Jack Paar (1918-2004) [Easy Living (1949); Down Among the Sheltering Palms (1953)] was an American radio and television talk show host. Paar began his broadcasting career in radio, working first in Cleveland, Ohio and later, throughout the Midwest. After serving in World War II, Paar tried his hand at acting and comedy, frequently appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show. It was during an impressive stint as a guest host on Jack Benny's radio show that he caught the attention of NBC officials who eventually offered him his most well known role, host of The Tonight Show. Paar was the program's host from 1957 to 1962; after 1959 it was known as The Jack Paar Show.

Jack Palance (1919-2006) [Shane (1953), Attack! (1956)]. Enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces (later the U.S. Air Force) with the outbreak of World War II. His already rugged face was disfigured and he suffered severe head injuries when he bailed out of a burning B-24 Liberator bomber while on a training flight over southern Arizona where he was a student pilot. Plastic surgeons repaired the damage as best they could but he was left with a distinctive, somewhat gaunt look. After much reconstructive surgery he was discharged in 1944. He later said of the crash: "There are some moments you never get over. That was one of them."

Byron Palmer (1920-2009) [Tonight We Sing (1953); Emergency Hospital (1956)] was born in Los Angeles, the second of four children of Etheleyn and Judge Harlan G. Palmer. His father was publisher of the then-Hollywood Citizen News. Following high school, Byron attended Occidental College in the L.A. area and earned money writing up obituaries for his father's newspaper before being hired as a CBS page. Blessed with a fine speaking voice he eventually found work on both NBC and CBS radio as an announcer and actor. His career was interrupted by World War II in which he served in the Army Air Force and operated a radio station on one of the islands in the Pacific. He also performed with the Music Mates singing quartet as its tenor.

Geoffrey Palmer (1927- ) [A Prize of Arms (1962); Ring of Spies (1964)] was born in London. He worked in an imports office and then as an accountant before his girlfriend persuaded him to join the local amateur dramatics society. Eventually he became assistant stage manager at Croydon's Grand Theatre, and then spent several years touring with rep. His first roles on TV came in comedy series such as those of Harry Worth and Arthur Askey. He is now a familiar face on British television. He served as a corporal in the Royal Marines in World War II. He was awarded the O.B.E. (Officer of the order of the British Empire) in the 2005 Queen's New Years Honours List for his services to Drama.

Jerry Paris (1925-1986) [The Caine Mutiny (1954); Police Academy 3: Back in Training (1986)] was born William Gerald Paris in San Francisco, California. His father was a Russian immigrant; his mother, the former Esther Mohr, remarried when Jerry was a small child. Jerry's new stepfather, Milton Grossman, eventually adopted the boy and Jerry thereafter used the name William Gerald Grossman while growing up. He reverted back to his real name when he became an actor. Glimpsed here and there throughout the 1950s in amiable acting supports on film, it was as a TV produer amd director that Jerry Paris found his true calling. In front of the camera, however, most fans will remember him quite fondly as the neighborhood dentist to Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore on Van Dyke's treasured TV comedy sitcom of the 60s. Jerry graduated from both New York University and UCLA and studied at the Actor's Studio after serving in the Navy during World War II.

Michael Pate (1920-2008) [The Rugged O'Riordans (1950); Hondo (1953); Mad Dog Morgan (1976)] was born Edward John Pate in Drummoyne, a suburb of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. He got his career start as an interviewer on the government's radio station. Pate also worked on the Australian stage and in Down Under movies before relocating to th e U.S. in the early 1950s to appear in Universal's Thunder on the Hill, the film version of a Charlotte Hastings play (Bonaventure) in which he had appeared. Pate acted in many American films and TV series, then returned to Australia in the late '60s and worked (again) in that country's film industry; he co-starred in his own Aussie TV series, Matlock Police. Pate also began working behind the camera; one of his best-known writing-producing-directing credits is Tim, the story of the relationship between an older woman (Piper Laurie) and a retarded young man (Mel Gibson). During World War II he served in the Australian Army in the SWPA unit. He was later seconded to the 1st Australian Army Amenities Entertainment Unit--The Islanders--in various combat areas.

