Trivia: Of the many performers to leap into films from the springboard of the television sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live, Bill Murray has been among the most successful and unpredictable, forging an idiosyncratic career allowing him to stretch from low-brow slapstick farce to intelligent adult drama. Born in Wilmette, IL, on September 21, 1950, Murray was an incorrigible child, kicked out of both the Boy Scouts and Little League. At the age of 20, he was also arrested for attempting to smuggle close to nine pounds of marijuana through nearby O'Hare Airport. In an attempt to find direction in his life, he joined his older brother, Brian Doyle-Murray, in the cast of Chicago's Second City improvisational comedy troupe. He later relocated to New York City, joining radio's National Lampoon Hour. Both Murray siblings were also in a 1975 off-Broadway spin-off, also dubbed The National Lampoon Hour; there Murray was spotted by sportscaster Howard Cosell, who recruited him for the cast of his ABC variety program, titled Saturday Night Live With Howard Cosell. On the NBC network, a program also named Saturday Night Live was creating a much bigger sensation; when, after one season, the show's breakout star Chevy Chase exited to pursue a film career, producer Lorne Michaels tapped Murray as his replacement. Murray too became a celebrity, developing a fabulously insincere and sleazy comic persona which was put to good use in his first major film, the 1979 hit Meatballs. He next starred as the famed gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson in the film biography Where the Buffalo Roam, a major disaster. However, 1980's Caddyshack was a masterpiece of slob comedy, with Murray memorable as a maniacal rangeboy hunting the gopher that is slowly destroying his golf course. The film launched him to the ranks of major stardom; the follow-up, the armed services farce Stripes, was an even bigger blockbuster, earning over 40 million dollars at the box office. Murray next appeared, unbilled, in 1982's Tootsie before starring with Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis in 1984's Ghostbusters. The supernatural comedy was one of the decade's biggest hits, earning over 130 million dollars and spawning a cartoon series, action figures, and even a chart-topping theme song (performed by Ray Parker Jr.). Murray now ranked among the world's most popular actors, and he next fulfilled a long-standing dream by starring in and co-writing an adaptation of the W. Somerset Maugham novel The Razor's Edge. Few fans knew what to make of his abrupt turn from broad farce to literary drama, however, and as a result the film flopped. Murray spent the next several years in self-imposed exile, making only a cameo appearance in the 1986 musical comedy Little Shop of Horrors. After much deliberation, he finally selected his comeback vehicle -- 1988's Scrooged, a black comic retelling of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. While it performed moderately well, it was not the smash many predicted. Nor was 1989's Ghostbusters II, which grossed less than half of the first picture. The 1990 crime comedy Quick Change, which Murray co-directed with Howard Franklin, was also a disappointment, but 1991's What About Bob? was an unqualified hit. In 1993, Murray earned his strongest notices to date for Groundhog Day, a sublime comedy directed by longtime conspirator Ramis. Beginning with 1994's acclaimed Ed Wood, in which he appeared as a transsexual, Murray's career choices grew increasingly eccentric; in 1996 alone, he starred in the little-seen Larger Than Life as a motivational speaker, co-starred as a bowling champion in Kingpin, and appeared as himself in the family film Space Jam. In 1998, Murray took on a similarly eccentric role in Wes Anderson's Rushmore. Playing a business tycoon competing with an equally eccentric 15-year-old (Jason Schwartzman) for the affections of a first grade teacher (Olivia Williams), Murray did some of his best work in years and won the Best Supporting Actor award from the New York Film Critics Circle. The film's success helped to put the actor back in the forefront, and he drew further exposure that year from his appearance as a sleazy lawyer in the relentlessly trashy Wild Things. The following year, he could be seen in Cradle Will Rock, Tim Robbins' look at the often contentious relationship between art and politics in 1930s America.Though the mere thought of Murray as Polonius in a film adaptation of William Shakespeare's Hamlet may have elicited dumbounded looks and confused laughter early in his career, that was precisely how the versatile thespian ushered in the new millennium in director Micheal Almereyda's modern updating of the classic drama. Subsequently landing laughs as the superspy point person Bosley in the big screen adaptation of the classic 1970's television hit Charlie's Angels, Murray's interpretation of the character would be taken over by popular comic Bernie Mac in the film's 2003 sequel. After taking a brief voyage into gross-out territory with the Farrelly brother's Osmosis Jones in 2001, a re-teaming with Rushmore director Anderson resulted in a small but memorable supporting performance in the same year's The Royal Tenenbaums. In 2003 Murray essayed the role that would offer what was perhaps his most heartfelt combination of personal drama and touching comedy to date in director Sofia Coppola's acclaimed indie film Lost in Translation. Cast as a washed up American actor who strikes up a tentative friendship with the young wife of a superstar photographer while on a stay in Japan to endorse a popular brand of whiskey, Murray's low-key charm proved the perfect balance to co-star Scarlett Johansson's youthful malaise. Virtually across the board, critics were bowled over by the subtle depth of Murray's performance, leading to Best Actor honors from The New York Film Critics Circle, The Boston Society of Film Critics, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association, The San Francisco Film Critics Circle, The National Society of Film Critics, The Golden Globes, and The Independent Spirit Awards. But the one award that remained elusive to Murray was Oscar. Though nominated, the prize ultimately went to Sean Penn for Mystic River.In 2004, along with providing the voice for a CGI version of Garfield the cat, Murray once again teamed up with director Wes Anderson, starring as as a world-renowned oceanographer in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. While The Life Aquatic was met with mixed reviews, Murray's performance in the 2005 Jim Jarmusch film Broken Flowers netted virtually unanimous acclaim. Over the next several years, Murray would maintain his selective film career, appearing in acclaimed films like Get Low, Passion Play, and Moonrise Kingdom.

