Trivia: Best remembered for his high-profile acting roles on two 1970s television sitcoms -- that of genial news writer Murray Slaughter on CBS's The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-1977) and that of sweet-natured Captain Merrill Stubing on ABC's The Love Boat (1977-1986), stage-trained actor Gavin MacLeod in fact began his career typecast as a villain. He landed parts in Hollywood features including The Sand Pebbles (1966), Deathwatch (1966), and The Comic (1969), and enjoyed a tenure as Joseph "Happy" Haines on the sitcom McHale's Navy from 1962 through 1964. After The Love Boat permanently laid anchor in the mid-'80s, MacLeod signed on as a spokesperson and pitchman for Princess Cruises and returned to regional theatrical work. He also tackled guest spots on programs including Touched by an Angel and (in a move that surprised everyone) the HBO prison drama Oz. Off-camera, MacLeod is an outspoken born-again Christian. He hosted a popular talk show on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, along with his wife, Patti (whom he divorced in 1982 and remarried three years later), called Back on Course, and personally funded many of the Greatest Adventure Stories from the Bible animated videos for children.

Trivia: Universally recognized as Ship's Doctor Adam Bricker on the blockbuster prime-time sitcom The Love Boat (1977-1986) -- a part he held for the entire nine-season run of the series -- actor Bernie Kopell entered the doors of show business via a most unlikely route. Born in Brooklyn, Kopell attended Erasmus High and then New York University (with a dramatic art major). After a stint at sea aboard the naval vessel USS Iowa, Kopell signed on to drive a taxicab in Southern California -- and achieved his big break on the day that Oregon Trail (1959) film producer Dick Einfeld hitched a ride in the back of his cab. In a span of minutes, Kopell reportedly managed to convince Einfeld that he was not really a cab driver but an actor in serious need of work. The effort paid off, and Kopell snagged his first part -- a two-line part in Oregon as an aide to president James K. Polk. In the early '60s, Kopell joined the Actors' Ring Theatre in Los Angeles, where he developed a knack for characterizations and voices; this led, in turn, to character-type roles on a myriad of television programs including The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Steve Allen Show, and My Favorite Martian (which often, though not always, cast the wiry Kopell as a Hispanic). By the early '70s, Kopell had landed steady assignments on Get Smart, Bewitched, That Girl, and other series. The Love Boat, however, embodied his breakthrough. He followed it up with an emcee assignment on The Travel Channel (hosting its Railway Adventures Across Europe) and a surge in theatrical work, with portrayals in regional productions of such plays as Rumors, A History of Shadows, and Death of a Salesman.

Trivia: Actor Fred Grandy enjoyed two distinct careers -- an initial career as an actor and a proverbial second wind on the political stage. As a thespian, Grandy signed for guest spots on early-'70s series including Maude and Phyllis, but built his reputation via his nine-season portrayal of Yeoman-Purser Burl "Gopher" Smith, right-hand man to Captain Merrill Stubing (Gavin MacLeod), on the popular television sitcom The Love Boat (1977-1986). He proved popular with audiences, but by the mid-'80s reportedly grew tired of acting and gravitated to the political arena because he found it more challenging. Indeed, in 1986 -- the year of Boat's cancelation -- Grandy was elected as a Republican member of the House of Representatives from Iowa.

Trivia: For millions of Americans, the prime-time situation comedy The Love Boat will be forever inseparable from the image of Ted Lange, an actor cast for nine seasons as the genial Isaac the Bartender on the Pacific Princess luxury liner and trademarked by his iconic "two-finger drop" greeting. Yet Lange's portrayal of Isaac scarcely hinted at the actor's dexterity or dramatic range. In truth, this actor received classical dramatic training at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, and would go on, after the Princess took its final voyage in September 1986, to establish himself as a revered creative force in regional theater.Lange initially broke into films with many portrayals in Hollywood programmers during the early '70s, including Trick Baby (1972), Blade (1972), and Black Belt Jones (1974), and landed a regular role in the one-season ethnic sitcom That's My Mama (1974), as a streetwise philosopher opposite Clifton Davis (Amen) and Theresa Merritt. The Love Boat, of course, brought Lange his most widespread recognition; nonetheless (as indicated), he hearkened back to his theatrical roots beginning in the late '80s and divided his time between writing, directing, and stage acting roles. His resumé as a scribe sports at least 17 original plays including Lemon Meringue Facade, Behind the Mask -- An Evening with Paul Laurence Dunbar, and Evil Legacy -- The Story of Lucretia Borgia, while he has appeared dramatically in productions including Hair and Taming of the Shrew and has directed plays ranging from Othello to the rock & roll musical Born a Unicorn.

