Trivia: American actor/singer Gordon MacRae went from winning a hometown talent contest to singing at the 1939 New York World's Fair at the age of 18. Following stage and cabaret work, MacRae was introduced to film audiences via The Big Punch (1948). His robust baritone obscuring his acting defiencies, MacRae became Warner Bros.' resident male songbird in the early 1950s: he was teamed several times with Doris Day and headlined such Technicolor musicfests as About Face (1952) and The Desert Song (1953). In 1955, MacRae was selected to play Curley in the splashy, Todd-AO film version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! (1955), where he set female hearts aflutter with such standards as "Surrey with the Fringe on Top," "Oh What a Beautiful Mornin'," "People Will Say We're in Love," and the title song. Though he registered well in Oklahoma, MacRae was not the first choice for Billy Bigelow in the 1956 filmization of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel. Frank Sinatra was to have played the irresponsible carnival barker Billy Bigelow, but a combination of throat problems and pressing prior commitments forced Sinatra to bow out, allowing MacRae to play what would be his best film role, and to sing Carousel's immortal "Soliloquy." MacRae left films in 1956 in favor of concert work and TV assignments, in which the singer appeared regularly on The Colgate Comedy Hour, Lux Video Theatre, and (surprise, surprise) The Gordon MacRae Show. At the time of his death, MacRae had been divorced for many years from Sheila MacRae, a multitalented performer in her own right; Gordon and Sheila were the parents of actresses Heather and Meredith MacRae.

Trivia: A singer almost from the time she learned to talk, American actress Shirley Jones was entered by her vocal coach in the Miss Pittsburgh contest at age 18. The attendant publicity led Jones to an audition with Rodgers and Hammerstein for potential stage work. Much taken by Jones' beautifully trained voice, the producers cast her as the leading lady in the expensive, prestigious film production of their theatrical smash Oklahoma! (1955). In 1956 Jones starred in another Rodgers and Hammerstein film adaptation, Carousel; this and her first film tended to limit her to sweet, peaches 'n' cream roles for the next several years. Thankfully, and with the full support of director Richard Brooks, Jones was able to break away from her screen stereotype with her role as a vengeful prostitute in Elmer Gantry (1960) -- a powerfully flamboyant performance that won her an Academy Award. Alas, filmgoers preferred the "nice" Shirley, and it was back to goody-goody roles in such films as The Music Man (1962) and A Ticklish Affair (1963) -- though critics heartily praised Jones' performances in these harmless confections. It was again for Brooks that Shirley had her next major dramatic film role, in 1969's The Happy Ending, which represented one of her last movie appearances before her four-year TV stint as the glamorous matriarch of The Partridge Family. This popular series did less for Shirley than it did for her stepson, teen idol David Cassidy, but The Partridge Family is still raking in ratings (and residuals) on the rerun circuit. Her unhappy marriage to the late actor Jack Cassidy long in the past, Jones found domestic stability as the wife of actor/agent Marty Ingels, with whom she wrote a refreshingly candid dual biography. The actress also played a recurring character on The Drew Carey Show (1998-1999), and appeared in numerous documentaries throughout the 2000s. Jones had a supporting role in 2006's Grandma's Boy, and guest roles on shows like Cougar Town and Raising Hope.

Trivia: The son of a Pennsylvania minister, actor Cameron Mitchell first appeared on Broadway in 1934, in the Lunts' modern-dress version of Taming of the Shrew. He served as a bombardier during World War II, and for a brief period entertained thoughts of becoming a professional baseball player (he allegedly held an unsigned contract with the Detroit Tigers until the day he died). Mitchell was signed to an MGM contract in 1945, but stardom would elude him until he appeared as Happy in the original 1949 Broadway production of Death of the Salesman. He re-created this role for the 1951 film version, just before signing a long-term contract with 20th Century Fox. Throughout the 1950s, Mitchell alternated between likeable characters (the unpretentious business executive in How to Marry a Millionaire [1952]) and hissable ones (Jigger Craigin in Carousel [1956]); his best performance, in the opinion of fans and critics alike, was as drug-addicted boxer Barney Ross in the 1957 biopic Monkey on My Back. Beginning in the 1960s, Mitchell adroitly sidestepped the IRS by appearing in dozens of Spanish and Italian films, only a few of which were released in the U.S. He also starred in three TV series: The Beachcomber (1961), The High Chapparal (1969-1971), and Swiss Family Robinson (1976). Mitchell spent the better part of the 1970s and 1980s squandering his talents in such howlers as The Toolbox Murders, though there were occasional bright moments, notably his performance as a neurotic mob boss in 1982's My Favorite Year. A note for trivia buffs: Cameron Mitchell also appeared in the first CinemaScope film, The Robe (1953). Mitchell was the voice of Jesus in the Crucifixion scene.

Trivia: American actress Barbara Ruick, the daughter of actor Melville Ruick, played leading roles in several musical comedies during the 1950s including Carousel (1956).

