Trivia: One of the precious few actors of the "pretty boy" school to survive past the 1950s, Robert Wagner was the son of a Detroit steel executive. When his family moved to Los Angeles, Wagner's original intention of becoming a businessman took second place to his fascination with the film industry. Thanks to his dad's connections, he was able to make regular visits to the big studios. Inevitably, a talent scout took notice of Wagner's boyish handsomeness, impressive physique, and easygoing charm. After making his unbilled screen debut in The Happy Years (1950), Wagner was signed by 20th Century Fox, which carefully built him up toward stardom. He played romantic leads with ease, but it wasn't until he essayed the two scene role of a shellshocked war veteran in With a Song in My Heart (1952) that studio executives recognized his potential as a dramatic actor. He went on to play the title roles in Prince Valiant (1954) and The True Story of Jesse James (1956), and shocked his bobby-soxer fan following by effectively portraying a cold-blooded murderer in A Kiss Before Dying (1955). In the early '60s, however, Wagner suffered a series of personal and professional reverses. His "ideal" marriage to actress Natalie Wood had dissolved, and his film career skidded to a stop after The Pink Panther (1964). Two years of unemployment followed before Wagner made a respectable comeback as star of the lighthearted TV espionage series It Takes a Thief (1968-1970). For the rest of his career, Wagner would enjoy his greatest success on TV, first in the mid-'70s series Switch, then opposite Stefanie Powers in the internationally popular Hart to Hart, which ran from 1979 through 1983 and has since been sporadically revived in TV-movie form (a 1986 series, Lime Street, was quickly canceled due to the tragic death of Wagner's young co-star, Savannah Smith). On the domestic front, Wagner was briefly wed to actress Marion Marshall before remarrying Natalie Wood in 1972; after Wood's death in 1981, Wagner found lasting happiness with his third wife, Jill St. John, a longtime friend and co-worker. Considered one of Hollywood's nicest citizens, Robert Wagner has continued to successfully pursue a leading man career into his sixties; he has also launched a latter-day stage career, touring with his Hart to Hart co-star Stefanie Power in the "readers' theater" presentation Love Letters. He found success playing a henchman to Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers movies, and in 2007 he began playing Teddy, a recurring role on the hit CBS series Two and a Half Men.

Trivia: Born Stefania Federkiewicz, she is a lead actress of routine Hollywood films of the '60s and '70s. Soon after graduating from Hollywood High, she debuted onscreen in 1961; early in her career she was billed as Taffy Paul. She starred in the TV series Girl from U.N.C.L.E. and Hart to Hart. From 1966-74 she was married to actor Gary Lockwood, then she became the constant companion of aging actor William Holden; following his death in 1981, she continued being active with the William Holden Wildlife Foundation, which worked to create a big-game preserve and study center in Kenya.

Trivia: Ever since the '50s, each generation has had its definitive sitcom mom, the one woman who symbolizes the attitudes and ideals of the American household (at least according to the major networks). In the late '50s, it was Barbara Billingsley; Donna Reed ruled the '60s; Roseanne repped the '80s; and Florence Henderson was queen of the '70s. As Carol Brady, she was the polyester-clad personification of the "have a nice day" mentality on the Brady Bunch (1969-1974). Prior to becoming Mrs. Brady, Henderson had worked on television during the '50s, getting her start as the "Today Girl" on Today (1952) and as a regular on Sing Along (1958). She also made frequent appearances on the Tonight Show through the early '60s. Henderson was a successful star of Broadway musicals and in 1970, she starred in the musical feature-film biography of Scandinavian composer Edvard Grieg, Song of Norway (1970). Since the end of the Brady Bunch series, Henderson has basically made her living portraying and sometimes spoofing Carol Brady. There was a blessedly short-lived variety show sequel to the program, The Brady Bunch Hour (1977), and Brady Bunch reunion TV movies, such as The Brady Girls Get Married (1981) and A Very Brady Christmas (1988). The show that wouldn't die also spawned two more sequel series, The Brady Brides (1981) and the downbeat drama The Bradys (1990). In 1995, Henderson played a feisty grandmother, the antithesis of Carol, in the feature-film spoof The Brady Bunch Movie. She continued to appear on TV and in movies such as Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, and the documentary Get Bruce!. In 2006 she was cast in season 6 of The Surreal Life, and in 2010 she returned to the small screen yet again to compete in the eleventh season of Dancing With the Stars. Henderson died in 2016, at age 82.

Trivia: A busy teenaged model, Carol Lynley rose to fame by virtue of a series of popular hair-conditioner commercials. Her first important acting assignment was as a high-school-age murderess on a 1958 episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, directed by Robert Altman. The blonde ingenue played a more sedate role in her first film, Disney's The Light in the Forest. Carol Lynley continued essaying a variety of sympathetic and menacing roles into the 1990s, earning extensive press coverage for her portrayal of film-legend Jean Harlow in a 1965 "electronivision" production, released at the same time as another Harlow biography starring Carroll Baker.

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: Classically trained at the Juilliard School in New York, actor Leigh J. McCloskey is best known for the role of Mitch Cooper on the hit show Dallas, which he appeared on from 1980-1982. He also appeared on several other series, such as The Young and the Restless and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, in addition to nurturing a career as an artist. Some of McCloskey's art has appeared in conjunction with the Rolling Stones on their Bigger Bang Tour.