Trivia: American actress Katherine Helmond spent nearly thirty years becoming an overnight success. Working fitfully in New York and regional theatre throughout the '50s and '60s, Helmond made ends meet by working as a drama teacher. Her first fleeting film appearances were in the Manhattan-based Believe in Me and The Hospital, both shot in 1971. She received a sizeable role in 1975's The Hindenburg, which utilized local repertory actors from throughout the midwest; she also worked with Hitchcock in 1976's Family Plot. In 1977, Katherine was cast as Jessica Tate, the scatterbrained, hedonistic matriarch on the TV sitcom Soap. She remained with the series until its cancellation in 1981; Soap left poor Jessica Tate facing a firing squad, and didn't reveal her fate until Helmond's guest appearance on the Soap spinoff Benson, wherein she played Jessica's ghost. In 1983, Katherine enrolled in the American Film Institute's Directing Workshop; she helmed the short subject Bankrupt and also several episodes of TV's Who's the Boss, in which she played Mona Robinson from 1984 through 1990. Keeping her hand in films, Katherine Helmond became a favorite of ex-Monty Python director Terry Gilliam, who cast the actress as a vain matron undergoing a really radical facelift in 1984's Brazil.

Trivia: Began her TV career as the Statue of Liberty on Happy Days opposite Ron Howard. Both of her parents had music careers, as her mother, Judy, was a singer and TV star, and her father, Filberto, a radio personality. Inspired to follow in her parents' footsteps after seeing Angela Lansbury perform on stage. Best known to many as Corrine Tate on the controversial late-1970s satirical TV series Soap. Stage credits include They're Playing Our Song and Company. Active in a local theater in Connecticut, where she raises funds and is a summer-theater director. Teaches voice at Manhattanville College in the state of New York.

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: One of the most prolific and ubiquitous television actors of the latter 20th century in addition to his service as a tireless spokesperson for the disease that was eventually the cause of his untimely demise, Robert Urich was once referred to as the "Teflon Television Man" for his uncanny ability to appear unscathed from the ambitious small-screen failures in which he frequently appeared. His presence in over 15 weekly television series during his 30-year career made him a household name, and his brave struggle against a rare and devastating form of soft-tissue cancer known as Synovial Cell Sarcoma instilled inspiration into countless cancer patients waging a seemingly never-ending uphill battle. Born in Toronto, OH, on December 19, 1946, Urich's youthful athleticism earned him a four-year scholarship to the Florida State University, where he would excel as a defensive lineman and graduated with a B.A. in communications. After next earning an M.A. in broadcast research and management from Michigan State University, Urich settled in Chicago and worked briefly as a radio sales agent and a meteorologist. A fateful late evening while working as a sales account representative at WGN Radio found Urich asked to perform in a Jewish bond drive, with the role sparking an epiphany that he had finally found his true calling. Continuing to develop his skills on community theater stages, the blossoming actor spent the following 18 months performing at the Windy City's Ivanhoe, Arlington Park, and Pheasant Run theaters. A blessing in disguise followed shortly thereafter when executives found out about his moonlighting and fired him from the station, freeing him to pursue his life's calling full-time. Aided in his early career by friend Burt Reynolds, it wasn't long before Urich was spotted by an agent and relocating to Los Angeles to make his television debut in the television series Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1973). Landing a small role in the Clint Eastwood film Magnum Force the same year, Urich's career continued to gain momentum with roles in such popular small-screen series as Soap, S.W.A.T., and alongside Tom Selleck in Bunco. Propelled to stardom with his role in the made-for-television film Vega$ (1978) and the subsequent series of the same name that followed, Urich would also appear infrequently in film, though his true calling remained on the small screen, where his presence spanned nearly every genre and format. The early '80s found him landing increasingly frequent roles in television, and after gaining fame as a detective in Spenser for Hire in 1985 and appearing in such films as Ice Pirates (1984) and Turk 182! (1985), Urich was the recipient of a Cable Ace Award for his seven-year stint as host of National Geographic Explorer. Frequently returning to his Spencer persona for made-for-television movies following the show's cancellation, the busy star would also continue to shine in such popular television efforts as Lonesome Dove (1989) and as host to such special event programs as A Musical Christmas at Walt Disney World (1993) and Alien Encounters From New Tomorrowland (1995). It was during the filming of the small-screen Western series The Lazarus Man (1996) that tragedy struck, and Urich's discovery of a mysterious lump proved the beginning of the end for the handsome and rugged actor who to this point had seemed indestructible. Having received a star on the Hollywood walk of fame the year before, Urich's career seemed to be going stronger than ever; unfortunately his body was entering the early stages Synovial Cell Sarcoma. During an intensive eight-month cycle of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy, Urich spoke open and honestly about his cancer, and the production of The Lazarus Man was shut down. Urich would later charge that show's producers with a breach-of-contract suit in which he claimed that he was able to perform under the specifications of the contract that both parties had signed, and following a settlement the resilient actor returned to television in 1997 in the ABC medical anthology Vital Signs. Teaming with his wife, Heather Menzies, to establish the Robert and Heather Urich Fund for Sarcoma research at the University of Michigan, the actor continued to appear upbeat in public appearances, during which he spoke of his treatment and condition in efforts to instill hope in others going through similar hardships. Seemingly as busy as ever as his cancer went into remission in the following years, Urich came back strong with numerous roles including The Love Boat: The Next Wave (1998) and Emril (2001). It was also during this time that Urich would also become the spokesperson for the American Cancer Society. In early 2002 the cancer that Urich had struggled so bravely to overcome sadly returned with a vengeance. Unfortunately there was little that could be done to combat the brutally aggressive cancer this time around, and in April of that year, Urich succumbed to its ravaging effects. Passing on the eve of his final television appearance in Night of the Wolf, Urich continued to serve as an inspirational figure even after his painful demise, his bravery giving strength to millions who had bore witness to his struggle. Although the enduring actor, who had admitted to frequent feelings of invincibility, would return to the small screen no more, the fund he created ensured that future generations would not face their dark endeavors without the benefit of extensive medical research and care.