Trivia: Forceful, solidly constructed Australian actor Keith Michell had been an art teacher before climbing upon the stage in 1947. In films from the early 1950s, Michell's best movie effort was the 1961 swashbuckler The Hellfire Club. Blessed with a robust singing voice, he has starred in several London stagings of Broadway musicals, notably Irma La Douce, Man of La Mancha and On the 20th Century. From 1973 through 1977, Michell was artistic director of the Chichester Theatre Festival. In 1971, Michell won several international awards (including an American Emmy) for his virtuoso star turn in the BBC TV miniseries The Six Wives of Henry VIII. Devotees of TV's Murder She Wrote will recall Keith Michell's recurring role as avuncular reformed jewel thief Dennis Stanton during the series' 1990-91 season. He reprised his role of Henry VIII in the 1996 miniseries The Prince and the Pauper. Michell died in 2015.

Trivia: Red-headed, ruddy-faced American supporting actor Ken Swofford made his movie debut in 1964's Father Goose. Swofford hit his peak on television in the 1970s and 1980s, playing explosive, loudmouthed, stuffy types. He was brilliant as Winchell-like columnist Frank Flannagan in the weekly 1975 version of Ellery Queen, then went on to essay subtler variations of this character in Switch (1975-78) and The Eddie Capra Mysteries (1978-79). He was one of the singular delights of the syndicated version of Fame (1983-87), as the kids' perennial nemesis, vice-principal Morloch. Off camera, the affable Swofford got along famously with his young Fame co-stars, and was one of the series' biggest boosters on the promotional-tour circuit. More recently, Ken Swofford was seen in the recurring role of Lt. Capalano in Murder She Wrote (1984-96).

Trivia: American actor James J. Sloyan's first film was 1970's The Travelling Executioner; he subsequently played major feature roles in films as diverse as The Sting (1973) and Xanadu (1980). Sloyan was a regular on TV's Westside Medical (1977, top-billed as Dr. Sam Lanagan) and Oh Madeline (1987, as Charlie Wayne, husband of series star Madeline Kahn), and a semi-regular as insurance investigator Robert Butler on the 1990-91 season of Murder She Wrote. His many TV-movie roles include Ronald Ziegler in 1978's Blind Ambition. These days, Sloyan is a habitue of science fiction shows, with guest spots on The X-Files, Strange Luck, and all three of the latter-day Star Trek incarnations (The Next Generation, Deep Space 9 and Voyager). James J. Sloyan is married to actress Deirdre Lanahan.

Trivia: Though perhaps best remembered for playing the suave, mysterious Mr. Roarke on the popular television series Fantasy Island (1978-1984), and for his car commercials in which he seductively exhorted the pleasures of the upholstery ("Rich, Corinthian leather") in his distinctive Spanish accent, Ricardo Montalban once played romantic leads in major features of the '40s and '50s. He also had a successful career on-stage. Born Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalban y Merino in Mexico City, Montalban spent part of his youth in the U.S. The tall, dark, handsome, and curly haired actor first worked as a bit player on Broadway before returning to Mexico in the early '40s and launching a film career there. By 1947, he had returned to the States and signed with MGM. That year, Montalban played his first leading role opposite Cyd Charisse in the romantic musical Fiesta (1947). It would be the first of many roles in which he would play a passionate singing and dancing "Latin Lover." He and Charisse again teamed up as dancers in the Esther Williams musical water extravaganza in On an Island With You (1948). At one point, it was a toss-up between Montalban and fellow MGM "LL" Fernando Lamas as to which was more popular. It would not be until 1949 before Montalban had the opportunity to play a non-romantic role as a border agent who gets revenge upon the killers of his partner in Border Incident. His second serious role in Battleground (1949) ranks among his best performances. By the late '50s, he had become a character actor, often cast in ethnic roles, notably that of a genteel Japanese Kabuki actor in Sayonara (1957). He had occasionally appeared on television since the late '50s, but did not appear regularly until the mid-'70s. In 1976, Montalban earned an Emmy for his portrayal of a Sioux chief in the television miniseries How the West Was Won. In the early '70s he was part of a touring troupe that read dramatic excerpts from Shaw's Don Juan in Hell. In 1982, Montalban reprised a role he had made famous on the original Star Trek TV series as the ruthless Khan to star in the second Star Trek feature, The Wrath of Khan. In the '80s, Montalban only sporadically appeared in feature films. His television career also slowed, though he occasionally appeared on series such as The Colbys (1985-1987) and Heaven Help Us! (1994). Montalban has written an autobiography, Reflections: A Life in Two Worlds (1980). Confined to a wheelchair after a 1993 spinal operation left him paralyzed from the waist down, Montalban remiained in good health despite being in constant pain, and continued to play an active role in promoting Nostros - a non-profit organization founded by Montalban in 1970 and dedicated to improving the image of Latinos within the entertainment industry. In the late 1990s and early 2000s Moltalban's career recieved something of a second wind when he began performing vocal work on such animated television series' as Freakazoid!, Dora the Explorer, and Kim Possible, with a role as the kindly grandfather in Robert Rodriguez's Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams and Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over even giving the wheelchair-bound actor an opportunity to triumphantly rise once again thanks to the magic of special effects. Additional vocal work in the 2006 animated family adventure The Ant Bully continued to keep Montalban busy despite his physical limitations. His brother, Carlos Montalban, was also an actor.

Trivia: A leading lady of American plays and film, Neal studied drama in college and worked as a model before debuting on Broadway in The Voice of the Turtle (1946). Her performance in the play Another Part of the Forest got the attention of Hollywood, and she made her screen debut in the light farce John Loves Mary (1949); that same year she was impressive in The Fountainhead opposite Gary Cooper, whom she later said was the great love of her life. After marrying British writer Roald Dahl in 1953 she disappeared from the screen for several years, returning in 1957's A Face in the Crowd, after which she was more selective in choosing her film roles. For her performance in Hud (1963) she won the Best Actress Oscar. In 1965 she suffered a massive series of strokes that left her confined to a wheelchair, semi-paralyzed and nearly unable to speak; she made a remarkable recovery over several years, returning to the screen in The Subject Was Roses (1968), for which she received another Best Actress Oscar nomination. Also in 1968, she was presented by President Johnson with the "Heart of the Year" Award. Neal underwent two other tragedies in her life: as a baby, one of her children was hit by a cab and underwent eight brain operations, and another died of measles at age 13. Later in life, after divorcing Dahl, she underwent a much-publicized conversion to Christianity and published an autobiography, As I Am. Neal died at age 84 in the summer of 2010.

Trivia: Actor Stephen Caffrey is primarily a television actor who has been active since the mid-'80s and has appeared in series, miniseries, and made-for-TV movies. He had a recurring role as Andrew Cortlandt on the ABC daytime soap All My Children (1984-1986). He spent three years playing Lieutenant Myron Goldman on the television series Tour of Duty. Caffrey also directed a few episodes of this show.

Trivia: Best known to audiences as reporter Amy Allen on the hit series The A-Team, Chicago native Melinda Culea began her career in show business as a model in the early '80s. Unsatisfied with mere posing, she soon left her agency in New York to pursue a career as a TV actress in L.A., where she scored roles on numerous shows like Family Ties, St. Elsewhere, and Knots Landing.

Trivia: Angela Lansbury received an Oscar nomination for her first film, Gaslight, in 1944, and has been winning acting awards and audience favor ever since. Born in London to a family that included both politicians and performers, Lansbury came to the U.S. during World War II. She made notable early film appearances as the snooty sister in National Velvet (1944); the pathetic singer in The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), which garnered her another Academy nomination; and the madam-with-a-heart-of-gold saloon singer in The Harvey Girls (1946). She turned evil as the manipulative publisher in State of the Union (1948), but was just as convincing as the good queen in The Three Musketeers (1948) and the petulant daughter in The Court Jester (1956). She received another Oscar nomination for her chilling performance as Laurence Harvey's scheming mother in The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and appeared as the addled witch in Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971), among other later films. On Broadway, she won Tony awards for the musicals Mame (1966), Dear World (1969), the revival of Gypsy (1975), Sweeney Todd (1979) and, at age 82, for the play Blithe Spirit (2009). Despite a season in the '50s on the game show Pantomime Quiz, she came to series television late, starring in 1984-1996 as Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote; she took over as producer of the show in the '90s. She returned to the Disney studios to record the voice of Mrs. Potts in Beauty and the Beast (1991) and to sing the title song and later reprised the role in the direct-to-video sequel, The Enchanted Christmas (1997). Lansbury is the sister of TV producer Bruce Lansbury.

Trivia: While growing up in Chicago, Tom Bosley dreamed of becoming the star left-fielder for the Cubs. As it turned out, the closest Bosley got to organized athletics was a sportscasting class at DePauw University. After additional training at the Radio Institute of Chicago and two years' practical experience in various dramatic radio programs and stock companies, he left for New York in 1950. Five years of odd jobs and summer-theater stints later, he landed his first off-Broadway role, playing Dupont-Dufort in Jean Anouilh's Thieves' Carnival. Steadier work followed at the Arena Theatre in Washington, D.C.; then in 1959, Bosley landed the starring role in the Broadway musical Fiorello!, picking up a Tony Award, an ANTA Award, and the New York Drama Critics Award in the bargain. In 1963, he made his film bow as Natalie Wood's "safe and secure" suitor Anthony Colombo in Love With the Proper Stranger. Occasionally cast as two-bit criminals or pathetic losers (he sold his eyes to blind millionairess Joan Crawford in the Spielberg-directed Night Gallery TV movie), Bosley was most often seen as a harried suburban father. After recurring roles on such TV series as That Was the Week That Was, The Debbie Reynolds Show, and The Sandy Duncan Show, Bosley was hired by Hanna-Barbera to provide the voice of flustered patriarch Howard Boyle on the animated sitcom Wait Til Your Father Gets Home (1972-1973). This served as a dry run of sorts for his most famous series-TV assignment: Howard Cunningham, aka "Mr. C," on the immensely popular Happy Days (1974-1983). The warm, familial ambience of the Happy Days set enabled Bosley to weather the tragic death of his first wife, former dancer Jean Elliot, in 1978. In addition to his Happy Days duties, Bosley was narrator of the syndicated documentary That's Hollywood (1977-1981). From 1989 to 1991, he starred on the weekly series The Father Dowling Mysteries, and thereafter was seen on an occasional basis as down-to-earth Cabot Cove sheriff Amos Tupper on Murder, She Wrote. Reportedly as kind, generous, and giving as his Happy Days character, Tom Bosley has over the last 20 years received numerous honors for his many civic and charitable activities.

Trivia: Aaron Heyman occasionally worked on stage and in feature films, but he spent most of his acting career as a guest star on such television series as Empty Nest and Frasier. He also appeared on the soap opera General Hospital. His film credits include Witch Hunt (1994).