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: Mother chose to give birth to him in Canada in order to reduce the medical costs for his delivery. Injured himself in a bicycle accident at age 12, and developed a comedy-and-magic act while recuperating. Served in the Air Force and was stationed in North Africa; performed a magic show for the king of Libya during that time. First dated his second wife Sandra while they were in college, but married her 40 years later. Published an autobiography in 2007 titled Reuben on Wry: The Memoirs of Dave Madden.

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: 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.

Trivia: Born and raised in South Carolina, character actress Celia Weston has played many a tough Southern gal despite her theater training in both London and New York. Working both on and off Broadway in the '70s, she moved over to television as the snappy Mel's Diner waitress Jolene Hunnicut on the CBS sitcom Alice. After that, she appeared in Southern-tinged feature films like Honky Tonk Freeway and Stars and Bars. Also adept at playing matronly types, she played the mother of Beastie Boy Adam Horowitz in Lost Angels, the mother of one of the victims in Dead Man Walking, and the supposed mother of Ben Stiller in Flirting With Disaster. Back on the stage in 1997, she earned a Tony nomination for her role as Southern Jew Reba Freitag in Alfred Uhry's Last Night at Ballyhoo and returned to Broadway in 2000 as Mom in the revival of Sam Shepard's True West. She made a comeback to films as well with supporting roles in Ride With the Devil, The Talented Mr. Ripley, and Snow Falling on Cedars. In 2001, she played a Southern belle mental patient in K-PAX followed by the gossip-hound Mona in Far From Heaven, the Fowler's family friend in In the Bedroom, and the guardian of teenaged Bruce Banner in The Hulk. In 2003 she was back to the small screen as a cast member on the Showtime original series Out of Order. Her career continued to gain momentum throughout the decade thanks to roles in films like The Village, Observe & Report, The Box, and Knight and Day, then in 2010 Weston beat out Delta Burke, Dianne Wiest and Kathy Bates to secure the role of Cameron's mother on the ABC sitcom Modern Family. That same year Weston joined the cast of TNT's Memphis Beat, though the series was cancelled after just two seasons.

Trivia: After starting out as a free-form stand-up comic in San Francisco and New York, Dick Gautier was nominated for a Tony Award for his portrayal of Elvis-like rock star Conrad Birdie in the 1961 Broadway production Bye Bye Birdie. Gautier was also half of an informal, improvisational comedy team with straight man Peter Marshall. In films since 1972, Gautier is better known for his television work on such series as Mr. Terrific (1967), Here We Go Again (1971), The Liars Club (1974), and especially Get Smart (1965-70), in which he played Hymie the Robot. Get Smart co-creator Mel Brooks later concocted a starring TV vehicle for Gautier, the 13-week Robin Hood spoof When Things Were Rotten (1975). In the 1980s, Gautier embarked on a sizeable career as a voice-over actor, lending his voice to memorable characters in the animated G.I. Joe (as Serpentor) and Transformers (as Rodimus Prime), and as stock characters in shows like Smurfs and The Addams Family. Gautier died in 2017, at age 85.

Trivia: A versatile performer whose career spans stage, screen, and television roles, in addition to commercial work and musical recording activity, Janet Carroll first drew the attention of audiences with her portrayal of Tom Cruise's mother in the 1983 Risky Business. Over the following decades, she went on to grace similar character roles in such big-screen outings as Secret Admirer (1985), Memories of Me (1988), and Family Business (1989). During the 1990s and 2000s, Carroll placed a heightened emphasis on television work, appearing on such series as Touched by an Angel, Ally McBeal, Scrubs, and Brothers & Sisters, as well as playing recurring roles on Murphy Brown, Married...With Children, and Melrose Place. Meanwhile, Carroll also began promulgating brands including Diet Coke, Holiday Inn, and Outback Steakhouse in television spots, delivered portrayals in stage productions including Elektra, Shadow of Heroes, Gypsy, and Mame, and traveled extensively as the vocalist with a seven-piece swing, jazz, and blues band.