Trivia: Ever since the '50s, each generation has had its definitive sitcom mom, the one woman who symbolizes the attitudes and ideals of the American household (at least according to the major networks). In the late '50s, it was Barbara Billingsley; Donna Reed ruled the '60s; Roseanne repped the '80s; and Florence Henderson was queen of the '70s. As Carol Brady, she was the polyester-clad personification of the "have a nice day" mentality on the Brady Bunch (1969-1974). Prior to becoming Mrs. Brady, Henderson had worked on television during the '50s, getting her start as the "Today Girl" on Today (1952) and as a regular on Sing Along (1958). She also made frequent appearances on the Tonight Show through the early '60s. Henderson was a successful star of Broadway musicals and in 1970, she starred in the musical feature-film biography of Scandinavian composer Edvard Grieg, Song of Norway (1970). Since the end of the Brady Bunch series, Henderson has basically made her living portraying and sometimes spoofing Carol Brady. There was a blessedly short-lived variety show sequel to the program, The Brady Bunch Hour (1977), and Brady Bunch reunion TV movies, such as The Brady Girls Get Married (1981) and A Very Brady Christmas (1988). The show that wouldn't die also spawned two more sequel series, The Brady Brides (1981) and the downbeat drama The Bradys (1990). In 1995, Henderson played a feisty grandmother, the antithesis of Carol, in the feature-film spoof The Brady Bunch Movie. She continued to appear on TV and in movies such as Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, and the documentary Get Bruce!. In 2006 she was cast in season 6 of The Surreal Life, and in 2010 she returned to the small screen yet again to compete in the eleventh season of Dancing With the Stars. Henderson died in 2016, at age 82.

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: Impassioned devotees of late-'80s prime-time television will have little difficulty identifying actress Jean Kasem; she achieved her most memorable and enduring role as flighty and buxom platinum blonde Loretta Tortelli, the second wife of sleazy TV repairman Nick Tortelli (Dan Hedaya), first on Cheers and then on its very short-lived spin-off, The Tortellis (January -May 1987). A native of Portsmouth, NH, Kasem began her career with bit roles on series including We Got It Made, Matt Houston, and Alice, and then (after The Tortellis promptly folded) continued to do guest-starring turns on various series, and bit roles in telemovies, through the early 2000s. Off-camera, the actress married DJ Casey Kasem in 1980.

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.