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Bob Denver was attending college at Loyola-Marymount University, in Los Angeles, when he got into acting. At first, Denver wasn't sure he wanted to be an actor, but gradually gave in, deciding that's what he was going to do for a career. Before he became established, he worked as a mailman and teacher. He then got a screen test for the part of Maynard G. Krebs and to his surprise won the part. After four years on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959), Denver got his most famous part of Gilligan, in Gilligan's Island (1964). After Gilligan's three-year run ended he did a few other television shows (including the Gilligan wannabe Dusty's Trail (1973)) and Broadway plays. On September 2, 2005, he died of complications related to cancer treatment at Wake Forest University Baptist Hospital in North Carolina. He had most recently lived in Princeton, West Virgina. He is survived by his wife Dreama Perry Denver, and four children.

Tall, luminous and leonine, the legendary Colleen Dewhurst must go down as one of the theater's finest contemporary tragediennes of the late 1900s. With trademark dusky tones and a majestically careworn appearance, she possessed an inimitable down-to-earth fierceness that not only earned her the title "Queen of Off-Broadway" but allowed her to put a fiery and formidable stamp on a number of Eugene O'Neill's heroines. She was no slouch in the on-camera department, either, reaping trophies for a host of wryly comedic and electrifying dramatic turns on TV. While most of her towering achievements occurred in mid- to late career, she quickly made up for lost time. In addition, she and two-time actor/husband George C. Scott became an acting force together throughout much of the 1960s and early 1970s.

Colleen Rose Dewhurst was born on June 3, 1924, in Montreal, Quebec, the only child of Ferdinand Augustus "Fred" Dewhurst, a hockey and football player who later became sales manager of a lighting concern to support his family. Her mother, Frances Marie (nee Woods), a homemaker, was a Christian Science practitioner. Raised in the United States from the age of 13 (mostly in a suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin), she graduated from Riverside High School in Milwaukee in 1942 and then enrolled at Milwaukee's Downer College for Young Ladies. Working such odd jobs as a receptionist and elevator operator in between summer-stock engagements, she prepared for the stage in New York at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where she met and later married fellow acting student James Vickery in 1947. She also took up studies with such illustrious teachers as Harold Clurman and Tyrone Guthrie.

Dewhurst played Julia Cavendish in "The Royal Family" while a student at Carnegie Lyceum in 1946. However, it took six years for her to make her professional debut at the ANTA in New York with a small dancing role in O'Neill's "Desire Under the Elms" (1952). In 1963, she won an Obie Award in the same play's leading role, Abbie. She built up her esteemed resumé gradually. In 1956 Joseph Papp featured her strongly at his New York Shakespeare Festival with roles in "Tamburlaine the Great", "Titus Andronicus", "Camille" (title part), "The Taming of the Shrew" (as Kate), and "The Eagle Has Two Heads". She won another Obie Award for her combined performances in the last three productions mentioned. The following year she portrayed Lady Macbeth in "Macbeth" and Mrs. Squeamish in "The Country Wife".

Dewhurst divorced her first husband, actor James Vickery in 1959 after meeting George C. Scott during the 1958 run of Broadway's "Children of Darkness", for which she won a Theatre World Award. Scott divorced his wife to marry Dewhurst in 1960 (ex-husband Vickery later married actress Diana Muldaur). Scott and Dewhurst had two children, Alexander Robert Scott ("Alex") and Campbell Scott.

Dewhurst's signature O'Neill role was that of Irish-American Josie Hogan in "The Moon for the Misbegotten". She first played the part in 1958 in Italy, then tackled the role again in 1965 in a production in Buffalo, New York. The third time was the charm when she recreated the role on Broadway in December of 1973 at age 49, not only earning the coveted Tony Award (her second), but the Los Angeles Drama Critics and Sarah Siddons awards as well. Over the years, O'Neill's plays would benefit greatly from her searing, impassioned performances, which included Sara in "More Stately Mansions," Christine Mannon in "Mourning Becomes Electra," Mary Tyrone in "Long Day's Journey Into Night," Essie Miller in "Ah, Wilderness!" and, of course, Abbie Putnam in "Desire Under the Elms". In 1987, she portrayed Carlotta Monterey O'Neill (Eugene's wife) in an acclaimed one-woman show, "My Gene", in New York.

Throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, Dewhurst became a frequent contender at the Tony Awards ceremonies. She won her first Tony for James Agee's "All the Way Home" in 1960, and went on to be nominated for "Great Day in the Morning" (1962), "The Ballad of the Sad Café" (1963), "More Stately Mansions" (1967), "All Over" (1971), "Mourning Becomes Electra" (1972) and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1976). One of her few career failures was directing the Broadway production of "Ned & Jack", which opened and closed the same night on November 8, 1981. Very much a theater activist, she joined several advisory boards in her time and became president of the Actor's Equity Association in 1985, serving until her death six years later.

While Dewhurst and then-husband Scott were heralded for their explosive appearances together on stage ("Desire Under the Elms" [both won Obies], "Antony and Cleopatra," "The Lion in Winter"), film (The Last Run (1971)) and TV (The Crucible (1967)), the couple's personal relationship was equally turbulent. Separated in 1963 and divorced in 1965, they remarried two years later. After appearing together in "The Last Run", Scott and Dewhurst parted ways again when he took up with another actress from the movie, Trish Van Devere, whom he later married. Scott and Dewhurst had two sons together and remained amicable.

Preferring the stage, Dewhurst was vastly underused on the big screen. Despite showing Hollywood her potential on film with a small but spectacular, spine-tingling role as an asylum patient who nearly does in poor Audrey Hepburn in The Nun's Story (1959), she offered only a sprinkling of film roles over the years--Man on a String (1960), A Fine Madness (1966), The Cowboys (1972), McQ (1974), Ice Castles (1978), When a Stranger Calls (1979), Tribute (1980), The Dead Zone (1983), The Boy Who Could Fly (1986), Termini Station (1989) and Dying Young (1991).

Better utilized on TV, the multiple Emmy Award winner appeared delightfully as Candice Bergen's brash worldly mother on the popular Murphy Brown (1988), earning two of her Emmy statuettes. The other two came for her strong supporting performances in the mini-movies Between Two Women (1986) and Those She Left Behind (1989). In 1985, she played Marilla Cuthbert in Kevin Sullivan's strong adaptation of Anne of Green Gables (1985) and continued her role in the mini-movie Anne of Avonlea (1987). She graced Sullivan's series Avonlea (1990) with the same character in a recurring format. Sadly, Dewhurst died before her role could be written out of the show properly. A touching death scene was edited into one episode as a tribute.

Diagnosed with cervical cancer, Colleen's fervent Christian Science beliefs led her to refuse any kind of surgical treatment. She died at age 67 at the pet-friendly South Salem, New York, farmhouse she shared with her companion (since 1974), producer Ken Marsolais on August 22, 1991. Two months later, her ex-husband George C. Scott starred in and directed a production of "On Borrowed Time", dedicating the show to her memory. Both of their sons, Alexander Robert Scott ("Alex") and Campbell Scott entered the entertainment field. Alex became a theatrical manager and writer, while Campbell has appeared on stage and in films. He appeared with his mother on Broadway in "Long Day's Journey Into Night" and "Ah, Wilderness!" (both by Eugene O'Neill) in the late 1980s, and in the film "Dying Young (1991)" (one of her last performances).

Her autobiography, incomplete at the time of her death (she had been working on it for nearly 15 years), finally arrived in bookstores in 1997, six years after her death.

"Got a smoke?" Darwin Joston secured himself a permanent place in cult movie history with that particular laconically witty line as laid-back Death Row-bound convict Napoleon Wilson in John Carpenter's outstanding urban action thriller classic Assault on Precinct 13 (1976). Wilson was undoubtedly Joston's best role, and he played it with exceptional skill: mellow, low-key and disarmingly casual with a cool sense of dry ironic humor and a wickedly funny way with a sardonic wisecrack. Joston's terrific portrayal of the acidic and fatalistic Wilson should have led to bigger and better things. Alas, it did not.

He was born as Francis Darwin Solomon on December 9, 1937, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. His parents were Mary Elizabeth Smith and Buford Odell Solomon. Joston attended Glenn High School in Kernersville, North Carolina, where he was considered a talented athlete. Following graduation from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1960, Darwin moved to New York and began acting in stage plays and summer stock productions for about five years in the early to mid 1960s. He then moved to Los Angeles to continue his acting career.

