Trivia: You knew him as Lenny Koznowski, the nasal, nerdish pal of Andrew "Squiggy" Squigman (David L. Lander) on the hit TV series Laverne and Shirley. Show-biz insiders knew Michael McKean as an intelligent, versatile actor and writer. Shedding himself of the "Lenny" image after Laverne and Shirley folded in 1983, McKean became involved in several ensemble comedy projects with such kindred spirits as Harry Shearer, Rob Reiner and Christopher Guest. In the 1984 "rockumentary" spoof This Is Spinal Tap, McKean played the cockney-accented heavy metal musician David St. Hubbins. Apparently McKean enjoyed posing as an Englishman, inasmuch as he has done it so often and so well since Spinal Tap, most recently as Brian Benben's snippish boss on the cable TV sitcom Dream On. In the early '90s, McKean was one of the stars of another, less memorable TV comedy, Grand, and appeared for two season on Saturday Night Live. He continues to land film roles, usually in comedies, including the successful The Brady Bunch Movie (1995).

Trivia: An alumnus of New York City's High School of Music and Arts and Bard College, actor/writer/director Christopher Guest made his initial Broadway appearance in the 1970 revival of Room Service; two years later, he co-starred in Moonchildren. Guest's early acting accomplishments have tended to become obscured in the light of his extensive work for the National Lampoon folks: he wrote several articles for the Lampoon magazine, and was a writer/performer for the organization's radio programs, record albums, and stage reviews. His extensive comic talents went largely untapped in such "mainstream" acting assignments as the made-for-TV Blind Ambition (1982), in which he portrayed Nixon intimate Jeb Stuart Magruder, and the theatrical feature The Long Riders (1982), in which he was co-starred with his younger brother Nicholas.In 1982, Guest played divorced suburbanite Bucky Frische in Million Dollar Infield (1982), a made-for-TV movie produced and co-written by Rob Reiner. His association with Reiner extended into appearances in the latter's big-screen directorial efforts: In This is Spinal Tap (1983), Guest not only penned the script but also played heavy metal rocker Nigel Tufnel; and in The Princess Bride (1986), cast as the evil Count Rubin, he offered a sly impression of British character actor Henry Daniell. Guest has since parlayed his "Spinal Tap" association into something of a second career, touring as Nigel Tufnel with fellow "Tap" members David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean) and Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) and composing many of the group's "hits." On TV, Guest was a regular during the 1984-1985 season of Saturday Night Live and shared a scriptwriting Emmy for a 1976 Lily Tomlin special. Making his directorial debut with the Tinseltown satire The Big Picture (1989), Guest has gone on to helm the TV-movie remake of Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1993), the "Johnny Appleseed" segment of Shelley Duvall's cable-TV anthology American Tall Tales and Legends, and most of the episodes of Rob Reiner's 1992 TV sitcom Morton and Hayes.After once again appearing as Nigel Tufnel in The Return of Spinal Tap (1992), the latter '90s found Guest expanding on his successes in the world of showbiz mockery by taking the directors chair with a few irreverent faux documentaries of his own. Re-teaming with fellow bandmates McKean and Shearer for the musical numbers in Waiting for Guffman (1996), the critically praised comedy proved that Guest's eye for satire was indeed as sharp as his pen. Following with some vocal work in Small Soldiers (1998), Guest returned to the director's chair for what would be comedian Chris Farley's last film, Almost Heroes (1998). Both of these projects proved to be brief diversions, though, and, as old habits die hard, Guest couldn't resist his urges for parody for long.Though not related (in a traditional sense) to show business, Best in Show targeted a subject that some may say was screaming for parody, the world of Championship Dog shows. His skills as a director more focused and refined than ever, Guest lead a talented cast of the usual suspects in creating yet another hilarious and scathing take on a what many considered to be well-deserving subject. After earning a Golden Globe nomination for "Best Comedy" at that year's ceremony, the film went on to live a healthy life on DVD and cable television. Guest's next film set its sights on a target that many may agree was begging for the treatment even more so than that of his last subject, and though A Mighty Wind's spot on folk song parodies would prove almost so effective as to be considered the real deal, the film itself differed from Best in Show in that it sharply divided its supporters and detractors as few of his films had. Guest worked as an actor, screenwriter, songwriter, and director for The Mighty Wind (2003), an award-winning mockuementary chronicling the ups and downs of a career in folk music, and again with For Your Consideration (2006). The actor would co-star with Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins in Mr. Henderson Presents (2005), which followed a wealthy eccentric determined to transform a dingy London theater into a thriving hotspot for entertainment, and take on roles in 2009's The Invention of Lying and Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. Guest is married to actress Jamie Lee Curtis.

