Trivia: The son of world-famous violinist Efrem Zimbalist and opera star Alma Gluck, Efrem Zimbalist Jr. received an expensive prep-school education in New England, and at age 16 he briefly studied at Yale University. He became a page at the NBC radio studios in New York City, then took acting lessons at Neighborhood Playhouse. Just before serving in World War II (in which he earned a Purple Heart), Zimbalist married another aspiring performer, Emily McNair. After the war, he began toting up Broadway acting credits, and in 1949 made his film debut as Richard Conte's brutish brother in House of Strangers (1949). After his wife died of cancer in 1950, Zimbalist briefly retired from acting, moving with his two children to Philadelphia; there he became a researcher at the Curtis Institute of Music, where his father was director. Shortly after returning to acting in 1954 with a recurring role on the TV soap opera Concerning Miss Marlowe, Zimbalist married East Coast socialite Stephanie Spaulding; the union produced a daughter, also named Stephanie, who grew up to become a popular actress in her own right (Zimbalist's son, Efrem III, has likewise earned a place in "Who's Who" as a publishing company executive). Signed to a long-term Warner Bros. contract, Zimbalist achieved full stardom in the role of suave private detective Stuart Bailey on the weekly TV series 77 Sunset Strip (1958-1964). He went on to another popular Warners series in 1965, playing inspector Lew Erskine in the long-running (nine seasons) The FBI. His later TV roles included Charles Cabot in the 1986 episodes of Hotel, Don Alejandro de la Vega in the first-season installment of the Family Channel's Zorro (1990-1992), and silver-tongued con artist Daniel Chalmers on his daughter Stephanie's weekly series Remington Steele (1982-1987). Generally cast in sophisticated or serious roles, Efrem Zimbalist Jr. has on occasion been permitted to display his flair for zany comedy, as witness his villainous portrayal in the 1990 action-flick satire Hot Shots! In his later years, he voiced a number of animated characters, such as Dr. Octopus in Spider-Man and Alfred Pennyworth in The New Batman Adventures and Justice League. Zimbalist's final acting role was in the 2008 short film The Delivery. He died in 2014 at age 95.

Trivia: Born in California, Roger Smith was raised in Nogales, Arizona, where his father ran a clothing manufacturing business. Not too handy around his father's shop, Smith was better suited to performing; he took singing, elocution and dancing lessons while he was still learning to walk and talk, and by age 12 he was a member of an LA-based kiddie musical troupe. While attending the University of Arizona on an athletic scholarship, Smith won several amateur-show prizes as a singer and guitarist, but did not immediately entertain thoughts of making show business his life. During his 30 months' active service in the Naval Reserve, Smith renewed his singing at various public and private functions. At one of these, he met film star James Cagney, who suggested that Smith might try for a career in Hollywood. Signed to a Columbia Pictures contract, Smith appeared in such films as No Time to Be Young (1957) and Operation Madball (1957), and played a small recurring role on the television sitcom Father Knows Best, produced by Columbia's TV subsidiary Screen Gems. The up-and-coming young actor touched bases again with Jimmy Cagney when the latter recommended that Smith be hired to play Creighton Chaney (aka Lon Chaney Jr.) in the Lon Chaney biopic Man of 1000 Faces (1957). On the strength of this film and his work in the subsequent Cagney vehicle Never Steal Anything Small, Smith was engaged by director Morton Da Costa to portray the older Patrick Dennis in Auntie Mame (1959); this, in turn, led to a long-term contract with Warner Bros., and the co-starring role of Jeff Spencer in Warners' TV detective series 77 Sunset Strip. Roger Smith went on to essay the title character in the 1965 weekly TV adaptation of Mister Roberts before retiring from acting in 1967 to manage the career of his second wife, musical star Ann-Margret. Smith died in 2017, at age 84.

Trivia: American character actor Louis Quinn appeared on stage, screen, radio, and television, where he is best remembered for playing Roscoe on the '60s series 77 Sunset Strip. Quinn entered the entertainment industry as a writer for Orson Welles, Milton Berle, Don MacNeill, and other radio personalities. During the '40s, Quinn hosted a few popular radio variety shows. He got his start in television writing material for Milton Berle's television show The Texaco Hour. Quinn entered films as a character actor in the '50s and made occasional screen appearances through the mid-'70s.

Trivia: Character actor Byron Keith's movie career spanned over two decades. He made his film debut in The Stranger (1946). Keith also worked on television; lovers of the campy '60s series Batman may remember him for playing Mayor Linseed. Other television appearances include Bewitched, 77 Sunset Strip, and The Invaders.

Trivia: While still a high-school student, Richard Long was selected to play the son of Claudette Colbert in 1946's Tomorrow is Forever. A subsequent supporting role as Loretta Young's brother in the Orson Welles-directed The Stranger proved that Long had talent as well as looks, and that his good showing in the Colbert picture had not been a fluke. Despite a good start, Long's film career had waned by the mid-1950s. He finally gained stardom on television, notably on the various series produced by Warner Bros. between 1957 and 1963. Long played Gentleman Jack Darby on Maverick and detective Rex Randolph on Bourbon Street Beat; he carried over the "Randolph" character into 77 Sunset Strip, starting with the 1960-61 season. Later TV starring stints for Richard Long included The Big Valley (1965-69) as frontier attorney Jarrod Barkley, and Nanny and the Professor (70-71), as guess which of the two title characters. Richard Long died of a heart ailment at the age of 47.

Trivia: The eldest of seven children of a Brooklyn bank executive, Robert F. Logan was eight years old when his family moved to Los Angeles. During his high-school years, Logan aspired to a career in professional sports, but was habitually sidelined by injuries and poor grades. Eventually, however, he was awarded a baseball scholarship to the University of Arizona. His ball-playing career came to an abrupt end when he was spotted by a Warner Bros. talent agent. After his movie debut in Claudelle Inglish, Logan was cast as slang-slinging parking lot attendant J. R. Hale in the weekly TVer 77 Sunset Strip (he replaced "Kookie"--aka Edward Byrnes--who'd been promoted to private eye), remaining with the series until 1963. He went on to co-star as Jericho Jones during the 1965-66 season of TV's Daniel Boone. For several years thereafter, little was heard from Robert Logan; he reemerged in the 1970s as star of the Wilderness Family movie series, and as producer and writer of similar family-oriented films.