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The scintillating, sultry-eyed blonde (formerly a redhead) star of screen, TV and award-winning stage went on to become best known, however, for her sensual delivery pitching cigars in taunting '60s ads and commercials with her Mae Westian come-on line "Why don't you pick one up and smoke it sometime?" This, of course, was at a time when smoking was considered quite sexy and fashionable, and Edie Adams went above and beyond the call of duty in making these ads legendary.

Edie had her hand dipped in all pools of entertainment. She was a singing siren, an award-winning Broadway musical entertainer, a deft impressionist and comedienne, a serious dramatic actress, a commercial saleswoman and a viable TV celebrity. Off-stage, she showed remarkable poise and resourcefulness when her famous first husband, landmark TV comic Ernie Kovacs, was tragically killed in a January 1962 car crash in Los Angeles and she found her family finances in dire straits.

She was born Edith Elizabeth Enke on April 16, 1927, in the relatively small town of Kingston, Pennsylvania, but moved while fairly young to Grove City. Her family relocated again, this time to Tenafly, New Jersey, where she grew up. Following her graduation from high school, Edie aspired to become an opera singer and studied voice and piano at New York's Juilliard School of Music. She then went on to take acting classes at the Columbia School of Drama.

Her theatrical debut occurred with a 1947 production of "Blithe Spirit", and a year later she appeared in the stage show "Goodnight Ladies". Gradually building up her singing reputation via the nightclub circuit, her big break came when Arthur Godfrey booked her on his "Talent Scouts" show. She didn't come out the winner, but a TV director who caught sight of her performance envisioned in her a seductive "straight man" who could mesh well with a certain zany comedian. In 1951, Edie (then known as Edith Adams) was signed up as a featured singer on Ernie Kovacs's comedy show that originated in Philadelphia. The show, live and unrehearsed, became an innovative, groundbreaking effort in the relatively new medium. Outrageous and even incomprehensible at times, his comedy was deemed way ahead of its time and, as a result, had problems reaching mainstream audiences who didn't "get it", and the programs were short-lived. Various Kovacs platforms that included Edie were Ernie in Kovacsland (1951), "Kovacs on the Korner" (1952), and, of course, The Ernie Kovacs Show (1952). She and Kovacs eloped to Mexico City in 1954 and their union produced a daughter, Mia Kovacs. The duo were a popular couple in the Hollywood social circuit (moving there from New York in the late '50s) and the connections she developed out there were quite valuable in furthering her career.

Early '50s TV opened many doors for Edie and she waltzed right through them. Her New York stage debut in the popular musical "Wonderful Town" in 1952 had her walking away with the Theatre World Award for "Best Newcomer". A few years later, she slithered away with a supporting Tony Award for her bodacious take on the "Daisy Mae" character in the musical "Li'l Abner" (1956). Following that were more musical and dramatic ventures on the stage, including "The Merry Widow" (1957) (a show she would return to more than once), "Sweet Bird of Youth" (1960) and "Free as a Bird" (1960). On film, Edie showed the public that she wasn't just a pretty face with her sharply unsympathetic supporting performance in Billy Wilder's The Apartment (1960) and a funny, sexier one in the second of Rock Hudson and Doris Day's three battle-of-the-sexes romps, Lover Come Back (1961). Surprisingly, Edie and Ernie never appeared together in a film. Edie remained primarily a TV fixture and, outside of her Emmy-nominated coupling with Kovacs, winningly played the Fairy Godmother in Julie Andrews' popular TV version of Cinderella (1957), appeared regularly with Jack Paar and Dinah Shore on their respective variety shows, acted on various prime-time shows, and graced a number of celebrity game and talk show panels.