Trivia: Pennsylvania-born actress Lauren Tewes achieved broadest recognition for her stint as Cruise Director Julie McCoy on the long-running ABC situation comedy The Love Boat. Unfortunately, Tewes (unlike many of her fellow cast members) left the program prior to the final voyage of the Pacific Princess -- reportedly spiraling into a much-publicized bout of severe cocaine addiction from which she eventually fully recovered, but which cost her the role on the series. Tewes nevertheless demonstrated admirable resilience by returning for at least two Love Boat telemovies and remained active in television and film. Subsequent projects included guest appearances on the small-screen series dramas Hunter and Murder, She Wrote, and roles in features such as The Doom Generation (1995) and It Came From Outer Space 2 (1996).

Trivia: A striking beauty, famed for her long, slender and well-formed legs, dancer/actress Juliet Prowse was at the peak of her popularity as a film and television actress during the 1960s. After that, she made her name on stage and in Las Vegas. Born in Bombay, and raised in South Africa, she studied to be a dancer from the age of 4. Prowse was accepted for the Festival Ballet of Johannesburg at age 14, but at a height of 6 feet she was much too large for the rather strict requirements of the ballet world. A less prestigious but likely more lucrative engagement followed when Juliet signed on as a chorus dancer for the London Palladium. She went to dance at a Parisian nightclub, then toured Europe as a member of a modern dance troupe. Hollywood choreographer Hermes Pan spotted one of Prowse's performances and cast her as the Snake in the "Adam and Eve" number for the 1959 film musical Can Can. While visiting the set of this film, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev took a long look at Juliet and denounced the production for its depravity. Whatever shortcoming Khrushchev might have had as a dance critic, as a press agent he was tops -- within weeks after his denunciation, Prowse was appearing on virtually every magazine cover in the U.S. As an added fillip to her newfound fame, Prowse fell in love with the star of Can Can, Frank Sinatra. Prowse next co-starred opposite Elvis Presley in G.I. Blues and before production finished, rumors flew that she and the King were romantically entangled. Still she and Sinatra announced their engagement in 1962. The marriage never took place, but the publicity value to Prowse was invaluable, resulting in a high-playing Las Vegas nightclub engagement. The show was panned by the papers (again for supposed bad taste) but still raked in a fortune. At the behest of her agent, Prowse next attempted to become the "new Lucille Ball" in the 1965 NBC sitcom Mona McCluskey. The premise: Prowse was a movie star who willingly lived on her military-officer husband's meager monthly wages. Despite the hype surrounding the show, Mona McCluskey was off the air in 13 weeks. As her first blush of notoriety faded, Juliet Prowse maintained her nightclub career with success, supplementing her income with innumerable TV commercial endorsements for cosmetics and panty hose - and experiencing a few heart-stopping moments when an 80-pound leopard mauled her during a rehearsal for a Circus of the Stars TV special in 1989. A real trooper, Prowse recovered enough to complete her part of the show. A few months later she was getting ready to make a promotional appearance with the leopard on The Tonight Show. Unfortunately, the big cat's temper had not significantly improved and it attacked her again just before they were to go on. From 1986 through the mid '90s, Prowse hosted the "Championship Ballroom Dance Competition" on PBS. Throughout her career she has earned several awards including the Professional Dancer's Society "Gypsy" award, a Best Actress of the Year from the London Evening Standard and the Las Vegas Performer of the Year award for a stage version of Sweet Charity. In 1994, Prowse was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She made her final public appearance in a 10-week summer run of Sugar Babies opposite Mickey Rooney in Las Vegas in 1995. Prowse passed away on September 14, 1996.

