu Saved From Drowning. After serving as the art director on 1987's Intervista, a film from one of his idols, Federico Fellini, Mazursky helmed 1988's Moon Over Parador, followed by a pair of onscreen performances in Punchline and Scenes From the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills. With 1989's adaptation of Isaac Bashevis Singer's Enemies, a Love Story, Mazursky achieved new levels of acclaim, scoring Best Director honors from the New York Critics' Circle and leading stars Anjelica Huston and Lena Olin to Academy Award nominations. However, his next picture, the strained 1990 comedy Scenes From a Mall -- a satiric update of Ingmar Bergman's far superior Scenes From a Marriage -- was a disaster. Mazursky then spent several years away from filmmaking, only producing 1990's Taking Care of Business as well as appearing in Bob Rafelson's 1992 flop Man Trouble. When The Pickle, his 1993 comeback effort, fared poorly, Mazursky again retreated, appearing in films ranging from the 1993 Brian DePalma crime drama Carlito's Way to the 1995 romantic comedy Miami Rhapsody. Faithful, his 1996 return to directing, was also a disappointment, the victim of legal hassles and distribution problems. In Mazursky's later career, he mostly focused on acting and writing- he had recurring roles in Once and Again and Curb Your Enthusiasm and regularly wrote as a film critic for Vanity Fair. In 2014, he received a lifetime achievement award from the Writers Guild of America. He passed away later that year, at age 84.

Ron Clark (Actor) .. Stoned Soldier

Jack Riley (Actor) .. Stoned Soldier

Born: December 30, 1935
Died: August 19, 2016
Birthplace: Cleveland, Ohio

Trivia: While serving his two-year hitch in the Army, Jack Riley performed in "Rolling Along of 1960," a military travelling show. After his discharge, Riley attended John Carroll University, then resumed his show-business activities as an actor, comedian, and "special material" writer for such stars as Mort Sahl, Rowan and Martin and Don Rickles. He made his film debut in 1962's The Days of Wine and Roses, and later essayed eccentric roles in such laugh-spinners as Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (1979). Active in television since 1966, Riley was a comedy-ensemble player in Keep on Truckin' (1975) and The Tim Conway Show (1980 edition), and occasionally popped up on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, impersonating Lyndon Johnson. His most celebrated TV role was the supremely paranoid Elliot Carlin in The Bob Newhart Show (1972-78), a role he later reprised (under various character names) in such series as Alf and St. Elsewhere. He was also cast as TV station manager Leon Buchanan in the two-episode sitcom Roxie (1987), and was heard as the voice of Stu Pickles on the animated series Rugrats (1991- ). Extremely active in the LA theatrical scene, Jack Riley starred in such stage productions as 12 Angry Men and Small Craft Warnings. RIley died in 2016, at age 80.

Art Metrano (Actor) .. Leonardo Da Vinci

Born: September 22, 1936
Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York

Trivia: Moonfaced, curly-headed comic actor Art Metrano went to junior college in Stockton, California on a football scholarship; he later transferred to the College of the Pacific, majoring in acting. Returning to New York, Metrano tried to find work -- only to head back to the West Coast on the advice of an astrologer. Supporting himself as an automatic telephone system salesman, Metrano began attaining small TV parts, which led to his being cast in They Shoot Horses, Don't They? At a Christmas party, Metrano began cutting up with an improv bit in which he pretended to be a sleight-of-hand artist; the routine consisted of his humming the song "Fine and Dandy" as he'd proceed to pull invisible handkerchiefs out of his pocket and extricate himself from non-existent handcuffs. This "do-nothing magician" act led to several guest spots on The Tonight Show, Laugh-In and The Dean Martin Show, and a regular stint on 1970's The Tim Conway Hour (the theme song of which was, inevitably, "Fine and Dandy"). By 1971, Metrano was costarring in a '30s-era sitcom The Chicago Teddy Bears, playing a soft-hearted gangster. The series was axed after 13 weeks, consigning Metrano to the guest-star circuit. Art Metrano subsequently showed up in such films as Seven (1979), Breathless (1983) and Malibu Express (1984); he also had regular roles on TV's Movin' On (1974), Amy Prentiss (1974), Joanie Loves Chachi (1982), Loves Me Loves Me Not (1977) and Tough Cookies (1986).