Trivia: Trained at the Washington Theatre Laboratory and Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, Karen Allen was primarily a stage actress when she began to accept small film roles in such productions as National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) and Manhattan (1979), although her most celebrated film assignment was as the plucky Marion Ravenwood in Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). Spielberg reportedly acknowledged his appreciation of Allen's performance by gallantly kissing her hand after each take, also preferring roles for Allen that allowed her to appear without makeup, with her generously freckled face in full view. Among her more notable post-Raiders films were Starman (1984), The Glass Menagerie (1987), Malcolm X (1992), and In the Bedroom (2001). Temporarily blinded by conjunctivitis shortly before launching her film career, Allen was able to draw from life while portraying the adult Helen Keller in the mid-'80s Broadway play Helen and Teacher. Allen's TV roles included a portrayal of the ill-fated civilian astronaut Christa McAuliffe in Challenger (1990). The actress reunited with Harrison Ford in a reprisal of her role as Marion in 2008's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Allen continues to be active in film and television.

Trivia: Only a handful of American actors can lay claim to A-list popularity on the big and small screen in multiple decades, and even fewer have matched the good-natured, easygoing charm of John Forsythe. In lead or supporting roles, playing his standard everyman protagonist, or occasionally cutting against type to portray nasty villains, Forsythe is one to whom generations of viewers naturally gravitated, like a reliable old friend.The oldest son of a factory worker, John Lincoln Freund was born into inauspicious circumstances, in the middle-class community of Penns Grove, NJ, on January 29, 1918. Raised in Brooklyn, NY, while his father did business on Wall Street during the Great Depression, John graduated from high school two years earlier than most, at age 16, and attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, graduating two years later. A longtime worshiper of baseball, he almost immediately landed a highly coveted job as the Dodgers announcer at Ebbets Field after leaving UNC, but his father noticed his eldest's dramatic abilities and encouraged the boy to branch out into acting. Freund followed suit, making his Broadway bow in 1942 and latching on to a hit when cast in Moss Hart's 1943 production Winged Victory. He later moved to sunny Southern California, where he took the stage name John Forsythe, became a bit player for Warners, and landed supporting roles in several movies, including the heavily lauded WWII vehicle Destination Tokyo (1943) and the same year's Northern Pursuit. Meanwhile, he met and married actress Parker McCormick, by whom he had a son, Dall. Their troubled union lasted only a year.Around the time of the divorce, Forsythe put his career on the shelf and headed off to military service in Europe, where he worked as a speech pathologist in a hospital, helping to recuperate wounded soldiers who were having difficulty with articulation. Before the end of 1943, Forsythe's enlistment wrapped. That same year, Forsythe met stage actress Julie Warren, who became his second wife; the couple raised two daughters. He helped found The Actors Studio in the early '50s, at the time a hotbed of exciting young screen talent that included Marlon Brando, Paul Newman, Richard Egan, and a 14-year-old prodigy from Great Britain named Joan Collins, with whom Forsythe would team up years later on Dynasty. Meanwhile, he appeared in two high-profile Broadway productions, Teahouse of the August Moon and Mister Roberts, both well on their way to becoming A-budget Hollywood films.The late '50s were an exciting period for Forsythe; he landed one of his most prominent big-screen spots -- as artist Sam Marlowe in Alfred Hitchcock's eccentric cult comedy The Trouble with Harry (1955) -- and, two years later, reeled in one of the most enduring small-screen roles of his career, as the titular uncle Bentley Gregg on the CBS/NBC/ABC series Bachelor Father. The cast included Noreen Corcoran, Sammee Tong, and Bernadette Withers; the ratings shot up and gave the series a five-year run. Scattered movie roles followed throughout the '60s, including Kitten with a Whip (1964) and In Cold Blood (1967), as well as the television series The John Forsythe Show (1965-1966) and To Rome with Love (1969-1971), but it would be another decade or so before Forsythe fully re-entered the public eye. In the early '70s, Forsythe began a periodic association with TV mogul Aaron Spelling, which yielded multiple telemovies (Cry Panic [1974], Cruise into Terror [1978]), and the two series for which the actor is best known. For the first, Spelling cast Forsythe in a prominent voice-only role -- that of Charlie Townsend, the reclusive head of a female detective agency, in Charlie's Angels (1976-1981). With sex symbols Jaclyn Smith, Kate Jackson, and especially Farrah Fawcett-Majors as the leads, the program invented "jiggle TV" and became a ratings smash. Spelling didn't forget the favor that Forsythe had done for him; seven months before Angels ended, he spun around and made the actor one of the three stars (alongside Joan Collins and Linda Evans) of Dynasty, a prime-time ABC soaper about oil zillionaire Blake Carrington (Forsythe), his ennui-ridden current wife, Krystle (Evans), and his shameless, ever-scheming ex-wife, Alexis (Joan Collins). Ratings shot through the roof and turned Dynasty into a Wednesday-night American institution.Meanwhile, Forsythe continued intermittent film appearances. He shocked just about everybody with his blackly comic portrayal of a judge with the morals of an alley cat in Norman Jewison's blithe satire ...And Justice for All, and contributed a memorably disgusting cameo to Richard Donner's overbaked Scrooged (1988). In the early 2000s, director McG brought him back for the two big-screen versions of Charlie's Angels, for which he reportedly received five million dollars.Hollywood insiders regarded Forsythe himself as one of Hollywood's few genuine "nice guys." A dedicated worker who respected his craft, he always refused to take himself too seriously, issuing such self-deprecating statements as "Being a 64-year-old sex symbol is a hell of a weight to carry." Forsythe entered semi-retirement following the death of his second wife, Julie, in 1994. He married for the third time, to Nicole Carter, in 2002. Following a year-long struggle with cancer, Forsythe died of pneumonia at age 92 in early April 2010.