Trivia: As the son of multi-talented comedic genius Carl Reiner (Your Show of Shows), Rob Reiner instantly outgrew his father's legacy to establish himself as an independent force in multiple facets of the entertainment industry. Born in the Bronx in 1945, Reiner moved to Los Angeles with his folks at the age of 12 (not coincidentally, the very same year that the NYC-based Caesar's Hour, with Carl Reiner as a regular contributor, wrapped) and soon began acting in regional theater and improv ensembles. After appearing on various episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents from the age of 16 and studying drama at UCLA, Reiner co-founded the improvisational comedy troupe The Session, then made his onscreen cinematic debut in his father's Enter Laughing (1967) and contributed scripts (in his dad's vein) to CBS's controversial The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. His first massive break arrived when he landed the role of Mike "Meathead" Stivic, the liberal, Polish son-in-law to Carroll O'Connor's racist working stiff Archie Bunker, on Norman Lear's groundbreaking network hit All in the Family. In 1971, Reiner wed Penny Marshall (the sister of another comic demagogue, Garry Marshall); the marrieds frequently appeared together on ABC's The Odd Couple. Reiner earned two Emmys for All in the Family, but ended his role in 1978 (after seven seasons) as the series transitioned into Archie Bunker's Place. A now-forgotten telemovie followed -- the romantic comedy More Than Friends, written by and starring Reiner and Marshall (and directed by future Cheers progenitor James Burrows) -- but by that point, the Reiners' marriage was in disarray; a divorce ensued in 1979, followed by several years of inactivity on Reiner's end.Reiner bounced back as a director, however (and then some) in 1984, with the hysterical mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap, ostensibly a spoof of The Song Remains the Same, The Kids Are Alright, The Last Waltz, and other mid-'70s concert films, about a gleefully moronic glam rock band (Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer) whose hits include "Sex Farm," "Smell the Glove," and "Hellhole." The picture became a sensation (a massive cult hit), led to several Reiner-less follow-ups with the principal cast (Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind), and -- most importantly -- launched Reiner as a directorial force. He helmed a cute and charming sophomore effort, the teen comedy The Sure Thing (1985), which boasts two superb lead performances by John Cusack and Daphne Zuniga, and demonstrates great taste and sensitivity, but failed to make a splash despite solid reviews (Roger Ebert declared it "a small miracle" and Variety assessed it as "sweetly old fashioned" and "appealing.") The following year, the director struck box-office gold with his third effort, Stand by Me (1986). In this coming-of-age saga, adapted from a Stephen King short story by Ray Gideon and Bruce A. Evans, Reiner successfully blends comedy, drama, and sentiment, and elicits exemplary performances from an ensemble of teenage performers including River Phoenix and Wil Wheaton, in his story of a bunch of adolescent boys who venture out to find a local boy's corpse. For his fourth effort, Reiner helmed the legendary William Goldman's adaptation of his own 1973 fantasy novel, The Princess Bride (which had purportedly floated around Hollywood for 13 years), and scored in the process -- especially with young viewers, who immediately warmed to Cary Elwes' dashing adventurer and Robin Wright's heroine. (The picture's neat comic turns by Billy Crystal, Wallace Shawn, and Andre the Giant stretched its appeal to older viewers, as well.) Reiner followed this up with