One of Edie's last pairings with Kovacs was in 1960 when they appeared as guests on the very last episode of The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (1957). The pair appeared as themselves, with one of the highlights being Edie crooning the lovely ballad "That's All". Kovacs' sudden 1962 death was a terrible reversal of fortunes for Edie. An inveterate gambler, he left her owing much money to the IRS. Instead of filing bankruptcy, however, she worked her way out of debt. In the process, her career received a second wind. Perhaps it didn't hurt that the public adored Edie and that she was a genuinely sympathetic figure in the wake of her private tragedy.

She returned to the nightclub circuit from whence she came, recorded albums, and also toured the country in various dramatic and musical comedy vehicles, including "Rain" (as Sadie Thompson), "Bells Are Ringing", "Annie Get Your Gun" (as Annie Oakley), "I Do! I Do!", "Anything Goes" and "Bus Stop". She also received outstanding notices in a few of her films, whether dramas (Love with the Proper Stranger (1963), The Best Man (1964)) or frivolous comedies (Call Me Bwana (1963), It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963), Under the Yum Yum Tree (1963), The Honey Pot (1967)). Moreover, she was handed her own musical variety show Here's Edie (1963) (aka "The Edie Adams Show") and received a couple of Emmy nominations for her efforts. She also took advantage of her famous impressions of Zsa Zsa Gabor and others, appearing in various TV comedy formats.

More than anything, however, it was her come-hither temptress pitching Muriel cigars that had TV audiences' tongues wagging. It was a smashingly successful and highly profitable coup for Edie professionally. Her late husband, a notorious cigar smoker, at one time sold Dutch Master cigars on TV. The idea then for Edie to pitch a competing slimmer cigar on TV was only natural. She had much to do with the direction of the commercials, which ran throughout the 1960s, providing them with a perfect blend of class, glamour and sensuality.

While growing noticeably heavier in later years, she never lost her trademark humor and sex appeal. Edie could still be seen from time to time on the stage in such shows as "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas", the female version of "The Odd Couple", "Hello, Dolly!" and "Nunsense". She remained committed to the end to restoring/preserving her late husband's videotapes and kinescopes of his ground-breaking '50s TV work. She also recalled her offbeat life with Kovacs in the book "Sing a Pretty Song", which was published in 1990.

Edie got married again in 1964, to photographer Marty Mills, with whom she had a son, Josh Mills. That union ended in divorce in 1971. The following year, Edie married jazz trumpeter Pete Candoli. She and Candoli, who died in January of 2008, divorced in 1989. In another eerie, tragic circumstance, daughter Mia Kovacs was killed in a 1982 Los Angeles auto accident at age 22 -- 20 years after her father's similar demise. Suffering from cancer and losing weight in her latter years, the beloved Edie died of complications from pneumonia at age 81 in Los Angeles.

Harry Ackerman was born on 17 November 1912 in Albany, New York, USA. He was a producer and writer, known for The Flying Nun (1967), Love on a Rooftop (1966) and CBS Schoolbreak Special (1984). He was married to Elinor Donahue and Mary Shipp. He died on 3 February 1991 in Burbank, California, USA.

Mexican character actor Rodolfo Acosta (born Rodolfo Acosta Pérez) achieved his greatest success in the US, primarily as a villain in westerns. He was born in Chamizal, a section of land disputed by Mexico and Texas due to changes in the Rio Grande river which forms the border. At the time of Acosta's birth, the area was generally accepted by both Mexican and Texas governments as U.S. territory, and Acosta was born an American citizen, despite the fact that his birthplace is now in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. He served in the U.S. Navy in naval intelligence during World War II and married Jeanine Cohen, a woman he met in Casablanca during the North African campaign. They had four children. She filed for divorce after she found out Acosta was having an affair and sharing an apartment in Mexico City with actress Ann Sheridan in the 1950s. They divorced in 1957. Rodolfo Acosta married again on September 18, 1971 to Vera Martinez and they had one child. She divorced him in 1974 a few weeks before his death at the Motion Picture and Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. After the war, Acosta worked in Mexico in films of the great director Emilio Fernández, which led to a bit in John Ford's film The Fugitive (1947). He came to the US and was signed by Universal for a small role in One Way Street (1950). He stayed in the US and his sharp, ruthless features led him to a long succession of roles as bandits, Indian warriors and outlaws. In The Tijuana Story (1957), he had a sympathetic leading role, but in general he spent his career as a very familiar western bad guy.

