Trivia: The son of Broadway actress Mary Martin, Larry Hagman was born September 21st, 1931 in Fort Worth, Texas. After his parents divorced, he lived with his grandmother in California until the time of her death. Hagman, 12 years old at the time, then returned to his mother who was working on the Broadway stage. After attending Bard College in Anandale-on-the-Hudson for one year, his own early efforts at breaking into showbiz began at the Margo Jones Theatre-in-the-Round in Dallas, and soon after in The Taming of the Shrew at the New York City Center. While working as a cast member on his mother's hit show South Pacific, Hagman took up residence in England and ended up staying there for five years. During that time he joined the U.S. Air Force where he found time to produce and direct several theater productions. It was also during that time that he met and fell in love with Maj Axelsson, a young Swedish designer. They were married in December of 1954. Back in the U.S., Hagman began to make progress in his career, tallying up several TV guest-star appearances (including, presciently, a smiling villain on an episode of Sea Hunt), a regular role as lawyer Ed Gibson on the daytime soap opera The Edge of Night, and a beautifully played supporting role as a Russian/ English interpreter in the nuclear nailbiter Fail Safe. In 1965, Hagman received his most prominent acting assignment to date as eternally flustered astronaut Tony Nelson on the TV sitcom I Dream of Jeannie. After five years of Jeannie, Hagman took a few film and TV-movie parts, co-starred with Donna Mills on the 1971 sitcom The Good Life, co-starred with Lauren Bacall in the TV rendition of the Broadway musical Applesauce, acted and directed in the low-grade horror spoof Beware! The Blob. Hagman's best-ever TV stint was as the charming but conniving J. R. Ewing on the nighttime TV serial Dallas, a role he played from 1978 through 1990. At first reluctant to accept the role, Hagman acknowledges that it was his wife Maj's encouragement that convinced him to do the series. Proof of Hagman's drawing power as J.R. came when, at the end of the 1979-80 season, the character was shot down by a mysterious assailant--setting the stage for the "Who Shot J.R.?" episode, one of the highest-rated telecasts of all time. After the cancellation of Dallas in 1991, Hagman was forced to slow down his busy schedule due to an ongoing battle with liver cancer, and in August of 1995 he was the recipient of a liver transplant, a procedure that saved his life. Hagman's public life has always included a variety of civic and philanthropic undertakings. A staunch non-smoker, Hagman acted as the chairperson of the American Cancer Society's Great American Smokeout for nine years, and following his 1995 surgery, he became the National Spokesperson for the 1996 U.S. Transplant Games sponsored by the National Kidney Foundation and was recognized by the foundation for his role in increasing public awareness in regards to organ donation. In 1997, Hagman made a television comeback as the Honorable Judge Luther Charbonnet in the critically acclaimed CBS series Orleans, and in 1998 he appeared in the popular political satire Primary Colors. Hagman resumed his portrayal of J.R. Ewing opposite Patrick Duffy and Linda Gray for the well-received TNT revival of Dallas that began in the summer of 2012, but that turn was short lived; in November of that year, the actor succumbed to complications from cancer. He was 81.

Trivia: Born in Arizona on August 23, 1934, actress Barbara Eden was three years old when her family moved to San Francisco, where as a teenager she plunged into acting and singing classes at San Francisco State College's Conservatory of Music. After briefly working as a band singer, Eden took up residence at Hollywood's Studio Club, an inexpensive rooming house for aspiring actresses. Other Studio Club residents would note in later years that Eden would look at the club's bulletin board and apply for every show business job available, even those that she was advised would "ruin" her career. Persistence paid off, and in 1956 Eden made her film debut in Back from Eternity. She worked steadily in television, finally attaining leading-lady status on the 1958 sitcom How to Marry a Millionaire, in which she played a myopic "Marilyn Monroe"-type golddigger. Good film and TV roles followed for the lovely blonde actress, and full stardom arrived with the NBC comedy series I Dream of Jeannie. Eden played the curvaceous bottle imp from 1965-70, reviving the character in a brace of TV movies, the last one produced in 1991. Eden's post-Jeannie career has included several films, TV guest star appearances, theatrical and nightclub engagements, and still another sitcom, 1981's Harper Valley P.T.A.In 1983, Eden joined the cast of Jaws 3, and played a role in Chattanooga Choo Choo (1984) before participating in The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal in 1985. The actress would return to her Genie roots throughout her later career, including in the 1985 comedy I Dream of Jeannie: 15 Years Later, and I Still Dream of Jeannie (1991). Eden also made her mark in other sitcom-based films, most notably A Very Brady Sequel (1996). After starring alongside Hal Linden for the play Love Letters and taking a guest-starring role on Army Wives, a drama from Lifetime, Eden joined the cast of Always and Forever, a made-for-television movie for The Hallmark Channel (2009). In 2011, Eden published a memoir titled Jeannie Out of the Bottle that spoke candidly of her personal life, including detailed accounts of her failed marriages and the tragic death of her son.

