Trivia: One of the greatest comic talents of his generation, Peter Sellers had an exceptional gift for losing himself in a character -- so much so that, beyond his remarkable skill as a performer and his fondness for the humor of the absurd, it's difficult to draw a connection between many of his best performances. While his fondness for playing multiple roles in the same film may have seemed like a stunt coming from many other actors, Sellers had the ability to make each character he played seem distinct and different, and while he was known and loved as a funnyman, only in a handful of roles was he able to explore the full range of his gifts, which suggested he could have had just as strong a career as a dramatic actor.Born Richard Henry Sellers on September 8, 1925, Sellers was nicknamed "Peter" by his parents, Bill and Agnes Sellers, in memory of his brother, who was a stillbirth. Bill and Agnes made their living as performers on the British vaudeville circuit, and Sellers made his first appearance on-stage only two days after his birth, when his father brought out his infant son during an encore. As a child, Sellers studied dance at the behest of his parents when not occupied with his studies at St. Aloysius' Boarding and Day School for Boys. Sellers also developed a knack for music, and in his teens began playing drums with local dance bands. Shortly after his 18th birthday, Sellers joined the Royal Air Force, and became part of a troupe of entertainers who performed at RAF camps both in England and abroad. During his time in the service, Sellers met fellow comedians Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe, and Michael Bentine; after the war, they found work as performers with the British Broadcasting Corporation, and Sellers hoped to follow suit. After several failed auditions, Sellers struck upon the idea of calling Roy Speer, a BBC producer, posing as one of the network's top actors. Sellers gave Sellers an enthusiastic recommendation, and Speer gave him a spot on the radio series Show Time.After he signed on with the BBC, Sellers became reacquainted with Milligan, Secombe, and Bentine, and together they comprised the cast of The Goon Show, which upon its debut in 1949 became one of Great Britain's most popular radio shows; the absurd and often surreal humor of the Goons would prove to be the first glimmer of the British Comedy Movement of the '60s and '70s, paving the way for Beyond the Fringe and Monty Python's Flying Circus. The Goon Show provided Sellers with his entry into film acting, as he appeared in several short comedies alongside Milligan and Secombe, as well as the feature film Down Among the Z Men (aka The Goon Movie). Sellers also married for the first time during the height of Goon-mania, wedding Anne Howe in the fall of 1951. Sellers won his first significant non-Goon screen role in 1955, with the classic Alec Guinness comedy The Ladykillers, but his first international hit would have to wait until 1958, when he appeared in George Pal's big-budget musical Tom Thumb. In 1959, Sellers appeared in the satiric comedy I'm All Right, Jack, which earned him Best Actor honors from the British Film Academy; the same year, Sellers enjoyed a major international success with The Mouse That Roared, in which he played three different roles (one of them a woman). While a bona-fide international comedy star, Sellers had a hard time finding roles that made the most of his talents, and it wasn't until after a handful of unremarkable features that he received a pair of roles that allowed him to truly shine. In 1961, Sellers starred as an Indian physician in The Millionairess opposite Sophia Loren, based on a play by George Bernard Shaw (Sellers and Loren would also record a comic song together, "Goodness Gracious Me," which was a hit single in Britain), and a year later Stanley Kubrick cast him as Claire Quilty in his controversial adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita.1964 would prove to be a very big year for Peter Sellers; he would marry actress Britt Ekland in February of that year (his marriage to Anne Howe ended in divorce in 1961), and he starred in four of his most memorable films: Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, which reunited him with Stanley Kubrick and gave him star turns in three different roles; The World of Henry Orient, a comedy which won a small but devoted cult following; The Pink Panther, in which Sellers gave his first performance as the bumbling French detective Inspector Clouseau, and that film's first sequel, A Shot in the Dark. Sellers, who was described by many who knew him as a workaholic, maintained a busy schedule over the next ten years, but while the quality of his own work was consistently strong, many of the films he appeared in were sadly undistinguished, with a handful of exceptions, among them I Love You, Alice B. Toklas, The Wrong Box, and The Optimists. Sellers' appeal at the box office began to wane, and his love life took a beating as well -- he divorced Britt Ekland in 1968 and married Miranda Quarry in 1969, only to see that marriage end in 1971. But Sellers made a striking comeback in 1974 with The Return of the Pink Panther, in which he revisited his role as Inspector Clouseau. The film was a massive international hit, and Sellers would play Clouseau two more times, in The Pink Panther Strikes Again and The Revenge of the Pink Panther, though he became critical of the formulaic material in the films and would begin writing a script for a sixth Pink Panther film without the input of Blake Edwards, who had written and directed the other films in the series.In 1977, Sellers took his fourth wife, actress Lynne Frederick, and he managed to rack up a few moderate box-office successes outside the Pink Panther series with Murder by Death and The Prisoner of Zenda. But in 1979, Sellers gave perhaps his greatest performance ever as Chance, a simpleton gardener whose babblings about plants are seen as deep metaphors by those around them, in a screen adaptation of Jerzy Kozinski's novel Being There -- a project Sellers had spent the better part of a decade trying to bring to the screen. The film won Sellers a Golden Globe award and a National Board of Review citation as Best Actor, while he also received an Academy Award nomination in the same category. While Being There seemed to point to better and more ambitious roles for Sellers, fate had other plans; the actor, who had a long history of heart trouble, died of a heart attack on July 24, 1980, not long after completing The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu, a disastrous comedy whose direction was taken over by Sellers midway through the shoot (though the original director received sole credit). Two years after his death, Peter Sellers would return to the screen in a final Pink Panther adventure, The Trail of the Pink Panther, which Blake Edwards assembled from outtakes and discarded scenes shot for the previous installments in the series.