another four-star blockbuster, and one of the most lucrative (and affable) pictures of 1989, the romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally, written by Nora Ephron. It sports exceptional lead performances by Crystal and Meg Ryan, and -- in one of the most infamous movie bits of the past few decades, a cameo by Reiner's own mother, Estelle, who provides the film's funniest line.Reiner began the 1990s with another Stephen King outing: Misery, a claustrophobic horror picture adapted from a 1987 King novel. In directing the picture, Reiner elicited exceptional performances from James Caan and Kathy Bates. The latter won a Best Actress Academy Award for her portrayal of the psychopathic ex-nurse Annie Wilkes, who confines Caan's author in her home and forces him to write a new manuscript under the duress of torture and threatened homicide. With a trio of A-list actors including Jack Nicholson, Tom Cruise, and Demi Moore, the director's late 1992 courtroom thriller A Few Good Men (adapted by Aaron Sorkin from his play) earned a Best Picture Oscar nomination and another Golden Globe nomination for Reiner. Unfortunately, this marked the beginning of a decline, of sorts, for Reiner. He then helmed 1994's god-awful family-friendly comedy North (reviled by just about everybody). The following year's The American President charmed audiences, but 1996's Ghosts of Mississippi struck most viewers as uneven. In 1999, Reiner produced, directed, and co-starred in The Story of Us, a romantic comedy starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Bruce Willis, but it opened up to mediocre reviews. (Ebert gave it one star and moaned, "Watching it is like taking a long trip in a small car with the Bickersons"; Janet Maslin observed that it "offers such an arthritic vision of middle-aged marriage that it feels like the first Jack Lemmon comedy made expressly for the baby-boom generation.") Perhaps riled by these disappointments -- and seeking greater immersion in California politics -- Reiner took several years off as a director, until 2003's Alex & Emma, a romantic comedy about writer's block starring Luke Wilson and Kate Hudson. With one or two exceptions, critics universally panned the picture (giving Reiner his most terrible reviews to date). 2005's Rumor Has It..., yet another romantic comedy starring Jennifer Aniston as a woman who goes off in search of her family's roots, also opened to dismal reviews and lackluster box office, despite the star appeal of Aniston and her male lead, Kevin Costner. In 1987, Reiner co-founded Castle Rock Productions (the company's name refers to a fictional town created by Stephen King). In addition to directing and producing, Reiner has also pursued an acting career on the side, with supporting roles and cameos in such films as Postcards From the Edge (1990), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Bullets Over Broadway (1994), The First Wives Club (1996), Primary Colors (1998), EDtv (1999), The Muse (1999), The Story of Us (1999), and The Majestic (2001). Later, he delivered a performance as Wirschafter in his own Alex & Emma (2003) and cameo'd as himself in the 2003 David Spade comedy Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star. Between 2004 and 2006, Reiner joined Whoopi Goldberg, Mandy Patinkin, William H. Macy, and others to voice the late Christopher Reeve's CG-animated feature Everybody's Hero, about a boy who attempts to retrieve a talking baseball bat from a crooked security guard. In 2007 he had one of his biggest late-career successes directing Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman in The Bucket List. Three years later he made the little-seen comedy Flipped. Reiner married his second wife, Michele Singer Reiner, in 1989.