Trivia: A longtime character actor with a reputation for taking on villainous roles with gleeful abandon and a subtle touch of humor, John Glover was once dubbed "the supreme rotter of the '80s" by the late film critic Pauline Kael, thanks to unforgettable performances in such films as 52 Pick-Up, Masquerade, and Scrooged. Always injecting his baddies with an element of quirk and personality, Glover later gravitated away from a life of cinematic crime to success with more sympathetic roles in Love! Valour! Compassion! and Mid-Century. A Salisbury, MD, native who pursued his higher education at Towson State Teacher's College, Glover began an off-Broadway career in the late '60s, which led to small parts in the mid-'70s in such films as Shamus (1973) and Annie Hall (1977). With occasional small-screen roles balancing out his features, Glover began carving out a villainous niche for himself during the '80s in such movies as The Evil That Men Do and 52 Pick-Up. Though Glover's big-screen work served as his bread and butter, more sympathetic television appearances -- as a valiant AIDS patient in An Early Frost (1985) and a dedicated doctor in L.A. Law -- earned the actor a pair of Emmy nominations. As his career progressed, Glover became an increasingly prominent figure on TV thanks to parts in Miami Vice, Murder, She Wrote, and Frasier, and his "villains" became ever more quirky in such high-profile features as Gremlins 2: The New Batch and Robocop 2. Glover's roles were also becoming increasingly diverse. Offering a side of himself rarely seen by audiences, he played artist Leonardo DaVinci in the 1991 made-for-TV feature A Season of Giants, and then portrayed another villain, this time the biggest of them all -- the Devil himself -- in the 1998 series Brimstone. Beginning in 1992, Glover did voice work for the popular superhero cartoon Batman: The Animated Series and, later, Batman: Gotham Nights; he also had onscreen roles in the live-action feature Batman & Robin and the WB series Smallville. Glover often returns to his alma matter (now called Towson University) to work with the drama students at the school's Fine Arts College.

Trivia: During a 1994 interview with comedian Bobcat Goldthwait, The Today Show's Katie Couric became so rattled at Goldthwait's paranoiac, high-decibel responses to her questions that she repeatedly entreated him to calm down and relax. After the commercial break, a frowning Couric looked directly at the guys in the NBC control room and asked, "Why didn't you tell me he always talks like that?" Indeed, Goldthwait has never spoken when shouting will do -- at least not professionally. A popular attraction on the comedy-cabaret circuit in the early '80s, Goldthwait made his film bow as gonzo gang leader Zed in Police Academy 2: The First Assignment (1985); he revived the character -- this time as a good-guy police cadet -- in two Police Academy sequels. Though we've been treated to generous helpings of Goldthwait's marine-raiders comic style in such TV series as Capitol Critters (1992) and Unhappily Ever After (1995), his funniest appearance thus far has been his briefest: in the satirical MTV special Medusa: Dare to Be Truthful (1992), he offers a 30-second parody of Kevin Costner's aw-shucks cameo in Madonna: Truth or Dare (1991). Having previously directed his own concert video Is He Like That All the Time? (1988), Goldthwait extended his directorial activities to the 1994 theatrical feature Shakes the Clown (1994), a grimly amusing look at the underbelly of show business. While promoting Shakes on May 9, 1994, Bobcat Goldthwait made his bid for media immortality by impulsively setting fire to Jay Leno's guest couch on The Tonight Show -- an act which resulted in shocked outrage from both Leno and NBC, but did not prevent them from using this inflammatory vignette in their advertising.His career geared increasingly towards the small screen for the majority of the '90s, Goldthwait would stay in the public eye with a variety of guest appearances on such popular shows as Tales from the Crypt, ER, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, as additional roles on such animated efforts as Buzz Lightyear of Star Command; Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist; Duckman; and Lion of Oz found his services as a voice-over artist in ever-increasing demand. The trend would continue as Goldthwait lent his distinctive vocal inflections to such shows as Crank Yankers and Lilo and Stitch: The Series at the turn of the millennium, though it seemed as if his career was increasingly coming into its own behind the camera as the comic began directing episodes of Chappelle's Show and Jimmy Kimmel Live. Goldthwait's 2003 comedy feature Windy City Heat would debut on Comedy Central to the delight of fans everywhere. He directed Sleeping Dogs Lie, a low budget film about a man who must confront his fiancée when she finds out about some of his past behavior. In 2006 the newly empowered filmmaker's surprisingly tender yet shockingly outrageous romantic comedy Stay would make an impression on audiences at the Sundance Film Festival when it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at that year's proceedings.

Trivia: Occasionally billing himself Buster Poindexter, David Johansen is a supporting actor and former lead singer for the glam rock band the New York Dolls. He was also a vocalist for the live band on NBC's Saturday Night Live during the 1986-1987 season. Johansen made his film debut starring in Candy Mountain (1987). In 1997, he voiced a character in the animated musical feature Cats Don't Dance.

Trivia: A professional actress since age 14, Ohio-born Carol Kane is best known for essaying a staggering variety of characterizations in her career. Most of her early film roles were fleeting but memorable, such as that of the hippie girlfriend of Art Garfunkel in Carnal Knowledge (1971), the "sailor's plaything" in The Last Detail (1973) and the terrified bank teller in Dog Day Afternoon (1973). Kane's first starring appearance was in Hester Street (1975), wherein she was Oscar-nominated for her portrayal of a Jewish newlywed in turn-of-the-century New York. From 1981 through 1983, Kane played Simka, the wife of immigrant mechanic Latka Gavras (Andy Kaufman) on the TV sitcom Taxi. Simka's country of origin was fictitious, but Kane and Kaufman managed between them to "create" a Slavic language peppered with ridiculous, non-sequitur terms of endearment. The actress won an Emmy for her work on Taxi. Other regular TV sitcom assignments for Kane have included 1986's All Is Forgiven and 1990's American Dreamer. Kane has excelled in bizarre character roles, notably the kvetching old peasant wife in The Princess Bride (1986), the abusive "Ghost of Christmas Present" in Scrooged (1988), and the toothless, witchlike Grandmama in the two Addams Family theatrical features. She remained an in-demand character actress appearing in a variety of movies and TV shows including Even Cowgirls Get the blues, Trees Lounge, Office Killer, and appearing as herself in the Andy Kaufman biopic Man on the Moon. She slowed down not a whit in the 21st century playing parts in My First Mister, Love in the Time of Money, The Pacifier, My Girlfriend's Boyfriend, and the 2012 indie Sleepwalk With Me.

Trivia: The day after 79-year-old Robert Mitchum succumbed to lung cancer, beloved actor James Stewart died, diverting all the press attention that was gearing up for Mitchum. So it has been for much of his career. Not that Mitchum wasn't one of Hollywood's most respected stars, he was. But unlike the wholesome middle-American idealism and charm of the blandly handsome Stewart, there was something unsettling and dangerous about Mitchum. He was a walking contradiction. Behind his drooping, sleepy eyes was an alert intelligence. His tall, muscular frame, broken nose, and lifeworn face evoked a laborer's life, but he moved with the effortless, laid-back grace of a highly trained athlete. Early in his career critics generally ignored Mitchum, who frequently appeared in lower-budget and often low-quality films. This may also be due in part to his subtle, unaffected, and deceptively easy-going acting style that made it seem as if Mitchum just didn't care, an attitude he frequently put on outside the studio. But male and female audiences alike found Mitchum appealing. Mitchum generally played macho heroes and villains who lived hard and spoke roughly, and yet there was something of the ordinary Joe in him to which male audiences could relate. Women were drawn to his physique, his deep resonant voice, his sexy bad boy ways, and those sad, sagging eyes, which Mitchum claimed were caused by chronic insomnia and a boxing injury. He was born Robert Charles Duran Mitchum in Bridgeport, CT, and as a boy was frequently in trouble, behavior that was perhaps related to his father's death when Mitchum was quite young. He left home in his teens. Mitchum was famous for fabricating fantastic tales about his life, something he jokingly encouraged others to do too. If he is to be believed, he spent his early years doing everything from mining coal, digging ditches, and ghost writing for astrologer Carroll Richter, to fighting 27 bouts as a prizefighter. He also claimed to have escaped from a Georgia chain gang six days after he was arrested for vagrancy. Mitchum settled down in 1940 and married Dorothy Spence. They moved to Long Beach, CA, and he found work as a drop-hammer operator with Lockheed Aircraft. The job made Mitchum ill so he quit. He next started working with the Long Beach Theater Guild in 1942 and this led to his becoming a movie extra and bit player, primarily in war movies and Westerns, but also in the occasional comedy or drama. His first film role was that of a model in the documentary The Magic of Make-up (1942). Occasionally he would bill himself as Bob Mitchum during this time period. His supporting role in The Human Comedy (1943) led to a contract with RKO. Two years later, he starred in The Story of G.I. Joe and earned his first and only Oscar nomination. Up to that point, Mitchum was considered little more than a "beefcake" actor, one who was handsome, but who lacked the chops to become a serious player. He was also drafted that year and served eight months in the military, most of which he spent promoting his latest film before he was given a dependency discharge. Mitchum returned to movies soon after, this time in co-starring and leading roles. His role as a woman's former lover who may or may not have killed her new husband in When Strangers Marry (1944) foreshadowed his import in the developing film noir genre. The very qualities that led critics to dismiss him, his laconic stoicism, his self-depreciating wit, cynicism, and his naturalism, made Mitchum the perfect victim for these dark dramas; indeed, he became an icon for the genre. The Locket (1946) provided Mitchum his first substantial noir role, but his first important noir was Out of the Past (1947), a surprise hit that made him a real star. Up until Cape Fear (1962), Mitchum had played tough guy heroes and world-weary victims; he provided the dying noir genre with one of its cruelest villains, Max Cady. In 1955, Mitchum played one of his most famous and disturbing villains, the psychotic evangelist Reverend Harry Powell, in Charles Laughton's Night of the Hunter, a film that was a critical and box-office flop in its first release, but has since become a classic. While his professional reputation grew, Mitchum's knack for getting into trouble in his personal life reasserted itself. He was arrested in August 1948, in the home of actress Lila Leeds for allegedly possessing marijuana and despite his hiring two high-calibre lawyers, spent 60 days in jail. Mitchum claimed he was framed and later his case was overturned and his record cleared. Though perhaps never involved with marijuana, Mitchum made no apologies for his love of alcohol and cigarettes. He had also been involved with several public scuffles, this in contrast with the Mitchum who also wrote poetry and the occasional song. Though well known for noir, Mitchum was versatile, having played in romances (Heaven Knows Mr. Allison [1957]), literary dramas (The Red Pony [1949]), and straight dramas (The Sundowners [1960], in which he played an Australian sheepherder). During the '60s, Mitchum had only a few notable film roles, including Two for the See Saw (1962), Howard Hawks' El Dorado (1967), and 5 Card Stud (1968). He continued playing leads through the 1970s. Some of his most famous efforts from this era include The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) and a double stint as detective Phillip Marlowe in Farewell My Lovely (1975) and The Big Sleep (1978). Mitchum debuted in television films in the early '80s. His most notable efforts from this period include the miniseries The Winds of War (1983) and its sequel, War and Remembrance (1989). Mitchum also continued appearing in feature films, often in cameo roles. Toward the end of his life, he found employment as a commercial voice-over artist, notably in the "Beef, it's what's for dinner" campaign. A year before his death, Robert Mitchum was diagnosed with emphysema, and a few months afterward, lung cancer. He is survived by his wife, Dorothy, his daughter, Petrine, and two sons, Jim and Christopher, both of whom are actors.