Trivia: The son a well-to-do British Army captain who died in the battle of Gallipoli in 1915, David Niven was shipped off to a succession of boarding schools by his stepfather, who didn't care much for the boy. Young Niven hated the experience and was a poor student, but his late father's reputation helped him get admitted to the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, and he was later commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Highland Light Infantry. Rakishly handsome and naturally charming, Lt. Niven met a number of high society members while stationed in Malta, and, through their auspices, made several important contacts while attending parties. Although he later claimed to have been nothing more than a wastrel-like "professional guest" at this stage of his life, Niven was actually excellent company, a superb raconteur, and a loyal friend, and he paid back his social obligations by giving lavish parties of his own once he become famous. Niven also insisted that he fell into acting without any prior interest, although he had done amateur theatricals in college.Following his military discharge, Niven wandered the world working odd jobs ranging from a lumberjack to a gunnery instructor for Cuban revolutionaries to (by his own account) a petty thief. He became a Hollywood extra in 1935, and eventually came to the attention of producer Samuel Goldwyn, who had been building up a stable of attractive young contract players. Having made his speaking debut in Without Regret (1935), Niven quickly learned how to successfully get through a movie scene. After several secondary roles for Goldwyn, he was loaned out for a lead role in the 20th Century Fox feature Thank You, Jeeves (1936). The actor formed lasting friendships with several members of Hollywood's British community -- notably Errol Flynn, with whom he briefly lived -- and was quite popular with the American-born contingent as well, especially the ladies.Although he worked steadily in the '30s, it was usually in support of bigger stars; he was seldom permitted to carry a film by himself, except for such modest productions as Dinner at the Ritz (1937) and Raffles (1939). Anxious to do something more substantial than act during World War II, Niven re-entered the British service as a Lieutenant Colonel, where he served nobly, if not spectacularly. (His batman, or valet, during the war was a Pvt. Peter Ustinov, himself an actor of no mean talent.) Married by the end of the war, Niven went back to films but found that he still wasn't getting any important roles; despite ten years experience, he was considered too "lightweight" to be a major name. His life momentarily shattered by the accidental death of his wife in 1946, Niven's spirit was restored by his second marriage to Swedish model Hjordis Tersmeden, his wife of 37 years until the actor's death. Once again, Niven took a self-deprecating attitude towards his domestic life, claiming to be a poor husband and worse father, but despite the time spent away from his family, they cherished his concern and affection for them.After his Goldwyn contract ended in 1949, Niven marked time with inconsequential movies before joining Dick Powell, Charles Boyer, and Ida Lupino to form Four Star, a television production company. Niven was finally able to choose strong dramatic roles for himself, becoming one of TV's first and most prolific stars, although his public still preferred him as a light comedian. The actor's film career also took an upswing in the '50s with starring performances in the controversial The Moon Is Blue (1953) -- a harmless concoction which was denied a Production Code seal because the word "virgin" was bandied about -- and the mammoth Around the World in 80 Days (1956), in which Niven played his most famous role, erudite 19th century globetrotter Phileas Fogg. When Laurence Olivier dropped out of the 1958 film Separate Tables, Niven stepped in to play an elderly, disgraced British military man. Although he was as flippant about the part as usual -- telling an interviewer, "They gave me very good lines and then cut to Deborah Kerr while I was saying them" -- he won an Oscar for this performance. Niven continued his career as a high-priced, A-list actor into the '60s, returning to television in the stylish "caper" series The Rogues in 1964. He revisited his hobby of writing in the early '70s; an earlier novel, Round the Ragged Rocks, didn't sell very well, but gave him pleasure while working on it. But two breezy autobiographies did better: The Moon's a Balloon (1972) and Bring on the Empty Horse (1975). Working alone, without help of a ghostwriter (as opposed to many celebrity authors), Niven was able to entertainingly transfer his charm and wit to the printed page (even if he seldom let the facts impede his storytelling). In 1982, Niven discovered he was suffering from a neurological illness commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, which would prove fatal within a year. Courageously keeping up a front with his friends and the public, Niven continued making media appearances, although he was obviously deteriorating. While appearing in his last film, Curse of the Pink Panther (1983), the actor's speech became so slurred due to his illness that his lines were later dubbed by impressionist Rich Little. Refusing all artificial life-support systems, Niven died in his Switzerland home later that year. While his career produced a relatively small legacy of worthwhile films, and despite his own public attitude that his life had been something of an elaborate fraud, Niven left behind countless friends and family members who adored him. Indeed, journalists sent out to "dig up dirt" following the actor's death came back amazed (and perhaps secretly pleased) that not one person could find anything bad to say about David Niven.