Trivia: California native Harry Shearer was one of the busier child actors of the 1950s. He appeared in such films as The Robe (1953) (as the boy David) and Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (1953); he could be heard on such radio programs as Suspense, Lux Radio Theatre, and the Jack Benny Show; and among his many TV guest roles was the character who would evolve into Eddie Haskell in the 1955 Leave It to Beaver pilot. After attending U.C.L.A., Shearer flourished as a standup comedian and comedy writer. He was frequently employed on the writing staff for such TV laughspinners as Laverne and Shirley and America 2Night; he also worked both sides of the camera in the 1984 rockumentary parody This Is Spinal Tap, co-starring as rock idol Derek Smalls and co-writing the script with director Rob Reiner and fellow cast members Christopher Guest and Michael McKean. In league with another top satirist, Albert Brooks, Shearer concocted the screenplay for another faux documentary, 1979's Real Lampoon. During the 1984-1985 TV season, Shearer joined the Not Ready for Prime Time Players on NBC's Saturday Night Live. The soft-spoken, saturnine Harry Shearer is most famous however for lending his voice to the Fox Network cartoon series The Simpsons.

Trivia: British stage actress June Chadwick has been in films since 1978's The Comeback. More often seen on TV than in films, Chadwick was busiest in the years 1984 to 1986. She played Jeanine Pettibone in the theatrical-feature "mockumentary" This Is Spinal Tap, Lydia on the sci-fi miniseries V, and Lt. Joanna Parisi in the TV adventure weekly Riptide. In 1992, June Chadwick was cast as the seductive Dr. Alice Davis in the offbeat medical series Going to Extremes.

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

Trivia: The son of character actor Ed Begley, Sr., he began acting while still a teenager, appearing on the TV series My Three Sons when he was 17. Begley performed as a stand-up comic at colleges and nightclubs and worked briefly as a TV cameraman before landing a string of guest appearances on TV series such as Happy Days and Columbo. He debuted onscreen in Now You See Him, Now You Don't (1972), going on to play small roles in a number of minor films; by the mid '70s he was getting somewhat better roles in better films. Begley became well-known in the '80s, portraying Dr. Erlich on the TV series St. Elsewhere; for his work he received an Emmy nomination. His success on TV led to much better film roles, but he has never broken through as a big-screen star.

Trivia: With long, shapely legs, a svelte, curvaceous body to die for, and thick black hair cascading around her lovely face, Fran Drescher has all the looks of a sophisticated movie star. And then she opens her mouth. Out comes a crow-like cacophony of nasal sounds made more grating by a thick Queens accent and a tendency to pull no punches. The paradox between the book and its cover is what has made Drescher a rich and popular comedienne; her long-running sitcom The Nanny, with its combination of romantic and slapstick comedy, led many to hail her as Lucille Ball's successor. Though she capitalizes on playing a rather ditzy working-class gal from Flushing, Drescher is known for her creativity and shrewdness. In addition to acting, she is a talented writer and producer.Much of Drescher's comedy, especially that from her sitcom, is drawn from her life experiences. Like her character, Fran Fine, she was born and raised in Queens. She has had a lifelong interest in acting and studied drama in high school. She attended a year at Queens College and then attended cosmetology school to become a hairdresser. For a time, she had her own business. She made her film debut playing Connie in Saturday Night Fever (1977). Her next film, American Hot Wax (1978), provided Drescher with her first major role and though she would continue on to play supporting parts in numerous other films, it was not until she played a small but memorable part in Rob Reiner's hilarious mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap (1984) that she began making a name for herself. In addition to her film roles, she was also busy on television, guest starring in series and appearing in television films like Terror in the Towers. She played starring roles in three short-lived series, including Princesses. She and her husband Peter Marc Jacobson created The Nanny and it aired on CBS from 1993 to 1999. She not only starred in the show, but also wrote and produced it; Drescher received Emmy nominations for her work on the show. In 1996, she co-starred with Robin Williams in the Disney comedy Jack, while in 1997, she and Jacobson co-created the idea for the romantic comedy The Beautician and the Beast, in which she also starred. Drescher published her autobiography, Enter Whining, in 1996.Drescher once again drew from her life experiences in the 2002 memoir Cancer Schmancer, which chronicled the actress's battle with uterine cancer, and formed the Cancer Schmancer Movement in 2007. The nonprofit is dedicated to educating women about cancer prevention and the importance of early detection (Drescher's cancer was initially misdiagnosed). In 2011, Drescher appeared on Oprah Winfrey to discuss her relationship with her then ex-husband Peter Mark Jacobson after he came out as gay after the end of their 21-year marriage. The television series Happily Divorced (2011-2013) is based on her experience with Jacobson.

