Jerry Belson (July 8, 1938 – October 10, 2006) was a writer, director, and producer of Hollywood films for over forty years.

Belson's writing credits include the Steven Spielberg films Always and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, several episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show and Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. and I Spy. During the early 1960s, concurrent with contributing scripts for TV sitcoms with then writing partner Garry Marshall, Belson did stories for Gold Key Comics. Belson also helped produce The Drew Carey Show, The Norm Show and The Tracey Ullman Show.

In the TV Land 2006 documentary The 100 Greatest TV Quotes and Catchphrases Lowell Ganz credits Belson with including in the script of the season 3 Odd Couple episode "My Strife in Court" (originally aired Friday February 16, 1973) the catch-phrase "Never ASSUME, because when you ASSUME, you make an ASS of U and ME." Ganz noted Belson had heard it used years ago by a teacher in a typewriter repair class.

Belson died in Los Angeles, California on October 10, 2006 after a long battle with prostate cancer. His sister, screenwriter Monica Johnson, died on November 1, 2010.

Richard Stephen Dreyfuss (born October 29, 1947) is an American actor best known for starring in a number of film, television, and theater roles since the late 1960s, including the films American Graffiti, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Goodbye Girl, Whose Life Is It Anyway?, Stakeout, Always, What About Bob?, Poseidon, and Mr. Holland's Opus.

Dreyfuss won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1977 for The Goodbye Girl, and was nominated in 1995 for Mr. Holland's Opus. He has also won a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA Award, and was nominated in 2002 for Screen Actors Guild Awards in the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series and Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries categories.

Dreyfuss was born Richard Stephen Dreyfus in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Norman, an attorney and restaurateur, and Geraldine, a peace activist. Dreyfuss is Jewish. He has commented that he "grew up thinking that Alfred Dreyfus and [he] are of the same family." His father disliked New York City, and moved the family first to Europe, and later to Los Angeles, when Dreyfuss was nine. Dreyfuss attended Beverly Hills High School.

Karyn Kusama (born March 21, 1968 in the US) is an American film director who had her breakthrough with Girlfight, her first feature film. She wrote the screenplay and directed the film at age 27. It was released in 2000 and won the Director's Prize and the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, as well as the Prix de la Jeunesse at the Cannes Film Festival. The independent feature film with a budget of around US$ 1 Million was critically well received. It only brought in US$ 1,667,000.

It took two years to find financing for the film. After financing fell through shortly before shooting began, Girlfight was fully financed by film-maker John Sayles whom she worked for as an assistant at that time.

Since Girlfight, Kusama has moved on to direct commercial Hollywood productions. To date, she only directed two more feature films, Aeon Flux and Jennifer's Body, as well as the TV series The L Word. However, none of her following work has received positive reviews or won critical acclaim.

John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932) is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Hook, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, War Horse, Home Alone and the first three Harry Potter films. He has had a long association with director Steven Spielberg, composing the music for all but two (Duel and The Color Purple) of Spielberg's major feature films.

Other notable works by Williams include theme music for four Olympic Games, NBC Sunday Night Football, the NBC Nightly News, the rededication of the Statue of Liberty, and the television series Lost in Space. Williams has also composed numerous classical concerti, and he served as the principal conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra from 1980 to 1993; he is now the orchestra's conductor laureate.

Williams has won five Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, seven BAFTA Awards, and 21 Grammy Awards. With 47 Academy Award nominations, Williams is the second most nominated person, after Walt Disney. John Williams was honored with the prestigious Richard Kirk award at the 1999 BMI Film and TV Awards. The award is given annually to a composer who has made significant contributions to film and television music. Williams was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame in 2000, and was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004.

James Henry "Jim" Webb, Jr. (born February 9, 1946) is the senior United States Senator from Virginia. He is also an author and a former Secretary of the Navy. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

A 1968 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Webb served as a Marine Corps infantry officer until 1972, and is a highly decorated Vietnam War combat veteran. During his four years with the Reagan administration, Webb served as the first Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, then as Secretary of the Navy.

Webb won the Democratic nomination for the 2006 Virginia Senate race by defeating Harris Miller in the primary, then won the general election by defeating the Republican incumbent George Allen. Webb's thin margin in the general election (less than 0.5%) kept the outcome uncertain for nearly two days after polls closed on November 7, 2006, and provided the final seat that tilted the Senate to Democratic control. On his sixty-fifth birthday, he announced that he will not seek re-election in 2012, saying that he does not want to spend his whole life in politics, and that he wants to return to the private sector.