Compared to his substantial starring role in "Assault on Precinct 13," most of Joston's other film parts were relatively small: he's an ill-fated soldier in the dreadful killer snake dud Rattlers (1976), a beleaguered pencil-factory clerk in Eraserhead (1977), a drunken truck driver in Coast to Coast (1980), a coroner in the splendidly spooky The Fog (1980) and a typically relaxed FBI agent in the entertainingly crummy science-fiction/horror hoot Time Walker (1982) (Joston was reunited with his fellow "Assault on Precinct 13" cast member Austin Stoker in this latter picture).

Joston also did guest spots on such TV shows as ALF (1986), Hill Street Blues (1981), Remington Steele (1982), Spenser: For Hire (1985), The Rookies (1972), McCloud (1970), Circle of Fear (1972), Ironside (1967), The Rat Patrol (1966), Lassie (1954) (in which he had a recurring role) and The Virginian (1962). In addition to his acting credits, Joston worked behind-the-scenes as either a driver or a transportation captain on such features as The American President (1995), Wild at Heart (1990), La Bamba (1987), Back to the Beach (1987), The Ladies Club (1985), Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986) and The Buddy Holly Story (1978).

Darwin Joston died of leukemia on June 1, 1998. Although he's no longer with us, Joston nonetheless will forever live on in our hearts and memories as the supremely amiable, if notorious, killer criminal Napoleon Wilson. "Anybody got a smoke?"

Maya Angelou was an American poet, singer, memoirist, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. She received dozens of awards and more than 50 honorary degrees. Maya Angelou is best known for her series of seven autobiographies, which focus on her childhood and early experiences. The first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), tells of her life up to the age of 17 and brought her international recognition and acclaim.

With the publication of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Angelou publicly discussed aspects of her personal life. She was respected as a spokesperson for black people and women, and her works have been considered a defense of black culture. Her works are widely used in schools and universities worldwide, although attempts have been made to ban her books from some libraries. Angelou's most celebrated works have been labeled as autobiographical fiction, but many critics consider them to be autobiographies. She made a deliberate attempt to challenge the common structure of the autobiography by critiquing, changing and expanding the genre.

Preston Roberts was born on 17 July 1957 in Westfield, New Jersey, USA. He died on 24 July 2017 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA.

Dr. Dean Kent Brooks, M.D., was born in Everett, Washington, in 1916. He was the head of the Oregon State Hospital in 1975 when the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) was filmed there. He starred, surprising enough, as the head of the psychiatric hospital in the film, "Dr. John Spivey, M.D."

He attended the University of Kansas Medical School in Kansas City, Kansas, and graduated from there on June 1, 1942. He was first licensed in Oregon to practice psychiatry on January 21, 1950. He retired from the practice of Psychiatric Medicine on December 31, 1999.

During the filming of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), he diagnosed actor William Redfield (who played psychiatric hospital patient "Harding") with Leukemia (this was long before the days of bone marrow transplants), and gave Mr. Redfield 18 months to live (he died 18 months later, pretty much to the day).

He never had a single complaint filed against him in his long and distinguished career as a psychiatrist.

Sandy Farina was born on 31 December 1955 in Newark, New Jersey, USA. She was an actress, known for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978), The Toxic Avenger (1984) and Mosquitoid. She was married to Michael Farina. She died on 15 November 2023 in South Salem. New York, USA.

Katherine McGrath was born on 11 December 1944 in Winchester, Massachusetts, USA. She was an actress, known for General Hospital (1963), Hill Street Blues (1981) and The Immaculate Misconception (2006). She died on 17 March 2018 in Salem, Massachusetts, USA.

John Ehle was born on 13 December 1925 in Asheville, North Carolina, USA. He was a writer, known for Winter People (1989), The Journey of August King (1995) and General Electric Theater (1953). He was married to Rosemary Harris and Nancy Gail Oliver. He died on 24 March 2018 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA.

Wayne Crawford was born on 11 February 1947 in Geneva, New York, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for Jake Speed (1986), Okavango: The Wild Frontier (1993) and Snake Island (2002). He was married to Olena. He died on 30 April 2016 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA.

Jasmine Sabu was born on 22 March 1957 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is known for Rear Window (1990). She died on 15 April 2001 in Salem, Oregon, USA.

Ed Call was born on 24 December 1949 in the USA. He was an actor, known for A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Airplane II: The Sequel (1982) and I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978). He died on 3 July 2012 in Salem, Oregon, USA.

