Trivia: The son of a New York jeweler, American actor Gene Barry emerged from his pinchpenny Depression-era childhood with an instatiable desire for the finer things in life. The acting profession seemed to hold out promise for fame and (especially) fortune. Making the rounds of theatrical agents in the 1940s, Barry, no matter his true financial situation, showed up dressed to the nines; grim reality soon set in, however, and the actor found himself clearing little more than $2000 a year -- on good years. When stage work seemed to yield nothing but bits, Barry turned to early television, then signed a movie contract in 1951. The only truly worthwhile film to star Barry was 1953's War of the Worlds, but even with top billing he had to play second banana to George Pal's marvelous special effects. Finally in 1956, Herb Gordon of Ziv Productions asked Barry if he'd like to star in a western. The actor resisted -- after all, everyone was doing westerns -- until Gordon pointed out that role would include a derby hat, a cane, and an erudite Eastern personality. Barry was enchanted by this, and from 1957 through 1961 he starred on the popular series Bat Masterson. The strain of filming a weekly western compelled Barry to declare that he'd never star on a series again - until he was offered the plum role of millionaire police detective Amos Burke on Burke's Law. This series ran from 1963 through 1965, and might have gone on longer had the producers not tried and failed to turn it into a Man From UNCLE type spy show. Barry's next series, Name of the Game, was another success (it ran from 1969 through 1971), and wasn't quite as grueling in that the actor only had to appear in one out of every three episodes. Always the epitome of diamond-in-the-rough masculinity, Barry astounded his fans in the mid 1980s by accepting the role of an aging homosexual in the stage musical version of the French film comedy La Cage Aux Follies. Yet another successful run followed, after which Barry went into semi-retirement, working only when he felt like it. In 1993, Gene Barry was back for an unfortunately brief revival of Burke's Law, which was adjusted for the actor's age by having him avoid the action and concentrate on the detecting; even so, viewers had a great deal of difficulty believing that Burke (or Barry) was as old as he claimed to be.

Trivia: Television and movie actor John Larkin -- not to be confused with the identically named African-American actor who worked in movies during the 1930s, or with the similarly named screenwriter/producer-director of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s -- was an extremely busy radio actor at the start of his career. Born in Oakland, CA, in 1912, he rose to stardom in 1947 when he became the fourth (and last and longest-serving) actor to portray the role of Perry Mason in the radio series of that name. He played the part until the end of the series' run in 1955. At that point, he was cast in the role of District Attorney Mike Karr in The Edge of Night, a daytime television drama that was originally conceived as a Perry Mason spin-off. During this same period, he had already been very active on television; Larkin's strong delivery and vocal demeanor made him a natural as a narrator, and it was in that capacity that he came to the small screen at the start of the 1950s on Farewell to Yesterday. With the decline of radio, he primarily worked in television from the second half of the 1950s through the mid-1960s, including such series as The Detectives, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Untouchables, and The Fugitive, as well as Perry Mason. His casting in episodes of the latter created a situation that fans of the radio show appreciated for its ironic resonances. In at least one installment of Perry Mason, he was the defendant represented by television's Perry Mason, Raymond Burr. He was also the co-star of the Quinn Martin-produced series Twelve O'Clock High, as Major General Crowe, the direct superior officer to series protagonist Brigadier General Frank Savage (Robert Lansing), during the show's first season. Larkin didn't make his first feature film appearance until 1964, when John Frankenheimer cast him in Seven Days In May as Colonel Broderick, the antagonistic right-wing signal corps officer at the center of a conspiracy against the President of the United States. Although he was uncredited in the role, he had two memorable scenes with stars Kirk Douglas and Edmond O'Brien. He only ever got to work in two other movies, the Disney production of Those Calloways and John Sturges' The Satan Bug (both 1965); in the latter, he had one key scene. Larkin, who was known best for playing hard-nosed, authoritative types, died of a heart attack in early 1965 at the age of 52.

Trivia: Bald-pated, mustachioed Canadian character actor Lou Jacobi began entertaining theatre audiences as a child. Though many of his characterizations were urban-American ethnic types, Jacobi was well into his career before ever setting foot on an American stage. Among his more memorable screen roles were the explosive Mr. Van Daan in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) and the philosophical Parisian bartender Moustache in Irma La Douce (1963). After his cameo as a middle-aged transvestite in Woody Allen's Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex, But Were Afraid to Ask (1972), the hapless Mr. Jacobi found himself called upon to don women's garb on a nearly-weekly basis for the various TV variety series of the early 1970s. Lou Jacobi's other television work included supporting parts on The Dean Martin Show, Somerset and Melba, and the lead in the 1976 sitcom Ivan the Terrible.

Trivia: Coleman attended a Virginia military school before studying law and serving in the army. While attending the University of Texas, Coleman became attracted to acting, and headed to New York, where he studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse. After stage experience and TV work, Coleman made his movie debut in 1965's The Slender Thread. Minus his trademarked mustache for the most part in the mid-1960s, Coleman specialized in secondary character roles. He began to branch into comedy during his supporting stint as obstetrician Leon Bessemer on the Marlo Thomas sitcom That Girl, but his most memorable role would come in 1980 as the nasty, chauvinistic boss in 9 to 5. He would go on to appear in other films, like On Golden Pond [1981], The Beverly Hillbillies [1993], You've Got Mail [1998], and Moonlight Mile, but the actor found more success in television, appearing on a few cult hits that were tragically cancelled, like Drexell's Class and Madman of the People, as well as The Guardian, Courting Alex, Heartland, and Boardwalk Empire.

Trivia: Supporting actor, onscreen from 1962.