Trivia: Making her stage bow at age five in a community production of Alice in Wonderland, Linda Lavin spent the next ten years studying piano under the watchful eye of her stage mother. After majoring in theater arts at William and Mary College, Lavin appeared in stock in New Jersey, then weathered the chorus-audition rounds in New York, making her off-Broadway debut in a 1960 revival of Oh, Kay (1960). Two years later, she reached Broadway in A Family Affair. She went on to play Lois Lane (a la Ethel Merman) in the short-lived 1965 Broadway musical It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman, and when that show folded she starred in the off-Broadway production Wet Paint, which earned her a Theatre World Award. The musicomedy review The Mad Show followed, then Lavin was selected by director Alan Arkin to play Patsy Newquist (one of her favorite roles, and one that earned her the New York Critics' Outer Circle Award) in Jules Feiffer's Little Murders (1968). She subsequently played all the female roles in 1969's Cop-Out (another of her favorites) and Elaine Navazio in Neil Simon's Last of the Red Hot Lovers. From 1968 onward, Lavin made periodic trips to Hollywood. Her work as detective Janice Wentworth during the 1975-76 season of TV's Barney Miller led to a supporting role in the pilot episode of the proposed series Jerry. CBS nixed Jerry but signed Lavin to a development deal, which of course developed into her ten-season (1976-85) hitch as waitress Alice Hyatt in the popular sitcom Alice. Recalling that her counterpart in the 1975 film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore was an aspiring singer, Lavin inked her Alice contract on the assumption that the producers would permit her to sing--which they did, on practically every other network program except Alice. Returning to Broadway after her series folded, Lavin won a Tony award for her performance in Neil Simon's Broadway Bound, and also starred in Gypsy and The Sisters Rosensweig. She also made a brief return to TV as Edie Kurland in the one-season comedy Room for Two (1992). Linda Lavin was at one time married to actor Ron Leibman.

Trivia: Born to a Syrian-Lebanese family in Brooklyn, Victor Tayback grew up learning how to aggressively defend himself and those he cared about, qualities that he'd later carry over into his acting work. Moving to California with his family, the 16-year-old Tayback made the varsity football team at Burbank High. Despite numerous injuries, he continued his gridiron activities at Glendale Community College, until he quit school over a matter of principle (he refused to apologize to his coach for breaking curfew). After four years in the navy, Tayback enrolled at the Frederick A. Speare School of Radio and TV Broadcasting, hoping to become a sportscaster. Instead, he was sidetracked into acting, working as a cab driver, bank teller and even a "Kelly Girl" between performing gigs. Shortly after forming a little-theatre group called the Company of Angels, Tayback made his movie debut in Door-to-Door Maniac (1961), a fact he tended to exclude from his resumé in later years. His professional life began to improve in 1967, when he won an audition to play Sid Caesar's look-alike in a TV pilot. Throughout the early 1970s the bulging, bald-domed actor made a comfortable living in TV commercials and TV guest-star assignments, and as a regular on the detective series Griff (1973) and Khan (1975). In 1975, he was cast in the secondary role of Mel Sharples, the potty-mouthed short-fused owner of a greasy spoon diner, in the theatrical feature Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. When the film evolved into the weekly TV sitcom Alice in 1976, Tayback was engaged to recreate his "Mel" characterization. He remained with the program for the next nine years. In contrast to his gruff, abusive screen character, Tayback was dearly loved by the rest of the Alice cast, who regarded him a Big Brother and Father Confessor rolled into one. Five years after Alice's cancellation, Vic Tayback died of cancer at the age of 61; one of his last screen assignments was the voice of Carface in the animated feature All Dogs Go to Heaven.

Trivia: Supporting actor Philip McKeon got his start as a child model appearing in magazines, newspapers, and television commercials. He is best remembered for playing Tommy, the son of the title character in the long-running sitcom Alice (1976-1985). His younger sister, Nancy McKeon, is a successful television actress.

Trivia: His role as the fun loving Rerun on television's popular comedy What's Happening! made actor Fred Berry one of the most beloved small-screen characters of the 1970s. Though Berry continued to act as he battled severe drug and alcohol addictions throughout the '80s, his popularity never again reached the heights it did in the '70s, save for a role in the 1985 What's Happening! revival, What's Happening Now! A St. Louis, MO, native who danced with the Los Angeles-based dance troupe The Lockers, Berry, who was 25 at the time, burst onto the scene in 1976 as the scatterbrained Rerun. His other '70s roles included a guest appearance on the popular sitcom Alice and hosting a 1976 episode of Saturday Night Live. In addition to What's Happening Now! in the '80s, Berry also turned up as the Sugar Pimp in the 1982 thriller Vice Squad. By the mid-'80s Berry had overcome his drug addiction, dropped his weight by 100 pounds after being diagnosed as a diabetic, and found his calling as a Baptist minister in Atlanta. After returning to the screen in 1998 with In the Hood, Berry joined Rudy Ray Moore and Mick Foley for the Insane Clown Posse comedy Big Money Hustla$. Berry's final onscreen appearance came with a cameo in the 2003 David Spade comedy Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star. Married six times to four women, the popular actor could usually be recognized by fans on the street with his trademark beret and suspenders. Berry died of natural causes October 21, 2003, in Los Angeles. He was 52.

Trivia: Tall, dark, and always stylish, Donovan Leitch is one of the world's top male models, a rock artist, and a talented actor. The son of popular 1960s folk-rock artist Donovan, Leitch (who claims he was conceived in the home of ex-Beatle George Harrison) and his sister, actress Ione Skye, were raised by their mother, fashion model Enid Karl, in Los Angeles. He grew up no stranger to jet-set living. Many of his mother's crowd were flamboyant drag queens and it is from them that he learned about fashion, makeup, and hair. Sometimes he would borrow from their wardrobes and hang out in local clubs. Leitch began acting while attending Hollywood High School, where he was quite popular and served as senior class president and homecoming king. While in high school, Leitch made friends with guitarist Jason Nesmith, the son of rock/country artist and former Monkee Michael Nesmith. Within a few years, after Leitch had begun his acting and modeling career, the two would reunite to form the hard-driving, funky glam-rock band Nancy Boy as an upbeat antidote to the hopelessness of grunge rock. He made his acting debut in Roger Vadim's rollicking And God Created Woman (1987) and has gone on to play lead and supporting roles ranging from a teenaged killer in Cutting Class (1989) to former member of Andy Warhol's factory, actor Gerard Malanga in I Shot Andy Warhol (1996).