Trivia: From the late '60s through the mid-'70s, first on I Dream of Jeannie and later on The Bob Newhart Show, Bill Daily was one of the most visible comic acting talents in television, despite the fact that he'd always intended on a career in music. Born in Des Moines, IA, in 1928, he was raised by his mother with help from several aunts and uncles after the death of his father and he gravitated toward music as a teenager. Following a stint in the army in the late '40s, Daily became a professional musician, playing upright bass with different groups in the Midwest, and he eventually added little bits of stand-up comedy to his repertory in the course of performing. He hooked up with an NBC station in Chicago, first working behind the camera as a writer and musician and then doing comedy on the air. Eventually, he became a regular guest as a comedian on The Mike Douglas Show, which originated from Chicago. From there, he was discovered by Steve Allen who brought him onto his show as a comedian and sidekick. Daily subsequently credited his musical side with providing him with the sense of timing to become a successful comedian. During the early and mid-'60s, Daily moved into acting roles on programs like Bewitched -- on which he debuted in a straight dramatic role, in a Christmas episode in which he was highly effective -- and was given a small role in the pilot of I Dream of Jeannie. That part, of Major Roger Healy, turned into the co-starring role after the program's first season. Following five successful seasons on that program, he moved to The Bob Newhart Show as Howard Borden, providing comedic support similar to the part he'd played on I Dream Of Jeannie, as Newhart's befuddled, constantly jet-lagged next door neighbor. Daily has only ever appeared in two feature films, both of them comedies -- the made-for-television In Name Only in 1969, as a carefree bachelor (clearly modeled after one aspect of his character on I Dream of Jeannie) and in Disney's release of The Barefoot Executive in 1971. Since the first Bob Newhart series left the air, his television appearances have been infrequent and always in supporting, guest starring roles, although he did appear on Nick-at-Nite helping to promote The Bob Newhart Show when it aired on the channel. He has since reportedly become a theatrical actor and director in the Albuquerque, NM, area.

Trivia: An alumnus of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Brooklyn-born Hayden Rorke became a member of the original Walter Hampden theatrical company in the early '30s (he ended up the last surviving member of that hardy troupe). While serving in WWII, Rorke appeared in both the road company and film versions of the all-serviceman musical This Is the Army. He would make 70 Broadway appearances in his career, in additional to some 50 films and nearly 400 TV shows. Though usually unbilled, Rorke was instantly recognizable in roles calling for erudition and urbanity, notably in such films as An American in Paris (1951) and The Robe (1953). Among his many TV assignments was the role of CBS radio announcer John Daly (though his character was not identified by name) in the Pearl Harbor episode of the CBS historical series You Are There; he also co-starred in the two-part pilot for an intriguing 1951 science fiction series Project Moonbase, which didn't make it as a series but was released as a theatrical feature. Still essaying small movie roles into the 1960s, Hayden Rorke finally achieved a fame (and generous screen time) in the continuing role of flustered air force psychiatrist Dr. Bellows on the fanciful TV sitcom I Dream of Jeannie (1965-1970).

Trivia: Actor Harry Harvey Sr. started out in minstrel shows and burlesque. His prolific work in Midwestern stock companies led to film assignments, beginning at RKO in 1934. Harvey's avuncular appearance (he looked like every stage doorman named Pop who ever existed) won him featured roles in mainstream films and comic-relief and sheriff parts in B-westerns. His best known "prestige" film assignment was the role of New York Yankees manager Joe McCarthy in the 1942 Lou Gehrig biopic Pride of the Yankees. Remaining active into the TV era, Harry Harvey Sr. had continuing roles on two series, The Roy Rogers Show and It's a Man's World, and showed up with regularity on such video sagebrushers as Cheyenne and Bonanza.

Trivia: The son of a Chicago minister, actor David Soul actually launched his career as a folk singer. Born David Richard Solbert on August 28, 1943 in Chicago, Illinois, David moved to Mexico during his youth, when his father took a lengthy assignment as diplomatic advisor for the U.S. State Department. The experience (and the Mexican environment) engendered in young Solberg a permanent love of indigenous folk music. For the remainder of his youth, the whole world was Soul's backyard as his father was transferred from post to post during the 1950s and early 1960s. The blossoming performer could never quite shake either his inbred wanderlust (he attended Augustana College in South Dakota, the University of the Americas in New Mexico, and the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis) or his musical inclinations. After impulsively deciding to become a stage performer, and studying with the legendary Uta Hagen in New York, Soul definitively opted to embark upon a singing career. From 1966 to 1967, the performer turned up as the hooded "mystery singer" on the syndicated television talkfest The Merv Griffin Show. At about the same time, Soul also landed gigs opening for musical acts including Frank Zappa, The Lovin' Spoonful and The Byrds. The singer's decision, not long after, to finally remove his "mask" on television and reveal himself to the public backfired; it took away the novelty, and made it eminently more difficult for Soul to book concerts. Taking this as a cue, the actor returned to television, and was cast as Joshua Bolt on the 1968 TV adventure series Here Come the Brides, co-starring with another promising vocalist, Bobby Sherman. While Sherman became an instant teen idol, Soul would not truly hit it big until 1976, when he was cast as urban cop David Starsky and teamed with Paul Michael Glaser on the cop series Starsky and Hutch (1975-79). During the series and immediately following its cancellation, Soul attempted to trade off of his tube success by revitalizing his recording career, but did so with intermittent success; his syrupy ballad "Don't Give Up on Us" (parodied by Owen Wilson years later during a scene in the 2004 big-screen movie Starsky & Hutch) peaked at #1 in 1977 and became an FM and then AM radio staple for decades, but his albums charted much lower and did little to further his musical success.The actor went on to star in the TV weeklies Casablanca (1983, in the Bogart role!), The Yellow Rose (1983-84), Unsub (1989), and the telemovie adventure Pentathalon (1994). He also made a cameo alongside Glaser at the conclusion of the aforementioned Starsky & Hutch movie. Married several times, Soul's ex-wives include Karen Carlson, Lynn Marta, and Julia Nickson.

Trivia: As a contract player for Universal from the 1960s, Robert Pickering worked in feature films and on television. His film credits include The Doomsday Flight (1966) and Lady Liberty (1971). Though he guest starred on several television series, he is best remembered in that medium for playing Michael Bauer on the soap opera The Guiding Light. Following the death of his wife Sarah Kane in 1977, Pickering abandoned his career in favor of raising his children.