Trivia: A singer almost from the time she learned to talk, American actress Shirley Jones was entered by her vocal coach in the Miss Pittsburgh contest at age 18. The attendant publicity led Jones to an audition with Rodgers and Hammerstein for potential stage work. Much taken by Jones' beautifully trained voice, the producers cast her as the leading lady in the expensive, prestigious film production of their theatrical smash Oklahoma! (1955). In 1956 Jones starred in another Rodgers and Hammerstein film adaptation, Carousel; this and her first film tended to limit her to sweet, peaches 'n' cream roles for the next several years. Thankfully, and with the full support of director Richard Brooks, Jones was able to break away from her screen stereotype with her role as a vengeful prostitute in Elmer Gantry (1960) -- a powerfully flamboyant performance that won her an Academy Award. Alas, filmgoers preferred the "nice" Shirley, and it was back to goody-goody roles in such films as The Music Man (1962) and A Ticklish Affair (1963) -- though critics heartily praised Jones' performances in these harmless confections. It was again for Brooks that Shirley had her next major dramatic film role, in 1969's The Happy Ending, which represented one of her last movie appearances before her four-year TV stint as the glamorous matriarch of The Partridge Family. This popular series did less for Shirley than it did for her stepson, teen idol David Cassidy, but The Partridge Family is still raking in ratings (and residuals) on the rerun circuit. Her unhappy marriage to the late actor Jack Cassidy long in the past, Jones found domestic stability as the wife of actor/agent Marty Ingels, with whom she wrote a refreshingly candid dual biography. The actress also played a recurring character on The Drew Carey Show (1998-1999), and appeared in numerous documentaries throughout the 2000s. Jones had a supporting role in 2006's Grandma's Boy, and guest roles on shows like Cougar Town and Raising Hope.

Trivia: Like her TV contemporaries Ron Howard and Valerie Bertinelli, actress Susan Dey grew up before the eyes of America. In 1970, the eighteen-year-old Dey was cast as Laurie Partridge on the popular sitcom The Partridge Family, garnering excellent reviews from critics who otherwise wrote off the series as a waste of time. As early as the 1975 TV movie Cage without a Key, Susan was struggling to break away from her goodie-goodie Partridge image. She almost succeeded with her nude love scene in the 1977 theatrical feature First Love, but audiences still preferred to see Susan in such roles as Jo March in the 1977 made-for-TV Little Women. Also in 1977, she starred in the obscure television series Loves Me, Loves me Not. In 1986, she accepted the role of no-nonsense attorney Grace Van Owen in the courtroom television drama LA Law, and in 1992, Susan was permitted to flex her comedy muscles once more as Wallace Porter in the weekly sitcom Love and War, though she grew dissatisfied with her role and left the series in 1993. Dey would continue to appear in selective projects over the coming years, specializing in Lifetime orignal movies like Deadly Love, Blue River, and Bridge of Time. Dey would also enjoy a story arc on the series Third Watch.

Trivia: The saga of irascible and gravel-voiced actor Danny Bonaduce is archetypal and defiantly American: the child actor who scores early in his youth, bottoms out on multiple levels, and rebounds as a middle-aged man, in a slightly different celebrity role. But rarely has the tale unfolded with such color or verve.Before he reached the age of 12 (a time when most pre-adolescents are attempting to survive the rigors of elementary school), the diminutive, redheaded Bonaduce rocketed to national fame as the mischievous ten-year-old Danny Partridge on the blockbuster ABC sitcom The Partridge Family, alongside young co-stars David Cassidy and Susan Dey. His fame and success were somewhat limited, however. Though Bonaduce culled an estimated 350,000 dollars from the series, the program folded in the late summer of 1974, and the actor reportedly squandered most of his earnings not long after. Years of inactivity followed, save guest appearances on such celebrity-studded series as Fantasy Island and The Love Boat, and contributions to exploitationers such as Murder on Flight 502 (1975) and H.O.T.S (1979). The actor soon found himself battling poverty and drug addiction; a drug bust and mandatory counseling for narcotics possession followed in 1985. Bonaduce's personal life hit the skids as well; he lived with his mother well into adulthood, then married a Japanese woman, Setsuko Hattori, to help her obtain a green card, and separated from her six months later. Another drug bust ensued in 1990.Professionally, Bonaduce first caught his second wind in the late '80s, when radio personality Jonathon Brandmeier learned of his plight and staged a mock food drive to raise support for the actor. The gimmick worked; Bonaduce soon received invitations to do guest spots on numerous radio programs (including that of Howard Stern) and devised the idea of hosting an on-air slot himself. In December 1988, WEGX FM, a radio station out of Philadelphia, hired him as its late-night DJ on a call-in talk program. In time, Bonaduce moved to the midday slot on Chicago's WLUP-FM, a "personality talk" station.Bonaduce scored high ratings consistently (especially with listeners who recalled him from Family) and continued throughout the 1990s. His return to filmed entertainment began choppily and unpromisingly, with the ugly and sleazy, shoestring-budget exploitationer America's Deadliest Home Video (1992), but he soon opted for another direction -- parlaying his radio-hosting experience into a filmed, syndicated daytime talk show. Danny! premiered in 1995 and unabashedly explored the same lurid subjects as Sally Jessy Raphael and Montel Williams, but Bonaduce reeled in some critical kudos for his work. Time Magazine's Ken Tucker observed, "Danny Bonaduce is a very likable entry in a very unlikable genre. What's refreshing about the gravelly voiced redhead is that he's never pious, and he implicates his audience in the sleaze he teases." When the program folded within a few months, Bonaduce continued his radio gigs at stations in New York and (later) Los Angeles. The actor then launched yet another televised talk show, The Other Half, in 2001; a male-driven flip side to The View that he co-hosted with Dick Clark, Saved by the Bell alumnus Mario Lopez, and others, the show lasted for two years.Not long after, Bonaduce emerged yet again, as a reality TV star. Breaking Bonaduce premiered on VH1 on September 11, 2005, and pushed reality television far beyond the limits of questionable taste and ethics. The program featured calamitous episodes from the actor's home life with his second wife, Gretchen, and their two children. Low points included Bonaduce confessing his extramarital infidelity; consuming alcohol, pain killers, and steroids; verbally abusing everyone in sight; and attempting suicide by slashing his wrists (off-camera). Troubled by the actor's behavior, the producers ultimately threatened to cancel the series unless the star entered rehab; Bonaduce complied. His full rehabilitation treatment was then featured on the series. Bonaduce would continue to appear on screen, with small roles on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and reality appearances on Re-Inventing Bonaduce and The Smoking Gun Presents: World's Dumbest.