Sugar, Pepper, Pearl, Bunny, Dottie, Ruby, Ginger, Sunny, Goldie, Bubbles, all those are nicknames borne by petite actress Iris Adrian in several of the 160 movies and television productions she appeared in. With such names, don't expect to see her playing Joan of Arc or Electra but it remains that all these pet names reflect her winning femininity, its sweetness, its spiciness, its radiance. What's more their funny overtones are telltale signs of Iris Adrian's own quick witty sense of humor. Sexy yes, but with a sharp tongue. This aspect of her personality helped her to evolve and last, changing from the roles of blonde chorus girls or waitresses or, on the wilder side, of streetwalkers and other gangsters' molls to colorful bit parts in comedies with Abbott and Costello, Jerry Lewis and Elvis Presley. She ended up playing almost exclusively for Walt Disney productions before retiring at the respectable age of 82. Though she never achieved star status she could easily have if the circumstances had been favorable. For she steals scenes in a lot of movies provided of course her role is fleshed out sufficiently. She was excellent, for instance, in more than one poverty row crime movies. Don't miss her in Gold Diggers of 1937 (1936), Go West (1940) (with the Marx Brothers), Lady of Burlesque (1943), The Paleface (1948), Once a Thief (1950), and The Errand Boy (1961) (with Jerry Lewis).

Korean-American character actor Philip Ahn played hundreds of Chinese and Japanese characters during a long career. He was born in Los Angeles in 1905 (though 1911 is the year usually given, U.S. government records confirm that Ahn was born in 1905), the son of a Korean diplomat. He attended the University of Southern California at Los Angeles. Ahn got his first film acting job in 1935 and quickly made a place for himself playing Asians of many ethnicities. Although his kindly demeanor made him perfect for sympathetic roles, he could excel in the occasional villainous "Yellow Peril"-type role. Condemned, like most Asian actors of the period, to stereotypical roles, Ahn nevertheless brought a dignity to even the most subservient of characters. In his later years he achieved his greatest fame as the wise Master Kan on the television series Kung Fu (1972). Ahn was also a successful Los Angeles restaurateur. He died in 1978. Not to be confused with his brother, actor Philson Ahn.

One of the most recorded songwriters of the 1920's and 30's was born into a musical family (his father was a violinist with the Metropolitan Opera). Harry learned to play piano at the age of five and was already a fully-fledged professional while in his second year of high school. He worked in vaudeville for four years, accompanying the popular singer Nora Bayes. During military service at Camp Upton in 1916, he befriended Irving Berlin and soon became staff pianist for his publishing company. During this period, he also composed his first song and collaborated with Berlin on the hit "Home Again Blues" in 1921. The following year Akst joined ASCAP. He began conducting and composing for Broadway shows and later settled in Hollywood, writing songs, lyrics and stock music for Fox and Warner Brothers. He also appeared in a few films.

Among the many standards to flow from Akst's pen, were "Dinah" (written in 1925 in collaboration with lyricists Sam Lewis and Joe Young), "Baby Face" (1926, with Benny Davis), "Am I Blue?" (1929, with Grant Clarke) and "Travelin' Light" (1937). In 1943, Akst went on tour, joining Al Jolson as part of U.S.O., entertaining troops at bases overseas. Henceforth, he worked steadily as accompanist and 'song selector' for Jolson, as well as co-writing the title song for the hit comedy The Egg and I (1947)). Akst died on March 31 1963 in Hollywood at the age of 69.