Trivia: Actors Studio-graduate Michael J. Pollard was first thrust upon the public as Maynard G. Krebs' funky cousin on the 1959 TV series Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959). The leprechaunish Pollard had been hired as a potential replacement for Bob Denver (aka Maynard), who'd been drafted; but when Denver flunked his physical and returned to the series, Pollard was shown the exit. He went on to co-star in the 1961 musical Bye Bye Birdie (1961), then made his film debut in Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man (1962). Pollard earned an Oscar nomination for his performance as the moronic C.W.Moss in Bonnie and Clyde (1967); he followed this triumph by sharing co-star billing with Robert Redford in Little Fauss & Big Halsey (1969), and by essaying the role of Billy the Kid in Dirty Little Billy (1972). In all the above-mentioned films, as well as his many TV appearances in series like The Andy Griffith Show, Lost in Space and Star Trek, Pollard essentially played the same character: a slow-witted, stammering child-man, ever out of step with an unfeeling world. Audiences eventually tired of Pollard's one-note characterizations. No longer a star, Michael J. Pollard has continued accepting sizeable character roles in films, and was seen as Leonard the handyman in the 1986 TV sitcom Leo and Liz in Beverly Hills. In 1990, Michael J. Pollard was reunited with his Bonnie and Clyde co-star Warren Beatty in Dick Tracy, playing the amusing supporting part of police wiretapper Bug Bailey (also in the Tracy cast was another B&C alumnus, Estelle Parsons).

Trivia: Intense, versatile African-American actress Alfre Woodard attended Boston University, then made her stage bow in 1974 with Washington, D.C.'s Arena Stage. After a few minor appearances in films like Remember My Name (1978) and H.E.A.L.T.H (1979), the Tulsa, OK, native was nominated for an Oscar for her performance as Geechee in 1983's Cross Creek. She went on to further television acclaim during the decade, appearing on St. Elsewhere and winning Emmys for her recurring roles on Hill Street Blues and L.A. Law, and an ACE award for the made-for-cable Mandela (1987). In film, the actress consistently shone in roles that featured her as unconventional women who usually had a troubled past; after a memorable appearance in Miss Firecracker (1989), she went on to star in such films as Lawrence Kasdan's Grand Canyon (1991) and John Sayles' Passion Fish (1992), for which she won a Golden Globe nomination. Other notable film appearances included those in Rich in Love (1993), Crooklyn (1994), and Maya Angelou's Down in the Delta, in which Woodard played a single mother with drug and alcohol problems who returns to her family's southern hometown. In 1999, the actress starred in two films, Funny Valentines and Mumford, Lawrence Kasdan's tale of a small-town psychologist.Woodard has also continued to work in television, earning considerable acclaim for her performances. In 1995, she won an Emmy nomination and a Screen Actors Guild Best Actress Award for her performance in the The Piano Lesson, and two years later won an Emmy, a Golden Globe, and a SAG Award for her portrayal of the title character of Miss Evers' Boys, a nurse who consoled many of the subjects of the notorious 1930s Tuskeegee Study of Untreated Blacks with Syphilis. In addition, she has done a fair amount of narration, lending her voice to a variety of television documentaries.The actress reteamed with HBO in 2003 for the film Unchained Memories, and took on a starring role on ABC's Desperate Housewives in 2006. In addition to appearing on a variety of popular television shows (Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere, The Practice, Homicide: Life on the Street). Woodard played the part of a woman falsely accused of drug trafficking in the 2009 drama American Violet, and was nominated for yet another Emmy in 2010 for her work on HBO's hit drama True Blood.

Trivia: Born Mabel Washington, this black character actress appeared onscreen from the '70s.

Trivia: American actor Jamie Farr was the only son of a Lebanese butcher living in Toledo, Ohio. An easy target for bullies due to his short stature and large nose, Farr became the neighborhood clown to save himself from physical abuse. Humor gave him confidence, and by the time Farr graduated from high school he was a top student, extremely popular and active in numerous extra-curricular activities. Always a big movie fan, Farr harbored dreams of being an actor, and to that end studied at the Pasadena Playhouse. In 1955, Farr was cast in his first film (still billed under his own name, Jameel Farrah), The Blackboard Jungle, playing a redeemable hoodlum named Santini; shortly thereafter, he was cast in the Broadway production of No Time for Sergeants, just before he was drafted. The two years in the Army upset the momentum of Farr's career, and he found himself from 1958 through 1971 rebuilding himself from the ground up in bits and supporting roles. (Farr was not in Santa Claus Conquers the Martians during this period, as has often been reported; the cast of that turkey included a Broadway actor named Al Nesor, who bore a startling resemblance to Farr and played many of the same type roles). One of Farr's one-day bits was for the sixth episode of the new TV series M*A*S*H in 1972; Farr had the almost wordless role of a GI who dressed in women's clothing in hopes of getting out of the Army. The character of "Corporal Klinger" was meant to be a onetime joke, but the producers of M*A*S*H sensed possibilities in the character. By Season Two of M*A*S*H, Farr became a full supporting character; by Season Three he was being given co-starring billing in the series' opening credits sequence. After misguidingly "camping" the character in the earliest rehearsals, Farr played Klinger "straight" in every sense of the word: Neither gay nor transvestite, Klinger was simply a guy who'd go to great extremes to get out of military service. Gradually the character began to become fashion conscious, and before the eighties were over Klinger was making several fashion lists as one of the best-dressed characters on TV! Farr's role was expanded when Gary Burghoff left M*A*S*H in 1979; promoted to company clerk, Klinger began to thrive in the military, and the outrageous costuming was allowed to lapse. By the time M*A*S*H left the air, Klinger had taken a Korean wife, and Jamie Farr had become a true-blue celebrity. Unfortunately neither Farr nor Klinger were able to extend their audience appeal into the sequel series After M*A*S*H, not even when the scripts contrived to have Klinger become a fugitive from justice in a move to repeat his "outsider" status on M*A*S*H. Nonetheless, Jamie Farr has kept busy in the years following the cancellation of After M*A*S*H in 1984 with TV guest spots and stage appearances in such roles as Ali Hakim in Oklahoma and Evil Eye Fleegle in Li'l Abner. Farr would continue to appear regularly on screen in the years to come, appearing in movies like Scrooged, and on TV shows like Diagnosis Murder and Mad About You.