Nigel Patrick (1913-1981) was a British actor, born Nigel Dennis Wemyss in London, England. He made his stage debut in 1932 but didn't make a major impact in films until after his service in World War II. In the 1950s he became a popular, debonair leading man in British films, including Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1950), The Pickwick Papers (1952), The Sound Barrier (1952), Sapphire (1959) and The League of Gentlemen (1959). He was later successful on stage and television (in the series Zero One) in the 1960s, and still occasionally returned to films for major productions like Battle of Britain (1969). He also starred in and directed two films, How to Murder a Rich Uncle (1957) and Johnny Nobody (1960). He was married to the actress Beatrice Campbell until her death in 1979.

Pat Paulsen (1927-1997) [Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (1968); Auntie Lee's Meat Pies (1992)] was born to a Norwegian-American family that lived in a small fishing town in Washington State. The family moved to California when he was 10, and after graduating from high school, Pat joined the U.S. Marine Corps during the waning days of World War II. Demobilized after the war, Paulsen worked a variety of jobs, including postal clerk, truck driver, hod carrier, and miner. He attended San Francisco City College on the G.I. bill. After college, Paulsen joined an acting company before forming a comedy trio that included his brother Lorin, who continues to entertain with a one man show as Abraham Lincoln.

John Payne (1912-1989) [Dodsworth (1936) Miracle on 34th Street (1947); They Ran for Their Lives (1968)] was born John Howard Payne, 28 May 1912, Roanoke, Virginia, and died 6 December 1989, Malibu, California, of congestive heart failure. Graduated from Roanoke College. Studied singing at the Juilliard School of Music and acting at Columbia University. Supplemented his studies by making money as a professional wrestler, before landing his first acting job as understudy to Beatrice Lillie in the 1935 revue At Home Abroad. He served as a pilot in the Army Air Corps during World War II. Was a singer in 20th Century-Fox musicals during his early career. He was the first person in Hollywood interested in making the James Bond novels into a film series. In 1955 he paid a $1,000-a-month option for 9 months on the Bond novel Moonraker (he eventually gave up the option when he learned he couldn't retain the rights for the entire 007 series). He was a direct descendant of John Howard Payne (1791-1852), composer of the classic song Home, Sweet Home ("Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home."). The gap in his career from 1962 to 1968 was the result of a terrible automobile wreck, in which he suffered extensive, life-threatening injuries. In his later roles, facial scars can be detected in close-ups.

Sam Peckinpah (1925-1984) was born and grew up in Fresno, CA, when it was still a sleepy town. Sam served in the Marine Corps during World War II but - to his disappointment - did not see combat. After drifting through several jobs he got a gofer job with director Don Siegel who took a shine to him and used him on several of his pictures. Peckinpah eventually became a scriptwriter for such TV programs as "Gunsmoke" (1955) and "The Rifleman" (1958) and was the creator of the critically acclaimed western series "The Westerner" (1960). In 1961 he directed his first film, the nondescript western The Deadly Companions (1961). The next year things got better, however. His four-star Ride the High Country (1962) featured the final screen appearance of Randolph Scott. Then came major problems with Major Dundee (1965), the film that brought to light his volatile reputation. On location in Mexico Peckinpah's abrasive manner, exacerbated by booze and marijuana, provoked usually even-keeled Charlton Heston to threaten to run him through with a cavalry saber. Post-production conflicts led to a bitter and ultimately losing battle with the film's producer, Jerry Bresler, and Columbia Pictures over the final cut and, as a result, the disjointed effort fizzled at the box office. His second marriage now failing, Peckinpah did not begin his next project for two years, but it was the one for which he will always be remembered. The success of The Wild Bunch (1969) rejuvenated his career and propelled him through highs and lows in the 1970s.

