Trivia: A former band clarinettist and vocalist, Hal Linden studied drama at the American Theatre Wing. His big Broadway break came in 1958, when he was engaged to understudy Sydney Chaplin in the musical comedy Bells are Ringing; Linden played Chaplin's character, Jeffrey Moss, a handful of times on Broadway and on a full-time basis in the touring company (reportedly, he also showed up in the 1960 film version of Bells are Ringing, though the "official" starting point of his film career was 1979's When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?) During the 1960s, Linden's time was occupied by his stage work in musicals like Wildcat, The Apple Tree and Illya Darling; from time to time, he'd pop up on a Manhattan-filmed TV series like Car 54 Where Are You? or The Defenders and was a regular on the CBS daytime drama Search for Tomorrow. In 1974, Linden won a Tony award for his work in the Broadway musical The Rothschilds. The next year, Barney Miller, a sitcom for which Linden had lensed a pilot in 1972, was picked up as a mid-season replacement by ABC. Linden would play harried Greenwich village police captain Barney Miller from 1975 through 1980, collecting five Emmy nominations, but-astonishingly -- no actual awards. Hal Linden's subsequent TV series work has included hosting stints on the ABC informational weeklies Animals, Animals, Animals and FYI, and top-billed starring roles on Blacke's Magic (1988), Jack's Place (1992) and One of the Boys (1994); he co-starred in the latter with another perennial Emmy Awards bridesmaid, Suzanne Pleshette.His less than extensive big-screen resume includes A New Life, Killers in the House, and Time Changer.

Trivia: Slouch-shouldered, basset-faced character actor Abe Vigoda was the son of a Lower East Side tailor. Making his first stage appearance at 17, Vigoda used his GI Bill allotment to study at the American Theatre Wing. He then toiled away in obscurity for nearly 20 years before he was "discovered" by the public in the role of John the Gaunt in Joseph Papp's 1961 staging of Richard II. Another decade would pass before Vigoda attained worldwide fame as the treacherous Tessio in The Godfather. In 1974, he was tested for the minor role of Grimaldi in the upcoming TV sitcom Barney Miller; instead, he landed the role of dour, droopy-eyed Inspector Fish (and a good thing, too; the Grimaldi character was written out after only a few weeks). Vigoda remained with Barney Miller from 1975 to 1977, then was spun off into his own Fish series, which lasted until 1978. Bedeviled with legal problems during the early 1980s, Vigoda nonetheless was able to keep busy as a supporting actor in films (Joe vs. the Volcano, Look Who's Talking) and television; he also periodically returned to the stage, frequently in the Boris Karloff role in Arsenic and Old Lace. Abe Vigoda's 1990s projects have included such roles as Gus Molino in Harlem (1993) and Alaskan Grandpa in North (1994), a voice over stint in the 1994 animated feature Batman: Mask of the Phantom, and a recurring role in the 1991 weekly-TV revival of Dark Shadows. He continued to work steadily appearing in a variety of projects including Jury Duty, Good Burger, and Just the Ticket. He worked intermittently in the 21st century, but Vigoda did star in a well-liked ad for a candy bar that aired during the 2010 Super Bowl and he became a regular face at celebrity roasts where he was often the butt of old age jokes. Vigoda died in 2016, at age 94.

Trivia: The son of a wealthy office-supplies dealer, American actor Maxwell Gail Jr. excelled in high-school sports, spending his senior year as an exchange student in Germany. Upon earning collegiate degrees from both Williams University and University of Michigan, he became a teacher in Detroit's inner city, partially to ensure himself a draft deferment. Frustrated at trying to communicate with his sullen poverty-level students, Gail chucked it all to head for San Francisco, where he worked as a guidance counselor. Again, the frustrations of the job got to him, compelling Gail to seek employment as a cocktail-lounge pianist. Trying out for a play on a whim in 1970, Gail finally found his life's calling. He spent the early '70s haunting the casting offices, accepting small TV roles as heavies and bullies. A guest spot as a tough lug on the 1974 sitcom Friends and Lovers caught the attention of producer Danny Arnold, who cast Gail as Detective Stanley "Wojo" Wojohowicz on the new comedy series Barney Miller. Gail played "Wojo" until the series' cancellation in 1980, at which point he re-entered the guest-star pool. Since that time Max Gail Jr. has been seen as a reporter on the short-lived 1983 adventure series Whiz Kids, and as the father of Dweezil Zappa and Moon Unit Zappa on the even shorter-lived 1990 sitcom Normal Life.

Trivia: African American actress Janet MacLachlan began appearing in films in 1968, usually in such "relevance"-oriented productions as Uptight (1968) and tick...tick...tick (1970). MacLachlan went on to co-star on TV as suburbanite Jackie Bruce in the weekly sitcom Love Thy Neighbor, then was seen in the 1979 TVer Friends as Mrs. Jane Summerfield. Her best-known TV role was as caustic housekeeper Polly Swanson in the 1980-81 episodes of Archie Bunker's Place. Janet MacLachlan's 1990s credits include character roles in the theatrical feature Hearts and Souls (1993) and the made-for-cable movie Tuskegee Airmen (1995).

Trivia: Pixieish stage and screen soubrette Queenie Smith was a Broadway favorite in the 1920s, most notably as star of the 1925 George Gershwin musical Tip Toes (1925). She came to films in the mid-1930s, playing virtually the same role in two period musicals, the 1935 Bing Crosby/W.C. Fields concoction Mississippi and the 1936 version of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein's Show Boat. As her youthful rambunctiousness matured into middle-aged feistiness, Queenie was seen in dozens of tiny roles, usually cast as a nosy neighbor, landlady, housekeeper or (in later years) retirement-home resident. In 1970, she and nonagenarian actor Burt Mustin were teamed as a long-married couple on the TV comedy-sketch series The Funny Side. One of the last and best of Queenie Smith's film roles was the scatological scrabble player in the 1978 Goldie Hawn-Chevy Chase vehicle Foul Play (1978).

Trivia: Actor Jon Lormer appeared in several films from the late '50s through the mid-'80s. He was also a teacher and director at the American Theater Wing in New York. Lormer guest starred in many television series and made-for-TV movies.