Trivia: Canadian-born Gene Lockhart made his first stage appearance at age 6; as a teenager, he appeared in comedy sketches with another fledgling performer, Beatrice Lillie. Lockhart's first Broadway production was 1916's Riviera. His later credits on the Great White Way included Eugene O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesmen, in which Lockhart replaced Lee J. Cobb in the role of Willy Loman. In between acting assignments, Lockhart taught stage technique at the Juilliard School of Music. A prolific writer, Lockhart turned out a number of magazine articles and song lyrics, and contributed several routines to the Broadway revue Bunk of 1926, in which he also starred. After a false start in 1922, Lockhart launched his film career in 1934. His most familiar screen characterization was that of the cowardly criminal who cringed and snivelled upon being caught; he also showed up in several historical films as small-town stuffed shirts and bigoted disbelievers in scientific progress. When not trafficking in petty villainy, Lockhart was quite adept at roles calling for whimsy and confusion, notably Bob Cratchit in the 1938 version of A Christmas Carol and the beleaguered judge in A Miracle on 34th Street (1947). Extending his activities to television, Lockhart starred in the 1955 "dramedy" series His Honor, Homer Bell. Gene Lockhart was the husband of character actress Kathleen Lockhart, the father of leading lady June Lockhart, and the grandfather of 1980s ingenue Anne Lockhart.

Trivia: On stage since 1943, American actress Audrey Christie entered films with 1952's Deadline USA. She settled into a series of brittle roles as "other women," supercilious society dragons, or blowsy older ladies whom the younger hero had unwisely taken up with. Examples of Christie's screen personae include her performance in Carousel (1956) as Mrs. Mullins, the employer and erstwhile lover of ne'er-do-well carney barker Billy Bigelow (Gordon MacRae). In 1961's Splendor in the Grass, Christie was the frustrated, authoritarian mother of mixed-up teenager Natalie Wood, whose nastiness all but forced Wood into her tryst with Warren Beatty. A more glamorous but no less unpleasant Christie appeared in The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964), as a pretentious Denver society leader whose snooty attitude towards nouveau riche Molly Brown (Debbie Reynolds) earns her a pie in the face. Audrey Christie also did plenty of television, including a stint on the very early live comedy Young and Gay (1950), and an (uncharacteristic) nice role as Eddie Foy Jr.'s patient wife on the 1962 sitcom Fair Exchange.

Trivia: Dancer/actress/singer Susan Luckey has spent most of her career working on the stage, but her screen appearances, though few, have included some extraordinarily memorable work. Born in Hollywood, she made her first stage appearance at the age of six, in a Christmas play staged by the Plummer Park Players. She studied at the American School of Dance and at 14 was earning a living as a performer. She was a member of the Los Angeles and San Francisco Light Opera companies, and her Broadway credits as a teenager included the Peter Pan production starring Mary Martin. Luckey was signed by MGM in the mid-'50s and played a small role in that studio's musical biography of Sigmund Romberg, Deep in My Heart. It was 20th Century Fox's production of Carousel, however, that marked a major break for Luckey as a performer. She was cast in the role of Louise, which presented her in a dance sequence so moving (under Agnes De Mille's choreography) that it was one of the highpoints of the otherwise troubled movie. A small acting role followed in the dramatic, topical Ginger Rogers vehicle Teenage Rebel (in which she was billed as Suzanne Luckey), after which she joined the national touring company of Meredith Willson's The Music Man. She had help in all of these career moves from her drama coach, the actress Kay Hammond, best remembered for her work in the movie Blithe Spirit. The Music Man was choreographed by Onna White, who had been engaged to direct the dancing in the David Merrick-produced stage musical Take Me Along. Making note of Luckey's portrayal of Zeneeta, the mayor's daughter, in The Music Man, White recommended Luckey as the ingenue in Take Me Along. Two years later, when Warner Bros. began work on the film version of The Music Man, the studio miraculously chose to use a major contingent of the creative and performing team from the theatrical production, including original director Morton Da Costa, and Luckey was one of the theater company members tagged by him for the film, in which she once again essayed the role of Zeneeta. Apart from those major featured parts in Carousel and The Music Man, most of Luckey's work was confined to the stage and television. She re-emerged in the spotlight in 1998 to participate on camera, along with Shirley Jones, Onna White, and Buddy Hackett, in the 30-minute documentary Right Here in River City, telling of the making of The Music Man.

Trivia: Starting out as an assistant animator at the Walt Disney studios, John Dehner went on to work as a professional pianist, Army publicist, and radio journalist. From 1944 until the end of big-time radio in the early '60s, Dehner was one of the busiest and best performers on the airwaves. He guested on such series as Gunsmoke, Suspense, Escape, and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, and starred as British news correspondent J.B. Kendall on Frontier Gentleman (1958) and as Paladin in the radio version of Have Gun Will Travel (1958-1960). On Broadway, he appeared in Bridal Crown and served as director of Alien Summer. In films from 1944, Dehner played character roles ranging from a mad scientist in The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters (1954) to Sheriff Pat Garrett in The Left-Handed Gun (1958) to publisher Henry Luce in The Right Stuff (1983). Though he played the occasional lead, Dehner's cocked-eyebrow imperiousness generally precluded any romantic entanglements; he once commented with pride that, in all his years as an actor, he never won nor kissed the heroine. As busy on TV as elsewhere, Dehner was seen regularly on such series as The Betty White Show (1954), The Westerner (1960), The Roaring '20s (1961), The Baileys of Balboa (1964), The Doris Day Show (1968), The Don Knotts Show (1969), Temperatures Rising (1973-1974), Big Hawaii (1977), Young Maverick (1979-1980), and Enos (1980-1981). He also essayed such TV-movie roles as Dean Acheson in The Missiles of October (1974). Working almost up to the end, John Dehner died of emphysema and diabetes at the age of 76.

