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Although he geared himself up for major film stardom throughout the 1950s, it took a leading role on a 1960s TV series opposite a lion and chimpanzee to make Marshall Thompson a genuine household name.

Born on November 27, 1925, and named James Marshall Thompson after an ancestor, a famed Supreme Court justice, he moved at age 5 with his parents from his Peoria, Illinois, hometown to the Los Angeles area. There his father set up a successful Westwood practice in dentistry that continued for over three decades. His mother once took to the stage as a concert singer and musician. Marshall was their only child.

He caught the acting bug while in high school when he appeared in a number of school productions and was spotted by a local talent agent. This did not pan out, but he also acted upon his early skills as a writer. The Westwood Village Players produced the young high school student's ambitious three-act play "Faith," the story of two young aviators in a Nazi prison. He enrolled at Occidental College, where he switched from pre-med to drama. He was also a member of the college's cross-country team.

The athletic, lanky-framed, good-looking collegiate was rediscovered while performing as one of the Occidental Players in 1944. This time, he made good and was signed to a Universal contract. He began in minor war-era films with Reckless Age (1944) starring Gloria Jean and was quickly brought over to MGM on the strength of this film.

With most big stars off to war, Marshall was given the chance to work quite steadily in perfunctory nice-guy assignments such as Blonde Fever (1944), The Clock (1945), They Were Expendable (1945) and Bad Bascomb (1946) opposite Frances Rafferty. His first association with animals came with the lead in the horse-friendly yarn Gallant Bess (1946), MGM's first film produced in CineColor.

The handsome Marshall went on to provide yeoman work in the war dramas Homecoming (1948), Command Decision (1948) and Battleground (1949), becoming an instant idol to film fans. A genial player on screen, he managed to show potential outside his benign typecast in Dial 1119 (1950) as a cold-hearted, baby-faced killer, and finished his MGM contract out with The Tall Target (1951) playing a potential assassin of Abraham Lincoln.

Freelancing for the next several years after losing his contract to MGM owing to a change of management, Marshall assisted a few serious-minded dramas but a noticeable pall soon took over his career with "B" thrillers taking up the bulk of his time. He achieved a bit of cult infamy with the films Cult of the Cobra (1955) Fiend Without a Face (1958), It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958) and First Man Into Space (1959). A couple of notable exceptions were his strong roles in the Audie Murphy starter To Hell and Back (1955) and East of Kilimanjaro (1957), in which he performed his own dangerous stunts and developed a lifelong passion for Africa and wildlife.

It was this aforementioned wildlife association, combined with TV, that made the biggest dramatic impact on his career. Throughout the 1950s Marshall appeared faithfully in small-screen presentations, but in 1966 he was cast as a series lead, that of game warden Dr. Marsh Tracy in the African adventure Daktari (1966) developed by Ivan Tors and filmed at Africa, U.S.A., a wild-animal theme park near Los Angeles. Although overshadowed sometimes by those inveterate scene-stealers Clarence the Cross-eyed Lion and Judy the Chimpanzee, Marshall provided a strong, honest, authoritative yet friendly persona and earned the most attention yet in his nearly two-decade-long career. He was also involved in nearly every aspect of the show and was afforded the opportunity to direct a few episodes.

The series lasted four seasons, and following his departure, Marshall continued in the same animal vein. His association with Tors continued by his hosting of the live action daytime series Jambo (1969), starring in the feature film Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion (1965) (which he co-wrote), and directing some episodes of Flipper (1964).

Lying low after his final feature film, Around the World Under the Sea (1966), which starred assorted TV adventure alumni including Flipper (1964) star Brian Kelly and Sea Hunt (1958) lead Lloyd Bridges, he spent much of his later time providing footage for wildlife documentaries.

An avid photographer, horseman, and guitarist, among many other talents, he died at age 66 in 1992 of congestive heart failure and was survived by his wife Barbara Long, daughter Janet, and grandson Jackson.