Diane Day (Actor) .. Caladonia

Henny Youngman (Actor) .. Chemist

Born: January 12, 1906
Died: February 23, 1998

Trivia: Although the patented machine-gun patter of comedian Henny Youngman bears unmistakable traces of the Lower East Side, Youngman was actually born in the Jewish ghetto of Liverpool, England. While he was still a toddler, Youngman and his family moved to Brooklyn, where he grew up. Encouraged by his family to study the violin, Youngman entered showbiz as an orchestra musician, eventually leading his own band, a jazz aggregation called the Swanee Syncopators. Always quick with a quip, he eventually decided to try his luck as a comedian, beginning the long upward climb on the Borscht Belt circuit. By the mid-'30s, with several years' worth of vaudeville and nightclub experience under his belt, Youngman was a featured comedian on Kate Smith's radio program. Then as now, Youngman's act consisted of standing stock-still before the audience, violin tucked under his arm, rapidly spewing forth such wheezy but sure-fire one-line gags as "Take my wife, please." Somewhere along the line, Youngman would begin scratching out "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" on his violin, pausing periodically to knock 'em dead with still more one-liners. An infrequent visitor to films, he co-wrote and co-starred in a few obscure B-pictures of the 1940s, then later showed up in such comic cameos as the "fly-in-soup man" in Mel Brooks' Silent Movie (1976). A peripatetic TV guest star, Youngman settled down long enough to co-star with Rocky Graziano in the erratically scheduled 1955 variety series The Henny and Rocky Show, and was a regular on the Joey and Ray Heatherton summer-replacement weekly Joey and Dad (1975). An indefatigable joke machine, Henny Youngman is the author of ten books, the first of which was titled -- you guessed it -- Take My Wife, Please.

Hunter Von Leer (Actor) .. Lt. Bob

Born: April 03, 1944

Fritz Feld (Actor) .. Maitre d'

Born: October 15, 1900
Died: November 18, 1993

Trivia: Diminutive, raspy-voiced German actor Fritz Feld first gained prominence as an assistant to Austrian impresario Max Reinhardt. Feld came to the U.S. in 1923 in the touring company of Reinhardt's The Miracle. Once he reached California, Feld formed the Hollywood Playhouse in partnership with Joseph Schildkraut; here he staged hundreds of productions featuring up-and-coming L.A. talent, including his future wife, actress Virginia Christine. In films on a sporadic basis since the 1920s, Feld began working onscreen regularly around 1936, eventually toting up over 400 movie appearances (not to mention his more than 700 TV stints and 1000-plus radio programs). He was cast as Viennese psychiatrists, Italian duellists, Teutonic movie directors, Russian orchestra leaders, and French maitre d's. It was in 1947's If You Knew Susie that Feld developed his signature "schtick": the sharp "Pop!" sound effect created by smacking his open mouth with the flattened palm of his hand. In the 1960s and 1970s, Feld was a favorite of moviemakers who'd grown up watching his vintage screen appearances; he was virtually a regular at the Disney studios, appeared in many of Jerry Lewis' projects, was given fourth billing in Gene Wilder's The World's Greatest Lover (1977), and was seen in Mel Brooks' Silent Movie (1976) (where his trademarked "Pop!" was conveyed via subtitle) and The History of the World, Part One (1981) (as the head waiter at the Last Supper). Among Fritz Feld's least characteristic screen appearances were his performance as a hearty Northwoods trapper in the 1976 "four-waller" Challenge to Be Free and his poignant cameo as the alcoholic who offers down-and-out Faye Dunaway a match in Barfly (1987).

Hugh Hefner (Actor) .. Entrepreneur

Born: April 09, 1926
Died: September 27, 2017
Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois, United States

Trivia: A name that carries its own connotations, Hugh Marston Hefner not only founded the billion-dollar Playboy Enterprises, but did much to spearhead the "sexual revolution" -- first by publishing Playboy magazine in 1953, then by expanding his girlie magazine into supper clubs, cable networks, book publishing, apparel, adult-entertainment home videos, and scores of other arenas. Playboy Magazine itself began with a well-known business coup: Hefner purchased nude photographs of an extremely young Marilyn Monroe and published them in his magazine, in December 1953, making the first issue an instant, must-have American phenomenon. This provided the necessary boost to get the publication underway. Whereas other purveyors of entertainment for men, such as Larry Flynt and Al Goldstein, would later hone in on the gritty underbelly of the market, Hefner aggressively (and successfully) attempted to make eroticism and nudity more palatable to average middle-class citizens, gradually bringing increasingly explicit printed material into mainstream America's living rooms and thus reshaping the country's moral and sociocultural landscape. To Hefner's credit, he never failed to underestimate the intelligence of his readers, filling each issue with the finest literary work, criticism, interviews, and nonfiction journalism, alongside his erotic centerfold photographs -- thus giving the magazine some class. Film historians might be intrigued to know that Hefner's cinematic activities are not by any means limited to softcore adult entertainment. He has occasionally produced critically lauded mainstream pictures, such as Roman Polanski's X-rated (for violence, not sex) Macbeth (1971), Arthur Hiller's cult classic The Crazy World of Julius Vrooder (1974), and (as part of a legal settlement) Peter Bogdanovich's extraordinary character study Saint Jack (1979).Hefner was portrayed by Cliff Robertson in Bob Fosse's Star 80, Jack Fitz in American Gangster, and Randall Batinkoff in the telemovie Hefner: Unauthorized. In the 21st century he was the star of the reality series The Girls Next Door, which focused on his relationship with three former playmates, and in 2008 he played himself in the Anna Faris comedy The House Bunny.

Pat Mccormick (Actor) .. Plumbing Salesman

Born: July 17, 1934
Died: July 29, 2005

Trivia: Surprisingly little known to the public at large, bear-like, walrus-mustached Pat McCormick is a very busy stand-up comedian and comedy writer. McCormick's sly wit and taste for the humorously grotesque has won him many fans in the showbiz community, including Johnny Carson, Don Rickles, Don Adams, Jonathan Winters, Mel Brooks and Burt Reynolds. He was among the head writers of Carson's Tonight Show, and in 1968 both wrote for and served as announcer/straight man on Don Rickles' short-lived variety series. In films, McCormick is usually seen in showy featured roles, notably President Grover Cleveland in Robert Altman's Buffalo Bill and the Indians (1976) and Big Enos in the first two Smokey and the Bandits flicks. He also contributed to the scripts of the theatrical features Oh Dad Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feeling So Sad (1966) and Under the Rainbow (1986). In 1983, Pat McCormick was appropriately cast as "Mound" on the TV sitcom Gun Shy.

Sid Gould (Actor) .. Barber

Born: July 18, 1912

Jim Steck (Actor) .. Gladiator

John Myhers (Actor) .. Senate Leader

Born: December 18, 1924
Died: May 27, 1992

Trivia: Beefy, silver-haired John Myhers was a busy Broadway actor/director/playwright. In both his stage and TV work, Myhers was usually cast as executive types, both conservative and skirt-chasing. His New York theatrical credits include such farces as The Golden Fleecing and The Good Soup; he also co-starred in the touring companies of the musicals Kiss Me Kate and The Sound of Music. In films from 1958, John Myhers' favorite screen assignment was the role of corporate veep Mr. Bratt in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967), who holds his salacious subordinates at bay with the song "A Secretary is Not a Toy."

Lee Delano (Actor) .. Wagon Driver

Born: January 19, 1931

Johnny Silver (Actor) .. Small Liar

Born: April 16, 1918
Died: February 01, 2003

Trivia: Versatile American entertainer Johnny Silver has played character roles on stage, screen, television, and radio. He also performed in nightclubs, vaudeville, and even grand opera. His daughter, Stephanie Silver, became an actress. His other daughter, Jennifer, became a singer/songwriter.

Charles Thomas Murphy (Actor) .. Auctioneer

Born: May 03, 1941

Rod Haase (Actor) .. Officer

Eileen Saki (Actor) .. Slave

John Hurt (Actor) .. Jesus

Born: January 22, 1940
Died: January 27, 2017
Birthplace: Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England

Trivia: Considered one of Great Britain's most consistently brilliant players, John Hurt was at his best when playing victims forced to suffer mental, physical, or spiritual anguish. A small man with a slightly sinister countenance and a tenor voice that never completed the transition between early adolescence and manhood, Hurt was generally cast in supporting or leading roles as eccentric characters in offbeat films. The son of a clergyman, Hurt was training to be a painter at St. Martin's School of the Arts when he became enamored with acting and enrolled in London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art instead. He made his theatrical and film debuts in 1962 (The Wild and the Willing). Though he frequently appeared on-stage, Hurt, unlike his many colleagues, was primarily a film and television actor. He gave one of his strongest early performances playing Richard Rich in Fred Zinnemann's A Man for All Seasons (1966). His subsequent work remained high quality through the '70s. On television, Hurt made his name in the telemovie The Naked Civil Servant and furthered his growing reputation as the twisted Caligula on the internationally acclaimed BBC miniseries I, Claudius (1976). He received his first Oscar nomination for playing a supporting role in the harrowing Midnight Express and a second nomination for his sensitive portrayal of the horribly deformed John Merrick -- but for his voice, Hurt was unrecognizable beneath pounds of latex and makeup. In 1984, Hurt was the definitive Winston Smith in Michael Radford's version of Orwell's 1984. Other memorable roles include a man who finds himself hosting a terrifying critter in Alien (1979), his parody of that role in Mel Brooks' Spaceballs (1987), an Irish idiot in The Field (1990), and in Rob Roy (1995).In 1997, Hurt played the lead role of Giles De'ath (pronounced day-ath) for the comedy drama Love and Death on Long Island. The film, which follows a widower (Hurt) who forms an unlikely obsession with a teen heartthrob who lives in Long Island and occasionally stars in low-brow films. Love and Death was praised for its unlikely, yet poignant portrait of unrequited love. The same year, Hurt took on the role of a multi-millionaire willing to fund a scientist's (Jodie Foster) efforts to communicate with alien life in Contact. Hurt took a voice role in the animated series Journey to Watership Down and its sequel, Escape to Watership Down in 1999, and again for The Tigger Story in 2000. In 2001, Hurt joined the cast of Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone to play the small but vital role of wand merchant Mr. Ollivander, and narrated Lars von Trier's experimental drama Dogville. Later, Hurt played an American professor in Hellboy (2004), and won praise for his portrayal of a bounty hunter in The Proposition, a gritty Western from director John Hillcoat. Hurt continued to work in small but meaty supporting roles throughout the next several years, most notably in the drama Beyond the Gates (2005), for which he played a missionary who arrived in Rwanda just before genocide erupted, and as the tyrannical Chancellor Sutler in director James McTiegue's adaptation of Alan Moore's graphic novel V for Vendetta (2006). In 2010, Hurt reprised his role of Mr. Ollivander for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1, and for its sequel in 2011. The actor co-starred with Charlotte Rampling in Melancholia (2011), Lars von Trier's meditation on depression, and played the Head of the British Secret Intelligence Service in the multi-Academy Award nominated spy thriller Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy the same year. In 2013, Hurt appeared in the futuristic sci-fi movie Snowpiercer and later played the War Doctor in the 50th anniversary special of Doctor Who. The following year, Hurt played the King of Thrace in Hercules. Hurt died in 2017, just days after his 77th birthday.