Robert Aldrich entered the film industry in 1941 when he got a job as a production clerk at RKO Radio Pictures. He soon worked his way up to script clerk, then became an assistant director, a production manager and an associate producer. He began writing and directing for TV series in the early 1950s, and directed his first feature in 1953 (Big Leaguer (1953)). Soon thereafter he established his own production company and produced most of his own films, collaborating in the writing of many of them. Among his best-known pictures are Kiss Me Deadly (1955), What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) and the muscular WW II mega-hit The Dirty Dozen (1967).

Irving Allen started his film career in 1929 as an editor. He turned to directing in the 1940s, and two shorts he directed, Forty Boys and a Song (1941) and Climbing the Matterhorn (1947), won Academy Awards. His feature film output, however, was not particularly successful, and in the 1950s he and producer Albert R. Broccoli formed Warwick Films in Great Britain to produce films there.

Steve Allen was born on 26 December 1921 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for The Benny Goodman Story (1956), Casino (1995) and The Player (1992). He was married to Jayne Meadows and Dorothy Goodman. He died on 30 October 2000 in Encino, Los Angeles, California, USA.

Jose Paige was given the screen name Don Alvarado by studio chief Jack L. Warner while they purportedly were driving past the Los Angeles street Alvarado. Paige played a number of starring roles that relied on his Latin good looks, and masculine build, achieving a certain following as a Rudolph Valentino type. He was barely 17 when he left his native Albuquerque and came to Los Angeles where he became fast friends with fellow struggling actor Gilbert Roland. Paige met his future wife Ann Boyar while both were still teenagers and the young couple married and soon after had a daughter named Joy. After six years of marriage Ann Page fell in love with Jack Warner and the marriage to Paige dissolved. Warner waited several more years until his parents died before he divorced his wife, Irma, and married Ann. When asked why she had divorced Paige to marry Warner, Ann Warner joked, "the talkies, of course." In 1928 Warner's studio had ushered in the sound era, and Paige's career like those of so many other silent actors, had suffered. He continued to act, but in supporting roles. He and Ann remained friends, though, and after a long career as an assistant director, Paige was asked by his former wife if he might like to manage the 80,000 acre Arizona cattle ranch she had purchased with Warner. Page had grown up in cattle country, was an experienced horseman and spoke Spanish. He accepted the job and by all accounts was a respected and much-liked manager.

Leon Ames was born Harry Wycoff in Portland, Indiana, to Cora Alice (DeMoss) and Charles Elmer Wycoff. He had always wanted to be an actor and he did it the hard way, serving a long apprenticeship in touring amateur theatre companies -- even selling shoes for a while on 42nd Street in the 1920s. It took him until 1933 to make his debut on Broadway. His play at the Morosco Theatre, "It Pays to Sin," lasted for only three performances after receiving disastrous critical reviews. By then he had already appeared in his first movie, the sombre, expressionistic Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932), an Edgar Allan Poe adaptation, in which Leon played the dependable love interest of heroine Sidney Fox.

For the next three year, he appeared under his birth name (Leon Waycoff) in a variety of B-movies for "Poverty Row" studios like Mayfair, Showmen's Pictures, World-Wide, Empire and Majestic. His first film as 'Leon Ames' was the Shirley Temple vehicle, Stowaway (1932). For the next few years he served yet another apprenticeship, playing a variety of stalwart characters and the occasional bad guy in such cheerful potboilers as the anemic Murder in Greenwich Village (1937), the amusing Mysterious Mr. Moto (1938) and the eminently forgettable Secrets of a Nurse (1938). There were also occasional highlights: he popped up in Ernst Lubitsch's last film at Paramount, Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938), with Gary Cooper and Myrna Loy, and even starred as the leading man of Cipher Bureau (1938) and Panama Patrol (1939), albeit at Grand National.

Leon's career improved dramatically after playing Judy Garland's father Alonzo (along with Mary Astor as the matriarch of the family) in MGM's classic, Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), directed by Vincente Minnelli. For the first time, Leon's acting abilities were well employed, especially his ability to deliver dryly humorous one-liners. Signed to a contract at MGM, Leon was now cast in pivotal character roles in more important A-grade output, usually as put-upon, loving fathers: A Date with Judy (1948), Little Women (1949), (where he again teamed up with Mary Astor), By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953), to name but a few. For something completely different, he also played district attorney Kyle Sackett in the film noir, The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) and, against type, portrayed Paul Newman's thoroughly unpleasant father in From the Terrace (1960).

Leon continued in films well until his twilight years and was last seen as Kathleen Turner's grandfather in Peggy Sue Got Married (1986). On television, he had a popular run starring in Life with Father (1953) and Father of the Bride (1961) (played by Spencer Tracy on the big screen) as well as playing Wilbur Post's neighbor Gordon Kirkwood in Mister Ed (1961).

Leon had another claim to fame in being one of 19 actors, who -- after a clandestine meeting in June 1933 -- established the Screen Actor's Guild. For thirty years (commencing in 1945) he held a senior executive position as recording secretary and served as national president of the organization between 1957 and 1979. He also served on the board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The dapper actor and avid unionist died at a Laguna Beach nursing home at the ripe old age of 91 on October 12, 1993.

Born in Chicago, Morey Amsterdam started in Vaudeville at the age of 14, as a straight man for his piano-playing brother. His father, a concert violinist who worked with the Chicago Opera and the San Francisco Symphony, wanted Morey to pursue a career in classical music however Morey had other plans. By the time he was 16, he was working at a Chicago speakeasy owned by Al Brown - better known as Al Capone. When he was caught in the middle of a shootout in the club one night, Amsterdam decided to seek safer bookings. He moved to California, where he became a writer and gag man for such stars as Fanny Brice, Jimmy Durante and Will Rogers. Morey would become known as the "Human Joke Machine" because he could tell a joke about any subject on request. In the 1930s and 1940s, he was on the radio, where his humor brought him fame and notoriety. He was also a songwriter, and some of his best known songs were "Why Oh Why Did I Ever Leave Wyoming?" and "Rum and Coca-Cola". By 1947, he had three different daily radio shows and comedian Fred Allen said, "The only thing I can turn on without getting Amsterdam is the faucet". His first TV show began as a radio program and carried over onto TV, "Stop Me If You've Heard This One" (1948). That same year, he hosted his own variety show, The Morey Amsterdam Show (1948), which ran until 1950. Amsterdam was the host of the talk show Broadway Open House (1950), the precursor to NBC's "The Tonight Show" in its various forms. His real fame, though, would come after he had spent almost four decades in the business, playing the part of wisecracking comedy writer "Buddy Sorrell" in the classic The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961) along with Rose Marie and Van Dyke as writers for the fictional TV variety show "The Alan Brady Show". For Morey, who was reportedly able to recall up to 100,000 jokes, it was the role of a lifetime. After the show ended in 1966, he continued to play nightclub dates and make TV guest-star appearances on shows from The Hollywood Squares (Daytime) (1965) to Caroline in the City (1995). His film career consisted mainly of small roles in such films as Beach Party (1963) and Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976), although he did produce and star in Don't Worry, We'll Think of a Title (1966) and received good notices for his standout performance as a weaselly, double-crossing gangster who gets his just desserts in the Charles Bronson gangster film Machine-Gun Kelly (1958).

Ernie Anderson was born Ernest Earle Anderson on November 12, 1923 in Lynn, Massachusetts. He began working in radio at Burlington, Vermont's WSKI-AM in 1946. He met Tim Conway at WHK-AM in Cleveland and began writing with him. They were hired by Cleveland's WJW-TV in 1961 where they created "Ernie's Place", a daytime show of movies and comedy sketches. He created the beatnik character Ghoulardi for himself, wearing a lab coat, fright wig, fake goatee beard and mustache and became popular introducing WJW-TV's Friday night horror movie show Shock Theater (1963). Rose Marie, best known as Sally Rogers on The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961), recommended him to Steve Allen who recruited him for his own show.

Ernie had many run-ins with his management in Cleveland and moved to California full time in 1966. He appeared in two episodes of Conway's television series Rango (1967) and then formed a comedy act with his old friend. He was hired as "the voice of ABC" in the late 1970s where he continued to work well into the 1980s. He also did the voiceover for the previews of current episodes during the first three seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987). Ernie Anderson died at age 73 of cancer in Los Angeles, California on February 6, 1997.

Mignon Anderson was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1892. Her father was a former vaudeville performer and opera singer who left the stage to go into the insurance business. Her mother, Hallie Howard, was also a former vaudeville performer. Mignon got her show-business start at a very early age--at six months old she appeared in a stage production as the infant daughter of the leading lady. She grew into quite a beautiful young woman, and easily found work as an artists' model.

She made her film debut in 1911 with the Thanhouser Company in Robert Emmet (1911). Her popularity grew and she became renowned not only for her beauty and acting work, but for her somewhat notorious (for the time) private life--her nickname among her fellow Thanhouser actors was "Filet Mignon". She was romantically linked to such show-business personalities as Val Hush and Irving Cummings. She and Cumming eventually became engaged, but the relationship fell apart and they never married. She did, however, wind up marrying another Thanhouser actor, J. Morris Foster, in 1915. They remained married until Foster's death in 1966.

In 1917 she signed with Universal Pictures but left the studio a year later. While there she appeared in such pictures as The Hunted Man (1917) and A Young Patriot (1917). After leaving Universal she freelanced, appearing mainly in films for small independent studios, such as Metro's The Claim (1918), Republic Distributing's Mountain Madness (1920) and Peerless' The Heart of a Woman (1920). She and her husband took about a year off from films in 1919 to appear on the stage, and did it again in the late 1920s.

Mignon Anderson died in Los Angeles, California, on February 25, 1983.

Lois Andrews was born on 24 March 1924 in Huntington Park, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Dixie Dugan (1943), The Desert Hawk (1950) and Roger Touhy, Gangster (1944). She was married to Leonard Klecker, Steve Brodie, David Street and George Jessel. She died on 5 April 1968 in Encino, California, USA.

Matthew Ansara was born on 29 August 1965 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for To Protect and Serve (2001), One World (1998) and Con Games (2001). He was married to Julie Ansara. He died on 25 June 2001 in Monrovia, California, USA.

Dimitra Arliss' acting career began at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, she first caught audience's eyes appearing in Arthur Kopit's Broadway play "Indians", she played a Native American character who spoke with an Italian accent. While she continued acting on stage, she began to appear in several television and film productions, such as The Sting (1973), Xanadu (1980), Firefox (1982) and It's My Party (1996). To horror film aficionados, Dimitra is best remembered as Dahnya in Bless the Child (2000); it would be her last film before dying from complications of a stroke, she died at the Motion Picture and Television Fund Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. She was 79.

Arnold the Piggy was in fact four different pigs who played Arnold Ziffel (aka Arnold the Pig) in the 6 seasons of the TV series Green Acres, from 1965 to 1971. The first Arnold the Piggy was a male pig, the next three were female (sows).

The character Arnold Ziffel was always portrayed as male. This gender identity never bothered Arnold the Piggy who knew s/he was in fact the true star of the show anyway and was so versatile s/he could also play a dog (and bark like one) and a cat (and meow) among other animals, as well as get into character as a completely different pig with an accent of a different oink. Arnold, in the episodes he was in, got more oink lines than any of his co-stars, and frequently out-talked the other characters, and could improvise and also ad lib better than the other performers. Indeed most of the characters in the show became frustrated or envious when Arnold had the last word and showed them what he could do.

