Trivia: Though he spoke most of his movie dialogue in a slow Western drawl, actor Slim Pickens was a pure-bred California boy. An expert rider from the age of four, Pickens was performing in rodeos at 12. Three years later, he quit school to become a full-time equestrian and bull wrangler, eventually becoming the highest-paid rodeo clown in show business. In films since 1950's Rocky Mountain, Pickens specialized in Westerns (what a surprise), appearing as the comic sidekick of Republic cowboy star Rex Allen. By the end of the 1950s, Pickens had gained so much extra poundage that he practically grew out of his nickname. Generally cast in boisterous comedy roles, Pickens was also an effectively odious villain in 1966's An Eye for an Eye, starting the film off with a jolt by shooting a baby in its crib. In 1963, director Stanley Kubrick handed Pickens his greatest role: honcho bomber pilot "King" Kong in Dr. Strangelove. One of the most unforgettable of all cinematic images is the sight of Pickens straddling a nuclear bomb and "riding" it to its target, whooping and hollering all the way down. Almost as good was Pickens' performance as Harvey Korman's henchman in Mel Brooks' bawdy Western spoof Blazing Saddles (1974). Slim Pickens was also kept busy on television, with numerous guest shots and regular roles in the TV series The Legend of Custer, B.J. and the Bear, and Filthy Rich.

Trivia: Broad-shouldered leading man John Hart was signed to a standard contract by Paramount in 1938. He appeared in a few "B"s like Tip-Off Girls (1938) and King of Alcatraz (1938) before his option was permitted to lapse. Returning to Hollywood after World War II, Hart worked as a journeyman actor in low-budget films: his biggest assignment of the late 1940s was the title role in the Columbia serial Jack Armstrong (1947). When Clayton Moore left the Lone Ranger TV series during a salary dispute in 1952, Hart was hired to play the Masked Rider of the Plains in 26 Ranger episodes. The replacement did not go unnoticed, and soon fans were demanding the return of Moore. Five years later, Hart co-starred with Lon Chaney Jr. in the Canadian-filmed syndicated TVer Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans. He spent the next two decades essaying small roles in films and TV shows and also worked prolifically as a voice-over artist. John Hart came back into the spotlight when the Wrather Corporation produced the 1981 theatrical feature Legend of the Lone Ranger; while Clayton Moore was once more on the "outs" with Wrather, the white-haired, virile Hart was available to play the key supporting role of Lucas Stryker (an inside joke: one of the principal writers of the Lone Ranger radio series was Fran Stryker).

Trivia: A familiar presence on the Chicago theatrical scene, American character actress Fran Ryan has kept busy in films since the late 1960s. Often cast as tight-lipped "battle-ax" types (albeit with the proverbial twinkle in the eye), Ryan was an invaluable presence in several Disney films. On TV, she has thrice found herself in the unenviable position of last-minute replacement: she took over the role of Doris Ziffel from Barbara Pepper during the 1969-70 season of Green Acres; as Miss Hannah, she succeeded Kitty Russell (Amanda Blake) as proprietress of the Long Branch Saloon in the 1974-75 season of Gunsmoke; and on the Saturday-morning kiddie show Sigmund and the Sea Monsters (1974-77), she replaced the departing Mary Wickes as the series' requisite wisecracking housekeeper. Fran Ryan's other TV-series credits include The Doris Day Show (1968-69 season, as housekeeper Aggie Thompson), No Soap, Radio (1982, as hotelier Mrs. Belmont) and The Wizard (1987, as yet another housekeeper, this one named Tillie).