George Campbell Scott (October 18, 1927 – September 22, 1999) was an American stage and film actor, director and producer. He was best known for his stage work, as well as his portrayal of General George S. Patton in the film Patton, and as General Buck Turgidson in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove.

George Campbell Scott was born in Wise, Virginia, the son of Helena Agnes (née Slemp; 1904–1935) and George Dewey Scott (1902–1988). His mother died just before his eighth birthday, and he was raised by his father, an executive with Buick. Scott's original ambition was to be a writer like his favorite author, F. Scott Fitzgerald; while attending Redford High School in Detroit, he wrote many short stories, none of which were ever published. As an adult, he tried on many occasions to write a novel, but was never able to complete one to his satisfaction.^{[citation needed]}

Scott joined the US Marines, serving from 1945-49. He was assigned to 8th and I Barracks in Washington, D.C., in which capacity he taught English literature and radio speaking/writing at the Marine Corps Institute. He later claimed his duties at Arlington led to his drinking. After his military service, Scott enrolled in the University of Missouri, where he majored in journalism and then became interested in drama; he left college after a year to pursue acting.

Donald Jay "Don" Rickles (born May 8, 1926) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. A frequent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Rickles has acted in comedic and dramatic roles, but is best known as an insult comic.

Rickles was born in the New York City borough of Queens to Max Rickles, who had emigrated in 1902 with his parents Joseph and Frances Rickles from Kaunas, Lithuania (then in the Russian Empire), and Etta (Feldman) Rickles, born in New York to immigrant parents from the Austrian Empire. His family was Jewish and spoke Yiddish at home. Rickles grew up in the Jackson Heights area.

After graduating from Newtown High School, Rickles enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served during World War II on the USS Cyrene as a seaman first class. He was honorably discharged in 1946. Two years later, he studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and then played bit parts on television. Frustrated by a lack of acting work, Rickles began doing stand-up comedy. He became known as an insult comedian by responding to his hecklers. The audience enjoyed these insults more than his prepared material, and he incorporated them into his act. When he began his career in the early 1950s he started calling ill-mannered members of the audience a "hockey puck". His style was similar to an older insult comic, "Mr. Warmth" Jack E. Leonard, though Rickles denies that Leonard influenced his style.

Peter Killian Gallagher (born August 19, 1955) is an American actor, musician, and writer. Since 1980, Gallagher has played roles in numerous Hollywood films. He starred as Sandy Cohen in the television drama series The O.C. from 2003 to 2007. He currently appears in a recurring role on the USA Network drama Covert Affairs, as CIA Clandestine Services Director Arthur Campbell.

Gallagher was born in New York City, New York. His mother, Mary Ann (née O'Shea), was a bacteriologist, and his father, Thomas Francis Gallagher II, was an advertising executive. He is of Irish Catholic background and was raised in Armonk, New York. Gallagher graduated from Tufts University, where he had been active in theater, appearing in such shows as Stephen Sondheim's Company and singing with the all-male a cappella group the Beelzebubs.

Gallagher's debut movie performance was as one of the co-stars in the 1980 movie, The Idolmaker.

Gallagher appeared on Broadway with Glenn Close in Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing, but first achieved fame for his role in Steven Soderbergh's Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989). He also starred as Sky Masterson in the 1992 Broadway Revival of Guys and Dolls.

Joseph Patrick Michael "Joe" Leydon (born August 22, 1952) is an American film critic and historian. A critic and correspondent for Variety and a contributing writer for MovieMaker Magazine and CultureMap.com, he is the author of Joe Leydon's Guide to Essential Movies You Must See (Michael Wiese Productions) and a contributing critic for Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide.

Leydon was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and raised in the city's Ninth Ward. He graduated from Loyola University with a degree in Journalism (with a minor in film). At Loyola, he studied under the late Ralph T. Bell. In 2007, he earned a Master of Arts degree at the Jack J. Valenti School of Communications at University of Houston.

Leydon was a film critic for The Houston Post from 1982 until the paper’s demise in 1995. He has also reviewed films for The San Francisco Examiner, MSNBC.com, and NBC affiliate KPRC-TV in Houston. His work as a journalist, interviewer and feature writer has appeared in the New York Daily News, Los Angeles Times, Newsday, The Tennessean, The Boston Globe, Toronto Star and the Austin American-Statesman; Film Comment and New Orleans magazines. He is also the communications director for Cowboys & Indians Magazine.

James Francis Cagney, Jr. (July 17, 1899 – March 30, 1986) was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing tough guys. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth among its 50 Greatest American Screen Legends.

In his first professional acting performance, he danced dressed as a woman in the chorus line of the 1919 revue Every Sailor. He spent several years in vaudeville as a hoofer and comedian, until he got his first major acting part in 1925. He secured several other roles, receiving good notices, before landing the lead in the 1929 play Penny Arcade. After rave reviews, Warner Bros. signed him for an initial $500-a-week, three-week contract to reprise his role; this was quickly extended to a seven-year contract.