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Larger than life, Laughtonesque, and with an eloquent, king-sized appetite for maniacal merriment, a good portion of the work of actor Victor Buono was squandered on hokey villainy on both film and television. Ostensibly perceived as bizarre or demented, seldom did Hollywood give this cultivated cut-up the opportunity to rise above the deliciously hammy arrogance that flowed through so many of his cartoonish characters. He loved to make people laugh and while he could have approached his career with more serious attention, the real money was in his madness. In the end, the actor's chronic weight and accompanying health problems took their toll -- a fatal heart attack at the untimely age of 43 -- and a wonderful actor/writer/poet/chef had exited way before his time.

Born on February 3, 1938 in San Diego, California, the son of Victor Francis Buono and Myrtle Belle (née Keller), his interest in entertainment was originally encouraged by his grandmother, Myrtle Glied (1886-1969), who had once been a vaudevillian on the Orpheum Circuit. It was she who taught Victor how to sing and recite in front of company. His initial choice of career was somewhere in the direction of medicine but the pure joy he experienced from several high school performances (playing everything from Aladdin's evil genie to Hamlet himself) led him to dismiss such sensible thinking and take on the bohemian life style of an actor.

The already hefty-framed hopeful started appearing on local radio and television stations in San Diego. At age 18, he became a member of the Globe Theater Players where he was cast in Shakespeare and the classics ["Volpone", "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "Knight of the Burning Pestle", "The Man Who Came to Dinner", "Witness for the Prosecution", "Henry IV, Part I (as Falstaff)", "As You Like It", "Hamlet" (as Claudius)].

In 1959, a Warner Bros. agent happened to scope out the talent at the Globe Theatre and caught Victor's wonderfully robust portrayal of Falstaff (a role he would return to now and then) and gave him a screen test. Looking older than he was, the studio set upon using Victor in weird and wacky ways, such as his bearded poet Bongo Benny in an episode of 77 Sunset Strip (1958). His wry and witty demeanor, fixed stare, huge girth and goateed mug was guaranteed to put him in nearly every television crime story needing an off-the-wall character or outlandish villain.

Following an unbilled appearance in The Story of Ruth (1960), Victor was intriguingly cast by director Robert Aldrich to play Edwin Flagg, the creepy musical accompanist and opportunist who tries to use one-time child celebrity Bette Davis for his own piggy bank in the gothic horror classic What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962). He held his own beautifully opposite the scenery-chewing Davis and was nominated for a Best Supporting Oscar for his efforts. This role also set the tone for the increasingly deranged characters he would go on to play.

Cast as the title menace in The Strangler (1964), Victor delved wholeheartedly into the sick mind of a mother-obsessed murderer and offered a startling, tense portrayal of a child-like monster who gives new meaning to the art of "necking" with women. Director Aldrich used Victor again (albeit too briefly) for his Southern-baked "Grand Guignol" horror Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) this time as Ms. Davis' crazed father. Victor also showed up in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) starring Max von Sydow where he flamboyantly took on the High Priest Sorak role in this epic but criticized retelling of Jesus.

He enhanced a number of lightweight 1960s movies including 4 for Texas (1963), Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964), The Silencers (1966) and Who's Minding the Mint? (1967) with his clever banter and gleeful menace. The lurid title said it all when Victor gamely took on the horror movie The Mad Butcher (1971) [aka The Strangler of Vienna] wherein he played a former mental patient preying on women again. This deranged low-budget German/Italian co-production added a "Sweeney Todd" meatpie tie in.

Victor's hearty, scene-stealing antics dominated late 1960s television series. Recurring madmen included his Count Carlos Manzeppi on The Wild Wild West (1965) and King Tut who habitually wreaked havoc on Gotham City on Batman (1966). One could always find his unsympathetic presence somewhere on a prime-time channel (Perry Mason (1957), Get Smart (1965), I Spy (1965)) but his roles ended up more campy than challenging. However, one heartfelt, serious portrayal was his portrayal of President William Howard Taft in the epic miniseries Backstairs at the White House (1979). Elsewhere, he recorded a self-effacing comedy album ("Victor Buono: Heavy!") and even wrote comic poetry ("Victor Buono: It Could Be Verse". He was indeed a sought-after raconteur on daytime and nighttime talk shows.

Continuing with the theatre but on a more infrequent basis, his one-man stage shows included "Just We Three", "Remembrance of Things Past" and "This Would I Keep". He also appeared as Pellinore opposite Robert Goulet and Carol Lawrence in a 1975 performance of "Camelot" and earned minor cult status for his memorable performance in the play "Last of the Marx Brothers' Writers" in a return to the Old Globe Theatre in 1977.

The never-married actor felt compelled to conceal his homosexuality. A well-regarded gourmet chef and an expert on Shakespeare, he died of a massive heart attack at his ranch in Apple Valley, California on January 1, 1982. Before his death was announced, Buono had just been cast in the Broadway-bound play "Whodunnit?" by Anthony Shaffer. The show finally arrived in New York without him and almost a year to his death (December 30, 1982).

