Trivia: American actor Rock Hudson was born Roy Scherer, adopting the last name Fitzgerald when his mother remarried in the mid-'30s. A popular but academically unspectacular student at New Trier High School in Winnetka, IL, he decided at some point during his high school years to become an actor, although a wartime stint in the Navy put these plans on hold. Uninspiring postwar jobs as a moving man, postman, telephone company worker, and truck driver in his new home of California only fueled his desire to break into movies, which was accomplished after he had professional photos of himself taken and sent out to the various studios. A few dead-end interviews later, he took drama lessons; his teacher advised him to find a shorter name if he hoped to become a star, and, after rejecting Lance and Derek, he chose Rock ("Hudson" was inspired by the automobile of that name). Signed by Universal-International, Hudson was immediately loaned to Warner Bros. for his first film, Fighter Squadron (1948); despite director Raoul Walsh's predictions of stardom for the young actor, Hudson did the usual contract player bits, supporting roles, and villain parts when he returned to Universal. A good part in Winchester '73 (1950) led to better assignments, and the studio chose to concentrate its publicity on Hudson's physical attributes rather than his acting ability, which may explain why the actor spent an inordinate amount of screen time with his shirt off. A favorite of teen-oriented fan magazines, Hudson ascended to stardom, his films gradually reaching the A-list category with such important releases as Magnificent Obsession (1954) and Battle Hymn (1957). Director George Stevens cast Hudson in one of his best roles, Bick Benedict, in the epic film Giant (1956), and critics finally decided that, since Hudson not only worked well with such dramatic league leaders as Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean -- but frequently outacted them in Giant -- he deserved better, less condescending reviews. Hudson's career took a giant leap forward in 1959 when he was cast in Pillow Talk, the first of several profitable co-starring gigs with Doris Day. Once again taken for granted by the mid-'60s, Hudson turned in another first-rate performance as a middle-aged man given a newer, younger body in the mordant fantasy film Seconds (1966). A longtime television holdout, Hudson finally entered the weekly video race in 1971 with the popular detective series McMillan and Wife, co-starring Susan Saint James, and appeared on the prime time soap opera Dynasty in the early '80s. Regarded by his co-workers as a good sport, hard worker, and all-around nice guy, Hudson endured a troubled private life; though the studio flacks liked to emphasize his womanizing, Hudson was, in reality, a homosexual. This had been hinted at for years by the Hollywood underground, but it was only in the early '80s that Hudson confirmed the rumors by announcing that he had contracted the deadly AIDS virus. Staunchly defended by friends, fans, and co-workers, Rock Hudson lived out the remainder of his life with dignity, withstanding the ravages of his illness, the intrusions of the tabloid press, and the less than tasteful snickerings of the judgmental and misinformed. It was a testament to his courage -- and a tragedy in light of his better film work -- that Hudson will be principally remembered as the first star of his magnitude to go public with details of his battle with AIDS. He died in 1985.

Trivia: Fresh out of the Connecticut College for Women, Susan Saint James secured work as a model, then talked her way into a contract with Universal Pictures. With no previous acting experience, Susan was given a co-starring assignment as magazine researcher Peggy Maxwell in Universal's made-for-TV Fame is the Name of the Game (1966). Susan would continue as Peggy in the subsequent TV series Name of the Game, which ran from 1968 to 1971 and which earned her an Emmy. During this time she also had a recurring role as kooky lady jewel robber Chuck Brown on the Robert Wagner TV weekly It Takes a Thief. Possessed of a breezy, garrulous, inquisitive quality, Susan was very much an acquired taste so far as many TV critics were concerned. Nonetheless, she achieved worldwide popularity as Sally McMillan on the TV detective series McMillan and Wife (1971-77) in which she costarred with Rock Hudson. The actress' comic skills grew sharper the longer she remained in the business; her best film appearance was as the constitutionally sloppy lady love of vampire George Hamilton in Love at First Bite (1979). In 1984, she co-starred with Jane Curtin in the single-mom sitcom Kate and Allie, which lasted until 1989. She effectively went into retirement after the end of Kate and Allie, but she did show up on an episode of The Drew Carey Show. Her off-screen pursuits have leaned towards politics, ecology and social consciousness; she has been very active in the Democratic Party, and in 1974 hosted a fund-raising telethon for the party in the company of Hubert Humphrey.

Trivia: One was always reminded of a startled chipmunk when viewing the work of American actor John Schuck. After theatre and improv-comedy work, Schuck was cast as Painless Pole in the irreverent Robert Altman comedy M*A*S*H (1970). Midway through the film, Schuck's character contemplates killing himself, which segues into the film's famous "Last Supper" sequence and a full rendition of the M*A*S*H theme song Suicide is Painless. Schuck appeared in a few other Altman projects, then in 1971 was hired for the role of Sgt. Charles Enright on the TV series McMillan and Wife. Enright's function was to keep the plot wheels turning while stars Rock Hudson and Susan St. James battled for the best camera angles. Schuck left McMillan and Wife in 1975 to play a robot cop (that's what we said) in the short-lived Holmes and Yoyo. Later, equally brief TV series assignments of John Schuck included Turnabout (1979) and The New Odd Couple (1982); there was also a more widely seen performance as Ordell in the groundbreaking miniseries Roots (1977).

