Mickey Rooney

Cloris Leachman

Ms. Leachman was born in 1926. She competed for Miss America as Miss Chicago in 1946 at the age of twenty and then moved to New York City where she had her acting debut on Broadway. Ms. Leachman appeared in many television shows during the 1950’s and 1960’s, and began making a name for herself in films about ten years later. Some of her most notable films include: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), The Last Picture Show (1971), Daisy Miller (1974), Young Frankenstein (1974), High Anxiety (1977), and History of the World, Part 1 (1982). Ms. Leachman’s career would not be the same without her multiple well known television appearances including: The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-1975), The Facts of Life, Malcolm in the Middle (2001-2006), Dancing with the Stars (2008), and Raising Hope (2010-present). She has won an Academy Award, a Daytime Emmy, seven Primetime Emmys (she received 12 nominations), a Golden Globe (three nominations), plus being nominated for two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and she has a Hollywood Walk of Fame star.

Boris Karloff

Born in 1887, Mr. Karloff was mostly known for his roles in horror films. He spent ten years doing Repertory Theater and appeared in more than 45 silent films. His most notable role was Frankenstein in Frankenstein (1931). Some of his other notable films include: Five Star Final (1931), The Mummy (1932), The Lost Patrol (1934), The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966). Mr. Karloff has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Boris Karloff died in 1969.

Abbott and Costello

Bud Abbott Born in 1895, Bud Abbott was raised in show business because both his parents were circus performers. He dropped out of school when he was 14, and joined his father in Coney Island. At 15, he was drugged and kidnapped to work on a ship to Norway. He eventually made his way back to the United States, and moved to Detroit in 1918. He got a job as the treasurer of the National Theater, which was a well-known burlesque business. He met the love of his life here, Jenny Mae Pratt, and they were together until his death 55 years later. Mr. Abbott enjoyed performing in shows so he and Jenny Mae moved to New York. He was working as a cashier at the Casino Theater in Brooklyn in 1936, where the comedic duo of Lyons and Costello were scheduled to perform. Lyons was unable to make the performance, and hearing about the performing cashier, Costello asked Abbott to perform with him that evening. The show was so successful that Abbott and Costello became a very well known comedic pair. Lou Costello Born in 1906, Lou worked many different jobs before his dreams of becoming famous were realized. Pairing up with Bud Abbott, Costello played the clown and Abbott played the “straight man”. In 1939, Abbott and Costello signed a contract with Universal Pictures and became well-known comedians. Some of their most notable films include: One Night in the Tropics (1940), Buck Privates (1941), and Dance with Me Henry (1950). They also were well known for their television appearances and starring in their own series The Abbott and Costello Show, which had more than 50 episodes. Lou Costello’s last role was the lead in The Thirty-Foot Bride of Candy Rock in 1959, and he died later that year.

Carl Reiner

Carl Reiner was born on March 20, 1922, in the Bronx, New York. He served with an entertainment unit during World War II and entered television in 1949. He worked on what would become Your Show of Shows, where he acted and wrote comedy with Mel Brooks. In 1961, he developed the sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show and occasionally appeared as the character Alan Brady. He also directed films and wrote novels. Carl made his film directorial debut with Enter Laughing (1967), which was based on his 1958 semi-autobiographical novel by the same title. Already been adapted for the stage by Joseph Stein in the mid-1960s, Stein and Reiner co-wrote the screenplay for the film version. The story revolved around a young actor's start in show business. In the 1970s, Reiner directed more films, most notably the box office hit as Oh, God! (1977) with comedian George Burns as the title character. He also worked with Steve Martin on several successful projects. Their first film together was the over-the-top comedy The Jerk (1979) in which Martin played a poor, simple-minded cat-juggling man who goes from rags to riches to rags again. Another box office hit for the duo was the supernatural All of Me (1984). In this romantic comedy, Martin played a lawyer with a dying client (Lily Tomlin) who tries to have her soul transferred to another woman. The transfer went wrong and her soul actually ends up in the body of Martin's character.