Roy Rogers (born Leonard Slye) moved to California in 1930, aged 18. He played in such musical groups as The Hollywood Hillbillies, Rocky Mountaineers, Texas Outlaws, and his own group, the International Cowboys. In 1934 he formed a group with Bob Nolan called Sons of the Pioneers. While in that group he was known as Leonard Slye, then Dick Weston. Their songs included "Cool Water" and "Tumbling Tumbleweeds". They first appeared in the western Rhythm on the Range (1936), starring Bing Crosby and Martha Raye. In 1936 he appeared as a bandit opposite Gene Autry in "The Old Coral". In 1937 Rogers went solo from "The Sons Of The Pioneeres", and made his first starring film in 1938, Under Western Stars (1938). He made almost 100 films. The Roy Rogers Show (1951) ran on NBC from October 1951 through 1957 and on CBS from 1961 to September 1964. In 1955, 67 of his feature films were released to television.

American leading lady of musical westerns of the 1940s. Born Frances Octavia Smith in Uvalde, Texas. She was raised in Texas and Arkansas. Married at 14 and a mother at 15, she was divorced at 17 (some sources say widowed). Intent on a singing career, she moved to Memphis, Tennessee, and worked in an insurance company while taking occasional radio singing jobs. After another unhappy marriage, she went to Louisville, Kentucky, and became a popular singer on a local radio station. There she took the stage name Dale Evans (from her third husband, Robert Dale Butts, and actress Madge Evans). Divorced in 1936, she moved to Dallas, Texas, and again found local success as a radio singer. She married Butts and they moved to Chicago, where she began to attract increasing attention from both radio audiences and film industry executives. She signed with Fox Pictures and made a few small film appearances, then was cast as leading lady to rising cowboy star Roy Rogers. She and Rogers clicked and she became his steady on-screen companion. In 1946, Rogers' wife died and Evans' marriage to Butts ended about the same time. Rogers and Evans had been close onscreen in a string of successful westerns, and now became close off-screen as well. A year later she married Rogers and the two become icons of American pop culture. Their marriage was dogged by tragedy, including the loss of three children before adulthood, but Evans was able not only to find inspiration in the midst of tragedy but to provide inspiration as well, authoring several books on her life and spiritual growth through difficulty. She and Rogers starred during the 1950s on the popular TV program bearing his name, and even after retirement continued to make occasional appearances and to run their Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum in Victorville, California. Following Dale's death, the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum moved to Branson, Missouri.

John Dennis was born on 3 May 1925 in Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Soylent Green (1973), Young Frankenstein (1974) and Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972). He was married to Carolinda Brophy. He died on 20 March 2004 in Apple Valley, California, USA.

David Crowley was born in Owatonna, Minnesota in 1985. After a 5-year stint in the Army infantry, he attended school for a degree in DV production. After many years exploring all aspect of film, including music, sound design, costuming, visual effects, editing, marketing, producing, and directing, he settled on writing as his forté. He is most known for writing the dystopian epic Gray State.

William Leslie was born on 27 March 1925 in Seagraves, Texas, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Night the World Exploded (1957), The Horse Soldiers (1959) and Damon Runyon Theater (1955). He was married to Marjorie Wilson. He died on 19 December 2005 in Apple Valley, California, USA.

Trigger, Roy Rogers' beautiful Golden Palomino stallion, and co-star with Roy in many of his movies and Roy's TV show, was often billed as "the smartest horse in the movies".

The two of them appeared in dozens of westerns in the 1930s and 40s, always chasing and thwarting the bad guys, and working to serve peace and justice.

Trigger even shared the movie title with Roy on two occasions: My Pal Trigger (1946) and Trigger, Jr. (1950).

Trigger started life out as Golden Cloud (1934). His sire was a thoroughbred horse that had raced at Caliente Track, and his dam was a cold-blooded palomino. Trigger was foaled on a small ranch in the San Diego area which was partly owned by Bing Crosby. The manager of that ranch was Roy Cloud, a breeder originally from Noblesville, Indiana. At around 3 years of age, Golden Cloud was sold to the Hudkins Stables, which rented horses to the movie industry. Golden Cloud's first major appearance was in the movie, The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) where he was ridden by Olivia de Havilland. When Gene Autry failed to report for work at Republic Pictures, Roy Rogers found himself cast in the lead role for Under Western Stars (1938). Before filming began on Under Western Stars (1938), Hudkins Stables brought their best lead horses to the studio so Roy could select a mount. As Roy recalled it, the third horse he got on was a beautiful golden palomino who handled smoothly and reacted quickly to whatever he asked it to do.

Roy said of Golden Cloud "He could turn on a dime and give you some change".

Smiley Burnette, who played Roy's sidekick in his first two films, was watching and mentioned how quick on the trigger this horse was. Roy agreed and decided that Trigger was the perfect name for the horse. Roy purchased the horse for $2,500 and eventually outfitted it with a $5,000 gold/silver saddle.

Roy was proud of the fact that throughout his more than 80 films, the 101 episodes of his television series, and countless personal appearances, Trigger never fell.

Roy once said that "he felt that Trigger seemed to know when people were watching him and that he recognized applause and just ate it up like a ham!"

Trigger won a Patsy award for the role in Son of Paleface (1952) & the 1958 Craven award winner. He was so popular that at one time, he even had his own fan club with members from all over the world. On July 3, 1965, at the Rogers ranch in Hidden Valley, California, Trigger, at age 30, passed away. Roy was reluctant to "put him in the ground", so Rogers had the horse mounted in a rearing position by Bishoff's Taxidermy of California. The rest of his remains are buried in Thousand Oaks, California on one of Roy's former ranches.

He had been an all-American center for Indiana University when he graduated in 1921. He coached football for two years in Arizona and tried amateur acting. He won the lead in Leatherstocking (1924), and stayed to coach at Glendale (California) High School. His teams included future film stars John Wayne, Robert Livingston and Jack Randall (Livingston's brother, who would later be known as cowboy star Jack Randall). During a party at Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzana ranch, Burroughs convinced Pierce to play Tarzan. Taking the role (which paid $75 a week) required Pierce to back out of the aviator part already offered him in Wings (1927) (it went to Gary Cooper). Though popular with audiences, the Tarzan film was panned by the critics. He and his wife played the Apeman and Jane on the radio through 364 15-minute episodes of a serial that played in every U.S. state, South America and Western Europe from 1932 to 1934. He quit this to play King Thun the Lion Man in Universal's Flash Gordon (1936) and was featured in Zorro's Fighting Legion (1939) for Republic. During World War II he helped form the National Airmen's Reserve, the foundation for the later Air National Guard.

Mary Meade was born on 24 November 1923 in Louisiana, USA. She was an actress, known for T-Men (1947), In This Corner (1948) and In Like Flint (1967). She died on 10 December 2003 in Apple Valley, California, USA.

Richard Bremerkamp was born on 21 October 1916 in Terre Haute, Indiana, USA. He was an assistant director and production manager, known for Petticoat Junction (1963), Smoke in the Wind (1975) and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952). He was married to Mary Meade, Marguerite Chapman and Ruth Rosemary James. He died on 12 December 2001 in Apple Valley, California, USA.

Henry Blair was born on 3 November 1930 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Adventures of Superman (1952), Private Detective (1939) and The Devil's Hairpin (1957). He died on 7 April 2008 in Apple Valley, California, USA.

George Gordon was born on 2 September 1906. He was a director, known for The Smurfs (1981), Super Friends (1973) and The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show (1983). He died on 24 May 1986 in Apple Valley, California, USA.

Pat Somerset was born on 28 February 1897 in London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Pilot X (1936), Guilty or Not Guilty (1932) and One of the Bravest (1925). He was married to Barbara Ann Todd, née Beulah Goldsborough, Shelby Denson Worrall, Edith Day, Margaret Bannerman and Irene. He died on 20 April 1974 in Apple Valley, California, USA.

Sam Salter was a composer and actor, known for Deborah Cox: Beautiful U R (2008), Sam Salter: Once My Sh.. (2000) and Soul Train (1971). He died on 27 August 2021 in Apple Valley, California, USA.

Komel Crowley was born on 20 November 1986 in Pakistan. She was a producer, known for Gray State: The Rise (2015). She died in December 2014 in Apple Valley, Minnesota, USA.

Rani Crowley was born on 6 August 2009 in the USA. She died in December 2014 in Apple Valley, Minnesota, USA.

Carolyn Carter was born in 1935 in Nashville, Tennessee. She was an actress. She was married to Allan Madvig. She died on 2 January 2020 in Apple Valley, California, USA.

Dan Foster was born on 13 April 1920 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Scaramouche (1952), The Velvet Touch (1948) and Schlitz Playhouse (1951). He was married to Ann. He died on 2 January 2002 in Apple Valley, California, USA.

Jean Romaine was born on 29 November 1927 in Benton, Arkansas, USA. She was an actress. She died on 25 February 2011 in Apple Valley, California, USA.

Geza Decsy was born on 11 August 1973 in the USA. He was a producer and actor, known for The Human Race (2013), Innocent Blood (2013) and Behind the Curtain of Night. He died on 6 December 2015 in Apple Valley, California, USA.

Nina Draxten was born on 9 September 1903 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. She was an actress, known for Far North (1988). She died on 14 February 2002 in Apple Valley, Minnesota, USA.

John Charles Thomas was born on 6 September 1890 in Meyersdale, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor and executive, known for Great Day (1930), Under the Red Robe (1923) and Music in the Sky (1945). He was married to Dorothy May Koehler and Ruby B. Rittenour. He died on 13 December 1960 in Apple Valley, California, USA.

Sylvester Blue was born on 22 January 1940 in Praco, Alabama. He died on 31 December 2006 in Apple Valley, California, USA.

Peter Klimes was born on 13 September 1952 in Burbank, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Disney Sing Along Songs: Campout at Walt Disney World (1994). He died on 6 November 2012 in Apple Valley, California, USA.

Gloria Cavecche was born on 18 January 1926 in New Britain, Connecticut, USA. She was an actress. She died on 20 March 2021 in Apple Valley, California, USA.