Blood and Steel

John Brinkley (Actor) .. Cip

Brett Halsey (Actor) .. Jim

Born: June 20, 1933
Birthplace: Santa Ana, California

Trivia: Actor Brett Halsey came into this world as Charles Oliver Hand, the son of a San Francisco contractor. Formerly a page at the CBS studios in Hollywood, the 20-year-old Halsey was signed to a Universal contract in 1953. His earliest film efforts include The Glass Web (1953) and Ma and Pa Kettle at Home (1954), in which he played one of the myriad of Kettle offspring. He went on to play leads in bottom-budget juvenile delinquent films, including the immortal 1958 howler Speed Crazy. Under contract to 20th Century-Fox in the late 1950s-early 1960s, Halsey starred in Return of the Fly (1959) and was seen on a weekly basis as swinging journalist Paul Templin in the TV series Follow the Sun (1961). He then packed his bags and headed to Italy, where he played leads in swashbucklers, spy films, and Westerns (occasionally under the pseudonym Montgomery Ford). His experiences as a journeyman actor in Europe were encapsulated in his novel Magnificent Strangers. Halsey returned to the U.S. in the early 1970s, where he acted in such TV daytime dramas as Love is a Many Splendored Thing, Search for Tomorrow and, General Hospital, as well as in feature films, including Francis Ford Coppolas' Godfather III (1990). Brett Halsey was at one time married to actress Luciana Paluzzi.

James Edwards (Actor) .. George

Born: January 01, 1918
Died: January 04, 1970

Trivia: African American leading man James Edwards came to acting by way of a near-tragedy. Seriously injured in an accident while serving in World War II, Edwards went through a painful convalescence as surgeons completely restructured his face. His vocal chords were also severely damaged, and it was suggested by his doctors that Edwards take elocution lessons to restore his voice. Upon recovering, Edwards decided to celebrate his "rebirth" by becoming an actor. After touring in the stage production Deep are the Roots, Edwards made his film debut as a boxer in RKO's The Set-Up (1949). He was starred in his next film, Home of the Brave (1949), appropriately cast as a wounded soldier. James Edwards' last film was the 1970 Best Picture winner Patton, starring George C. Scott; he died on January 4, 1970.

John Lupton (Actor) .. Lt. Dave

Born: January 01, 1926

Trivia: Born in Illinois, actor John Lupton was raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where his father was a writer with the Milwaukee Journal. Upon graduation from New York's American Acamedy of Dramatic Arts, Lupton secured immediate stage work, then was signed as a contract player with MGM in Hollywood. Few worthwhile parts came from this alliance; Lupton was lanky and handsome in a Jimmy Stewart or Henry Fonda sort of way, but wasn't permitted to develop much of an on-screen persona of his own. His best opportunity came in 1956, when he was cast as Tom Jeffords on the two-season TV series Broken Arrow -- though most of the critical plaudits were directed at his costar Michael Ansara, who played the more colorful part of Cochise. A journeyman actor throughout the '60s, Lupton became one of the rotating "repertory" cast members of the TV series of Jack Webb (Dragnet, Adam 12, et al.) He is best known to latter-day viewers for his 14 year run as Tommy Horton on the daytime serial Days of Our Lives. John Lupton's offscreen pursuits included extensive volunteer work for the Multiple Sclerosis Association and the Special Olympics.

Ziva Rodann (Actor) .. Native Girl

Born: March 02, 1937

Allen Jung (Actor) .. Head Japanese

James Hong (Actor) .. Japanese Draftsman

Born: February 22, 1929
Birthplace: Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States

Trivia: Actor James Hong was working as a nightclub comic in San Francisco and Hawaii when he was tapped for his first regular TV role: "Number One Son" Barry Chan in the Anglo-American co-production The New Adventures of Charlie Chan (1957). Hong would later appear as Frank Chen in Jigsaw John (1976) and Wang in Switch (1977-78). In theatrical features, he played characters bearing such flavorful monikers as Chew, Lo Pan and Bing Wong. He was seen as Faye Dunaway's butler in Roman Polanski's Chinatown (1974), repeating the role (minus Faye) in the 1990 sequel The Two Jakes. One of his most sizeable screen roles was Lamont Cranston's brainy assistant Li Peng in The Shadow (1994). James Hong has also directed a brace of feature films, including 1979's The Girls Next Door and 1989's The Vineyard.

Bill Saito (Actor) .. Sugi

Born: December 22, 1936

12:15 pm - 1:20 pm, Sunday, December 7 on FX Movie Channel HD (East) ()