Burl Ives was a actor, writer and folk music singer. As an actor, Ives work
included comedies, dramas, and voice work in theater, television, and film. He
is most known as the narrator, Sam the Snowman, in the stop-motion animated
TV special, Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Ives continues to be linked to
the Christmas season with the yearly rebroadcast of the special.

Ives with Sam the Snowman

This 1949 version of Lavender Blue was nominated for an
Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Actor Richard Earl Thomas is best known for his role as budding author John-Boy
Walton in the CBS-TV drama The Waltons (1972-1981). Thomas was seven when
he made his Broadway debut in Sunrise at Campobello (1958) playing John Roosevelt, son of future U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. His television career began in 1959 when a appeared in A Doll’s House with Julie Harris, Christopher Plummer and Hume Cronyn. Richard then began acting in daytime TV, appearing in soap operas
such as The Edge of Night in 1961 and As the World Turns, 1966-1967. Thomas
received his first major roles in film, appearing in the  1969 pictures Winning with
Paul Newman and Last Summer with Barbara Hershey.

“Cleopatra” premiered at the Rivoli Theater in New York city and despite being a
critical failure, it won four Academy Awards and was nominated for five more. It was
the highest grossing film of 1963, earning a total of $57.7 million, yet made a loss 
due to its cost of $44 million, the only film ever to be the highest grossing film  
of the year yet to run at a loss.

Chad Everett has appeared in over 40 films and television series but is
probably best known for his role as Dr. Joe Gannon in the medical drama
series Medical Center (below) which aired on CBS from 1969 to 1976.

1972

William Dennis Weaver, is best known for his television roles, including
Chester Goode on Gunsmoke (CBS, 1955-1975), as Marshal Sam
McCloud in the NBC police drama McCloud (1970-1977), and the
1971 made for TV movie Duel.

Dennis Weaver with co-star James Arness in Gunsmoke

Dennis Weaver in a scene from Duel