Leo Penn (1921-1998) was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts and died of lung cancer in Los Angeles, California. He was married to actress Eileen Ryan and is the father of actors Sean Penn and Chris Penn, and musician Michael Penn. He studied drama and subsequently acted in campus plays at the U. of Calif. and was signed to a contract by Paramount in 1945 after serving as a bombardier with the 8th Air Force during World War II. His contract with Paramount was not renewed and he was blacklisted in Hollywood after his activism in the Communist Party was revealed by the HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee). He was mostly a television director, producer, writer, and actor of the 1950s through 1990s although he had a little work in motion pictures before being blacklisted. It's interesting that his son, Sean, has continued the same un-American activities (cuddling up to Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez) as his father while enjoying a full measure of capitalism.

Jack Pennick (1895-1964) [The Lone Eagle (1927); Drums Along the Mohawk (1939); Mister Roberts (1955)] was an American film actor, a familiar face, primarily in the movies of John Ford. He was born in Portland, Oregon, the son of gold miner Albert R. and Bessie (Murray) Pennick. After himself working as a gold miner, Pennick joined the U.S. Marine Corps and served, with the Pekin Legation Guard, in China in 1912 and in World War I. He and his first wife, Grechin, had two children by the time he was twenty. He had a third child with his second wife, Nona Lorraine. After the First World War, Pennick worked as a horse wrangler and got work as such in various film productions. His rather unforgettably unattractive face caught the attention of filmmakers, particularly Ford, and Pennick began to work as an actor, as well as occasionally as a military technical adviser. Pennick reenlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1942, at the age of 46. He served as Chief Petty Officer under Commander John Ford in the Field Photographic Unit and, according to Ford, was decorated with the Silver Star medal for action in which he was wounded at Majaz al Bab, Tunisia during World War II. He continued to appear in films after the war, his career waning simultaneously with Ford's. He died in Manhattan Beach, California.

Nehemiah Persoff (1919- ) [The Naked City (1948) (uncredited); 4 Faces (1999)] was born in Jerusalem, Israel, and emigrated with his family to America in 1929. Following schooling at the Hebrew Technical Institute of New York, he found a job as a subway electrician doing signal maintenance until an interest in the theater altered the direction of his life. He joined amateur groups and subsequently won a scholarship to the Dramatic Workshop in New York. This led to what would have been his Broadway debut in a production of Eve of St. Mark, but he was fired before the show opened. He made his official New York debut in a production of The Emperor's New Clothes in 1940. World War II interrupted his young career in 1942 but he returned to the stage after his hitch in the army was over three years later.

Jon Pertwee (1919-1996) was born John Devon Roland Pertwee. He is most famous for his roles in the science fiction television series Doctor Who as the third Doctor (see List of Doctor Who serials) and as the title character in the series Worzel Gummidge. During World War II he served in the RNVR as an officer. He was appointed to HMS Hood from which he was extremely fortunate to be returned to shore shortly before that vessel was sunk by the Bismarck. He was also a talented comedian, his most famous comedy role being the conniving Officer Pertwee in The Navy Lark on BBC Radio. He also appeared in Carry on Cleo (1964), Carry On Screaming! (1966), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966) and Carry On Cowboy (1965).

House Peters Jr (1916-2008) [The Adventures of Frank Merriwell (1936); Sheriff of Wichita (1949); The Great Sioux Massacre (1965)] spent over 32 years in Hollywood as a well-respected, journeyman character actor and occasional star of B-movies. Beginning his career in the 1935 film Hot Tip, he went on to portray mostly supporting characters and a host of baddies in a large number of stage roles, films, serials, TV shows and commercials. House was born into an acting family; the son of silent screen star House Peters Sr. and actress Mae King Peters. Affectionately known as "Junior" or "Juny" by friends and relatives, he grew up in Beverly Hills, attended local schools with many children of Hollywood's elite, and dove into the acting business upon graduation from Beverly Hills High with modest success. With his new career put on hold because of World War II, House served in the U.S. Army Air Corps' Air Sea Rescue section as a small boat operator. Meeting and subsequently marrying Lucy Pickett during his tour in the Phillipines, he returned home after the war and resumed his career.

