Trivia: Commenting on his notorious on-set irascibility in 1977, Jack Klugman replied that he was merely "taking Peter Falk lessons from Robert Blake," invoking the names of two other allegedly hard-to-please TV stars. Klugman grew up in Philadelphia, and after taking in a 1939 performance by New York's Group Theatre, Klugman decided that an actor's life was right up his alley. He majored in drama at Carnegie Tech and studied acting at the American Theatre Wing before making his (non-salaried) 1949 stage-debut at the Equity Library Theater. While sharing a New York flat with fellow hopeful Charles Bronson, Klugman took several "grub" jobs to survive, at one point selling his blood for $85 a pint. During television's so-called Golden Age, Klugman appeared in as many as 400 TV shows. He made his film debut in 1956, and three years later co-starred with Ethel Merman in the original Broadway production of Gypsy. In 1964, Klugman won the first of his Emmy awards for his performance in "Blacklist," an episode of the TV series The Defenders; that same year, he starred in his first sitcom, the 13-week wonder Harris Against the World. Far more successful was his next TV series, The Odd Couple, which ran from 1970 through 1974; Klugman won two Emmies for his portrayal of incorrigible slob Oscar Madison (he'd previously essayed the role when he replaced Walter Matthau in the original Broadway production of the Neil Simon play). It was during Odd Couple's run that the network "suits" got their first real taste of Klugman's savage indignation, when he and co-star Tony Randall threatened to boycott the show unless the idiotic laughtrack was removed (Klugman and Randall won that round; from 1971 onward, Odd Couple was filmed before a live audience). It was but a foretaste of things to come during Klugman's six-year (1977-83) reign as star of Quincy, M.E.. Popular though Klugman was in the role of the crusading, speechifying LA County Coroner's Office medical examiner R. Quincy, he hardly endeared himself to the producers when he vented his anger against their creative decisions in the pages of TV Guide. Nor was he warmly regarded by the Writer's Guild when he complained about the paucity of high-quality scripts (he wrote several Quincy episodes himself, with mixed results). After Quincy's cancellation, Klugman starred in the Broadway play I'm Not Rappaport and co-starred with John Stamos in the 1986 sitcom You Again?. The future of Klugman's career -- and his future, period -- was sorely threatened when he underwent throat surgery in 1989. He'd been diagnosed with cancer of the larynx as early as 1974, but at that time was able to continue working after a small growth was removed. For several years after the 1989 operation, Klugman was unable to speak, though he soon regained this ability. He continued working through 2011, and died the following year at age 90.

Trivia: Actress Frances Lee McCain began her career on Broadway, appearing in stage shows throughout the late '60s before transitioning to the screen with a number of TV guest-appearances, as well as roles in movies like Gremlins and Footloose. The '90s would bring supporting roles in many more movies, including Scream and Patch Adams. McCain remained active in theater, especially in the San Francisco area.

Trivia: Though born in close proximity to Hollywood, Robert Webber chose to head East to launch his acting career shortly after World War II. On Broadway from 1948, Webber made his film bow in 1950's Highway 501, playing the first of many villains. His career moved in fits and starts until he was cast by director Sidney Lumet as Juror Number 12 in the 1957 filmization of Twelve Angry Men. Webber flourished in the 1960s, mostly playing outwardly charming but inwardly vicious types; who could forget his torturing of Julie Harris in Harper (1966), grinning all the while and saying lines like "I just adore inflicting pain"? A personal favorite of director Blake Edwards, Webber was given roles of a more comic nature in such Edwards films as Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978), 10 (1969), and S.O.B (1981). One of Robert Webber's better later roles was as the father of erstwhile private eye Maddie Ross (Cybill Shepherd) on the cult-favorite TV series Moonlighting.

Trivia: American-born actor William Sylvester relocated to England just after World War II. For the next quarter of a century, Sylvester was a fixture in British radio, TV and films, graduating from roles of the "two-bit hood" variety to full-leading man status. His most famous movie assignments included the lead in the ventriloquist-controlled-by-dummy yarn The Devil Doll (1964), and the crucial expository role of Dr. Heywood Floyd in Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Returning to the U.S. in the late 1970s, William Sylvester continued essaying secondary character parts in films, and was seen as Dr. Leonard Driscoll on the 1976 TVer Gemini Man.

Trivia: American actor Anthony James has been playing unlovable, unsavory film roles since the late 1960s. James' lean-and-hungry appearance has usually led him to be cast as characters named Skinny (1975's Hearts of the West) or Slim (1992's The Unforgiven). His larger film assignments include Blue Thunder (1982, as Grundeltus) and Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear (1991, as Hector Savage). Anthony James should not be confused with the "Anthony James" who appeared in the 1949 British film Last Days of Dolwyn.

Trivia: Supporting actor Gilbert Green first appeared onscreen in the '60s.