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: Actor Stanley Brock was active on television and films from the 1970s to the 1990s (his last film was Mel Brooks' Life Stinks [1991]). From January through March 1986, Brock was a regular on the TV sitcom He's the Mayor. The actor played Ivan Bronski, the neighbor of a fictional 25-year-old black mayor (Kevin Hooks). Before that, Stanley Brock was mired in several failed TV pilots, including The Bureau (1976), Every Stray Dog and Kid (1981), Palms Precinct (1982) and 13 13th Avenue (1983). The credits of the long-running documentary series Wild Kingdom also list a "Stan Brock" as one of the program's many hosts, though chances are we're talking about two different people here.

Trivia: Leading man Ben Piazza spent most of his Hollywood career just a step or so short of stardom. He was brought to Tinseltown on the strength of his performance in the Canada-filmed A Dangerous Age (1958), subsequently appearing in support of Gary Cooper in the A-western The Hanging Tree. His leading-man period peaked in the early '60s, though he was constantly in demand for supporting and character roles, often playing an uptight suburbanite. Possibly Piazza's best showing in the latter stages of his career was as the father of schizophrenic Kathleen Quinlan in 1971's I Never Promised You a Rose Garden. On television, Piazza had regular roles as Jonas Falk on the daytime drama Love of Life and as teacher George Benton in the 1978 sitcom The Waverly Wonders. Ben Piazza died at the age of 57, shortly after appearing in Guilty By Suspicion (1990).

Trivia: Supporting actor David Clennon was first seen on screen in the '70s.