Leslie Phillips (1924- ) [The Woman with No Name (1950); Out of Africa (1985)] is a comic actor who has specialized in playing plummy, quintessentially English stereotypes. He received elocution lessons as a child in order to lose his natural cockney accent (at that time a regional British accent was a major impediment to an aspiring actor) and he attended the Italia Conti School. During World War II he served with the Durham Light Infantry (1942-45) until he was invalided out suffering from shellshock. He returned to acting, and it was during the 1950s that he established himself as a notable player in British movies. His greatest claim to fame to this day are the "Doctor" series of movies, which he inherited from Dirk Bogarde. He also worked on radio, most notably "The Navy Lark" for the BBC. In later life, he returned to playing supporting roles and even appeared in Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun. He continues to make cameo appearances in films.

Paul Picerni (1922- ) []. Born on Long Island, New York, Paul Picerni had aspirations to become an attorney until he acted in an eighth grade play and later learned that the school principal liked his performance and called him "a born actor". He next appeared in little theater productions, then on the stage at Loyola University after World War II. During his enlistment as a bombardier in the U.S. Army Air Forces, he flew 25 combat missions and received the Distinguished Flying Cross. He was the bombardier on the plane that bombed and destroyed the real bridge made famous in the film The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957). Picerni was acting in a play in Hollywood when he was spotted by Solly Biano, head of talent at Warner Brothers; brought out to the studio, the young actor was given a role in Breakthrough (1950). This WWII actioner turned out to be aptly named, as it led to a Warners contract for Picerni and a long succession of roles at that studio. Picerni may be best known for his second banana role on the TV classic "The Untouchables" (1959) with Robert Stack.

Edward Platt (1916-1974) [Police detective Ray Fremick in Rebel Without A Cause (1955); North by Northwest (1959); tv: The Chief in Get Smart (1965-1970)]. Served as a radio operator with the U.S. Army in WWII.

Donald Pleasence (1919-1995) [The Great Escape (1963)]. An R. A. F. pilot in WWII, he was shot down, held prisoner, and tortured by the Germans. The only actor to have appeared in both The Great Escape (1963) and its TV sequel, The Great Escape II: The Untold Story (1988) (TV). Ironically, he played one of the would-be great escapees in the first film and one of the German executioners in the second. Strangely he even played the role of the SS and Gestapo chief, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, in the film The Eagle Has Landed (1976).

Sidney Poitier (1927- ) [Blackboard Jungle (1955); In the Heat of the Night (1967)] was born in Miami during a mainland visit by his parents who were native of Cat Island, The Bahamas. At 18, he went to New York, did menial jobs and slept in a bus terminal toilet. He enlisted in U.S. Navy during World War II, lying about his age and was assigned to the 1267th Medical Detachment at a Veterans hospital for psychiatric patients. Poitier was discharged one year and eleven days after enlisting, all prior to his eighteenth birthday.

Eric Porter (1928-1995) [The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964); Little Lord Fauntleroy (1980)] was born and died in London, England. He was a highly respected Shakespearean actor for five decades until his death of colon cancer. Ironically, Porter's claim to international fame would be outside the classical realm, with one superb portrayal in one superb miniseries, The Forsyte Saga (1967), in which he won the BAFTA award. During World War II he joined the National Service with the RAF.

Tom Poston (1921-2007) was born in Columbus, Ohio and spent his early years in Ohio, Maryland and Washington, D.C. Following high school, he enrolled in West Virginia's Bethany College as chemistry major. At the outbreak of World War II, he and his brother Richard enlisted in the Air Force and served as pilots. Based in France, Captain Poston happened upon a magazine article about Charles Jehlinger, then the creative head of the famed American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Upon returning, he was admitted to the academy's two-year program and began his training as an actor. Poston has starred in several top television series over the past three decades earning numerous Emmy Award nominations. He won the Emmy for his portrayal of his befuddled everyman on The Steve Allen Show, and was nominated for his roles as Mr. Bickley on Mork and Mindy -- as well as his lovable handyman on Newhart. He also starred on the series Grace Under Fire and in the Castle Rock feature The Story of Us.