Trivia: British actor Patrick Macnee barely had time to earn his Eton school tie when he began training for his career on a scholarship to the Webber Douglas School of Dramatic Art. While serving with the Royal Navy during World War II, Macnee made his first film appearance with a small role in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943). He continued essaying such featured roles as Young Marley in the 1951 Christmas Carol before coming to Broadway with the Old Vic troupe in 1954. He decided to stay in Hollywood a while, appearing in several TV shows and such films as Les Girls (1957). He would later describe most of his roles during this period as "villainy in a tri-corner hat." In 1960, Macnee traded his period duds for a bowler and three-piece suit when he began his long run as sophisticated secret agent John Steed on the British TV series The Avengers (incidentally, the murder that Macnee was "avenging" in the early episodes was that of a woman played by his then-wife Kate Woodville). He remained the one permanent fixture on The Avengers until its demise in 1968, appearing opposite three different jumpsuit-clad leading ladies: Honor Blackman, Diana Rigg and Linda Thorson. Macnee also showed up as a supervisor of sort in the 1977 "retro" series The New Avengers, leaving the karate and gunplay to Joanna Lumley and Gareth Hunt. In America, Patrick Macnee appeared regularly on the TV series Gavilan (1982), Empire (1984), and Lightning Force (1991). Macnee continued working through the 2000s, including a voice appearance in the 1998 Avengers movie. Patrick Macnee passed away in 2015, at age 93.

Trivia: The son of a jazz concert producer, Billy Crystal grew up in the company of such music legends as Billie Holiday, Pee Wee Russell, and Eddy Condon. His mind made up by age five, Crystal knew he wanted to become a performer -- not in music but in baseball or comedy. As he later explained to TV Guide, he chose comedy "because God made me short" -- though from all reports he is one of the best ball players in show business.Learning how to make people laugh by studying the works of past masters Laurel and Hardy, Ernie Kovacs, and Jonathan Winters, Crystal began making the club rounds at 16. He was sidetracked briefly by New York University's film school, where he studied to be a director under Martin Scorsese, but upon graduation it was back to comedy when Crystal formed his own troupe, 3's Company. On his own, he developed into an "observational" comic, humor based on his own experiences and the collective experiences of his audience. He came to media attention via his impression of Howard Cosell interviewing Muhammad Ali. After doing time as an opening act for such musicians as Barry Manilow, Crystal struck out for Hollywood, in hopes of finding regular work on a TV series. In 1977, he was hired to play the gay character Jodie Dallas on Soap. Though many people expected the performer to be typecast in this sort of part, he transcended the "sissy" stereotype, making the character so three-dimensional that audiences and potential employers were fully aware that there was more to Crystal's talent than what they saw in Jodie.Thanks to Soap, Crystal became and remained a headliner and, in 1978, had his first crack at movie stardom as a pregnant man in Rabbit Test. The movie was unsuccessful, but Crystal's star had not been eclipsed by the experience; he was even entrusted with a dramatic role in the 1980 TV movie Enola Gay. His career accelerating with comedy records, choice club dates, regular appearances on Saturday Night Live, and TV guest shots, Crystal had a more successful stab at the movies in such films as This is Spinal Tap (1984), The Princess Bride (1987), Throw Momma From the Train (1987), and When Harry Met Sally (1989). Riding high after a memorable emceeing stint at the Oscar ceremony, Crystal executive produced and starred in his most successful film project to date, an uproarious middle-age-angst comedy called City Slickers (1991). In 1992, he mounted his most ambitious film endeavor, Mr. Saturday Night, the bittersweet chronicle of a self-destructive comedian. The film had great potential (as indicated by the outtakes contained in its video cassette version), but the end result died at the box office. That same year, Crystal again hosted the Oscar awards, and in 1994 he repeated his earlier success with the popular sequel City Slickers 2: The Legend of Curly's Gold.Crystal added to his directing credits the following year with the romantic comedy Forget Paris. Unfortunately, the film -- which he also produced, wrote, and starred in -- was something of a flop. He subsequently focused his energies on acting, turning up in Hamlet (1996) and Deconstructing Harry (1997). In 1998 he had another producing stint with My Giant, a comedy he also starred in; like his previous producing effort, that film also proved fairly unsuccessful. However, Crystal bounced back in 1999, executive producing and starring in Analyze This. A comedy about a mob boss, Robert De Niro, seeking therapy from a psychiatrist (Crystal), it won a number of positive reviews, convincing many that the performer was back in his element.Back in the director's chair in 2001, Crystal helmed the made-for-HBO 61*. Detailing the 1961 home-run race between Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle, 61* struck a chord with baseball sentimentalists and critics alike. Scripting and starring in America's Sweethearts the same year, Crystal also began to cultivate a voice acting career that would prove extremely successful, providing the voices for characters in Monsters, Inc., Howl's Moving Castle and Cars. As the 2010's continued to unfold, Crystal would find himself increasingly able to take the reigns on both sides of the camera, flexing his muscles as a producer and writer as well as actor, such as with the 2012 comedy Parental Guidance.