Trivia: Born to a middle-class French family, Capucine (pronounced Ka-poo-cheen) was a top Parisian fashion model by her mid-teens. She made her first film, Jacques Becker's Rendezvous De Julliet (1949), when she was sixteen, but international stardom would not come for another ten years, until producer Charles K. Feldman "discovered" her for the role of Princess Carolyne in the 1960 Franz Liszt biopic Song Without End. During her Hollywood stay, Capucine studied acting with Gregory Ratoff, and achieved a measure of notoriety for her portrayal of a lesbian hooker in 1962's A Walk on the Wild Side Capucine co-starred with William Holden in The Lion (1962) and The Seventh Dawn (1964). She was given a chance to display her comic know-how in the original 1964 The Pink Panther, and 20 years later was engaged to recreate her role for one of the post-Peter Sellers Panther sequels. She also worked with Joseph L. Mankiewicz (The Honey Pot [1969]) and Federico Fellini (Fellini Satyricon [1970]). Except for a final appearance in a 1989 TV movie, Capucine spent her last decade in seclusion in Switzerland, and in 1990 she committed suicide by leaping from her 8th-floor Swiss apartment.

Trivia: An internationally known beauty with a husky voice, Claudia Cardinale was once groomed to be Italy's answer to Brigitte Bardot, as well as a replacement for Gina Lollobrigida and Sophia Loren, both of whom had defected to Hollywood. In 1957, Cardinale won the "most beautiful girl in Tunisia" contest and, as her prize, attended the Venice Film Festival. She later took drama lessons at Rome's Centro Sperimentale film school and, shortly thereafter, landed secondary roles in several films. Producer Franco Cristaldi began molding her career, turning her into a sex symbol, and the two later married. She was an established international star by the early '60s, although she never attained the success of Bardot, Lollobrigida, or Loren; however, she did make many notable films, working with (among others) such directors as Luchino Visconti, Federico Fellini, Manolo Bolognini, Luigi Comencini, Sergio Leone, Blake Edwards, and Richard Brooks -- for example, Fellini cast her as herself, the object of star Marcello Mastroianni's erotic daydreams in the film 8 1/2 (1963).

Trivia: One of the precious few actors of the "pretty boy" school to survive past the 1950s, Robert Wagner was the son of a Detroit steel executive. When his family moved to Los Angeles, Wagner's original intention of becoming a businessman took second place to his fascination with the film industry. Thanks to his dad's connections, he was able to make regular visits to the big studios. Inevitably, a talent scout took notice of Wagner's boyish handsomeness, impressive physique, and easygoing charm. After making his unbilled screen debut in The Happy Years (1950), Wagner was signed by 20th Century Fox, which carefully built him up toward stardom. He played romantic leads with ease, but it wasn't until he essayed the two scene role of a shellshocked war veteran in With a Song in My Heart (1952) that studio executives recognized his potential as a dramatic actor. He went on to play the title roles in Prince Valiant (1954) and The True Story of Jesse James (1956), and shocked his bobby-soxer fan following by effectively portraying a cold-blooded murderer in A Kiss Before Dying (1955). In the early '60s, however, Wagner suffered a series of personal and professional reverses. His "ideal" marriage to actress Natalie Wood had dissolved, and his film career skidded to a stop after The Pink Panther (1964). Two years of unemployment followed before Wagner made a respectable comeback as star of the lighthearted TV espionage series It Takes a Thief (1968-1970). For the rest of his career, Wagner would enjoy his greatest success on TV, first in the mid-'70s series Switch, then opposite Stefanie Powers in the internationally popular Hart to Hart, which ran from 1979 through 1983 and has since been sporadically revived in TV-movie form (a 1986 series, Lime Street, was quickly canceled due to the tragic death of Wagner's young co-star, Savannah Smith). On the domestic front, Wagner was briefly wed to actress Marion Marshall before remarrying Natalie Wood in 1972; after Wood's death in 1981, Wagner found lasting happiness with his third wife, Jill St. John, a longtime friend and co-worker. Considered one of Hollywood's nicest citizens, Robert Wagner has continued to successfully pursue a leading man career into his sixties; he has also launched a latter-day stage career, touring with his Hart to Hart co-star Stefanie Power in the "readers' theater" presentation Love Letters. He found success playing a henchman to Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers movies, and in 2007 he began playing Teddy, a recurring role on the hit CBS series Two and a Half Men.

Trivia: British leading lady Brenda DeBanzie made her stage bow in 1935. She chose not to appear in films until she was well into her thirties; her first movie assignment was the psychological melodrama The Long Dark Hall (1951). Brenda's biggest film success was as Charles Laughton's industrious daughter in director David Lean's Hobson's Choice (1954). Her best-known role was Phoebe Rice, the long-suffering wife of third-rate music hall comedian Archie Rice (played by Laurence Olivier) in both the 1957 stage production and the 1960 film version of John Osborne's The Entertainer. Brenda DeBanzie was the aunt of actress Lois DeBanzie.

Trivia: Born Frances Makris, this singer/actress appeared onscreen from 1958.

Trivia: Comedic character actor Colin Gordon appeared in many British films.

Trivia: Ubiquitous British actor John LeMesurier wasn't in every English comedy made between 1946 and 1979, though it sure seemed so. Nearly always appearing in one-scene cameos, LeMesurier's stock in trade was confusion mixed with foreboding; as such, he was perfect for such roles as worried businessmen, neurotic military officers and flummoxed fathers. From 1966 through 1977, LeMesurier starred in the internationally popular British sitcom, Dad's Army, which spawned a theatrical-feature version in 1971. An incorrigible prankster, John LeMesurier couldn't remain serious even when dealing with his own death; on that grim occasion, his self-written obituary appeared in the Times, noting that Mr. LeMesurier had "conked out."

Trivia: British actor Michael Trubshawe played character and cameo roles in a number of films. He was a close army buddy of actor David Niven. To pay tribute to his friend, Niven made sure that Trubshawe's name was mentioned in every film he made after 1938. In 1970, Trubshawe retired from films.

Trivia: Working as a Disneyland concessionaire in his teens, comedian Steve Martin's first experiences in entertainment were of the party performer variety -- he picked up skills in juggling, tap-dancing, sleight of hand, and balloon sculpting, among other things. He later attended U.C.L.A., where he majored in philosophy and theater before moving on to staff-writer stints for such TV performers as Glen Campbell, the Smothers Brothers, Dick Van Dyke, John Denver, and Sonny & Cher. Occasionally allowed to perform as well as write, Martin didn't go into standup comedy full-time until the late '60s, when he moved to Canada and appeared as a semi-regular on the syndicated TV variety series Half the George Kirby Comedy Hour. As the opening act for rock stars in the early '70s, Martin emulated the fashion of the era with a full beard, shaggy hair, colorful costumes, and drug jokes. Comedians of such ilk were common in this market, however, so Martin carefully developed a brand-new persona: the well-groomed, immaculately dressed young man who goes against his appearance by behaving like a lunatic. By 1975, he was the "Comic of the Hour," convulsing audiences with his feigned enthusiasm over the weakest of jokes and the most obvious of comedy props. His entire act a devastating parody of second-rate comedians who rely on preconditioning to get laughs, Martin became internationally famous for such catch phrases as "Excu-u-use me!," "Happy feet!," and "I am...one wild and crazy guy!" It was fun for a while to hear audiences shout them out even before he'd uttered them, but it wasn't long before Martin was tired of live standup and anxious to get into films. Though Martin had roles in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1977) and The Muppet Movie, Martin's true screen bow was The Jerk (1979), in which, with the seriousness of Olivier, he portrayed a bumbling, self-described poor black child-turned accidental millionaire. Had he been a lesser performer, Martin could have played variations on The Jerk for the remainder of his life, but he preferred to seek out new challenges. It took nerve to go against the sensibilities of his fans with an on-edge portrayal of a habitual loser in Pennies From Heaven (1981), but Martin was successful, even if the film wasn't. And few other actors could convincingly pull off a project like Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1983), wherein, and with utter conviction, he acted opposite film clips of dead movie stars. After a first-rate turn in All of Me (1984), in which he played a man whose body is inhabited by the soul of a woman, Martin's film work began to fluctuate in quality, only to emerge on top again with Roxanne (1987), a potentially silly but ultimately compelling update of Cyrano de Bergerac. Though he participated in a fair amount of misses in the '80s and '90s (Mixed Nuts (1994), Housesitter (1992), Leap of Faith (1992), and Sgt. Bilko (1996), to name a few), Martin was unarguably full of surprises, as witnessed in his unsympathetic portrayal in Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1989), his hilariously evil dentist in Little Shop of Horrors (1986), his angst-ridden father in Parenthood (1989), his smooth-talking Italian in My Blue Heaven, and his callow film producer in Grand Canyon (1991) -- though the public still seemed to prefer his standard comic performances in The Three Amigos (1986), Father of the Bride (1991), and L.A. Story (1991). Martin then went out on yet another artistic limb with A Simple Twist of Fate (1994) -- a film update of that high-school English-class perennial Silas Marner. After starring in a very dark role in David Mamet's The Spanish Prisoner (1997) and an unsuccessful return to comedy in The Out-of-Towners (1999), Martin again won acclaim for Bowfinger, a 1999 comedy-satire that cast him as its titular hero, an unsuccessful movie director trying to make a film without the aid of a real script or real star. Martin -- who also wrote the film's screenplay -- played the straight man against Eddie Murphy, once again impressing critics with his versatility. According to rumor, Martin based Heather Graham's character on former flame Ann Heche.In addition to his Hollywood activities, Martin is well-known for his intellectual pursuits. His play Picasso at the Lapin Agile was produced successfully off-Broadway, and he has contributed numerous humor pieces to The New Yorker magazine, and penned the bestselling novella Shopgirl. Martin was also a featured artist in the PBS documentary series Art 21: Art in the 21st Century and discussed the visual arts as an integral form of self-expression. The 2000's found Martin in a slew of smaller roles, including a cameo as a heckler in Remember the Titans (2000), and a supporting role in director Stanely Tucci's historical comedy drama Joe Gould's Secret (2000). In 2001's Novacaine, Martin found himself playing dentist for the second time in his life, though this dentist would be decidedly less sadistic than the one he had played in camp favorite Little Shop of Horrors (1986). Despite an all-star cast (besides Martin, Novacaine featured Oscar-winner Helena Bonham Carter and Laura Dern) the black comedy was dismally received. Luckily, 2003's odd-couple comedy Bringing Down the House with Queen Latifah, rapper and surprising Oscar nominee for her role in Chicago, fared relatively well in theaters. Martin teamed up with the likes of Brendan Fraser, Jenna Elfman, and Bugs Bunny in Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003), in which he plays the evil Mr. Chairman, head of the monolithic Acme Corporation. A film version of Shopgirl starring Martin and Claire Danes is currently slated for a 2005 release. Martin would remain a vital comedic actor in the years to come, appearing in films like Baby Mama and It's Complicated.

Trivia: One of the most versatile and respected actors of his generation, Kevin Kline has made a name for himself on the stage and screen. Equally comfortable in comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of those rare actors whose onscreen characterizations are not overshadowed by his offscreen personality; remarkably free of ego, he has impressed both critics and audiences as a performer in the purest sense of the word.A product of the American Midwest, Kline was born in Saint Louis, MO, on October 24, 1947. He became active in theater while growing up in the Saint Louis suburbs, performing in a number of school productions. He continued to act while a student at Indiana University at Bloomington, and following graduation, moved to New York, where he was accepted at the Juilliard School. In 1972, Kline added professional experience to his formal training when he joined New York's Acting Company, led at the time by John Houseman. He toured the country with the company, performing Shakespeare and winning particular acclaim for his portrayals of Romeo and Hamlet. This praise translated to the New York stage a few years later, when Kline won Tony and Drama Desk Awards for his role in the 1978 Broadway production of On the Twentieth Century. Three years later, he earned these same honors for his work in the Broadway production of The Pirates of Penzance (he later reprised his role for the musical's 1983 film adaptation). After a stint on the soap opera Search for Tomorrow, Kline made his film debut in Alan Pakula's 1982 Sophie's Choice. It was an inarguably auspicious beginning: aside from the wide acclaim lavished on the film, Kline earned a Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of Nathan Landau. The following year, he again struck gold, starring in The Big Chill, Lawrence Kasdan's seminal exploration of baby-boomer anxiety. Two years later, Kline and Kasdan enjoyed another successful collaboration with Silverado, an homage to the Westerns of the 1950s and '60s. After turning in a strong performance as a South African newspaper editor in Cry Freedom, Richard Attenborough's powerful 1987 apartheid drama, Kline won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his relentlessly hilarious portrayal of dimwitted petty thief Otto West in A Fish Called Wanda (1988). The award gave him international recognition and established him as an actor as adept at comedy as he was at drama, something Kline again proved in Soapdish; the 1991 comedy was a major disappointment, but Kline nonetheless managed to turn in another excellent performance, earning a Golden Globe nomination.The '90s saw Kline -- now a married man, having wed actress Phoebe Cates in 1989 -- continue to tackle a range of diverse roles. In 1992, he could be seen playing Douglas Fairbanks in Chaplin, while the next year he gave a winning portrayal of two men -- one, the U.S. President, the other, his reluctant stand-in -- in Dave, earning another Golden Globe nomination. Kline then appeared in one of his most high-profile roles to date, starring as a sexually conflicted schoolteacher in Frank Oz's 1997 comedy In & Out. His portrayal earned him another Golden Globe nomination, as well as a number of other accolades (including an MTV Award nomination for Best Kiss with Tom Selleck). Further praise followed for Kline the next year, when he turned in a stellar dramatic performance as an adulterous family man in 1973 Connecticut in Ang Lee's The Ice Storm. He then turned back to Shakespeare, portraying Bottom in the star-studded 1999 adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream. His work in that film was so well received that it helped to overshadow his involvement in Wild Wild West, one of the most critically lambasted and financially disappointing films of the year.2001 found Kline returning to straight drama in the introspective Life as a House. The actor continued in this niche the following year, starring as an unorthodox prep school teacher in The Emperor's Club. After playing songwriter Cole Porter in the 2004 biopic De-Lovely, Kline began work on his return to comedy, a remake of the classic The Pink Panther, with him cast opposite Steve Martin.Kline played Guy Noir in Robert Altman's film adaptation of the radio program Prairie Home Companion, and fulfilled the hopes of Shakespeare enthusiasts around the world when he appeared in the Kenneth Branagh directed adaptation of As You Like It, marking the first time the two respected Shakespearean performers collaborated on a work by the Bard. Over the next several years, Kline woudl continue to remain a charismatic force on screen, appearing in films like De-Lovely, Definitely, Maybe, The Conspirator, No Strings Attached, Darling Companion, and TV shows like Bob's Burgers.