Rudy Doucette was born on 29 March 1923 in Malta, Montana, USA. He was an actor, known for Gremlins (1984), The Love Bug (1969) and F Troop (1965). He died on 29 March 2021 in Salem, Oregon, USA.

Marc Hannibal was born on 21 March 1931 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. He was an actor, known for The Grasshopper (1970), Ironside (1967) and Super Stooges vs the Wonder Women (1974). He died on 23 July 2011 in Salem, Oregon, USA.

Having served from 1942-1945, he finished World War II as a Technical Sergeant and was the recipient of the Bronze Star Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Purple Heart, 1939-1945 Croix de Guerre of France with palm and was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge and the Parachutist Badge.

He became a member of E ("Easy") Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, "The Screaming Eagles."

Doc was blind from infancy due to an eye infection before his first birthday. He grew up playing harmonica and a homemade banjo but learned guitar after his father bought him a $12 Stella acoustic when he was 13. He attended North Carolina's school for the visually impaired. He was born Arthel Lane Watson and picked up the nickname "Doc" at the suggestion of an audience member at a radio broadcast when he was in his teens. Watson was instrumental in developing the canon for 1960s folk musicians with his recordings of traditional tunes like Deep River Blues and Shady Grove; he didn't play just the music of the Appalachian Mountains. Before folklorist and musician Ralph Rinzler first recorded him backing old-time banjo player Clarence "Tom" Ashley in 1960, he worked with a local dance band, playing honky-tonk, rockabilly, pop and square-dance tunes. 1999 saw a release of a compilation album The Best of Doc Watson 1964-1968.He was a master of both finger-picking and flat-picking styles. In 1997, Watson received the National Medal of Arts from President Bill Clinton. In 2000, Watson was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor in Owensboro, Kentucky. Watson also won seven Grammys over a 33-year period and received Grammy's lifetime achievement award in 2004. For many years, Watson toured with his son, Merle Watson, who died in a 1985 tractor accident. Merle's memory is honored by MerleFest, an annual North Carolina roots-music festival that the elder Watson hosted. Held on the last weekend in April since 1988, MerleFest draws more than 75,000 annually to Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, N.C. In late May 2012, Watson was listed in critical condition but was responsive at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, after undergoing colon surgery. The 89-year-old Watson had fallen early in the week. No bones were broken, but an underlying condition prompted the surgery. He passed May 29, 2012 after surgery.

Jerome Brudos was born on 31 January 1939 in Webster, South Dakota, USA. He died on 30 March 2006 in Salem, Oregon, USA.

David Lewis Yewdall was born on 30 October 1950 in Springfield, Missouri, USA. He is known for Starship Troopers (1997), Escape from New York (1981) and The Fifth Element (1997). He was married to Lisa Howes Yewdall and Lisa. He died on 4 July 2017 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA.

Kathie Durst was born on 15 June 1952 in Queens, New York City, New York, USA. She was married to Robert Durst. She died on 31 January 1982 in South Salem, New York, USA.

George Lee was born on 12 March 1939 in Wheeling, West Virginia, USA. He was an actor, known for Patch Adams (1998), Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992) and The Program (1993). He was married to Linda Gayle Bauserman. He died on 29 September 2006 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA.

David Emerson was born on 31 October 1957 in Finlay, Ohio, USA. He is known for Mortal Kombat (1995), Cyborg (1989) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). He was married to Clyde H. Howell Jr. He died on 4 March 2022 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA.

Richard St. John was born in 1918 in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. He was an actor, known for Kisses for My President (1964), That Tender Touch (1969) and Vacation Playhouse (1963). He died on 5 February 1977 in Salem, Massachusetts, USA.

Carl Ritchie was born on 30 June 1923 in Salem, Oregon, USA. He was an actor, known for Adventures of Superman (1952) and Harbor Command (1957). He died on 4 February 2015 in Salem, Oregon, USA.

Robert E. Collins was born on 19 September 1935 in Lubbock, Texas, USA. He was a cinematographer and actor, known for Superman (1978), Octopussy (1983) and Miami Vice (1984). He died on 1 December 2008 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA.

John Caudill was born on 3 December 1999 in Scotland County, North Carolina, USA. He was a director and writer, known for The Lobster Shift (2023), Curriculum (2022) and échappé (2020). He died on 2 March 2023 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA.