Trivia: The son of a Lithuanian coal miner, American actor Charles Bronson claimed to have spoken no English at home during his childhood in Pennsylvania. Though he managed to complete high school, it was expected that Bronson would go into the mines like his father and many brothers. Experiencing the world outside Pennsylvania during World War II service, however, Bronson came back to America determined to pursue an art career. While working as a set designer for a Philadelphia theater troupe, Bronson played a few small roles and almost immediately switched his allegiance from the production end of theater to acting. After a few scattered acting jobs in New York, Bronson enrolled in the Pasadena Playhouse in 1949. By 1951, he was in films, playing uncredited bits in such pictures as The People Against O'Hara (1951); You're in the Navy Now (1952), which also featured a young bit actor named Lee Marvin; Diplomatic Courier (1952); Bloodhounds of Broadway (1952), as a waiter(!); and The Clown (1953). When he finally achieved billing, it was under his own name, Charles Buchinsky (sometimes spelled Buchinski). His first role of importance was as Igor, the mute granite-faced henchman of deranged sculptor Vincent Price in House of Wax (1953). The actor was billed as Charles Bronson for the first time in Drum Beat (1954), although he was still consigned to character roles as Slavs, American Indians, hoodlums, and convicts. Most sources claim that Bronson's first starring role was in Machine Gun Kelly (1958), but, in fact, he had the lead in 1958's Gang War, playing an embryonic version of his later Death Wish persona as a mild-mannered man who turned vengeful after the death of his wife. Bronson achieved his first fan following with the TV series Man With a Camera (1959), in which he played adventurous photojournalist Mike Kovac (and did double duty promoting the sponsor's camera products in the commercials). His best film role up until 1960 was as one of The Magnificent Seven (1960), dominating several scenes despite the co-star competition of Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Eli Wallach, and others. Most of Bronson's film roles after Seven remained in the "supporting-villainy category," however, so, in 1968, the actor packed himself off to Europe, where American action players like Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef were given bigger and better opportunities. Multiplying his international box-office appeal tenfold with such films as Guns for San Sebastian (1967), Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), Cold Sweat (1970), and The Valachi Papers (1971), Bronson returned to Hollywood a full-fledged star at last. His most successful films of the 1970s were Death Wish (1974) and its sequels, a series of brutal "vigilante" pictures which suggested not so subliminally that honest people would ultimately have to dole out their own terminal justice to criminals. In many of his '70s films, Bronson co-starred with second wife Jill Ireland, with whom he remained married until she lost her fight against cancer in 1990. Bronson's bankability subsequently fell off, due in part to younger action stars doing what he used to do twice as vigorously, and because of his truculent attitude toward fans. He did little but television work after 1991's The Indian Runner (Sean Penn's directorial debut), with Death Wish 5: The Face of Death (1994) his only feature since. Bronson's onscreen career would soon draw to a close with his role as law enforcing family patriarch Paul Fein in the made-for-cable Family of Cops series.On August 30, 2003 Charles Bronson died of pneumonia in Los Angeles. He was 81.

Trivia: Ventura City College grad Jan-Michael Vincent had just finished serving in the National Guard when he was tapped for potential film stardom by a talent agent. At first billed simply as Michael Vincent, the novice actor's "official" screen debut was the 1968 western Journey to Shiloh, though in fact he'd already had a shakedown cruise, as it were, in the Mexican film Los Bandidos (1967). He went on to co-star in the "Danger Island" segment of Hanna-Barbera's Saturday morning TV show The Banana Splits Adventure Hour, and in the prime time serial The Survivors (1969) before graduating to stardom as the hippie-dippie Marine recruit in the popular TV movie Tribes (1970). Subsequent film assignments like The Mechanic (1972) and Bite the Bullet (1975) seemed to bode well for his future as a "reluctant hero" action star, while his work in such productions as Buster and Billie (1974) proved that he had an acting range far beyond that of your usual beefcake hunk. Jan-Michael Vincent enjoyed a successful run as taciturn maverick pilot Stringfellow Hawke in the TV series Airwolf (1984-86) before becoming a fixture in such direct-to-video yarns like Hidden Obsession and Indecent Behavior (both 1993).

Trivia: Actor Keenan Wynn was the son of legendary comedian Ed Wynn and actress Hilda Keenan, and grandson of stage luminary Frank Keenan. After attending St. John's Military Academy, Wynn obtained his few professional theatrical jobs with the Maine Stock Company. After overcoming the "Ed Wynn's Son" onus (his father arranged his first job, with the understanding that Keenan would be on his own after that), Wynn developed into a fine comic and dramatic actor on his own in several Broadway plays and on radio. He was signed to an MGM contract in 1942, scoring a personal and professional success as the sarcastic sergeant in 1944's See Here Private Hargrove (1944). Wynn's newfound popularity as a supporting actor aroused a bit of jealousy from his father, who underwent professional doldrums in the 1940s; father and son grew closer in the 1950s when Ed, launching a second career as a dramatic actor, often turned to his son for moral support and professional advice. Wynn's film career flourished into the 1960s and 1970s, during which time he frequently appeared in such Disney films as The Absent-Minded Professor (1960) and The Love Bug (1968) as apoplectic villain Alonso Hawk. Wynn also starred in such TV series as Troubleshooters and Dallas. Encroaching deafness and a drinking problem plagued Wynn in his final years, but he always delivered the goods onscreen. Wynn was the father of writer/director Tracy Keenan Wynn and writer/actor Edmund Keenan (Ned) Wynn.

Trivia: A dancer from age 12, British performer Jill Ireland became an audience favorite in her teens thanks to her many engagements at the London Palladium. Signed to a Rank Organization contract in 1955, Ireland made her first screen appearance as a ballerina in Oh, Rosalind. In 1957, Ireland married actor David McCallum, with whom she would later appear in several Man From UNCLE TV episodes. Her second husband was action star Charles Bronson, whom she married in 1967. From 1970 onward, Ireland seldom appeared onscreen without her husband; their best collaborative efforts include Hard Times (1975) and From Noon Til Three. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 1984, Ireland underwent a mastectomy, gaining the respect of friends and fans alike for her courage in the face of death: she wrote a book on her recovery, Life Wish, in 1987, and served as chairperson of the National Cancer Society. Ireland then devoted herself to rehabilitating her adopted son Jason McCallum, who had become a drug addict. She penned another book called Life Lines, this one devoted to her struggle to bring her son back to health. His death from an overdose in 1989 weakened Ireland's already precarious physical state. Refusing to surrender to despair, Ireland was busy at work on her third book of reminiscences, Life Times, when she died in 1990. One year later, a TV biopic, Reason for Living: The Jill Ireland Story was telecast, with Jill Clayburgh as Ireland and Lance Henriksen as Charles Bronson (though not so named, as Bronson was dead-set against the film and refused to allow his name to be mentioned onscreen).

Trivia: Lindsay Crosby was the son of Bing and Dixie Lee Crosby. Like his brothers Gary, Dennis and Phillip, Lindsay attempted an acting career in films and while he played supporting roles in a few features of the '60s and early '70s, his career was unsuccessful. Crosby took his life in 1989 because he ran out of money and couldn't support his family. Ironically, he had a large trust fund from his father, but in his will, the elder Crosby stipulated that none of his kids could access their money until they were 65.

Trivia: Stunt man/bit player Alan R. Gibbs has performed numerous exciting bits during the '70s and '80s. During the latter decade, he frequently doubled for Jack Nicholson in such films as The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981) and The Witches of Eastwick (1987). One of his more famous stunts was a car jump in Smokey and the Bandit (1977); a film for which Gibbs also worked as a second unit director. Later, he resumed directing second units and working as a stunt coordinator in such films as The River (1984) and Crocodile Dundee II (1988).

Trivia: The only child of a Navy Commander, American actress Celeste Yarnell was given her first name because (as the actress told TV Guide in 1968) her mother thought she was "celestial." Cashing in early on her cool-blonde beauty, Yarnell was the last winner of the Miss Rheingold crown (the contest was sponsored by a New York-based brewery), a fashion model, and a bit actress in the years before she met her future husband, Sheldon Silverstein, at a Hollywood party. Silverstein became her manager and schemed to turn his new client into the next Raquel Welch by squiring her around at the Cannes Film Festival. The result was a slew of magazine cover appearances and the starring role in a British-Spanish "nudie" jungle movie titled Eve (1968), which showed Yarnell's physical attributes, if not her acting skills, to good advantage. She later appeared in Live a Little, Love a Little (1968) opposite Elvis Presley, but the bulk of Yarnell's work in the late '60s was on TV shows like It Takes a Thief, Land of the Giants, and Star Trek. Yarnell never truly got past the "This Year's Blonde" stage, and by the '70s was being featured in blood-spattered horror pictures and Philippine-made adventure quickies. Like many former starlets, Celeste Yarnell left the business for the more financially rewarding -- and less exploitative -- world of real estate.

Trivia: American actress Athena Lorde has played numerous supporting roles on television, stage, radio, and feature films. Her children, Eric Boles and Barbara Boles, are both actors as is her husband, Jim Boles.

Trivia: Howard Morton played character and supporting roles on stage, screen, and television. It is in the latter medium that he is best-remembered, especially for the roles he played for popular '70s producer Norman Lear. For Lear, Morton appeared frequently on All in the Family, The Jeffersons, and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. Fans of the NBC sitcom Gimme a Break will know Morton for playing police officer Ralph. He made his feature film debut in The Mechanic (1972). Morton suffered a stroke and died on May 11, 1997, at the age of 71.

Trivia: Of Latin extraction, actor Frank DeKova possessed the indeterminate but sharply chiselled facial features that allowed him to play a wide range of ethnic types, from East Indian to American Indian. His first film appearance was as a gravel-voiced gangster in 1951's The Mob. He was busiest in westerns, closing out his film career with 1975's Johnny Firecloud. Frank DeKova has endeared himself to two generations of TV fans with his performance as peace-loving Hekawi Indian chief Wild Eagle on the 1960s TV sitcom F Troop.

Trivia: Irish stage actor Patrick O'Moore began his film career in 1934, playing a few leads in English films before settling in Hollywood. A close friend of actor Humphrey Bogart, O'Moore was seen to good advantage in such Bogart features as Sahara (1943) and Conflict (1945). Otherwise, most of his film roles were unbilled bits as clerks, constables, government officials, and military men. He kept active into the 1980s, playing small parts in such TV productions as QB VII and theatrical features as The Sword and the Sorcerer. Patrick O'Moore was at one time married to Broadway musical-comedy star Zelma O'Neal.

Trivia: Ernie Orsatti performed stunts and played supporting roles in films of the '70s, '80s, and '90s.

Trivia: Born in Council Bluffs, Iowa in 1914, character actress Louise Fitch starred in such 1950s cult favorites as Blood of Dracula and I Was A Teenage Werewolf (both 1957). During this period in her career, she billed herself as Louise Lewis. Her acting career began in television's earliest years when she performed in such productions as Playhouse 90 and Climax Theater. Fitch was blacklisted for being a Communist in 1953 and this significantly hindered her career over the next decade. She made a comeback in 1963 as a regular on the NBC soap opera Paradise Bay. She would continue on to appear in a number of television programs ranging from General Hospital to Murder She Wrote. Fitch's feature film career picked up in the late '60s and early '70s and she appeared in such films as They Shoot Horses Don't They (1969), Opening Night (1977), and True Confessions (1980). Fitch was the first wife of longtime character actor/leading man Robert H. Harris. She passed away in her Venice, CA, home on September 20, 1986 at age 81.