Tyrone Power (1914-1958) [Jesse James (1939); The Sun Also Rises (1957)]. Was an established movie star when Pearl Harbor was bombed. Nevertheless he joined the U.S. Marines, became a pilot and flew supplies into, and wounded Marines out of, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. He returned to the states in Nov 1945 and was released from active duty in Jan 1946. He was promoted to Captain in the reserves on May 8, 1951 but was not recalled for service in the Korean War.

Robert Preston (1918-1987) [Beau Geste (1939); The Last Starfighter (1984)] appeared in many Hollywood films, but is probably best remembered as Professor Harold Hill in Meredith Willson's musical, The Music Man, for which he won a Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical in 1958. In 1962, he starred in the film version. In 1946, after serving in England with the Army Air Corps, Preston married Kay Feltus (aka Catherine Craig) whom he had known in Pasadena. Although he was not a singer, he appeared in several other film musicals, notably Mame in 1974 and Victor/Victoria (1982), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. His last major film role was in 1984's The Last Starfighter.

Dennis Price (1915-1973) [A Place of One's Own (1945); The World of Wooster (1965)] was born Dennistoun John Franklyn Rose-Price in Berkshire, England. The son of a brigadier-general, he was expected to abide by his family wishes and make a career in the army or the church. Instead he became an actor. First on stage (Oxford University Dramatic Society) where he debuted with John Gielgud in Richard II in 1937, he was further promoted in the theatre by Noel Coward. In 1940, Price joined the Royal Artillery, where he served in Worlde War II until being wounded in 1942. His brother Arthur, who had joined the RAF, was shot down and killed in the Battle of Britain. Returning to England in 1942, he resumed his career, touring with Noel Coward in This Happy Breed, and other plays Coward's company produced.

Bernard Punsly (1923-2004) [Dead End (1937); Tough As They Come (1942)] was born in New York City, the son of a tailor. Punsly reportedly only tried out for the original stage production of Dead End on a whim, joining Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan, Billy Halop and Gabriel Dell in the show's gang of street urchins. Once the play was a hit, producer Samuel Goldwyn was keen to adapt the gritty drama to film and brought the six young actors to Hollywood to reprise their roles. After appearing in his final film of the Dead End Kids series, Mug Town (1943), Punsly left show business and enlisted in the Army, where he received some medical training during World War II. Upon leaving the military, he enrolled in the University of Georgia's Medical College. After graduation Punsley opened a practice in Torrance, California as a doctor of internal medicine. He also served as chief of staff at South Bay Hospital in Redondo Beach, California.

Denver Pyle (1920-1997) made a career of playing drawling, somewhat slow Southern types but he was actually born in Colorado to a farming family. He attended a university for a time but dropped out to become a drummer. When that didn't pan out he drifted from job to job, doing everything from working the oil fields in Oklahoma to the shrimp boats in Texas. In 1940 he moseyed off to Los Angeles and briefly found work as an NBC page. That particular career was interrupted by World War II, and Pyle enlisted in the navy. Wounded in the battle of Guadalcanal, he received a medical discharge in 1943. Working for an aircraft plant in Los Angeles as a riveter he was introduced to the entertainment field after receiving a role in an amateur theater production and getting spotted by a talent scout. Training with such renowned teachers as Maria Ouspenskaya and Michael Chekhov, he made his film debut in The Guilt of Janet Ames (1947). Prematurely white-haired (a family trait), he developed a close association with actor John Wayne, appearing in many of Wayne's later films, including The Horse Soldiers (1959), The Alamo (1960), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) and Cahill U.S. Marshal (1973). He settled easily into hillbilly / mountain men types in his later years and became a household face for his crotchety presence in The Dukes of Hazzard (1979).