In addition to eloquent verbal jousting, visual comedy was also his forte, and he showed he could do everything a human could do and more, and make it funny to boot. He was able to do touching and passionate love scenes, action packed thriller and adventure shows, and act more range of emotions and drama than the greatest (pig) stars before him or since. Outside of his television appearances, he even acted on stage in Gregory Bertram Shaw's "Pigmalion", where he played the title character.

A born natural actor, Arnold the Piggy's talent and performances in Green Acres won him an Emmy for "Best performance by an animal", and three Patsy awards, the animal kingdom's Oscar. Because of this and because he/she knew she/he was a star, he/she had her/his own personal makeup artist, hairdresser, costume designer, groomer, and bather, and wore a different outfit in every show, almost as many as co-star Eva Gabor.

Arnold the Piggy (or as he was more affectionately known, simply Arnold, for if you said that name we all knew you were talking about everyone's favorite pig on Green Acres) was loved by fans around the world, as well as his co-stars and the crew of the show, and he will be sorely missed. But his performances on that hayseed show have been preserved and run continuously in reruns now, for generations to come to enjoy, cry, laugh, and root for their favorite star, the one (or four) and only Arnold the Pig.

Robert Arthur was born on 1 November 1909 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer and writer, known for The Big Heat (1953), Father Goose (1964) and Buccaneer's Girl (1950). He died on 28 October 1986 in Beverly Hills, California, USA.

John Ashley was born on 10 December 1941 in Brienz, Bern, Switzerland. He is an actor, known for 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and The Dick Emery Show (1963).

Born in Hungary and educated in Vienna, John H. Auer was an actor in European films from the age of 12. After his career as a child actor ended, he entered the business world, but soon decided to rejoin the film industry. He journeyed to Hollywood in 1928 to find work as a director, but came up empty. However, he did sign a contract to direct films in Mexico, and the several films he made there were well-reviewed (and, more importantly, made money) and won awards from the Mexican government. Hollywood noticed, and called him back in the early 1930s. He directed many mostly routine films for various studios, but spent many years at Republic. Although virtually all house directors at Republic made at least a few westerns--that genre being the studio's bread and butter--Auer made none, concentrating mainly on musicals and crime dramas. In addition, unlike most Republic directors, Auer was the producer of most of the films he directed.

After high school Gene Autry worked as a laborer for the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad in Oklahoma. Next he was a telegrapher. In 1928 he began singing on a local radio station, and three years later he had his own show and was making his first recordings. Three years after that he made his film debut in Ken Maynard's In Old Santa Fe (1934) and starred in a 13-part serial the following year for Mascot Pictures, The Phantom Empire (1935). The next year he signed a contract with Republic Pictures and began making westerns. Autry--for better or worse--pretty much ushered in the era of the "singing cowboy" westerns of the 1930s and 1940s (in spite of the presence in his oaters of automobiles, radios and airplanes). These films often grossed ten times their average $50,000 production costs. During World War II he enlisted in the US Army and was assigned as a flight officer from 1942-46 with the Air Transport Command. After his military service he returned to making movies, this time with Columbia Pictures, and finally with his own company, Flying A Productions, which, during the 1950s, produced his TV series The Gene Autry Show (1950), The Adventures of Champion (1955), and Annie Oakley (1954). He wrote over 200 songs. A savvy businessman, he retired from acting in the early 1960s and became a multi-millionaire from his investments in hotels, real estate, radio stations and the California Angels professional baseball team.

Don Avalier was born on 19 September 1912 in California, USA. He was an actor, known for Motor Patrol (1950) and Playgirl (1954). He died on 29 May 1973 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Emile Avery was born on 9 May 1908 in Raton, New Mexico, USA. He was an actor, known for The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. (1966), Johnny Ringo (1959) and Lawman (1958). He died on 8 November 1985 in Glendale, Los Angeles County, California, USA.

Patricia Avery was born on 19 November 1902 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She was an actress, known for Annie Laurie (1927), Night Life (1927) and A Light in the Window (1927). She was married to Merrill Pye. She died on 21 August 1973 in La Crescenta, California, USA.