Trivia: Howard Hesseman's early credits have sometimes been hard to trace, mainly because he often billed himself as "Don Sturdy." The mustachioed, prematurely balding Hesseman was a founding member of the San Francisco-based improv troupe The Committee. During his decade-long tenure with this aggregation, he was featured in such films as Petulia (1968) and A Session with the Committee (1970), and showed up on such TV series as The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and The Dick Cavett Show. Through the auspices of his Committee cohort Peter Bonerz, Hesseman played a recurring role on TV's The Bob Newhart Show (1972-78), playing the unsuccessful producer of such TV disasters as "The Nazi Hour." His screen roles in the 1970s included a showy part as a harried TV-commercial director in the opening sequence of The Sunshine Boys. In 1978, Hesseman achieved celebrity in the role of counterculture deejay Dr. Johnny Fever (aka Johnny Caravella) on the popular sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati. Following WKRP's cancellation in 1982, he spent two seasons playing Ann Romano's third (and presumably final) husband Sam Royer on the weekly One Day at a Time. From 1986 to 1990, he starred as urbane high school teacher Charlie Moore in TV's Head of the Class. During all this activity, Howard Hesseman continued showing up in feature films, playing such roles as smarmy promoter Terry Ladd in This is Spinal Tap (1984) and child star Patty Duke's manipulative manager/guardian John Ross in the TV biopic Call Me Anna (1989). Over the following several years, Hessman would remain active on screen, appearnig on shows like That 70's Show and Crossing Jordan, and in movies like The Rocker.

Trivia: Musician, composer, and bandleader Paul Shaffer got his first big break as the musical director for the Toronto production of the musical Godspell. He subsequently joined the Saturday Night Live band before becoming the musical director for the Late Night with David Letterman in 1982. His work with the band and his banter with Letterman made Shaffer a celebrity, and he stuck with the show for decades. He also provided musical direction for movies, released solo albums, published a memoir, and even hosted the VH1 game show Cover Wars.

Trivia: Born in the Midwest and educated in the military, actor Fred Willard has proven his talent for improvisational comedy on the stage, television, and the big screen. His characters are frequently grinning idiots or exaggerated stereotypes, but Willard's skillful timing has always added a unique spin. An alumni of Second City in Chicago, he's worked with many of the biggest-named comedians of his time. His early TV credits include a regular stint on The Burns and Schreiber Comedy Hour, a supporting part on the sitcom Sirota's Court, and the role of Jerry Hubbard, sidekick of TV talk-show host Barth Gimble (Martin Mull) in the satirical Fernwood 2Night. He went on to appear in subsequent incarnations of Fernwood and continued to work with Mull and his gang for the next few decades. In the early '80s, he hosted the actuality series Real People and co-hosted the talk show Thicke of the Night. Some of his small, yet memorable, performances in feature comedies included President Fogerty in National Lampoon Goes to the Movies; the garage owner in Moving Violations who's mistaken for a doctor; the air force officer in This Is Spinal Tap; and Mayor Deebs in Roxanne. Doing a lot of guest work on television, he was also involved in Martin Mull's The History of White People in America series and was the only human actor amid a cast of puppets on the strange show D.C. Follies. In the '90s, he worked frequently in the various projects of fellow satirists Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest, and the like. He was travel agent Ron Albertson in Waiting for Guffman, TV announcer Buck Laughlin in Best in Show, and manager Mike LaFontaine in A Mighty Wind. He also appeared in Eugene Levy's Sodbusters, Permanent Midnight with Ben Stiller, and showed up in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. On television, he picked up a regular spots on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, Roseanne (as Martin Mull's lover), and Mad About You, along with voice-over work on numerous cartoons. He also received an Emmy nomination for his role as Hank McDougal on Everybody Loves Raymond. Since 2000, he has shown up in quite a few mainstream commercial films, including The Wedding Planner, How High, and American Wedding; but he also played Howard Cosell in the TV movie When Billie Beat Bobby. Projects for 2004 include Anchor Man: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.IHe also joined up with his Mighty Wind and Waiting for Guffman castmates again in 2006 with For Your Consideration, a satire of Hollywood self importance injected with Willard's trademark clever silliness. The next year he appeared in the spoof Epic Movie, as well as the romantic comedy I Could Never Be Your Woman. He was in the Pixar sci-fi film WALL-E, and had a role in the 2009 comedy Youth In Revolt. In 2012 he starred in Rob Reiner's The Magic of Belle Isle opposite Morgan Freeman.