Jackie Mason (Actor) .. Jew No. 1

Born: June 09, 1934

Ronny Graham (Actor) .. Jew No. 2

Born: August 26, 1919
Died: July 04, 1999

Trivia: Not to be confused with the Ronald Graham, who appeared in the 1939 Broadway production The Boys From Syracuse, actor/screenwriter Ronny Graham made his own New York theatrical debut in 1951. The white-maned, wide-grinning Graham gained prominence in the 1952 revue New Faces, for which he also contributed comedy material; when that production was committed to film in 1953, he was promoted from a mere ensemble player to star, carrying the grafted-on backstage plot line. A busy cabaret performer since 1950, Graham appeared in several one-man shows, and wrote, produced, directed, and/or co-starred in such popular attractions as the annual Upstairs at the Downstairs revue. He also wrote the lyrics and libretto for the Broadway "book" musical Bravo Giovanni. He was seen in dozens of TV commercials, most famously as Mr. Grime in a group of auto-service ads in the early '70s. He was a regular on the video variety series The New Bill Cosby Show (1972) and The Hudson Bros. Show (1974), as well as the sitcoms The Bob Crane Show (1975, as Ernest Busso) and Chico and the Man (1975-1978, as Rev. Bemis). He also wrote several episodes of M*A*S*H during the late '70s. Although he had a starring role in Peter Weir's Gallipoli in 1981, most of Graham's latter film appearances were in association with Mel Brooks, who'd been one of the staff writers for New Faces; among the Brooks endeavors in which Graham was featured (and sometimes made screenplay contributions) were History of the World -- Part One (1981), To Be or Not to Be (1982), Spaceballs (1989), Life Stinks (1991), and Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993). Graham died in 1999 at the age of 79.

Phil Leeds (Actor) .. Chief Monk

Born: April 16, 1916
Died: August 16, 1998

Trivia: Diminutive American actor Phil Leeds has been trafficking in comedy character roles for well over 50 years. When not showing up on Broadway or on tour, Leeds has been a regular visitor to television. He was seen on a weekly basis as an ensemble player on the DuMont Network's 1950 variety series Front Row Center; as Moscow apartment dweller Vladimir in Ivan the Terrible (1976); as delicatessen habitue Lou Gold in Singer and Sons (1990); and as "The Kid," a 75-year-old con man, in Double Rush (1995). A relative latecomer to films, Phil Leeds has made up for lost time with a steady stream of select character roles; notably his poignantly amusing cameo as the long-dead husband in the hospital emergency room in Ghost (1990), eagerly anticipating a reunion with his about-to-die widow.

Jack Carter (Actor) .. Rat Vendor

Born: June 24, 1923
Died: June 28, 2015

Trivia: Funnyman Jack Carter (as he is invariably billed) was a successful nightclub comedian when he decided to dive headlong into the infant medium known as television. In January of 1949, Carter was hired to host ABC's minstrel-show effort Pick and Pat. By the spring of that year, Carter presided over the ABC variety program Jack Carter and Company. Later that same year, he was the first emcee of the DuMont Network's Cavalcade of Stars, remaining with the series until being replaced by Jackie Gleason in 1950. His last "regular" TV assignment was as host of 1956's Stage Show, though he kept busy as a sitcom guest star into the 1980s, frequently playing abrasive con artists (e.g. "Friendly Freddie" on Gomer Pyle USMC). In 1971, Carter made his directorial debut with an episode of Lucille Ball's Here's Lucy. Jack Carter's movie roles have ranged from comedy relief to raffish villain in such pictures as The Extraordinary Seaman (1969), The Amazing Dobermans (1976) and The Funny Farm (1982). Carter continued to work steadily into his 90s, with guest appearances on shows like Desperate Housewives, Parks & Recreation, New Girl and Shameless. Carter died 4 days after his 93rd birthday, in 2015.

