Joanne Dru (January 31, 1922 – September 10, 1996) was an American film and television actress, known for such films as Red River and All the King's Men.

Born as Joan Letitia LaCock in Logan, West Virginia, Dru came to New York City in 1940 at the age of eighteen. After finding employment as a model, she was chosen by Al Jolson to appear in the cast of his Broadway show Hold Onto Your Hats. When she moved to Hollywood, she found work in the theater. Dru was spotted by a talent scout and made her first film appearance in Abie's Irish Rose (1946).

Over the next decade, Dru appeared frequently in films and on television. She was cast often in western films such as Howard Hawks's Red River (1948), and John Ford's She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), and Wagon Master (1950).

She gave a well-received performance in the dramatic film All the King's Men (1949) and co-starred with Dan Dailey in The Pride of St. Louis (1952) about major-league baseball pitcher Jerome "Dizzy" Dean.

She appeared in the James Stewart drama Thunder Bay in 1953 and then a Martin and Lewis comedy 3 Ring Circus (1954). Her film career petered out by the end of the 1950s, but she continued working frequently in television, most notably as "Babs Wooten" on the 1960-61 sitcom, Guestward, Ho!.

Singer, songwriter and dancer, Dru (Andrew Grange) is a Canadian solo artist who grew up in Toronto and has passionately pursued his music career since 1993. The R&B/Soul Juno Award and MuchMusic Video Award (MMVA)winner’s major influences include Marvin Gaye, Donnie Hathaway, Stevie Wonder, D’Angelo and Jay-Z.

Dru released his solo, debut album The One in 2008, and the album was rated 3.5 out of 4 stars by the The Toronto Star. He was also named Emerging Artist of the Month" by Canada's #1 CHR/Top 40 station, CHUM FM. Dru's first three singles "The One", "Stay with Me (Always)" and "Seasons" received strong rotation nationally, with videos for all three songs appearing on all major media outlets.

In 2009, Dru topped the radio and video charts in both Canada & the UK as the featured artist on the hit single “Runnin” by renowned DJs Doman & Gooding. The single earned Dru yet another Juno Award nomination in 2010 for “Dance Recording of The Year.” Dru has been identified by Billboard Magazine as "One of the most important emerging Canadian artists" and his success to date reinforces why he deserves such high praise.

Richard Weedt Widmark (December 26, 1914 – March 24, 2008) was an American film, stage and television actor.

He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as the villainous Tommy Udo in his debut film, Kiss of Death, for which he also won the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer. Early in his career Widmark specialized in similar villainous or anti-hero roles in films noir, but he later branched out into more heroic leading and support roles in westerns, mainstream dramas and horror films, among others.

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Widmark has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6800 Hollywood Boulevard. In 2002, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Widmark was born in Sunrise Township, Minnesota, the son of Ethel Mae (née Barr) and Carl H. Widmark. His father was of Swedish descent and his mother of English and Scottish ancestry. Widmark grew up in Princeton, Illinois, and also lived in Henry, Illinois for a short time, moving frequently because of his father's work as a traveling salesman. He attended Lake Forest College, where he studied acting and also taught acting after he graduated.

Audrey Mary Totter (born December 20, 1918,Joliet, Illinois) is an American actress and former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract star of Austrian-Slovene and Swedish descent.

Totter began her acting career in radio in the late 1930s and after success in Chicago and New York, was signed to a seven-year film contract with MGM.^{[citation needed]}

She made her film debut in Main Street After Dark (1945) and during the 1940s established herself as a popular female lead. Although she appeared in various film genres, she became most widely known to movie audiences in film noir productions.^{[citation needed]} Initially MGM paired her opposite some of their biggest stars.^{[citation needed]}

Among her successes were:

By the early 1950s, the tough-talking "dames" she was best known for portraying were no longer fashionable, and as MGM began to work towards creating more family-themed films,^{[citation needed]} Totter was released from her contract. She was reported to have grown dissatisfied with MGM's handling of her career, only agreeing to appear in Any Number Can Play after Gable intervened.^{[citation needed]} She worked for Columbia Pictures and 20th Century Fox, for example in 1951's FBI Girl, but the quality of her films dropped, and by the end of the 1950s, her career was in decline.^{[citation needed]}

Burton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile (which he called "The Grin"). After initially building his career on "tough guy" roles Lancaster abandoned his "all-American" image in the late 1950s in favor of more complex and challenging roles, and came to be regarded as one of the best actors of his generation as a result.

Lancaster was nominated four times for Academy Awards and won once — for his work in Elmer Gantry in 1960. He also won a Golden Globe for that performance and BAFTA Awards for The Birdman of Alcatraz (1962) and Atlantic City (1980). His production company, Hecht-Hill-Lancaster, was the most successful and innovative star-driven independent production company in Hollywood of the 1950s, making movies such as Marty (1955), Trapeze (1956), and Sweet Smell of Success (1957).

In 1999, the American Film Institute named Lancaster 19th among the greatest male stars of all time.