Trivia: Comic actor Dana Carvey led a near-monastic existence while growing up in Montana, not out of choice but because the truly popular kids were bigger and better-looking. "I was a fetus in shoes" commented Carvey on his high-school years. While attending San Francisco State University, Carvey launched his career as a stand-up comic. The going was rugged for a while, but by 1981 Carvey had built up enough of a reputation to earn second billing on the Mickey Rooney TV sitcom One of the Boys. Though the show was cancelled by mid-1982, Carvey was now on a roll. In 1984, he showed up as a regular on the TV police adventure series Blue Thunder, and was spotlighted in the parody rockumentary film This is Spinal Tap; two years later he was signed as a regular on NBC's Saturday Night Live. Carvey's gallery of comic characterizations is too vast to fully recount here, but his greatest popularity rested on two recurring characters. As "The Church Lady" (an amalgam of all the well-meaning pious neighbors Carvey had known while growing up), Carvey entered the Catchphrase Lexicon with his oft-repeated "Isn't that special?" and "Could it be....SATAN?" And as mop-topped teenage couch potato Garth (again drawn from life--this time based on Dana's brother Brad), Carvey was teamed with Mike Myers in a flawless on-going parody of cheap cable-access television. After a misfire movie vehicle, 1990's Opportunity Knocks, Carvey became a major box-office commodity by co-starring with Mike Myers in the megahit Wayne's World (1992). While the 1993 sequel Wayne's World 2 didn't quite match the take of the original, Carvey was artistically satisfied that same year with an Emmy award for his performance as H. Ross Perot (among others) on TV's Saturday Night Live Presidential Bash. Undaunted by the lack of response to Opportunity Knocks, Carvey once again took a stab at solo success with the similarly panned Clean Slate in 1994. After appearing in a pair of supporting roles (Trapped in Paradise and The Road to Wellville (both 1994)) and a cameo (1996's The Shot) shortly thereafter, Carvey disappeared almost entriely from the public eye until resurfacing in the 1999 Saturday Night Live; Presidential Bash and once again taking a small role in Adam Sandler's Little Nicky (2000). Eager to resume his once lucrative career and make a feature that his children could enjoy, Carvey returned to the silver screen as an Italian waiter who takes the art of mimicry to new and uncharted heights in The Master of Disguise (2002). In 1997 he underwent a heart operation that was bungled to such a degree that he was awarded millions in a lawsuit, and had to undergo multiple procedures to correct the problems caused by the initial incident. He finally reappeared on big-screens in 2011 in the Adam Sandler comedy Jack and Jill.

Trivia: Though his melodiously accented speech pattern has led many to assume that actor Paul Benedict is British, the actor was actually born in New Mexico. Benedict's oversized jaw and angular features won him several character roles once he decided upon a theatrical career. One evening, a doctor who had seen Benedict on stage warned the actor that his elongated facial structure was due to a rare bone disease called acromegaly, which ultimately distorts the face into grotesqueness and can result in early death (filmdom's most famous victim of acromegaly was horror star Rondo Hatton). Undergoing medical treatment to prevent the spread of the disease, Benedict continued acting, utilizing his odd facial features for comic rather than tragic effect. While appearing in featured roles in such films as The Goodbye Girl (1977), Paul Benedict was cast as next-door neighbor Harley Bentley, an eccentric UN translator, on the long running TV series The Jeffersons. He played Harley steadily from 1975 to 1981, left for two years to pursue other projects (including the Steve Martin comedy The Man With Two Brains [1983]), but returned in 1983 to remain with The Jeffersons until its final episode two years later. He died in 2008 at age 70.