Trivia: Learning the ropes at the Bucks County Playhouse and New York's Neighborhood Playhouse, Jessica Walter, born January 31st, 1949, made her Broadway debut in 1961's Advise and Consent. The raven-haired leading lady was then seen on a regular basis in several Manhattan-based TV programs, including the daytimer Love of Life and the 1965 nighttime series For the People. In films from 1964, Jessica was one of eight young female "newcomers" (Candice Bergen, Elizabeth Hartman, Joanna Pettet et. al.) who went on to greater things after appearing en masse in Sidney Lumet's The Group (1966). Her flashiest screen role was as the dangerously possessive "number one fan" Evelyn Draper in Clint Eastwood's Play Misty for Me (1971). Of her many weekly-TV assignments, Walter's title role in the mid-'70s cop series Amy Prentiss garnered her the most attention; that is, until recently, when Walter found late-career acclaim on the award-winning sitcom Arrested Development. As the insensitive, materialistic matriarch of the Bluth family, Walter garnered a plum comedic role, and Emmy attention to boot. Walter continued to remain active in television appearances following the cancellation of Arrested Development, and joined the cast of the Broadway revival of Anything Goes in 2011.

Trivia: After starting out as a free-form stand-up comic in San Francisco and New York, Dick Gautier was nominated for a Tony Award for his portrayal of Elvis-like rock star Conrad Birdie in the 1961 Broadway production Bye Bye Birdie. Gautier was also half of an informal, improvisational comedy team with straight man Peter Marshall. In films since 1972, Gautier is better known for his television work on such series as Mr. Terrific (1967), Here We Go Again (1971), The Liars Club (1974), and especially Get Smart (1965-70), in which he played Hymie the Robot. Get Smart co-creator Mel Brooks later concocted a starring TV vehicle for Gautier, the 13-week Robin Hood spoof When Things Were Rotten (1975). In the 1980s, Gautier embarked on a sizeable career as a voice-over actor, lending his voice to memorable characters in the animated G.I. Joe (as Serpentor) and Transformers (as Rodimus Prime), and as stock characters in shows like Smurfs and The Addams Family. Gautier died in 2017, at age 85.

Trivia: Sonny Bono found success in wildly different venues. From the late '60s through the early '70s, he was best known as the driving force in the pop duo Sonny and Cher. He was also an actor, the owner of a small restaurant chain, the longtime mayor of Palm Springs, CA, and a United States Congressman representing California's 44th Congressional District. A first-generation Sicilian-American from Detroit, Bono (born Salvatore Bono) was raised in Los Angeles since early childhood. Though his parents wanted him to be a doctor, Bono had his eye on becoming a performer. In the late '50s, he was hired as a songwriter and singer for Dig Records and had his first hit with "Needles and Pins." When he first teamed up with willowy and exotic-looking teenager Cherilyn Sarkisian, they billed themselves as Caesar and Cleo; later they married and became Sonny and Cher. They had their first successful single with "Baby Don't Go." The two went on to have more major chart success with songs such as "I Got You Babe" and "The Beat Goes On." Sonny and Cher also recorded separately and Bono had success with "Laugh at Me." At the peak of their popularity as singers, the duo appeared as themselves in a couple of films with their largest role in Good Times (1967). In 1969, Bono wrote the screenplay and music and produced a vehicle for Cher, Chastity. In the late '60s, Bono saw that the popularity of Sonny and Cher was in decline -- in part because they took a public stand against drugs at a time when illegal drugs were hip -- and reworked their act and began getting nightclub bookings. The new Sonny and Cher act relied heavily on their comical patter in which the diminutive Sonny played the clueless straight man to the tall, cool, hip, and tart-tongued Cher. The act was popular and the two were given a summer variety show on CBS in 1971 that featured much of the writing staff from the recently canceled and controversial Smothers Brothers program. The show became a hit and ran through 1974. By that time the couple had divorced and went on to make unsuccessful bids at solo series before reuniting again with a new version of their show in 1977. Unfortunately, they were unable to capture the magic of their first show and the new show was canceled. In 1975, Bono made his solo debut as an actor in the made-for-TV movie Murder on Flight 502. He subsequently continued the occasional film appearance as an actor through the '80s, and in 1994 made a cameo appearance in the comedy First Kid. In 1982, he opened a restaurant, BONO, in West Hollywood and after it became a hot spot, he opened another in Houston. It too was a success, but he eventually sold them both to open another BONO restaurant in Palm Springs that specialized in authentic Sicilian cuisine based on old family recipes.In 1988, conservative Republican Bono was elected Mayor of Palm Springs by a landslide and played an integral role in enlarging and rejuvenating the popular desert resort community. Interestingly, up until a year before the election, Bono had never been a registered voter. The Palm Springs International Film Festival was one of many community events he helped launch. Despite his contributions to Palm Springs, critics questioned his income, which was allegedly higher after becoming the mayor than it was when he was a businessman. Bono rose above the allegations and remained popular. He made an unsuccessful run for the U.S. Senate in 1991. However, in 1994, he successfully ran for Congress where, in addition to his legislative duties, he was appointed by the Speaker of the House to chair the Entertainment Industry Task Force. As a conservative, Bono was known for being outspoken and even blunt in his assessment of policies and issues. That he tempered his views, which included a stand against the National Endowment for the Arts and same sex marriages (this despite the fact that his first daughter Chastity is a lesbian activist), with humor did little to soften their impact. On the other hand, as tough as he was on issues, Bono was also known for his generosity and kindness. Supporters wondered whether or not he was planning to run for the California Senate in 1998, but Bono said that he wouldn't as he wanted to spend more time with his third wife, Mary, and their two children. Sonny Bono died on January 5, 1997, during a ski outing near Lake Tahoe, NV. Though reportedly an expert downhill skier, he apparently strayed from the trail and struck a tree.

Trivia: American actor Red Buttons, born Aaron Schwatt and raised on New York's Lower East Side, won an amateur night contest at age 12. By age 16 he was working in a Bronx tavern as a bellboy-singer; here he took the name "Red Buttons", in reference to his uniform. He went on to work the Catskills Mountains "Borscht Belt" and to perform as a burlesque comedian. He debuted on Broadway as a supporting player in Vickie in 1942. He served in the Army during World War II, appearing in the play Winged Victory; he played the same role in the film version (1944), marking his big-screen debut. After briefly starring in his own TV show in 1953 he had a weak career until he landed the role of Sargeant Joe Kelly in the film Sayonara (1957), his second movie role; for his work in that film he won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, going on from there to appear frequently in films, usually as a comedy actor.

Trivia: During the early '70s, country & western artist Ronee Blakley was a favorite singer/songwriter of Bob Dylan and had a fairly successful singing career. In film, she penned a few songs for Welcome Home Soldier (1972). She made a stellar acting debut in 1975 playing Barbara Jean, a tragic, frail singer (alleged to be loosely patterned after Loretta Lynn) who is nearly destroyed by fame in Robert Altman's Nashville. Blakley is said to have written much of the part herself and was so convincing in the role that it won her a nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She has continued to pursue a career in film, but has since been relegated to leading and supporting roles in low-budget and independent features ranging from Walter Hill's The Driver (1978) and Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) to Someone to Love (1987). In 1985, Blakley directed and starred in the docudrama I Played It for You.

Trivia: Kaye Ballard was fifteen when she made her professional debut, singing in a USO show in her home town of Cleveland. Two years later, Kaye was a solo performer on the RKO vaudeville circuit. She made it to the New York legitimate stage in 1946's Three to Make Ready. A much-in-demand cabaret performer, Kaye Ballard brought her con brio musical comedy technique to television in the 1951 weekly Henry Morgan's Great Talent Hunt. The first of her all-too-infrequent film appearances was in The Girl Most Likely, the 1957 musical remake of Tom Dick and Harry. Kaye's Broadway credits in the 1960s included the musical hit Carnival (1961) and the intimate revue The Decline and Fall of the Whole World as Seen Through the Eyes of Cole Porter Revisited (1965). From 1967 to 1969, Kaye co-starred with Eve Arden on the Desi Arnaz-produced TV sitcom The Mothers-in-Law. Kaye Ballard was later seen on a weekly basis on The Doris Day Show (1970) and The Steve Allen Comedy Hour (1980), and such films as Freaky Friday (1977), The Ritz (1980) and Tiger Warshaw (1984).

Trivia: Jill Whelan enjoyed an acting career as a child star, with a seven-season (1979-1986) portrayal of Vicki, Captain Merrill Stubing's young daughter, on the prime-time ABC situation comedy The Love Boat. After the series wrapped in 1986, Whelan returned for a number of Love Boat telemovies, acted in regional theater, and played a regular role on the daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless. Astute movie buffs may remember Whelan for a brief but memorable big-screen contribution that happened during her Love Boat tenure: she also portrayed Lisa Davis, the ailing child sent into convulsions when a singing nun knocks out her I.V., in the Zucker-Abrams-Zucker farce Airplane! (1980).