Controversial pathologist, writer and inventor, Jack Kevorkian was the only son of Levon Kevorkian a former auto-factory worker who owned an excavating company and his homemaker wife. He had 2 sisters. Kevorkian's parents were Armenian refugees, whose relatives were among the 1.5 millon victims of Turkish atrocities in World War I. As a young boy he quit Sunday school because he did not believe in Armenian Orthodox teachings. He taught himself German and Japanese in high school during World war II. Kevorkian graduated from Pontiac High School with honors in 1945 at 17. He then enrolled at the University of Michigan from where he graduated from Medical school in 1952. Kevorkian completed an internship in Pathology at Henry Ford hospital in Detroit, during which period he had an epiphany when he saw a woman who was dying of cancer. It was then that he began to think of ways to alleviate suffering in his patients. In 1953 he got his medical license for Michighan state. He then did a 15 month stint in Korea as an Army Medical Officer during the Korean War. He returned and completed his residency at Pontiac General Hospital, Michigan. He got his nickname 'Dr. Death' in 1956 when he started photographing the retinas of patients at the moment of death to differentiate between coma and death. From 1956-57 he did research in West Germany. In 1957 he obtained his California medical license. In 1958 he presented a paper on 'Capital Punishment or Capital Gain' at the American Association for the Advancement of Science' at Washington, DC. He suggested the harvesting of organs from death row prisoners. This was considered controversial because death row inmates don't necessarily have any rights. By 1960 he was licensed in Pathological Anatomy and in 1965 in Clinical Pathology. In April 1960 he testified before a Joint Judicial Committee in Columbus, Ohio to revise the death penalty and to legalize medical experimentation on condemned inmates. In 1976 he moved to Los Angeles, California. He changed jobs frequently. Between 1982 to 86 he mainly did his writing and research. In 1988, even the pro-suicide Hemlock Society founder, Derek humphry rebuffed his methods as "too perilous and risky". In 1989 after reading about a patient who had asked for euthanasia he began working on a lethal-injection machine that would be able to do the task at the 'flip of a switch'. It was called the Thanatron (and later Mercitron). He got a lot of publicity because of this. On June 4, 1990 he performed the first of his 'medicides' as he liked to call physician-assisted suicide. His 'client' was a 54 year old woman suffering from Alzheimer's. She had contacted him herself after reading his ads in the papers. It was performed in the back of his VW van. She received sodium pentothal (an anesthetic) and potassium chloride (to stop the heart). By the time of this 3rd medicide his medical licemse was revoked for violating Michigan state laws regarding euthanasia. One of his 'clients' was even found on autopsy not to have any major pathology. He continued to do his medicides by giving his clients carbon-monoxide. There were reports that one patient had asked her mask to be removed twice (maybe a change of mind) but Kevorkian had continued with his task. On August 17, 1993 he was formally charged with violating the law. By then he had already helped 20 clients to their peaceful deaths. He was jailed first in November 1993 and then again in December 1993. Kevorkian went on a liquid only fast for 18 days and was acquitted in May 1994. By now he had even gained several supporters in the general community. By 1998 he hed committed over 100 medicides. Relatives of some of his clients claimed that he had continued despite protests from his 'victims'. He was now charged with 2nd degree murder. During his trial he was defended by the flamboyant lawyer Geoffrey Fieger. In March 1999 Dr. Kevorkian was sentenced by a Michigan jury to 10-25 years for his crime.

Kurt Luedtke was born on 28 September 1939 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. He was a writer, known for Out of Africa (1985), Absence of Malice (1981) and Random Hearts (1999). He was married to Eleanor Anna Kruglinski . He died on 9 August 2020 in Royal Oak, Michigan, USA.

Jack Van Impe was born on 9 February 1931 in Troy, Michigan, USA. He was a writer and director, known for The Rapture (1997), The Mark of the Beast (1997) and The Grim Reaper (1976). He was married to Rexella Van Impe. He died on 18 January 2020 in Royal Oak, Michigan, USA.

George Barry was born on 21 August 1949 in Royal Oak, Michigan, USA. He was a writer and director, known for Death Bed: The Bed That Eats (1977) and Deathbed (2002). He died on 26 November 2022 in Royal Oak, Michigan, USA.

Douglas P. MacIntosh was born on 12 July 1926 in Warsaw, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Krasner, Norman: Beloved Husband of Irma (1974), Norman Gives a Speech (1989) and Norman Checks In (1984). He was married to Barbara Wells MacIntosh. He died on 8 September 2012 in Royal Oak, Michigan, USA.

Henry Cosby was born on 12 May 1938 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. Henry was a composer, known for I Spy (2002), Bitter Moon (1992) and Almost Famous (2000). Henry died on 22 January 2002 in Royal Oak, Michigan, USA.

Richard "Pistol" Allen was the king of the shuffle styled drum beat at Motown records in the early 60s, second only to Motown drummer extraordinare Benny 'Papa Zita' Benjamin. When Benjamin wasn't available to play, Allen was called in to replace him.