Jan Murray (Actor) .. Nothing Vendor

Born: October 04, 1916
Died: July 02, 2006

Trivia: When Jan Murray was in high school, his mother became ill and was confined to bed for many months. To keep his mom's spirits up, Murray would go to the local vaudeville house, memorize all the acts, then replay the entire bill for her benefit. Discovering that he enjoyed performing, he polished his craft on the Catskills circuit and as star attraction of several wartime USO troupes. After the war, Murray headlined the vaudeville programs at such choice houses as Loews State and the Paramount Theater, and labored away as a monologist at the Copacabana and other popular nightspots. An early arrival on the TV scene, Murray hosted several TV variety and quiz programs, most memorably the late-1950s favorite Treasure Hunt. He was also a frequent sitcom guest star, never more hilariously than in the 1962 Car 54 Where Are You installment "Boom, Boom, Boom!" Since 1965, Jan Murray has shown up sporadically in films; his best screen role was as the slovenly riverboat skipper in 1967's Tarzan and the Great River. His later years frequently punctuated by memorable appearances in such popular 80's-era television programs as Hunter, Hardcastle and McCormick, and It's a Living, Murray took a furlough from the screen for the majority of the 1990s before succumbing to the devestating combined effects of emphasema, heart problems, and pneumonia in early July of 2006.

Spike Milligan (Actor) .. M. Rimbaud

Born: April 16, 1918
Died: February 27, 2002
Birthplace: Ahmednagar, Bombay Presidency, British India

Trivia: Born Terence Milligan. A British "army brat," he grew up in India, Burma, and Ceylon (Sri Lanka), then moved to England in his mid teens. In 1936 he began his performing career as a singer and trumpeter. He became well known in the '50s on the English radio show Crazy People, which developed into the legendary Goon Show. He wrote much of his own comedy material for the show, and did the same on a number of TV series. He debuted onscreen in 1951, but -- although busy as a screen actor -- never achieved as much success in films as on radio and TV. He co-wrote the play The Bed-Sitting Room and authored several comic novels as well as books of nonsense and verse.

John Hillerman (Actor) .. Rich Man

Born: December 20, 1932
Birthplace: Denison, Texas

Trivia: Natty, mellifluous character actor John Hillerman may have spoken on screen with a pure Mayfair accent, but he hailed from Denison, Texas. Hillerman first gained notice for his fleeting appearances in the films of Peter Bogdanovich: The Last Picture Show (1971), What's Up Doc (1973), At Long Last Love (1975). He was also a semi-regular for director Mel Brooks, prominently cast in Blazing Saddles (1975) and History of the World, Part I (1981). A veteran of dozens of television series, John Hillerman was cast as the insufferable criminologist Simon Brimmer on Ellery Queen (1975), the star's director (and ex-husband) in The Betty White Show (1975), and most memorably as the ultra-correct Jonathan Quayle Higgins II, major domo to never-seen mystery writer Robin Masters, on Magnum PI (1980-88).

Sydney Lassick (Actor) .. Applecore Vendor

Born: July 23, 1922

Jonathan Cecil (Actor) .. Poppinjay

Born: February 22, 1939
Died: September 22, 2011

Andrew Sachs (Actor) .. Gerard

Born: April 07, 1930
Died: November 23, 2016
Birthplace: Berlin, Germany

Trivia: Fans of John Cleese's hilarious BBC TV sitcom Fawlty Towers (1975 and 1979) will best remember supporting actor Andrew Sachs for playing Manuel the waiter, but Sachs' career began well before that. A rather tiny fellow, Sachs was born in Germany and came to Britain, breaking into films in the late '50s. After finding fame with Fawlty Towers in the '70s, Sachs remained a strong presence in British television series for the next couple of decades, in shows like Every Silver Lining and Coronation Street, as well as doing extensive voice-over and narration work. Sachs died in 2016, at age 86.

Fiona Richmond (Actor) .. Queen

Born: March 02, 1945

Nigel Hawthorne (Actor) .. Official

Born: May 04, 1929
Died: December 26, 2001
Birthplace: Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom

Trivia: A staple of the British stage for nearly a quarter of a century before he gained his first significant measure of international notice, Nigel Hawthorne has had one of the acting profession's more slow-burning careers. However, it has been an undeniably distinguished career marked with any number of critical peaks, perhaps most notably his brilliant, Oscar-nominated title performance in Nicholas Hytner's 1994 adaptation of Alan Bennett's The Madness of King George. Born in Coventry on April 5, 1929, Hawthorne grew up in Cape Town, South Africa, where he moved with his family at the age of four. After attending the University of Cape Town, where he started acting, he returned to England in 1951. Determined to pursue an acting career, Hawthorne slogged away for years in relative obscurity, oftentimes hovering precipitously close to complete bankruptcy. His early career proved to be so disappointing that the actor returned to Cape Town for a time, but he ultimately returned to England to try his luck all over again. His second attempt was thankfully more successful than his first, and although it would be years before he would be duly appreciated, he did enjoy some measure of success in London's West End. Hawthorne's first helping of international acclaim came with his portrayal of Sir Humphrey Appleby on the popular British television series Yes, Minister during the '80s. His work on the political satire earned him a number of BAFTA awards and such fame in his native country that he was on occasion mistaken for being an actual politician, even, reportedly, by Queen Elizabeth herself. The actor went on to establish himself as one of Britain's great performers, winning a 1991 Tony Award for his performance in the Broadway production of Shadowlands and a 1992 Olivier Award (as well as an Evening Standard Award and a host of other honors) for his title role in the Royal National Theatre's production of The Madness of George the Third. His work in the latter play was adapted to the screen in 1994 with Nicholas Hytner's widely acclaimed The Madness of King George. Again, Hawthorne enjoyed great critical praise for his portrayal of the mentally unbalanced king, earning an Oscar nomination and a BAFTA award for his rich, manic, and ultimately dignified performance.Hawthorne, who had been appearing onscreen since 1972's Young Winston, subsequently did starring and supporting work in a number of high profile films, including Richard Loncraine's Richard III (1996), Steven Spielberg's Amistad (1997), The Object of My Affection (1998), and David Mamet's acclaimed adaptation of Terence Rattigan's The Winslow Boy (1999), which cast Hawthorne as the father of the title character. The actor, who offscreen has enjoyed a long relationship with writer Trevor Bentham, earned additional recognition for his contributions to film, television, and the theatre when he was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1987. In 1999, he was further recognized in the Queen's 1999 New Year's Honours List when he received a much-deserved knighthood.

John Gavin (Actor) .. Marche

Born: April 08, 1931
Died: February 09, 2018
Birthplace: Los Angeles, California, United States

Trivia: Born Jack Golenor, this brawny, handsome leading man of Hollywood films appeared onscreen from 1956; he was once hyped as the next Rock Hudson. From 1952-56 he was an air intelligence officer with the Navy, specializing in Pan American Affairs. When a friend offered him a screen test, he was signed by Universal and played leads for a decade-plus, after which his film work decreased; he also served for a time as president of the Screen Actors Guild. After starring on the TV series Destry and Convoy, he debuted on Broadway in Seesaw in 1973. In 1981 Gavin was appointed by President Reagan as U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, a position he held for five years. Besides his Navy service, he had other qualifications for the post: having been born to a Spanish mother, he spoke impeccable Spanish; he had studied Latin American issues in college; and during his years of screen stardom he served as special advisor to Jose Mora and Galo Plaza, secretaries general of the Organization of American States.

Rusty Goff (Actor) .. LeMuff

J.J. Barry (Actor) .. Prehistoric Man

Born: April 25, 1932

Sammy Shore (Actor) .. Prehistoric Man

Michael Champion (Actor) .. Prehistoric Man

Trivia: Lead actor Champion began appearing on screen in the '80s.

Earl Finn (Actor) .. Prehistoric Man, Disciple - The Roman Empire

Leigh French (Actor) .. Prehistoric Woman

Born: July 14, 1945

Trivia: The peak popularity of American actress Leigh French came and went with the Psychedelic '60s. French rose to prominence in the "Share a Little Tea with Goldie" segment on the 1967-68 season of TV's The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. As Goldie, a laid-back hippie type, French delivered a weekly monologue laced with references to sex and drugs and drugs and drugs. While this routine got loud and knowing laughter in the '60s, it's a bit on the politically incorrect side nowadays, thus many of French's sequences were carefully pruned when the E! cable channel reran Smothers Brothers in 1993. Nonetheless, French, looking none the worse for the passing years, gracefully appeared on E! to recall her participation on the series. As for her post-Smothers Brothers performing career, Leigh French could be seen in funny-funky roles in such films as WUSA (1970), Norwood (1970), The Drowning Pool (1975) and Hollywood Knights (1980); she was also a TV regular on the 1975 edition of The Dick Cavett Show.