Trivia: Robert Goulet was raised in Edmonton, Alberta and trained at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. After several years' worth of straw-hat musical appearances on both sides of the border--as well as a stint as a Canadian kiddie-show host named "Timber Tom"--Goulet made his triumphant Broadway debut in 1959 as Lancelot in Lerner and Loewe'sCamelot. His signature tune in that show was "If Ever I Would Leave You," which proved an even bigger hit as a record single. On the strength of this song and others like "What Kind of Fool Am I," Goulet earned a Grammy award in 1962. Two years later, his album My Love Forgive Me went gold, and in 1965, he won a Tony for his performance in the Broadway musical The Happy Time. Goulet's bid for film stardom in 1964 yielded the disappointing Honeymoon Hotel; he fared better on television, starring in the 1966 espionage series Blue Light and headlining TV adaptations of Brigadoon, Carousel and Kiss Me Kate. He returned to films in the early 1980s, essaying campy character roles in Beetlejuice (1988) and Naked Gun 2 1/2 (1990); most often, as in Atlantic City (1980) and Scrooged (1988), he has guest-starred as "himself." Having recently survived a life-threatening bout with colon cancer, Goulet recovered sufficiently to perform in a multi-city tour of Camelot, this time in the leading role of King Arthur. Married three times, Robert Goulet's second wife was actress/singer Carol Lawrence. He died of pulmonary fibrosis in 2007.

Trivia: The son of a Brooklyn upholsterer, baby-faced comic actor Buddy Hackett always claimed he was "born to be funny." Hackett was the boy who invariably blew his lines in the Holiday pageants and the overweight teen who accidentally stuck his foot in a water bucket during his first game with the high school football team. It was while serving in the Army that Hackett met the double-talking Chinese waiter who inspired him to create the most famous of his early nightclub routines. Hackett's first stand-up gig in Brooklyn led to additional work on the New York supper club Catskill resort circuits; he also guested on a very early (1945) TV program, Laff Time. His film debut was as the voice of a talking camel in the otherwise straightforward Arabian nights programmer Slave Girl (1947). He was signed to a Universal Pictures contract in 1953, then starred for two years in Broadway comedy Lunatics and Lovers. He played the title role in 1956 TV sitcom Stanley, which served to introduce Carol Burnett to America's televiewers; two years later, he became a regular on Jackie Gleason's Saturday night variety series. Hackett was most active in films during the years 1958 through 1968, appearing primarily in nitwit comedy-relief roles, but also delivering a solid dramatic performance in God's Little Acre. At the same time, his reputation in nightclubs soared, first because of his quick wit and gift for sudden improvisation, then later for his ability to spout out the dirtiest of material with the cherubic ingenuousness of a naughty first-grader. Perhaps it was this veneer of innocence that made Hackett an ideal "family" entertainer in such G-rated pictures as Everything's Ducky (1961), The Music Man (1962), and The Love Bug (1968). As late as 1989, he was still delighting the kiddie trade as the voice of Scuttle in the Disney animated feature The Little Mermaid. Among Buddy Hackett's many television credits was the 1978 biopic Bud and Lou, in which he offered a curiously unsympathetic interpretation of his idol, Lou Costello; ironically, back in 1954 Hackett had replaced an ailing Costello in the Universal slapstick comedy flick Fireman Save My Child.

Trivia: Before entering the entertainment industry, actor, producer, scriptwriter, playwright and stage director John Houseman, born Jacques Haussmann, first worked for his father's grain business after graduating from college, then began writing magazine pieces and translating plays from German and French. Living in New York, he was writing, directing, and producing plays by his early 30s; soon he had a stellar reputation on Broadway. In 1937, he and Orson Welles founded the Mercury Theater, at which he produced and directed radio specials and stage presentations; at the same time he was a teacher at Vassar. He produced Welles's never-completed first film, Too Much Johnson (1938). Houseman then went on to play a crucial role in the packaging of Welles's first completed film, the masterpiece Citizen Kane (1941): he developed the original story with Herman Mankiewicz, motivated Mankiewicz to complete the script, and worked as a script editor and general advisor for the film. Shortly afterwards, he and Welles had a falling out and Houseman became a vice president of David O. Selznick Productions, a post he quit in late 1941 (after Pearl Harbor) to become chief of the overseas radio division of the OWI. After returning to Hollywood he produced many fine films and commuted to New York to produce and direct Broadway plays and TV specials; in all, the films he produced were nominated for 20 Oscars and won seven. Later he became the artistic director of the touring repertory group the Acting Company, with which he toured successfully in the early '70s. He debuted onscreen at the age of 62 in Seven Days in May (1964), and then in the '70s and '80s played character roles in a number of films. As an actor he was best known as Kingsfield, the stern Harvard law professor, in the film The Paper Chase (1973), his second screen appearance, for which he won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar; he reprised the role in the TV series of the same name. He authored two autobiographies, Run-Through (1972) and Front and Center (1979).

Trivia: A football star at Eastern Kentucky State College, Lee Majors came to Los Angeles armed with a physical education degree and possessed with a vague desire to break into films. He worked as a park recreation director for the City of Los Angeles before entering show business in 1963. Majors was promoted as "the New James Dean," though he personally aspired to become a new Steve McQueen or Paul Newman (he also retained his permit to work as a recreation director, just in case the world wasn't holding its breath for a new Dean, McQueen or Newman). Majors achieved stardom on his own merits in a variety of television series, the most recent of which was 1992's Raven. His best-known TV roles included Heath Barkley on The Big Valley (1965-69), bionic Steve Austin on The Six Million Dollar Man (1973-78) and stunt man Colt Seavers on The Fall Guy (1981-86). In addition, he has headlined a number of made-for-TV movies, essaying the old Gary Cooper part in the 1991 sequel to High Noon and portraying U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers in a 1976 biopic. Majors would continue to act in the decades to come, memorably appearing in Big Fat Liar and on The Game. For several years, Lee Majors was married to actress Farrah Fawcett.

