Andy Warhol (August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American artist who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture and advertisement that flourished by the 1960s. After a successful career as a commercial illustrator, Warhol became a renowned and sometimes controversial artist. The Andy Warhol Museum in his native city, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, holds an extensive permanent collection of art and archives. It is the largest museum in the United States of America dedicated to a single artist.

Andy Warhol's artwork ranged in many forms of media that include hand drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, silk screening, sculpture, film, and music. He was a pioneer in computer-generated art using Amiga computers that were introduced in 1985, just before his death in 1987. He founded Interview Magazine and was the author of numerous books, including The Philosophy of Andy Warhol and Popism: The Warhol Sixties. Andy Warhol is also notable as a gay man who lived openly as such before the gay liberation movement. His studio, The Factory, was a famous gathering place that brought together distinguished intellectuals, drag queens, playwrights, Bohemian street people, Hollywood celebrities, and wealthy patrons. Warhol has been the subject of numerous retrospective exhibitions, books, and feature and documentary films. He coined the widely used expression "15 minutes of fame". Many of his creations are very collectible and highly valuable. The highest price ever paid for a Warhol painting is US$100 million for a 1963 canvas titled Eight Elvises. The private transaction was reported in a 2009 article in The Economist, which described Warhol as the "bellwether of the art market". Warhol's works include some of the most expensive paintings ever sold.

Edith Minturn "Edie" Sedgwick (April 20, 1943 – November 16, 1971) was an American actress, socialite, fashion model and heiress. She is best known for being one of Andy Warhol's superstars. Sedgwick became known as "The Girl of the Year" in 1965 after starring in several of Warhol's short films in the 1960s. She was dubbed an "It Girl", while Vogue magazine also named her a "Youthquaker".

Edie Sedgwick was born in Santa Barbara, California, to Alice Delano de Forest (1908–1988) and Francis Minturn Sedgwick, (1904–1967, known as either "Duke" or "Fuzzy"), a philanthropist, rancher and sculptor. She was named after her father's aunt, Edith Minturn, famously painted with her husband, Isaac Newton Phelps-Stokes, by John Singer Sargent.

Mervyn Edward "Merv" Griffin, Jr. (July 6, 1925 – August 12, 2007) was an American television host, musician, actor, and media mogul. He began his career as a radio and big band singer who went on to appear in movies and on Broadway. From 1965 to 1986 Griffin hosted his own talk show, The Merv Griffin Show on Group W (Westinghouse) Broadcasting. Griffin created the game shows Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune, Click, and Merv Griffin's Crosswords with his own "Merv Griffin Enterprises" television production company. During his life Griffin was considered an entertainment business magnate.

Griffin was born into an Irish-American family on July 6, 1925, in San Mateo, California, to Mervyn Edward Griffin, Sr., a stock broker, and Rita Elizabeth Griffin (née Robinson), a homemaker. Raised as a Roman Catholic, Griffin started singing in his church choir as a boy, and by his teens was earning extra money as a church organist. This is one of the reasons he got into show business early; he was considered a piano prodigy. He attended San Mateo High School, class of 1942, and continued to aid in financing the school.

Jared Francis Harris (born 24 August 1961) is a British character actor, best known for his roles as Lane Pryce on the AMC series Mad Men, Mac McGrath in Mr. Deeds, Professor Moriarty in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, and David Robert Jones on the Fox science-fiction series Fringe.

Harris was born in London, one of three sons of late Irish actor Richard Harris and his first wife, Welsh actress Elizabeth Rees-Williams. His younger brother is actor Jamie Harris, and his older one director Damian Harris. From 1971 to 1975, actor Rex Harrison was married to his mother. He earned a BFA from Duke University in 1984.

On 16 July 2005, Harris married Emilia Fox, daughter of actors Edward Fox and Joanna David. He filed for divorce from Fox in January 2009. The Harris-Fox divorce was final in June 2010. Jared is presently dating Allegra Riggio, a lighting designer and TV host.

Harris began his film career as director of an unfinished feature length film for Duke University's Freewater Films named Darkmoor in 1983. His first film appearance as an actor was in The Rachel Papers in 1989. He played the role of the aged Will Robinson in the movie adaptation of the television series Lost in Space. Harris played Dr. Charles Ashford in Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Benmont Tench in Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man, and Kenneth Branagh's character's doppelgänger in How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog.

Candy Darling (November 24, 1944 – March 21, 1974) was an American actress, best known as a Warhol Superstar. A male-to-female transsexual, she starred in Andy Warhol's films Flesh (1968) and Women in Revolt (1971), and was a muse of the protopunk band The Velvet Underground.

Candy Darling was born James Lawrence Slattery in Forest Hills, Queens, son of Theresa Phelan, a bookkeeper at Manhattan's Jockey Club, and James (Jim) Slattery, who was described as a violent alcoholic. There is some conjecture around her year of birth. According to former Warhol associate, Bob Colacello, Candy was born in 1946, while IMDb has listed her year of birth as 1948. Her friend, roommate, and posthumous editor, Jeremiah Newton, states that she was born on November 24, 1944.

Candy's early years were spent in Massapequa Park, Long Island, where she and her mother had moved after her parents divorced. Her half-brother Warren, a product of Theresa Slattery's first marriage, left home for the U.S. military, leaving Jimmy as the only child. Warren later denied his connection to her.