Trivia: An attractive and talented actress who is as comfortable in historical dramas as in modern day thrillers and comedies, Emily Mortimer was born in Great Britain in 1971. Mortimer's father is author John Mortimer, best known for his series of Rumpole of the Bailey mystery novels, and she seems to have absorbed her father's literary influence -- before her career as an actress took off, Mortimer wrote a column for the London Telegraph, and she's served as screenwriter for an screen adaptation of Lorna Sage's book Bad Blood. Mortimer was a student at the prestigious St. Paul's Girls School when she first developed an interest in acting, appearing in several student productions. After graduating from St. Paul's, she moved on to Oxford, where she majored in Russian. Mortimer found time to perform in several plays while studying at Oxford, and while acting in a student production she impressed a producer who cast her in a supporting role in a television adaptation of Catherine Cookson's The Glass Virgin in 1995. Several more television roles followed, including the British TV movie Sharpe's Sword, before she won her first film role, playing the wife of John Patterson (Val Kilmer) in 1996's The Ghost and the Darkness. Mortimer had a much showier role in the Irish coming-of-age story The Last of the High Kings, released later the same year, and in 1998, Mortimer played Miss Flynn in the TV miniseries Cider With Rosie, which was adapted for television by her father, John Mortimer. Also in 1998, Mortimer appeared as Kat Ashley in the international hit Elizabeth, and in 1999, she enjoyed three showy roles that raised her profile outside the U.K.: She was the ill-fated "Perfect Girl" dropped by Hugh Grant in Notting Hill, appeared as Esther in the American TV miniseries Noah's Ark, and was Angelina, the star of the film-within-a-film, in the upscale slasher flick Scream 3. In 2000, Mortimer was cast as Katherine in Kenneth Branagh's ill-fated musical adaptation of Love's Labour's Lost, but the experience had a happy ending for her -- she met actor Alessandro Nivola, and the two soon fell in love and have been together ever since. That same year, Mortimer took on her biggest role in an American film to date, playing opposite Bruce Willis in The Kid, and 2002 promised to be a big year for her, with major roles in two major releases -- The 51st State, starring opposite Samuel L. Jackson, and a key supporting character in John Woo's war drama Windtalkers.

Trivia: One of Canada's most respected dramatic actors, Henry Czerny (pronounced ChiERRnee) has earned acclaim on stage, television, and in feature films, both in his native land and in Hollywood. Born and raised in Toronto, Czerny cut his professional teeth on Shakespearean and classical theater following his graduation from Canada's National Theater school in 1982. He also occasionally guest starred on such television shows as Night Heat and Hot Shots. His blood-chilling portrayal of an anguished, pedophiliac priest running an orphanage for young boys in the 1993 CBC-produced miniseries The Boys of St. Vincent provided Czerny with the needed star-making turn. The film was a hit and was released theatrically in the U.S. In 1994, the critically acclaimed role earned Czerny a 1994 Canadian Gemini award for "best performance by an actor in a leading role in a dramatic program or miniseries." He appeared in other esteemed television films, including Choices of the Heart: The Margaret Sanger Story, Trial at Fortitude Bay, and Shattered Vows. Czerny entered feature films with small supporting roles in the Canadian-produced police thrillers A Man in Uniform and Cold Sweat (both 1993). He got his break in Hollywood after playing an incestuous father in the CBS telemovie Ultimate Betrayal: The Rodgers Sisters Story (1994). Shortly after signing to the William Morris Agency, he was cast as the manipulative and clever chief of CIA operations opposite Harrison Ford in Clear and Present Danger (1994). The film was a smash hit. Czerny has subsequently been kept very busy, appearing in Canadian and Hollywood feature films and in television movies. His film credits include Jenipapo (1995), Mission: Impossible (1996), The Ice Storm (1997), and Kayla (1998). He continued to work steadily in the 21st century on both the big and small screen in projects such as Possessed, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, the remake of The Pink Panther, The Showtime series The Tudors, and the big-screen adaptation of The A-Team.

Trivia: Any fan of Kristin Chenoweth knows that the musical quality of her lilting timbre is more than just a nice speaking voice: the actress has been one of the most successful and well-known performers on Broadway for the past 15 years. The sprightly 4'11" actress attended Oklahoma City University on a full scholarship to study voice before going on to earn her master's in opera performance. Chenoweth's first Broadway role came in 1997 when she was cast in a production of Molière's Scapin. The next season, she was cast in Steel Pier, winning a Theatre World Award for her performance. Once Chenoweth's stage career was off and running, she quickly became one of the most well-known and best-liked Broadway actresses alive, working constantly and winning several awards, including a Tony for her performance in You're a Good Man Charlie Brown. She was particularly praised for her performance in 2003's Wicked, and her performance of selections from her album Let Yourself Go at a concert for Lincoln Center's fifth American Songbook.Chenoweth began a second career onscreen in 2001 with a short-lived NBC sitcom called Kristin. The mid-season replacement didn't last, but Chenoweth was soon delighting audiences with guest appearances on shows like Frasier, and in 2004, she began a recurring role on the critically acclaimed series The West Wing. In 2005, Nicole Kidman saw Chenoweth in a performance of Wicked and was so impressed with the songstress' talent and charisma that she had her cast in her upcoming film adaptation of Bewitched. This kicked off a series of appearances in comedies for the actress, who proved to have great comic timing. After roles in The Pink Panther, RV, and Deck the Halls, Chenoweth joined the cast of a new TV show called Pushing Daisies, about a man who falls in love with a deceased lady after he discovers how to bring people back from the dead. She followed the tragically cancelled show with a memorable arc on the exceedingly popular musical series Glee, as well as a starring role on the short-lived comedic series CGB. Chenoweth continued to alternate between films, television and the stage (and occasionally released an album) for the next several years.

Trivia: With his dark eyes and small frame, the classically trained British actor Roger Rees was perfectly cast as Nicholas Nickleby in the theatrical production of Dickens' novel. He performed this lead role with the Royal Shakespeare Company, earning him a Tony award, Olivier award, and an Emmy nomination for the televised version in the early '80s. He performed with the company since 1968, when he worked as a scenery painter. Perhaps he is most recognized for his role as Robin Colcord, Kirstie Alley's wealthy jet-set boyfriend on Cheers during the 1989 season. He also had a memorable role as Melvin, the Sheriff of Rotingham in Mel Brooks' Robin Hood: Men in Tights in 1993. Rees continued to work mainly in theater, but he also appeared in several TV movies and sitcoms. He put his crisp British pronunciation to work as a voice actor in several cartoons and books on tape. In 2002, he returned to films with a few featured roles, including Guillermo Kahlo in Julie Taymor's biography Frida. He also landed the starring role of Virginia farmer Nat Banks in the drama Crazy Like a Fox during the same year. Rees had a recurring role on The West Wing, playing the British Ambassador, and later had recurring roles on Grey's Anatomy, Warehouse 13 and Elementary. In 2012, he was nominated for a Tony award for directing Peter and the Starcatcher, and continued to work on the stage until his death. In 2015, he appeared in the musical The Visit, opposite Chita Rivera. He withdrew from the show, for health reasons, in May 2015; he passed away two months later.

Trivia: Primarily known as the most popular R&B singer of the late '90s and 2000s, Beyoncé Knowles has come to be known simply as Beyoncé. Only a few years after establishing herself in the popular consciousness as the new queen of R&B, Knowles was ready to expand beyond her immeasurable voice and larger-than-life stage presence. She set her sights on a movie career, first getting her acting feet wet at the age of 20 with the logical transitional project Carmen: A Hip Hopera, a modern-day version of the Bizet opera Carmen, produced by MTV in 2001.Knowles soon made the transition to the big screen, spending the early 2000s alternating between comedy and projects rooted in her primary interest in music. She made her feature-film acting debut in 2002 with the blaxploitation-parody role of Foxxy Cleopatra in Austin Powers in Goldmember, bringing exuberance to her over-the-top sight gags and Pam Grier-type dialogue. Having made her transition to film without disaster, Knowles next accepted a role in the 2003 low-profile musical comedy The Fighting Temptations, starring opposite Cuba Gooding Jr. Returning to comedy in 2006, the starlet unfortunately ended up with a dud, as the attempted revival of the Pink Panther franchise was a critical disappointment. Co-star Steve Martin was not well received in the role of Inspector Clouseau, made famous by Peter Sellers, but Knowles walked away from the project relatively unscathed.Continuing her pattern, Knowles opted next for another musical film -- and this one would be by far the biggest of her career. She was cast in Dreamgirls, the highly anticipated big-budget screen adaptation of the popular Broadway musical -- providing a chance for her to stretch both her singing and acting abilities to the limit. She would be playing Deena Jones, the character based on Diana Ross in this film à clef about Motown girl group the Supremes. It was hard not to notice how Knowles (the greatest diva of her time) was playing Ross (greatest diva of her own time), who had, in turn, played Billie Holiday (the greatest diva of her own time) in Lady Sings the Blues. Ensuing buzz seemed to overshadow Knowles with excitement over the breakthrough performance of co-star Jennifer Hudson, but when the 2006 Golden Globe nominations were announced, both actresses were nominated -- Knowles for Best Actress and Hudson for Best Supporting Actress. Knowles moved forward, continuing to act in selective projects, like the period biopic Cadillac Records and the romantic thriller Obsessed. In 2013, she co-directed and co-produced Life is But a Dream, an autobiographical film that followed her backstage at several of her concerts.

Trivia: Began Tae Kwon Do training at age 14. Is a kickboxing instructor for the Professional Karate Association. One of his earliest acting roles was in the British soap Doctors, which filmed in his hometown of Birmingham. Frequently collaborates with director Isaac Florentine, beginning with 2003's Special Forces. Tore his ACL six weeks before filming began on Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (2012), but filmed that movie and his next three with it torn so he wouldn't have to back out of any commitments.

Trivia: Lives in the old 1831 Baptist chapel where he was born and raised along with his nine siblings. Came to acting late, as his main ambition was to attend the U.S. Airforce Academy where he was accepted in 1984. He couldn't attend due to a minor knee injury and a space flight is still his life-long ambition. Worked for many years as a professional french horn player. Is fluent in Swedish after spending a year living in Sweden. Co-created a non-for-profits arts venue, Panther Creek Arts, with members of his family in West Fulton, N.Y.

Trivia: Not to be confused with variety-show host Willie Bryant, American general purpose actor William Bryant kept busy in outdoors films. He was featured in such westerns as Ride Beyond Vengeance (1966), Heaven with a Gun (1969) and John Wayne's Chisum (1970). His additional non-western credits include Gable and Lombard (1976), Mountain Family Robinson (1977) (in a leading role) and Corvette Summer (1977). From 1976 through 1978, William Bryant costarred as Lieutenant Shilton on the Robert Wagner/Eddie Albert TV detective series Switch, and also appeared for a time as Lamont Corbin on the daytime serial General Hospital.

Trivia: American filmmaker Blake Edwards was the grandson of J. Gordon Edwards, director of such silent film epics as The Queen of Sheba (1922). Blake started his own film career as an actor in 1943; he played bits in A-movies and leads in B-movies, paying his dues in such trivialities as Gangs of the Waterfront and Strangler of the Swamp (both 1945). He turned to writing radio scripts, distinguishing himself on the above-average Dick Powell detective series Richard Diamond. As a screenwriter and staff producer at Columbia, Edwards was frequently teamed with director Richard Quine for such lightweight entertainment as Sound Off (1952), Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder (1953), and Cruisin' Down the River (1953). He also served as associate producer on the popular syndicated Rod Cameron TV vehicle City Detective the same year. Given his first chance to direct a movie in 1955, Edwards turned out a Richard Quine-like musical, Bring Your Smile Along; ironically, as Edwards' prestige grew, his style would be imitated by Quine. A felicitous contract at Universal led Edwards to his first big box-office successes, including the Tony Curtis film Mister Cory (1957) and Cary Grant's Operation Petticoat (1959).In 1958, Edwards produced, directed, and occasionally wrote for a hip TV detective series, Peter Gunn, which was distinguished by its film noir camerawork and driving jazz score by Henry Mancini. A second series, Mr. Lucky (1959), contained many of the elements that made Peter Gunn popular, but suffered from a bad time slot and network interference. (Lucky was a gambler, a profession frowned upon by the more sanctimonious CBS executives.) The show did, however, introduce Edwards to actor Ross Martin, who later appeared as an asthmatic criminal in Edwards' film Experiment in Terror (1962). Continuing to turn out box-office bonanzas like Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) and Days of Wine and Roses (1962), Edwards briefly jumped on the comedy bandwagon of the mid-'60s with the slapstick epic The Great Race (1965), which the director dedicated to his idols, "Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy." (Edwards' next homage to the duo was the far less successful 1986 comedy A Fine Mess). In 1964, Edwards introduced the bumbling Inspector Clouseau to an unsuspecting world in The Pink Panther, leading to a string of money-spinning Clouseau films starring Peter Sellers; actually, The Pink Panther was Edwards' second Clouseau movie, since A Shot in the Dark, although released after Panther, was filmed first. Despite the carefree spirit and great success of his comedies, Edwards hit a snag with Darling Lili (1969), a World War I musical starring Edwards' wife Julie Andrews. The film was a questionable piece to begin with (audiences were asked to sympathize with a German spy who cheerfully sent young British pilots to their deaths), but was made incomprehensible by Paramount's ruthless editing. Darling Lili sent Edwards career into decline, although he came back with the 1979 comedy hit 10 and the scabrous satirical film S.O.B. (1981). Edwards' track record in the 1980s and '90s was uneven, with such films as Blind Date (1987), Sunset (1988), and Switch (1991). The director was also unsuccessful in his attempts to revive the Pink Panther comedies minus the services of Sellers (who had died in 1980) as Clouseau. Still, Edwards always seemed able to find someone to bankroll his projects. And he left something of a legacy to Hollywood through his actress daughter Jennifer Edwards and screenwriter son Geoffrey Edwards.In 2004, just when the world began to think it might never again hear from Edwards, the filmmaker gave a slapsticky acceptance speech in response to an honorary Academy Award. He died six years later, of complications from pneumonia, at the age of 88.

Trivia: Though Oscar-nominated cinematographer Phil Lathrop lensed over 70 major films, he had his greatest success filming television movies. In the latter field, Lathrop received four Emmy nominations and two Emmys, one for Malice in Wonderland (1985) and Christmas Snow. He was twice nominated for the Oscar for The Americanization of Emily (1964) and Earthquake (1974). Lathrop started out helping cameramen at Universal Studios. While there, he was mentored by several experienced lighting directors, including, Hal Mohr, Billy Daniels, Joe Valentine, and Milt Krasner. For an entire decade, Lathrop studied under and assisted Russ Metty. Their collaborations culminated with Orson Welles' Touch of Evil (1958). As a full-fledged cinematographer, Lathrop began by filming live-action sequences for animator Walter Lantz. Lathrop then teamed with director Blake Edwards to photograph the television series Peter Gunn. The lead cameraman continued a long association with Edwards and for the director shot films such as Days of Wine and Roses (1962) and The Pink Panther (1964). Other notable features in Lathrop's filmography include They Shoot Horses Don't They? (1969). Lathrop shot his last film, Little Girl Lost in 1988. In 1991, Philip H. Lathrop, a former co-chairman of the ASC Outstanding Achievement Awards committee, was honored by his peers with a special Lifetime Achievement award.

Trivia: American composer Henry Mancini was introduced to music by his Italian immigrant father, who tutored young Mancini on piano and flute. After World War II service, Mancini attended Carnegie Tech and Juilliard, played piano with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, and ultimately became a staff composer at Universal, writing snatches of music for everything from the studio's newsreels to the Abbott and Costello comedies. In 1954, he was given the opportunity to arrange the music for a film that might well have qualified as a labor of love: The Glenn Miller Story. The Academy Award nomination he received for this effort elevated Mancini's industry status, as did his long association with producer/director Blake Edwards. When Mancini wrote the jazzy theme music for Edwards' TV series Peter Gunn and Mr. Lucky, Mancini was so proud and protective of his work that he had a clause in his contract prohibiting the networks from running spoken "plugs" for upcoming programs over the closing-credit music. Mancini went on to win Oscars for his contributions to the Blake Edwards-directed films Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), for which he wrote "Moon River"; Days of Wine and Roses (1962); and Victor/Victoria (1982). He also composed the theme to the popular television series Newhart (1982-90). The composer managed to put 20 Grammies on his shelf before his death in 1994. Though arguably the best-known film composer of his time, Henry Mancini was still modest enough in 1989 to title his autobiography Did They Mention the Music?