Richard Karron (Actor) .. Prehistoric Man

Born: April 11, 1934

Susette Carroll (Actor) .. Prehistoric Man

Suzanne Kent (Actor) .. Prehistoric Man

Molly Basler (Actor) .. Game Show Girl - The Roman Empire

Christine Dickinson (Actor) .. Game Show Girl - The Roman Empire

Deborah Dawes (Actor) .. Game Show Girl - The Roman Empire

Lisa Sohm (Actor) .. Vestal Virgin - The Roman Empire

Michele Drake (Actor) .. Vestal Virgin - The Roman Empire

Jeana Tomasina (Actor) .. Vestal Virgin - The Roman Empire

Born: September 18, 1955

Lisa Welch (Actor) .. Vestal Virgin - The Roman Empire

Janis Schmitt (Actor) .. Vestal Virgin - The Roman Empire

Heidi Sorenson (Actor) .. Vestal Virgin - The Roman Empire

Karen Morton (Actor) .. Vestal Virgin - The Roman Empire

Kathy Collins (Actor) .. Vestal Virgin - The Roman Empire

Lori Sutton (Actor) .. Vestal Virgin - The Roman Empire

Lou Mulford (Actor) .. Vestal Virgin - The Roman Empire

Henry Kaiser (Actor) .. Disciple - The Roman Empire

Born: September 19, 1952

Zale Kessler (Actor) .. Disciple - The Roman Empire

Born: October 01, 1938

Anthony Messina (Actor) .. Disciple - The Roman Empire

Howard Mann (Actor) .. Disciple - The Roman Empire

Born: January 01, 1923
Died: September 18, 2008

Sandy Helberg (Actor) .. Disciple - The Roman Empire

Born: May 28, 1949

Mitchell Bock (Actor) .. Disciple - The Roman Empire

Gilbert Lee (Actor) .. Disciple - The Roman Empire

Edward Heim (Actor)

David Chavez (Actor)

John Frayer (Actor)

Dennon Rawles (Actor)

Rick Mason (Actor)

Stan Mazin (Actor)

Dom Salinaro (Actor)

James Roddy (Actor)

Born: June 20, 1948

Ted Sprague (Actor)

Spencer Henderson (Actor)

Born: December 07, 1948

Bill Armstrong (Actor)

John King (Actor)

Bella Emberg (Actor) .. Baguette - The French Revolution

Born: September 16, 1937
Birthplace: Hove, Sussex, England

Geoffrey Larder (Actor) .. Footman - The French Revolution

George Lane Cooper (Actor) .. Executioner - The French Revolution

Stephanie Marrian (Actor) .. Lady Marie - The French Revolution

Born: October 09, 1948

Royce Mills (Actor) .. Duke D'Honnefleur - The French Revolution

Born: May 12, 1942

Mike Cottrell (Actor) .. Tartuffe - The French Revolution

Gerald Staddon (Actor) .. Le Fevre - The French Revolution

Monica Teama (Actor)

Cleo Rocos (Actor) .. Slave

Born: July 24, 1962

Jilly Johnson (Actor)

Barry Levinson (Actor) .. Column Salesman - The Roman Empire

Born: April 06, 1942
Birthplace: Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Trivia: One of the more versatile American filmmakers of his generation, Barry Levinson's movies showcased subjects as diverse as the immigrant experience, mob intrigue, and political satire. He earned particular acclaim for his semi-autobiographical portraits of life in 1950s Baltimore, a topic that he explored to great effect in Diner, his 1982 directorial debut.Born in Baltimore on June 2, 1942, Levinson was the son of a warehouse manager. Initially intent on a career in the media, he studied Broadcast Journalism in college but didn't remain there long enough to earn a degree. He instead switched his interests to acting and standup comedy, and, after serving a stint as a staff writer on The Carol Burnett Show, he was hired by producer Mel Brooks. The first film to carry a screenwriter credit for Levinson (in the company of several other writers) was Silent Movie (1976); this was followed by Brooks' High Anxiety (1977), which also featured Levinson as a vengeful bellboy in the film's celebrated Psycho-parody scene.Levinson's first directorial job was the low-budget Diner (1982), the first installment of his "Baltimore trilogy" (the others were Tin Men (1987) and Avalon (1990)); Diner served to showcase several stars-to-be, among them Mickey Rourke, Ellen Barkin, Daniel Stern, Paul Reiser, and Michael Tucker. A poignant, critically acclaimed, coming-of-age story, the film helped to establish Levinson as a bankable director; this status was further solidified with such purely commercial projects as The Natural (1984) and Young Sherlock Holmes (1985). In 1988, Levinson tackled one of his most ambitious projects in Rain Man, the remarkable saga of a disaffected yuppie's deepening relationship with his autistic savant brother. An all-around success, the film won numerous Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor (Dustin Hoffman).Levinson had little difficulty imposing his own personal stamp on such star-oriented films as Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), starring Robin Williams, and Bugsy (1991), starring Warren Beatty. Although he has made few missteps in his career, Levinson suffered an intensely personal defeat with Toys (1992), a morality tale acted out in a toy manufacturing company. The film had been a pet project of Levinson's for nearly 20 years, and, when finally completed, it proved to be a complete turkey. Similarly disappointing was the director's Jimmy Hollywood (1994); a comedy starring Joe Pesci as a struggling actor, it sank at the box office. He had greater luck with Sleepers (1996), the disturbing tale of four lifelong friends seeking retribution for torture and sexual abuse they suffered as young boys at a reform school. The following year proved to be a banner one, as Levinson had two critically acclaimed hits, one as the producer of Donnie Brasco, starring Johnny Depp as an undercover cop who develops a dangerous friendship with mobster Al Pacino, and the other as the producer/director of the sharp political satire Wag the Dog, starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro. Following a semi-disastrous foray into science fiction with Sphere (1998), Levinson literally and figuratively returned to his home turf in 1999 with Liberty Heights. The story of two Jewish boys growing up in Baltimore in the '50s, it featured the familiar Levinson themes of family ties, ethnic tension, Cold War anxiety, and the growing pains of a changing society.The 21st century started off in a less than stellar way for Levinson as his comedy An Everlasting Piece struggled to get a release in the United States. He oversaw the end of his highly respected television series Homicide by executive producing a TV-movie in 2000 that helped bring some major storylines to a close. The next year he made the quirky comedy Bandits featuring a love triangle between Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, and Cate Blanchett. That film was a mild success, but the same could not be said of his next feature, Envy. The Ben Stiller/Jack Black comedy, with a script originally conceived by Larry David, failed to find support from the studio that funded it as well as from audiences. To steady himself, Levinson teamed yet again with Robin Williams for the political satire Man of the Year, about a political comic who ends up running for the Presidnecy. He teamed again with Robert de Niro for the 2008 Hollywood satire What Just Happened, and directed Al Pacino to multiple awards in the made-for-HBO biopic of Jack Kervorkian, You Don't Know Jack.

