Trivia: A veteran vaudevillian, American actor Arthur O'Connell made his legitimate stage debut in the mid '30s, at which time he fell within the orbit of Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre. Welles cast O'Connell in the tiny role of a reporter in the closing scenes of Citizen Kane (1941), a film often referred to as O'Connell's film debut, though in fact he had already appeared in Freshman Year (1939) and had costarred in two Leon Errol short subjects as Leon's conniving brother-in-law. After numerous small movie parts, O'Connell returned to Broadway, where he appeared as the erstwhile middle-aged swain of a spinsterish schoolteacher in Picnic -- a role he'd recreate in the 1956 film version, earning an Oscar nomination in the process. The somewhat downtrodden-looking O'Connell was frequently cast as fortyish losers and alcoholics; in the latter capacity he appeared as Jimmy Stewart's boozy attorney mentor in Anatomy of a Murder (1959), and the result was another Oscar nomination. O'Connell continued appearing in choice character parts on both TV and films during the '60s (he'd graduated to villainy in a few of these roles), but avoided a regular television series, holding out until he could be assured top billing. The actor accepted the part of a man who discovers that his 99-year-old father has been frozen in an iceberg on the 1967 sitcom The Second Hundred Years, assuming he'd be billed first per the producers' agreement. Instead, top billing went to newcomer Monty Markham in the dual role of O'Connell's father (the ice had preserved his youthfulness) and his son. O'Connell accepted the demotion to second billing as well as could be expected, but he never again trusted the word of any Hollywood executive. Illness forced O'Connell to cut down on his appearances in the mid '70s, but the actor stayed busy as a commercial spokesman for a popular toothpaste. At the time of his death, O'Connell was appearing solely in these commercials -- by his own choice. For a mere few hours' work each year, Arthur O'Connell remained financially solvent 'til the end of his days.

Trivia: Intending to become a dentist like his father, American actor Edgar Buchanan wound up with grades so bad in college that he was compelled to take an "easy" course to improve his average. Buchanan chose a course in play interpretation, and after listening to a few recitations of Shakespeare he was stagestruck. After completing dental school, Buchanan plied his oral surgery skills in the summertime, devoting the fall, winter and spring months to acting in stock companies and at the Pasadena Playhouse in California. He was given a screen test by Warner Bros. studios in 1940, received several bit roles, then worked himself up to supporting parts upon transferring to Columbia Pictures. Though still comparatively youthful, Buchanan specialized in grizzled old westerners, with a propensity towards villainy or at least larceny. The actor worked at every major studio (and not a few minor ones) over the next few years, still holding onto his dentist's license just in case he needed something to fall back on. Though he preferred movie work to the hurried pace of TV filming, Buchanan was quite busy in television's first decade, costarring with William Boyd on the immensely popular Hopalong Cassidy series, then receiving a starring series of his own, Judge Roy Bean, in 1954. Buchanan became an international success in 1963 thanks to his regular role as the lovably lazy Uncle Joe Carson on the classic sitcom Petticoat Junction, which ran until 1970. After that, the actor experienced a considerably shorter run on the adventure series Cade's County, which starred Buchanan's close friend Glenn Ford. Buchanan's last movie role was in Benji (1974), which reunited him with the titular doggie star, who had first appeared as the family mutt on Petticoat Junction.

Trivia: Gangly L.A.-born Rand Brooks made his first film appearance in 1938. The following year, he gained a small niche in film history with his performance as Charles Hamilton, ill-fated first husband of Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh), in Gone With the Wind (1939). He spent the next several years in Westerns, most frequently appearing as Lucky Jenkins in the Hopalong Cassidy series. On television, Brooks was seen as Corporal Boone on The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin (1956-1958). Rand Brooks was at one time married to comedian Stan Laurel's daughter Lois, with whom he operated a successful emergency ambulance service. As the 1970s wound to a close, Brooks disappeared entirely from the screen.On September 1, 2003, the man who gave legendary bombshell Marilyn Monroe her first screen kiss died of cancer at his Santa Ynez, CA home. He was 84.

Trivia: Dark-haired actress Lori Saunders is probably best remembered for her six season (1966-1972) portrayal of Bobbie Jo Bradley on the long-running sitcom Petticoat Junction. But she did appear in feature films, as well, including adventure and horror pictures, usually working under the name Linda Saunders, and even got to play the title-role in one such vehicle during the early/middle 1960s. Born Linda Marie Hines in Kansas City, Missouri in 1941, she began working as Linda Hines on television during the early 1960s, appearing in episodes of The Adventures of Ozzie And Harriet playing various characters. By the time she started showing up on episodes of Burke's Law and Bob Hope's TV specials, she was working as Linda Saunders, and it was under that name that she made her feature film debut in 1965, in The Girls On The Beach. Later that same year, Saunders played the title-role, a sort of distaff Tarzan, raised by wolves in the Alaskan wild, in Mara of the Wilderness, an adventure film that got a fairly wide theatrical release at the time, aimed primarily at younger audiences -- additionally, because it also starred Adam West, the movie was re-released following the premiere of the Batman television series in 1966, and was later shown on network television. By the time that movie had made its initial bow in theaters, however, Saunders had also appeared in a lead role in the Jack Hill/Stephanie Rothman-directed horror film Blood Bath (1966) (aka Track of the Vampire). In the year of that movie's release, however, Saunders redirected her work and career toward comedy, taking over the role of Bobbie Jo Bradley, the cerebral, studious middle daughter in the sitcom Petticoat Junction (and its sister series, Green Acres) from actress Pat Woodell. In contrast to Woodell, who had emphasized the character's braininess, Saunders' portrayal made the character a bit more boy-crazy and charmingly goofy -- one might think of a very young, slightly ditsy Phyllis Kirk -- and during the final season the writers gave her an on-going romantic interest in the guise of game warden Orrin Pike (Jonathan Daly). She also appeared in episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies and Love American Style and, following the cancellation of Petticoat Junction, worked in the comedy western series Dusty's Trail, as well as showing up in various feature films. Saunders retired from acting in the 1980s.