Trivia: American character actor William Le Massena primarily worked on stage, but also made infrequent appearances in films and on television from the '50s. Films included Carousel (1956) and The World of Henry Orient (1964). Towards the end of his life, Le Massena worked on the soap opera As the World Turns.

Trivia: Very early in his stage career, Richard Deacon was advised by Helen Hayes to abandon all hopes of becoming a leading man: instead, she encouraged him to aggressively pursue a career as a character actor. Tall, bald, bespectacled and bass-voiced since high school, Deacon heeded Ms. Hayes' advice, and managed to survive in show business far longer than many of the "perfect" leading men who were his contemporaries. Usually cast as a glaring sourpuss or humorless bureaucrat, Deacon was a valuable and highly regarded supporting-cast commodity in such films as Desiree (1954), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Kiss Them For Me (1957), The Young Philadelphians (1959) and The King's Pirate (1967), among many others. Virtually every major star who worked with Deacon took time out to compliment him on his skills: among his biggest admirers were Lou Costello, Jack Benny and Cary Grant. Even busier on television than in films, Richard Deacon had the distinction of appearing regularly on two concurrently produced sitcoms of the early 1960s: he was pompous suburbanite Fred Rutherford on Leave It to Beaver, and the long-suffering Mel Cooley on The Dick Van Dyke Show. Deacon also co-starred as Kaye Ballard's husband on the weekly TV comedy The Mothers-in-Law (1968), and enjoyed a rare leading role on the 1964 Twilight Zone installment "The Brain Center at Whipples." In his last decade, Richard Deacon hosted a TV program on microwave cookery, and published a companion book on the subject.

Trivia: Diminutive American actor Angelo Rossitto was a fixture in American movies for more than 50 years, usually in highly visible supporting and extra roles. Born Angelo Salvatore Rossitto, he entered movies in his teens during the height of the silent era, making his first known appearance in The Beloved Rogue, starring John Barrymore, in 1926. Standing less than four feet tall, with dark hair and a grim visage, and billed at various times as Little Angie, Little Mo, and Little Angelo, Rossitto was a natural for pygmies and circus dwarves, often of a sinister appearing nature; his presence could help "dress" a carnival set or the setting for a fantasy film. He played the dwarf Angeleno in Tod Browning's Freaks at MGM, a pygmy in Cecil B. DeMille's The Sign of the Cross at Paramount, and one of the Three Little Pigs in the Laurel & Hardy-starring vehicle Babes in Toyland. Off camera, he was also a stand-in for Shirley Temple in several of her films. Rossitto didn't become a well-known figure, even among movie cultists, until he went to work for Monogram Pictures during the early '40s, in a series of low-budget horror films and horror film spoofs starring Bela Lugosi, often cast in tandem with the Hungarian-born actor as a kind of double act. His presence added to the bizarre, threatening nature of the films and he became as well known to fans of these low-budget movies as Lugosi, George Zucco, or any of the other credited stars. His role in the first of those Monogram productions with Lugosi, Spooks Run Wild, also starring the East Side Kids, deliberately played off of Lugosi's and Rossitto's sinister seeming images. In between his Poverty Row Monogram productions, the actor fit in small parts at Universal, including Preston Sturges' The Sin of Harold Diddlebock, and he was one of the jesters tormenting the blinded Samson in DeMille's Samson and Delilah. Rossitto, along with his younger contemporaries Jerry Maren, Frank Delfino, and Billy Curtis, was one of Hollywood's busier little people in the years after World War II. Rossitto can be spotted in carnival scenes in Carousel, appeared as the smallest of the "Moon Men" in the low-budget Jungle Jim movie Jungle Moon Men, and played the leader of the aliens in the late-'50s sci-fi satire Invasion of the Saucer Men. Many of Rossitto's appearances were in roles without character names, constituting highly specialized, uncredited (but highly visible) extra work, and he may have been in as many as 200 movies.On television in the late '60s and early '70s, he portrayed a life-sized puppet in the series H.R. Pufnstuf and played a hat in Lidsville. Rossitto was a sideshow huckster in the cheap cult horror movie Dracula Vs. Frankenstein, and as late as the mid-'80s was seen in a small role in Something Wicked This Way Comes and in the featured role of the Master-Blaster in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. Although work in 200 movies and television shows sounds like a lot, most of those appearances involved only a single day's or a single week's work, rather than full-time employment. He made his regular living from the 1930s through the 1960s at a newsstand in Hollywood just outside the gate of one of the studios; he joked that when he was needed for a film, they would simply pass the word directly to him on the street and he would report.