Trivia: Lead actress, onscreen from the '80s.

Trivia: Born July 8th, 1961, he daughter of director John Huston and his fourth wife, ballerina Ricki Somma, Anjelica Huston spent a privileged but troubled childhood in Ireland. Although her father didn't really want her to be an actress, he gave her substantial roles in his films Sinful Davy and A Walk With Love and Death (both 1969). The actress did little movie work during the '70s, choosing instead to pursue a successful, albeit short-term, career as a model before returning to films with a vengeance in the '80s, diligently studying with famed drama coach Peggy Feury.In 1985, Huston earned an Oscar for her performance as the vengeful girlfriend of hit man Jack Nicholson in Prizzi's Honor, making her the first third-generation Academy winner in history. Other worthwhile roles followed in her father's final directorial effort, The Dead (1987), and Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989). She was also rewardingly directed by her half-brother Danny Huston in Mr. North (1988). Huston earned additional Oscar nominations for her outstanding dramatic work in Enemies: A Love Story (1989) and The Grifters (1990). On a lighter note, she was ideally cast as Morticia Addams in the two Addams Family movies in the early '90s; neither was recognized by the Academy, although both earned her Golden Globe nominations. Despite her breakup with long-time companion Nicholson (she went on to marry Robert Graham in 1992), Huston still occasionally acted opposite him, most notably in Sean Penn's The Crossing Guard (1995). Other notable roles for the actress during the late '90s included her turn as the wicked stepmother in Ever After (1998) and a hilarious portrayal of a football-obsessed, dysfunctional mother in Buffalo '66.In addition to her work on film, Huston accumulated an impressive roster of television credits during the 1980s and '90s, including her powerful performances as frontier woman Clara Allen in the 1989 miniseries Lonesome Dove and the beleaguered mother of an autistic child in the two-part Family Pictures (1993). She also had a supporting role in the widely acclaimed 1993 production of And the Band Played On. In 1996, Huston made her directorial debut with Bastard out of Carolina, a praised adaptation of Dorothy Allison's novel of the same name, and followed that up with another behind-the-camera effort, Agnes Browne, in 1999. She played Gene Hackman's estranged wife in the critically-acclaimed The Royal Tenenbaums in 2001. She appeared opposite Clint Eastwood in his police drama Blood Work. She continued to appear in a wide variety of films including an officious antagonist in Daddy Day Care. In 2004 she reteamed with Wes Anderson for The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and played in the made for cable historical drama Iron Jawed Angels. In 2006 Huston took on a small role in Terry Zwigoff's Art School Confidential, and appeared in Martha Coolidge's Material Girls opposite Hilary and Haylie Duff.In 2008, Huston joined the cast of the made-for-HBO period film Iron Jawed Angels, in which she played an activist opposed to the National Woman's Party, which encouraged rewarding American women with the right to vote and hold citizenship. After participating in several films throughout 2006 (Material Girls, Art School Confidential, Seraphim Falls), Huston reunited with Wes Anderson to play a supporting role in the multi-award winning comedy The Darjeeling Limited in 2007. The actress took on another supporting role in the critically acclaimed psychological drama The Kreutzer Sonata (2008). In 2011, she co-starred in the complex comedy drama 50/50, in which she played the overbearing mother of a public radio employee diagnosed with cancer at 27-years-old.

Trivia: Character actor and comedian Fred Asparagus played supporting roles in 16 films and guest starred on numerous television series ranging from Cheers to Roseanne to Hunter. Asparagus frequently performed standup comedy.

Trivia: Comedic supporting actor Archie Hahn first appeared onscreen in the '70s.