Trivia: The daughter of vaudevillians, 4'11" entertainer Nancy Walker had wanted to establish herself as a serious singer. But when Nancy auditioned for Broadway impresario George Abbott, he burst out laughing at her reading of the line "Is this where the aliens go to register?" and immediately cast her as the hoydenish Blind Date in his 1941 musical production Best Foot Forward. She went on to make her Hollywood debut in the film version of this production, then returned to Broadway, where she skyrocketed to stardom in such productions as On the Town (1944) and Look, Ma, I'm Dancin' (1948). She continued headlining on Broadway throughout the 1950s, occasionally showing up on television variety series, most memorably as the teen-aged president of the Milton Berle fan club. Despite her enormous success as a comedienne, Walker was the archetypal "laughing on the outside, crying on the inside" type in private life, undergoing several years of therapy to purge herself of her insecurities. When theatrical opportunities began drying up in the late 1960s, Nancy relied more and more on television for a living. She was featured as Rosie the waitress in a series of paper-towel commercials ("It's the quicker picker upper"), co-starred as Mildred the maid on MacMillan and Wife (1971-75), and, most memorably, was cast as Ida Morgenstern, the Jewish mama to end all Jewish mamas, on The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-77) and Rhoda (1974-78). Though nominated for five Emmies, she never won the coveted statuette, a fact that seemed to bother her husband David Craig (a vocal coach whom she'd met when she lost her voice during Look Ma, I'm Dancing) more than Walker. Banking on her renewed celebrity, she attempted several TV starring vehicles of her own, but none lasted beyond the first season. She had better luck as a stage director, helming such theatrical productions of UTBU and A Pushcart Affair. In 1980, Walker made her film directorial debut with the Village People starrer Can't Stop the Music, produced by her then-manager Alan Carr. Nancy Walker's final regular TV-series stint was on the 1990 Fox Network weekly True Colors; two years later she died of lung cancer at the age of 71.

Trivia: Born to a peripatetic vaudeville couple, Maggie Reed joined her parents' act as soon as she learned to walk, stopping the show with an energetic rendition of "I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate." After touring in a double act with her brother Bud, she made her Broadway debut in the 1934 revue Calling All Stars, where she was billed for the first time as Martha Raye (at first claiming that she chose the name out of a phone book, she later affirmed that it had been involuntarily foisted upon her by "some idiot" and insisted -- nay, demanded -- that her friends call her Maggie). While appearing as a singer/comedienne at Hollywood's Trocadero, she was selected to appear in Paramount's Rhythm on the Range (1936), in which she introduced her trademark song, "Mr. Paganini." For the next four years she was Paramount's favorite soubrette, overemphasizing her big mouth and gorgeous legs in a series of zany comedy roles. She also proved to be a convincing romantic lead for Bob Hope (a lifelong friend) in such films as Give Me a Sailor (1938) and Never Say Die (1939). Dropped by Paramount in 1940, she moved to Universal, where she was seen to good advantage in The Boys From Syracuse (1940), Abbott and Costello's Keep 'Em Flying (in a dual role in 1941), and Olsen and Johnson's Hellzapoppin' (1941); during this period she also returned to Broadway, co-starring with Al Jolson (with whom she'd previously appeared on radio) in Hold On to Your Hats. During WWII, Raye and her pals Carole Landis, Kay Francis, and Mitzi Mayfair formed a U.S.O. troupe, performing tirelessly under incredibly difficult and dangerous conditions before thousands of enthusiastic G.I.s; the four actresses later starred in a fictionalized retelling of this experience, Four Jills in a Jeep (1944). After the war, she essayed her greatest screen role in Charlie Chaplin's Monsieur Verdoux (1947), playing a brash and very wealthy widow whom wife-killer Chaplin can not murder no matter how hard he tries. From 1953 to 1954 she starred in her own weekly TV variety series and continued to appear in night clubs throughout the '50s. In 1962 she starred in her last major film, Billy Rose's Jumbo, opposite Doris Day and Jimmy Durante, and five years later spent seven months in the title role of the Broadway hit Hello Dolly. Indefatigably resuming her U.S.O. activities during the Vietnam war, she became the troops' favorite performer, earning the affectionate nickname "Boondock Maggie," an honorary commission as Marine Colonel from President Johnson, and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 1969 Academy Awards ceremony. Unfortunately, her activities in Southeast Asia also incurred the wrath of Hollywood's anti-war activists, who unfairly labeled Raye a "hawk" and "warmonger" and did their best to prevent her finding film or TV work. She was rescued by producer puppeteers Sid and Marty Krofft, who cast her as Boss Witch in the 1970 theatrical feature Pufnstuf and as the aptly named Benita Bizarre in the Saturday morning TV series The Bugaloos. Her later work included a Broadway run in No No Nanette, extensive summer stock and dinner theater tours in the stage farce Everybody Loves Opal, supporting stints on TV's McMillan and Wife and Alice, and a cameo appearance in the feature film Airport 79. Among her six husbands were makeup artist Bud Westmore, orchestra leader David Rose, and dancer Nick Condos (her daughter by this marriage, Melodye Condos, briefly pursued a singing career of her own). In declining health for many years (she lost one of her legs to cancer), Martha Raye died at the age of 78, survived by her much younger seventh husband Mark Harris.

Trivia: Lead actor Richard Gilliland first appeared onscreen in the '70s.