Trivia: One of the all-time great rock & rollers and an unprecedented, phenomenal show-business success, Elvis Presley also starred in 31 consecutive big-screen hits. He was among the Top Ten box-office attractions in 1957 and from 1961-1966. When he was 13, he moved to Memphis with his family, going on to work as an usher in a movie theater and a truck driver. Presley toured locally as a singer (billed as "The Hillbilly Cat") and recorded several singles for a local label; he was signed by RCA in 1955 and became an instant star, racking up one hit single after another. On-stage, he gyrated his midsection seductively, leading him to acquire the nickname "Elvis the Pelvis." His concert appearances inspired hysteria among his young female fans, and he was considered by many to be a negative moral influence. However, Presley maintained his clean-cut, "mama's boy" image and soon had fans from every generation. He began appearing in films in 1956, debuting in Love Me Tender. Never successful among critics, his films were designed around his casual, good-ol'-boy characters, successful flirtations with his pretty female co-stars, and numerous songs. And each film made money, altogether grossing more than 150 million dollars. After Presley served a tour in the army, his singing career declined in the early '60s, when the Beatles and other new groups dominated the airwaves; he continued making successful films until 1969 (his last was Change of Habit with Mary Tyler Moore, who played a nun). He also appeared in two concert documentaries, That's the Way It Is (1970) and Elvis on Tour (1972). In the early '70s, after a decade of few personal appearances, Presley began doing live entertainment again, and his drawing power was as strong as ever. However, he began neglecting his health and gained large amounts of weight. He died of a prescription-drug-induced heart attack in 1977, after which his cult of personality grew to enormous proportions. Presley is perhaps more popular in death than he was during his life.

Trivia: Swedish siren Ann-Margret immigrated to the U.S. with her family at the age of seven, settling in a Chicago suburb and later studying Drama at Northwestern University. Despite an innate bashfulness, the girl set out to become a musical entertainer, making her professional debut as a singer at the age of 17. Fortunately, she was spotted by comedian George Burns, who hired her for his Las Vegas show and arranged for several professional doors to be opened for his protégée. Her first film was Pocketful of Miracles (1961), in which she played Bette Davis' daughter; this was followed by a lead in State Fair the following year. Ann-Margret tended to be withdrawn when interviewed, which earned her the media's "Sour Apple" award as least cooperative newcomer. But she was able to overcome this initial bad press via a show-stopping appearance at the 1962 Academy Awards telecast, which turned her into an "overnight" national favorite and encouraged the producers of Bye Bye Birdie (1963) to build up her role. Perhaps the best indication of her total public acceptance was her animated appearance in a 1963 episode of The Flintstones (as Ann Margrock). Ann-Margret's career faltered in the mid-'60s thanks to a string of forgettable pictures like Made in Paris (1966) and Kitten With a Whip (1964). (One of the few highlights of this period, however, was her appearance in Elvis Presley's Viva Las Vegas in 1964, which led to an offscreen relation with The King.) Her career in doldrums, Ann-Margret marshalled a comeback in the early '70s thanks to the tireless efforts of her husband and manager, former actor Roger Smith. Sold-out Las Vegas and concert performances were part of her career turnabout, although the most crucial aspect was her Oscar nomination for a difficult role in 1971's Carnal Knowledge. But the comeback nearly ended before it began in 1972 when the entertainer was seriously injured in a fall during her Vegas act. With the help of physical rehabilitation and plastic surgery (not to mention the loving ministrations and encouragement of Smith), the actress made a complete recovery and went on to even greater career heights. She received her second Oscar nomination for her bravura performance in the rock-opera film Tommy (1975), where, in one of the high points of '70s cinema bizarre, she sang a number while swimming in baked beans. Ann-Margret was equally impressive (though in a less messy manner) in such powerhouse TV movies as Who Will Love My Children? (1983) and A Streetcar Named Desire (1984). The low point of Ann-Margret's early-80s career doubtless arrived when she agreed to act in Hal Ashby's lousy 1982 gambling drama Lookin' to Get Out (aside a scream-happy Jon Voight) -- and probably regretted it for years afterward. A few triumphs marked the 1980s as well, however, such as the actress's turn as Steffy Blondell in Neil Simon's enjoyably bittersweet comedy-drama I Ought to Be in Pictures, and her role as a barmaid who strikes up an extramarital affair with - and later weds - Gene Hackman, in Bud Yorkin's finely-wrought domestic drama Twice in a Lifetime (1985). After Newsies (1992), Disney's glaringly awful attempt to revive the period musical, Ann-Margret took time out of her packed schedule to write her 1993 autobiography Ann-Margret: My Story, a work revelatory about herself and her own personal demons that nonetheless evinces respect toward her show-business mentors and co-workers. She exuded warmth as the bon vivant who falls in-between bickering Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon in the 1993 box office hit Grumpy Old Men and its lackluster 1995 sequel, Grumpier Old Men (and played a satisfying straight man throughout). Yet the high profile of the Old Men releases made them exceptions to the actress's output in the mid-late nineties and early 2000s, which - though of varying quality - placed infinitely greater weight on television work than Ann-Margret had at any earlier point in her career. (In fact, for a period of about ten years, she became a veritable telemovie staple on par with Mary Tyler Moore and Meredith Baxter-Birney). These titles include but are not limited to: Nobody's Children (1994), Scarlett (1994), Seduced by Madness: The Diane Borchardt Story, Life of the Party: The Pamela Harriman Story (1998), Happy Face Murders (1999), Blonde (2001) and A Place Called Home (2004). One big-screen exception arrived in the late 1999 football drama Any Given Sunday, where Oliver Stone gave Ann-Margret her meatiest role since Carnal Knowledge, as the alcoholic mother of team owner Christina Pagliacci (Cameron Diaz. It entailed only a small part amid a massive ensemble cast (Dennis Quaid, Al Pacino, Jamie Foxx, James Woods, others), but provided an excellent showcase for the actress's craftsmanship. She landed a bit part as Wendy Meyers, the mother of Jennifer Aniston's character, in the Aniston-Vince Vaughn romantic comedy The Break-Up, and joined Tim Allen and Martin Short for that same year's Buena Vista holiday sequel Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause. As the new decade began, she continued to appear regularly in projects as diverse as The 10th Kingdom, Taxi, The Break-Up, and Old Dogs. In 2011 she starred in the comedy All's Faire in Love as the queen of a Renaissance fair.

Trivia: Italian actor Cesare Danova came to prominence in such post-war European films as La Figlia del Capitano (1947) and Don Giovanni (1955), playing the title role in the latter film. In the American-made Man Who Understood Women (1959), Danova managed to be both funny and menacing as a murderous cuckolded husband. Few of his American films took full advantage of Danova's talents, tending to cast him as a "typical" hot-blooded Mediterranean, but there have been a few rewarding assignments along the way. As Appolodorus in the budget-busting Cleopatra (1963), Danova was one of the few actors whose part wasn't cut to nothing in order to favor the Elizabeth Taylor-Richard Burton combo. Danova was one of the stars of the TV pilot-cum-theatrical movie Chamber of Horrors (1966), and he enjoyed a season's worth of regular TV work as Actor (that was the character's name, not the designation) on the weekly Dirty Dozen rip-off Garrison's Gorillas (1967). In the '70s and '80s, Danova seemed to take turns with Anthony Quinn in portraying Onassis-like Greek tycoons and Mafia bosses; in the latter capacity Danova was hilarious as Carmine DePasto in National Lampoon's Animal House (1978). In the early years of the '80s, Danova could be seen as a regular on the ABC television daytime drama Ryan's Hope. Cesare Danova died suddenly during a 1992 meeting of the Motion Picture Academy's Foreign Film Committee.

Trivia: Famed for his ratchety voice and cold-fish stare, William Demarest was an "old pro" even when he was a young pro. He began his stage career at age 13, holding down a variety of colorful jobs (including professional boxer) during the off-season. After years in carnivals and as a vaudeville headliner, Demarest starred in such Broadway long-runners as Earl Carroll's Sketch Book. He was signed with Warner Bros. pictures in 1926, where he was briefly paired with Clyde Cook as a "Mutt and Jeff"-style comedy team. Demarest's late-silent and early-talkie roles varied in size, becoming more consistently substantial in the late 1930s. His specialty during this period was a bone-crushing pratfall, a physical feat he was able to perform into his 60s. While at Paramount in the 1940s, Demarest was a special favorite of writer/director Preston Sturges, who cast Demarest in virtually all his films: The Great McGinty (1940); Christmas in July (1940); The Lady Eve (1941); Sullivan's Travels (1942); The Palm Beach Story (1942); Hail the Conquering Hero (1944); Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944), wherein Demarest was at his bombastic best as Officer Kockenlocker; and The Great Moment (1944). For his role as Al Jolson's fictional mentor Steve Martin in The Jolson Story (1946), Demarest was Oscar-nominated (the actor had, incidentally, appeared with Jolie in 1927's The Jazz Singer). Demarest continued appearing in films until 1975, whenever his increasingly heavy TV schedule would allow. Many Demarest fans assumed that his role as Uncle Charlie in My Three Sons (66-72) was his first regular TV work: in truth, Demarest had previously starred in the short-lived 1960 sitcom Love and Marriage.

Trivia: Funnyman Jack Carter (as he is invariably billed) was a successful nightclub comedian when he decided to dive headlong into the infant medium known as television. In January of 1949, Carter was hired to host ABC's minstrel-show effort Pick and Pat. By the spring of that year, Carter presided over the ABC variety program Jack Carter and Company. Later that same year, he was the first emcee of the DuMont Network's Cavalcade of Stars, remaining with the series until being replaced by Jackie Gleason in 1950. His last "regular" TV assignment was as host of 1956's Stage Show, though he kept busy as a sitcom guest star into the 1980s, frequently playing abrasive con artists (e.g. "Friendly Freddie" on Gomer Pyle USMC). In 1971, Carter made his directorial debut with an episode of Lucille Ball's Here's Lucy. Jack Carter's movie roles have ranged from comedy relief to raffish villain in such pictures as The Extraordinary Seaman (1969), The Amazing Dobermans (1976) and The Funny Farm (1982). Carter continued to work steadily into his 90s, with guest appearances on shows like Desperate Housewives, Parks & Recreation, New Girl and Shameless. Carter died 4 days after his 93rd birthday, in 2015.

Trivia: Character actor, onscreen from 1937.

Trivia: Craggy character actor Roy Engel made his first film appearance in the 1949 noir classic D.O.A. He quickly established himself as a regular in such science fiction films as The Flying Saucer (1950), Man From Planet X (1951), and The Colossus of New York (1958). When not dealing with extraterrestrials, he could be seen playing sheriffs, bartenders, and the like in such Westerns as Three Violent People (1955) and Tribute to a Bad Man (1956). Among Roy Engel's last films was Kingdom of the Spiders (1977) which combined elements of both sci-fi and Westerns.

Trivia: Eddie Quillan made his performing debut at age seven in his family's vaudeville act. By the time he was in his teens, Quillan was a consummate performer, adept at singing, dancing, and joke-spinning. He made his first film, Up and At 'Em, in 1922, but it wasn't until 1925, when he appeared in Los Angeles with his siblings in an act called "The Rising Generation," that he began his starring movie career with Mack Sennett. At first, Sennett tried to turn Quillan into a new Harry Langdon, but eventually the slight, pop-eyed, ever-grinning Quillan established himself in breezy "collegiate" roles. Leaving Sennett over a dispute concerning risqué material, Quillan made his first major feature-film appearance when he co-starred in Cecil B. DeMille's The Godless Girl (1929). This led to a contract at Pathé studios, where Quillan starred in such ebullient vehicles as The Sophomore (1929), Noisy Neighbors (1929), Big Money (1930), and The Tip-Off (1931). He remained a favorite in large and small roles throughout the 1930s and 1940s; he faltered only when he was miscast as master sleuth Ellery Queen in The Spanish Cape Mystery (1936). Among Quillan's more memorable credits as a supporting actor were Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), and Abbott and Costello's It Ain't Hay (1943). From 1948 through 1956, Quillan co-starred with Wally Vernon in a series of 16 two-reel comedies, which showed to excellent advantage the physical dexterity of both men. Quillan remained active into the 1980s on TV; from 1968 through 1971, he was a regular on the Diahann Carroll sitcom Julia. In his retirement years, Eddie Quillan became a pet interview subject for film historians thanks to his ingratiating personality and uncanny total recall.

Trivia: Bald, moon-faced character actor George Cisar kept busy in a 22-year Hollywood career with roles in well over 100 film and television productions, starting in 1948 with an uncredited bit as a policeman in Henry Hathaway's Call Northside 777. Perhaps it was his rough-hewn yet genial features, coupled with an unaffected working-class accent and demeanor, but he was frequently put into police uniforms; and, in fact, many baby boomers may instantly recognize Cisar's face, if not his name, for his recurring role as the long-suffering Sgt. Mooney on the series Dennis the Menace, a part he portrayed in over two dozen episodes between 1960 and 1963. He worked in every genre from romantic comedies to Westerns, horror, and science fiction. In 1956 alone, Cisar was a barfly in Fred F. Sears' Teenage Crime Wave; a bartender in Sears' The Werewolf; and the somewhat disingenuous father of a vengeful teenager, who tries to sponsor and then derail a controversial rock & roll show, in Sears' Don't Knock the Rock. Cisar was obviously reliable, as director Sears and producer Sam Katzman -- who made those three movies -- were known for efficient filmmaking on a notoriously low budget.Cisar worked a lot for them at Columbia Pictures (which also produced Dennis the Menace), but he also did a lot of work at Ziv TV, on series such as Highway Patrol and Bat Masterson, in addition to regular appearance in Dragnet, where Jack Webb apparently liked keeping him busy and employed. Cisar could be funny or sinister, and some of his appearances were limited to a single line or two of dialogue, as in The Giant Claw (1957), where he provided a moment of comic relief (indeed, in that movie, his scene was one of the rare intentionally amusing moments). He also turned up in tiny roles in high-profile pictures such as Jailhouse Rock (1957) and Some Came Running (1958). Typically, Cisar would go from a co-starring part in a low-budget exploitation picture, such as Bernard Kowalski's Attack of the Giant Leeches, to a bit in, say, Don Siegel's Edge of Eternity, and then right on to an episode of The Untouchables (all 1959). Cisar retired at the start of the 1970s and passed away in 1979.

Trivia: Hollywood character actor Ivan Triesault was born in Estonia where he began a theatrical career at age 14. Four years later, he moved to the U.S. where he began formal training in acting and dance in New York and later, in London. Back in New York, he frequently appeared as a mime and dancer on the Radio City Music Hall stage. Following more theatrical acting experience, including a brief stint on Broadway, Triesault broke into films where he usually played foreign villains from the mid-'40s through the early '60s.

Trivia: Character actor Holly Bane (who sometimes billed himself as Michael Ragan) specialized in playing bad guys in low-budget Westerns and serials. He made his first film appearance in Wake Island (1942), then appeared frequently in films through 1966, when he worked opposite Elvis Presley in Gunpoint. In the 1970s, Bane became a makeup director and worked on such television series as Barney Miller and Welcome Back Kotter.

Trivia: With his all-American good looks, blonde silent screen leading man Larry Kent (born Henri Trumball) became mildly popular in mainly lighthearted fare of the 1920s. Kent appeared in such series as FBO's The Adventures of Maizie and Fighting Hearts and later starred in the action serial The Masked Menace (1927) but his type was perhaps too bland for major stardom in a field that included proven box-office names such as the similar Glenn Tryon, Johnnie Walker, and William Haines, and sound pretty much relegated him to bit parts. Kent hung in there, however, and appeared in films and television as late as 1964. He should not be confused with Canadian writer/actor/director Lawrence L. Kent.

Trivia: French-Cajun actor Lance LeGault broke into films as a stand-in for several male stars, foremost among them Elvis Presley. LeGault also worked as a stunt double, occasionally playing speaking roles in films like 1968's The Young Runaway. He has also been steadily employed as a nightclub and lounge singer. In the 1980s, he was busy on television in a variety of rough-hewn characterizations. Lance LeGault's regular TV-series roles include antagonistic Col. Roderick Decker in The A-Team (1983-86) and gonzo bounty hunter Alamo Joe in Werewolf (1987-88).

Trivia: Teri Garr found early visibility with a mixture of dramatic and comic roles before maturing, so to speak, into her persona as a smart comedienne typecast as an eccentric ditz. Her warm, fluffy presence and great sense of timing made her a Hollywood mainstay, still finding regular work into her fifties, with her intelligence forever providing depth to a panoply of sweetly goofy supporting roles.The progeny of old-school, low-level industry types -- vaudevillian Eddie Garr and wardrobe mistress Phyllis Garr -- the actress was born as Terry Garr on December 11, 1949. She had launched into a professional dance career by age 13, working with the San Francisco ballet and joining a touring company of West Side Story. Her toes soon tapped her into the movies, providing her steady work during the 1960s in such films as The TAMI Show, What a Way to Go, and John Goldfarb Please Come Home, with her first actual appearance coming in the Elvis Presley vehicle Fun in Acapulco (1963). Her tiny speaking role in the 1968 Monkees movie Head brought her enough attention to land her work as a featured player in a handful of early-'70s television variety shows: The Ken Berry "Wow" Show, The Burns and Schreiber Comedy Hour, and The Sony and Cher Comedy Hour.Francis Ford Coppola gave Garr her first major film role with 1974's The Conversation, where she played Amy, the girlfriend of Gene Hackman's surveillance man Harry Caul. With her next part, however, she proved herself impossible to pin down, going the opposite direction to play the riotously accented maidservant Inga in Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein (1974). From here she began a string of playing mothers and wives in high-profile films, few of which allowed her to dabble in her sillier side: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Oh, God! (1977), and The Black Stallion (1979). It wasn't until Tootsie in 1981 that she received full recognition for her talents and started to become identified with her knack for playing charmingly sweet airheads. She received her one and only Oscar nomination as Sandy, the neurotic soap actress.Tootsie proved an early career peak for Garr; although she continued to get a decent amount of prominent film work (Mr. Mom, Miracles, Mom and Dad Save the World, Dumb and Dumber), she never again made the same forceful impression, keeping her plate full but slipping into the background. Garr became ubiquitous as a TV movie actress, ushering in a slightly more earnest period of her career, as well as a drop in prestige. With such projects as Stranger in the Family (1991), Deliver Them From Evil: The Taking of Alta View (1992), and Fugitive Nights: Danger in the Desert (1993), she could be counted on to tackle the hot-button topic of the week on network TV.Although the '90s provided her few meaty movie roles, she did indeed thrive in television, including countless sitcom guest spots, as well as vocal work on the animated series Batman Beyond. Her most widely seen guest appearance was as the estranged birth mother of Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow) on NBC's Friends. In addition to it being an uncanny case of casting by physical resemblance, Garr's character provided the perfect explanation for the source of Phoebe's wackiness. Garr also seemed to symbolically pass the torch to Kudrow, her heir apparent in lovable flightiness.She continued to work steadily in a number of projects including Dick, Ghost World, and Unaccompanied Minors. She's fought a number of health issues including a nearly fatal brain aneurysm in 2006, and being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999.