Trivia: Surprisingly little known to the public at large, bear-like, walrus-mustached Pat McCormick is a very busy stand-up comedian and comedy writer. McCormick's sly wit and taste for the humorously grotesque has won him many fans in the showbiz community, including Johnny Carson, Don Rickles, Don Adams, Jonathan Winters, Mel Brooks and Burt Reynolds. He was among the head writers of Carson's Tonight Show, and in 1968 both wrote for and served as announcer/straight man on Don Rickles' short-lived variety series. In films, McCormick is usually seen in showy featured roles, notably President Grover Cleveland in Robert Altman's Buffalo Bill and the Indians (1976) and Big Enos in the first two Smokey and the Bandits flicks. He also contributed to the scripts of the theatrical features Oh Dad Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feeling So Sad (1966) and Under the Rainbow (1986). In 1983, Pat McCormick was appropriately cast as "Mound" on the TV sitcom Gun Shy.

Trivia: American actor/writer Brian Doyle-Murray began his professional performing career at Chicago's Second City comedy troupe. Once established, Brian was instrumental in bringing his younger brother Bill into Second City. While Bill Murray's star ascended, Brian stayed busy as a writer and comic character actor. He co-wrote the 1980 comedy hit Caddyshack and had choice supporting roles in such films as Modern Problems (1981), Club Paradise (1986) and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989). Brian has also appeared to excellent effect in several of his brother Bill's starring features, most recently in the hilarious role of the lugubrious mayor of Punxsutawney in Groundhog Day (1993). One of the staff writers of the earliest years of Saturday Night Live, Brian Doyle-Murray has remained active on television as a guest actor, as a regular on the 1991 sitcom Good Sports, and in such made for TV movies as Babe Ruth (1991).

Trivia: Born January 15th, 1971,Regina King distinguished herself as a skilled actress in the 1990s with a number of supporting roles in prominent films. Born and raised in Los Angeles, King first made her mark as a TV actress when she was cast in the sitcom 227 in 1985. During her five seasons on TV, King also played small parts in the Bill Murray comedy Scrooged (1988) and Charles Burnett's domestic drama To Sleep With Anger (1990). After 227 ended in 1990, King moved to films full-time with a role in John Singleton's acclaimed directorial debut Boyz N the Hood (1991). King worked with Singleton again in Poetic Justice (1993) and Higher Learning (1995). Showing her ability with film comedy as well as drama, King appeared in F. Gary Gray's cult-hit comedy Friday (1995) and co-starred opposite Martin Lawrence in A Thin Line Between Love and Hate (1996). After drawing attention with her performance as Cuba Gooding Jr.'s wife in the critically praised hit Jerry Maguire (1996), King landed substantial parts in the adaptation of Terry McMillan's How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998), the hit action-thriller Enemy of the State (1998), and the family friendly animal adventure Mighty Joe Young (1998). Though her 1999 film Love and Action in Chicago was not nearly as successful as her trio of 1998 movies, King began the new decade with parts in HBO's widely watched telefilm If These Walls Could Talk 2 (2000) and the Chris Rock romantic comedy Down to Earth (2000). King continued to work steadily in a variety of projects including Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde, the family-friendly Eddie Murphy film Daddy Day Care, and the teen comedy A Cinderella Story. King appeared in her most celebrated film to date in 2004 playing Margie Hendrix opposite Jamie Foxx in Ray. She also found steady work in animated efforts including The Ant Bully, and the confrontational television version of the comic strip The Boondocks. In 2006, King joined the cast of the Fox action drama 24, playing the heretofore unseen sister of slain President David Palmer. The part of a smart, tough advocacy lawyer from a powerful family immediate seemed like a good fit for the actress, whose career was populated with such strong and complex roles. King joined the cast of This Christmas (2007), an ensemble drama following a family trying to celebrate Christmas despite a long period of estrangement, and worked with Molly Shannon and Laura Dern in the critically acclaimed black comedy Year of the Dog (2007). In 2009, King took on a starring role in the popular TNT police drama Southland.

Trivia: Was president of his high-school class. Sang backup for The Young Rascals pop group in the 1960s. Became a New York City fireman in 1977 to support his pursuit of an acting career. Made his feature-film debut in 1985's Turk 182, playing a firefighter. Is a colon-cancer survivor and supports several cancer-research organizations.

Trivia: Versatile character actress Kathy Kinney gained considerable popularity in the late '90s for playing Mimi Bobeck, the outrageously made-up, flamboyantly vulgar, and vindictive nemeses of Drew Carey on the ABC sitcom The Drew Carey Show, but she had been involved with television, feature films, and stage work for years. Fans of the long-running CBS comedy Newhart may remember Kinney for playing Miss Goddard, the town librarian. She started out as an improvisational comedienne, performing in various New York comedy clubs. It was her friend Bill Sherwood who provided her film debut, when he cast Kinney as an artist who throws a going away party for a homosexual friend who has just broken up with his longtime lover in Parting Glances (1986). Armed with this success, Kinney moved to Los Angeles the following year and became a hard-working character actress. Her other film credits include appearances in This Boy's Life (1993), Stanley and Iris (1990), and Three Fugitives (1989).

Trivia: American character actor Alvin Hammer performed in vaudeville, on stage, in nightclubs, on television, and in many films between the '40s and the late '80s.

Trivia: Actress Jean Speegle Howard is the mother of actor/director Ron Howard. Although she largely retired from acting in the 1950s, she occasionally appears in films directed by her son.