Allen played drums on major Motown hits such as The Supremes's "Baby Love", The Four Tops's "I Can't Help Myself", 'Jr. Walker''s "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)" and 'Martha & the Vandellas'' "(Love Is Like a) Heat Wave". Allen still loved to play the Detroit local music scene, and even after his stint with Motown he continued to be seen from time to time playing in Detroit nightclubs throughout the city, until his illness.

Allen is also an intricate part of the documentary _Standing in the Shadows of Motown: The Story of the Funk Brothers (2002)_ , which depicts the life as a Motown musician in the 60s; reflecting the ups and downs of being a faceless figure of the Motown sound.

Born in Chicago, Illinois and raised in Merrick, Long Island, New York to parents of English and Swiss decent, George W. Britton studied voice at Columbia University where he graduated in 1932.

A singer all of his life, Britton won a scholarship to Juilliard School of Music upon graduation from Columbia. After several years of study, he began his career as a classical bass-baritone in the mid 1930s and made his professional opera debut at the Chautauqua Opera in 1934.

It was during the 1940s that Britton began working as a musical theater actor while maintaining his classical singing career. He was particularly active in New Jersey's Paper Mill Playhouse between 1942 and 1948. Prior to the start of WWII, Britton made his European opera debut in Prague, Czechoslovakia with Rise Stevens in her first performance of "Carmen." He went on to sing in Vienna and many European opera houses where he performed most of the leading baritone roles.

After the end of WWII, Britton returned to Europe and opened in London in the first American show to be brought over, "Romany Love," which had a short run on Broadway as "Gypsy Lady." It was during this show that he met his future wife, actress and singer, Kaye Connor. They lived and performed in England for a year and returned to New York in 1947. They married and had three children.

In 1952, after three weeks of rehearsal as understudy for the role of Emile de Becque in Rodgers and Hammerstein's "South Pacific," Britton was told that he was to go on that evening with only 30 minutes notice. After receiving glowing reviews, he succeeded Ezio Pinza in the lead role of the musical and went on to play the part on Broadway for all of the last two years of its run opposite Martha Wright as Nellie Forbush. Britton continued to sing leading operetta and opera roles all over the country.

George Britton retired from the stage in 1970 and accepted a position with Wilding Inc., a Detroit communications firm. George and his wife, Kaye, settled in the metro-Detroit area with their children. During his career with Wilding, Inc., he traveled the country doing seminars for Ford and Mercury. He retired from Wilding Inc. in 1980 at the age of 70. He and Kaye opened a successful travel agency, Kaye Britton Travel, which was located in Farmington Hills, Michigan for many years.

Charlie Sanders was born on 25 August 1946 in Richland, North Carolina, USA. He was married to Georgianna. He died on 2 July 2015 in Royal Oak, Michigan, USA.

John Battaglia was born on 9 January 1918 in Destry, Arizona, USA. He was an actor, known for Mutant Man (1996). He died on 28 September 2003 in Royal Oak, Michigan, USA.

Mauri Rose was born on 26 May 1906 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. He died on 1 January 1981 in Royal Oak, Michigan, USA.

Nick Pietrosante was born on 10 September 1937 in Ansonia, Connecticut, USA. He died on 6 February 1988 in Royal Oak, Michigan, USA.

Balthazar Korab was born on 16 February 1926 in Budapest, Hungary. Balthazar is known for Black White + Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe (2007) and Frank Lloyd Wright (1998). Balthazar was married to Monica Kane and Sally Dow. Balthazar died on 15 January 2013 in Royal Oak, Michigan, USA.

Hal Robinson is a veteran radio, stage and screen actor based in the Detroit area. He began acting in radio commercials in 1947 at the age of fifteen. He also did sound effects work on legendary radio serials such as "The Lone Ranger", "The Green Hornet", and "Challenge of the Yukon". Today he is often spotted in Woody Allen films as an ensemble cast member, directing and producing community theater in Clawson, Michigan, or practicing law in Royal Oak, MI.

Joe Petrovich was a director and producer, known for The Golfer (1972), Kid Gloves (1960) and The Crunch Bird (1971). Joe died in 1979 in Royal Oak, Michigan, USA.

Doreen Matthews was born on 29 March 1948 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. She was an editor, known for Hefty's (1983). She died on 19 February 2023 in Royal Oak, Michigan, USA.

Eric Olis was born on 7 December 1966 in South Bend, Indiana, USA. Eric was a producer, known for Lemonade: Detroit (2013). Eric was married to Linda. Eric died on 18 February 2024 in Royal Oak, Michigan, USA.