Sidney Lassick (Actor) .. Applecore Vendor

Born: July 23, 1922
Died: April 12, 2003

Trivia: Bespectacled Sidney Lassick looked more like a vice-principal or shop steward than an actor. This lack of showbiz slickness came in handy for the "everyman" roles assigned him. Lassick played the manic-depressive Cheswick in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and the sarcastic English teacher in Carrie (1976), to cite two roles among dozens. More recently, Sidney Lassick was seen in The Further Adventures of Tennessee Buck (1988) and Deep Cover (1992)

Richard Lewis (Actor)

Born: June 29, 1947
Died: February 27, 2024
Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York, United States

Trivia: Standup comedians are famous for their neuroses, but Richard Lewis takes anxiety to a new level. On-stage, he energetically frets and overanalyses the most personal aspects of his life and wallows in his low self-esteem until the audience convulses with sympathetic laughter. He was born in Brooklyn, but raised in New Jersey. While attending Ohio State University as a marketing major, Lewis also studied communications. Upon graduation, he worked as the lead copywriter for an advertising agency. Four years into his career, he abandoned it to become a standup comedian, making his club debut in Greenwich Village in 1972. His first break came when he won a regular gig at Budd Friedman's the Improv comedy club and then debuted on The Tonight Show. Lewis became really well known in 1979 when he co-wrote and starred in Diary of a Young Comic, a show which gained him a cult following. Its success led him to become a television writer. In 1982, he made his first appearance on David Letterman's late-night talk show and from there embarked upon a three-year cross-country tour. Lewis had great success with his first cable TV special, I'm in Pain, in 1986. His second special, The Richard Lewis I'm Exhausted Concert, earned him a nomination for a Cable ACE award in 1988. Two years later his third special, I'm Doomed, was similarly nominated. He and Jamie Lee Curtis starred in the popular ABC sitcom Anything but Love from 1989 to 1992. In the early '90s, he took a break from standup. He launched his film career in 1988 with That's Adequate and continued to occasionally appear in supporting or character roles, notably in the independent film Drunks (1995) in which he won kudos for his dramatic portrayal of an alcoholic junkie. Lewis starred in a short-lived sitcom, Daddy Dearest (1993), and did not again try a television series until he and comic Kevin Nealon co-starred in Hiller and Diller in 1997. His 1995 standup routine "Magical Misery Tour" won considerable kudos and was the basis for a well-received 1996 cable special, shot live from the Bottom Line club in New York. Since 1987, Lewis was actively involved with HBO's annual Comic Relief benefits, large star-studded comedy shows in which all proceeds go toward helping the homeless.

Ira Miller (Actor) .. Roman Citizen

Born: October 14, 1940

Michael Miller (Actor) .. Coming Attraction

Royce D. Applegate (Actor) .. Coming Attraction

Born: December 25, 1939
Died: January 01, 2003
Birthplace: Midwest City, Oklahoma

Trivia: A former standup comic who would later find fame as a character actor in such films as Harper Valley P.T.A. (1978) and Splash (1984), Royce D. Applegate would later find wide recognition as a cast member of the popular television series seaQuest DSV. Born in Midwest City, OK, Applegate got his start in as an entertainer in the comedy improv group "The Committee." Applegate would later co-found "Committee" offshoot "Synergy Trust" when the former expanded westward, and it wasn't long before he was making appearances on such popular television staples as The Steve Allen Show. Subsequent appearances on such shows as Charlie's Angels, Dallas, and ChiPs found the busy character actor in increasing demand, and with the 1972 thriller They Only Kill Their Masters, Applegate graduated to film. After taking on the role of Brig. Gen. James L. Kemper in the 1993 Civil War epic Gettysburg, Applegate would later reprise his role in the sequel Gods and Generals (2003). On January 1, 2003, Royce D. Applegate was found dead in his Hollywood Hills mansion following a devastating fire. He was 64.

Sean Barry-Weske (Actor) .. Insolent Flunkey

1:09 pm - 2:45 pm, Thursday, January 8 on HBO (West) ()