Trivia: British character actor Peter Bromilow was already a near 20-year theater veteran before he made his feature film debut playing Sir Sagramore in Camelot (1967). After making a few more films in Great Britain, he moved to Hollywood in the mid-'70s, appearing in films ranging from Cheech and Chong's Next Movie (1980) to My Stepmother Is an Alien (1988) to Wild at Heart (1990). In addition to his film work, Bromilow often guest starred on television series such as The Avengers and Tales From the Darkside.

Trivia: Before inaugurating his movie career in 1961, Logan Ramsey and his wife Anne Ramsey established and maintained Philadelphia's Theatre of the Living Arts. While his stage work allowed him full rein in a wide variety of roles, Ramsey was straightjacketed by being typecast in films. When he wasn't playing a redneck sheriff, Ramsey was portraying a backwoods yellow-belly or thick-eared bigot. Ramsey was seen as John Witter in the first two Walking Tall films, and appeared regularly on the TV series The Edge of Night and On the Rocks. He played opposite his wife Ann in The Sporting Club(1971), Any Which Way You Can (1980) and Scrooged (1988). In 1977, Logan Ramsey was cast as J. Edgar Hoover (the resemblance bordered on the spooky) in the TV miniseries Blind Ambition.

Trivia: Bennington College graduate Anne Ramsey married actor Logan Ramsey in 1954; together, they formed Philadelphia's prestigious Theatre of the Living Arts. Despite her many stage credits, Ramsey did not actively pursue a film career during her first two decades as a professional. Put bluntly, she was far from photogenic; thus she decided to hold off working in films until she was as old as she looked. In 1971, she made her film bow, acting opposite her husband in The Sporting Club. She continued essaying minor roles until the 1980s, when tragedy transformed Ramsey into a latter-day star. Suffering from throat cancer, Anne was forced to endure the removal of most of her tongue and jawbone. Thereafter, her performances had a sharp, pit-bull edginess that worked beautifully in such films as Any Which Way You Can (1980) and The Goonies (1985). In 1987, Ramsey was Oscar-nominated for her bravura portrayal of Danny DeVito's monstrous mother in Throw Momma From the Train. Reportedly as salty offscreen as on, Anne Ramsey refused to go gentle into That Good Night, continuing to work in films right up to her death in 1988.

Trivia: While savvy television viewers will no doubt recognize prolific small-screen actress Wendie Malick from such popular series as Baywatch, Just Shoot Me, and HBO's smart and sexy comedy Dream On, the late '90s found her feature career warming up in such independent efforts as Manna From Heaven (2001) and Bathroom Boy (2003). A native of Buffalo, NY, who first found work in front of the cameras as a Wilhelmina model in the 1970s, the Ohio Wesleyan University alum would later work for New York congressman Jack Kemp following her graduation. Subsequently gracing the catwalks of New York, Paris, and Madrid, it was a small role in the 1978 comedy How to Pick up Girls that provided the aspiring actress with her first screen break. Though she would appear in a few theatrical releases such as Scrooged (1988) during the 1980s, most of her work came with made-for-television features and such series as Kate and Allie and Anything But Love. Increasingly visible on the small screen during the 1990s, Malick's role as series protagonist Martin Tupper's (Brian Benben) ex-wife on Dream On utilized her comic abilities to maximum effect and netted the actress four Cable ACE awards. Following the final episode of Dream On in 1996, it was only one short year before Malick began a stint on another popular series that would gain her accolades among sitcom junkies, Just Shoot Me. Her background in the modeling industry provided the ideal foundation for her role as former model Nina Van Horn, and Malick (Emmy-nominated for the role) remained with the show until its final episode in 2003, simultaneously taking occasional parts in both made-for-TV and theatrical features. In 1997 Malick took the lead in the little-seen romantic comedy Just Add Love, and following voice work as the egotistical principal in the Disney series Fillmore!, she appeared alongside Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, and Betty White the Emmy-winning comedy series Hot in Cleveland. In addition to her screen work, Wendie Malick met husband Richard Erickson while building homes for poor families in Mexico, and she also helps the homeless with her work for the Adopt-A-Family organization.

Trivia: Specializing in comedy and satire, screenwriter and magazine journalist Michael O'Donoghue was among the charter writers of NBC's long-running comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live (1975). O'Donoghue's association with original cast members Bill Murray, Chevy Chase and John Belushi extended back through the days when O'Donoghue was creative director of the National Lampoon Radio Hour. Before that, O'Donoghue edited National Lampoon magazine where he ranked as one of the great humor journal's finest writers. On staff at SNL, O'Donoghue was responsible for some of the show's best sketches; his work there earned him Emmys in 1976 and 1977. Though O'Donoghue left the show in 1980, he returned for a short period in 1981 and in 1985. His few screenwriting credits include Savages (1972), Gilda Live!, and Mr. Mike's Mondo Video (both 1979).

Trivia: Hosted her own travel show, Amy's Japan, while living in Japan. Worked with the Asian American Theater Company in San Francisco. Trained at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco. Appeared in Lincoln Center's stage production of Twelfth Night. Created and performed a three-part one woman show in the 1990s, based on her childhood and her mother's life.

Trivia: Musician, composer, and bandleader Paul Shaffer got his first big break as the musical director for the Toronto production of the musical Godspell. He subsequently joined the Saturday Night Live band before becoming the musical director for the Late Night with David Letterman in 1982. His work with the band and his banter with Letterman made Shaffer a celebrity, and he stuck with the show for decades. He also provided musical direction for movies, released solo albums, published a memoir, and even hosted the VH1 game show Cover Wars.

Trivia: Was previously an NCAA all-conference wide receiver.Worked for Ford Motor Company and McCall's magazines prior to his acting career.First credited role was Ron J Sleek in the 1987 comedy Firehouse.First recurring television role was Lou Carello in the comedy series Kate & Allie from 1988 to 1989.Has lent his voice to various DC animated series, such as Batman Beyond, Teen Titans, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, and Batman vs Robin.