Trivia: Biting, sarcastic comic actor Paul Lynde made his Broadway debut in Leonard Sillman's New Faces of 1952, which was transferred to film virtually intact in 1953. Far heavier than most of his fans remember him (he tipped the scales at 260 pounds), Lynde scored with a "sick" monologue in which he described the various injuries that had befallen him. The undercurrent of pain inherent in his comedy has been attributed by some observers to Lynde's lifelong insecurities, many of these stemming from the time when his father, mother, and favorite brother all died within a three-month period. By the time Lynde was cast as the long-suffering father in the 1961 Broadway play Bye Bye Birdie, he had slimmed down considerably and his comic gifts had sharpened to a fine point. Beginning with the 1963 Disney film Son of Flubber, Lynde played a series of movie character parts in which he made snide, cynical comments about everyone and everything. Funny in small doses, Lynde's screen character was a bit too much to take on an extended basis, though he was very funny in the recurring character of Uncle Arthur on the '60s TV sitcom Bewitched, and, after several busted pilots, managed to survive a full season with The Paul Lynde Show in 1972. He also provided a number of cartoon voices, notably the villainous Sylvester Sneakley on Hanna-Barbera's Saturday morning opus The Perils of Penelope Pitstop (1969). During the late '70s, Lynde cultivated a fan following for his wisecracking appearances as the "center square" on the TV celebrity game show The Hollywood Squares. He died in 1982 at the age of 55.

Trivia: Former professional skater Carol Wayne became an actress after an injury took her permanently from the ice. She appeared on television as a frequent guest of Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show, and in a few feature films. With her statuesque figure and platinum blonde hair, she was easily recognizable. Wayne disappeared during the course of a vacation in Mexico in January 1985; her body turned up two days later, the apparent victim of an accidental drowning. She was only 39.

Trivia: Born Harriet Lake, the name under which she was billed until 1933, Sothern debuted onscreen in 1929 in a bit part, and went on to play small roles in several other films before leaving Hollywood for Broadway. She soon began landing leads, bringing another invitation from Hollywood. She signed a screen contract and changed her name, then began a very busy film career as the light-hearted heroine of B-movies. In 1939, Sothern switched studios and achieved greater popularity as the star of the "Maisie" comedy-adventure series; she appeared as the energetic, scatterbrained Maisie in ten films during the next eight years. She also appeared in musicals, in which her good voice and comedic talents were displayed. Never a major screen star, she became most popular after switching to TV; she starred in the TV series Private Secretary and The Ann Sothern Show. She went on to tour with stage musicals, then returned to the screen in occasional character roles after 1964. For her work in The Whales of August (1987), her most recent film to date, she received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination. From 1936-42 she was married to actor Roger Pryor and from 1943-49 she was married to actor Robert Sterling. Her daughter is actress Tisha Sterling, with whom she appeared in Crazy Mama (1975) and The Whales of August (1987); in the latter, Sterling played Sothern's character as a young woman.

Trivia: Although Brandon DeWilde's mother was an actress and his father a stage manager, the boy didn't express any interest in performing himself until show business was virtually thrust upon him. In 1950, a friend of DeWilde's father, a Broadway casting director, mentioned that he was looking for a sensitive youngster to play a key juvenile role in the upcoming production A Member of the Wedding. DeWilde senior volunteered Brandon; despite a shaky opening night, the 7-year-old boy stayed with the show for well over a year, winning the coveted Donaldson Award for his performance--the first child actor to do so. Brandon was brought to Hollywood in 1952 for the film version of Wedding. One year later, he was Oscar-nominated for his unforgettable performance as a hero-worshipping frontier boy in George Stevens' Shane. In 1954, he was starred in the brief TV sitcom Jamie, holding his own opposite veteran scene-stealer Ernest Truex. DeWilde made a successful transition to teenaged roles as the unwed father in 1959's Blue Denim. He went on to play the younger brother of Warren Beatty in All Fall Down (1961) and the nephew of Paul Newman in Hud (1963)--in both instances displaying his now-familiar character traits of idolatry and disillusionment. While in Denver to appear in a 1972 stage production of Butterflies are Free, 30-year-old Brandon DeWilde was killed in an auto accident.