Andy Kaufman took the whole world for a ride.

From his beginnings as a stand-up comic, Andy marched to his own beat. When he performed a short bit on the premiere episode of NBC’s Saturday Night Live,  no one knew what to make of him… and that’s just what Andy wanted. After an introduction by guest host George Carlin, Andy took the stage and set up a small phonograph. He stood quietly as a recording of the Might Mouse cartoon theme played — to the awkward chagrin of the studio audience. When the tune reached the familiar “Here I come to save the day” lyric, Andy bounced and gestured dramatically, lip-syncing the words perfectly… then resumed his position and waited for the line to roll around again. When he finished his unusual act, he thanked the crowd in an a unplaceable, but decidedly foreign accent. On a subsequent appearance, he did disastrous impressions of President Carter and Archie Bunker, each in the same uneasy, foreign-tinged voice. The confused studio audience rewarded him with nervous, awkward giggles. Then, he announced his finale — an impression of “de Elvis Presley.” After brief preparation of fixing his hair and altering his clothes to reveal previously hidden sequin accents, Andy transfixed the audience with a dead-on impersonation of The King.

And so began Andy’s life-long quest to baffle everyone.

Andy was a hot property on the stand-up circuit and was soon cast on the sitcom Taxi,  playing mechanic Latka Gravas, a variant of his “Foreign Man” character. He began playing larger venues when his popularity increased and audiences came in droves never knowing what to expect from one of his shows. He gave one performance with his grandmother seated prominently on the stage for the entire show. At the show’s conclusion, it was revealed that Andy’s “grandmother” was fellow comedian Robin Williams concealed under heavy theatrical makeup. Another show concluded with Andy taking the entire audience — twenty busloads — out for milk and cookies. Sometimes, Andy would punish his audience by reading the novel The Great Gatsby,  never yielding even as complaining patrons left the venue. Even as Andy’s fame and recognition heightened, he regularly and dutifully worked as a busboy at Jerry’s Famous Deli in Los Angeles.

Andy gave an infamous performance on the late-night ABC show Fridays  (a knock-off of Saturday Night Live ). He appeared in a sketch in which he broke character and refused to deliver his lines. Cast members grew furious and the audience was bewildered. Cast member Michael Richards (in an early pre-Seinfeld  role) dumped a stack of cue-cards on Andy’s head and producer Jack Burns took a few swings at the comedian. It was all a elaborate practical joke masterminded by Andy.

While on Taxi,  Andy introduced obnoxious lounge singer Tony Clifton and insisted he be given a role on the show. Again, it was another hoax, as Clifton turned out to be Andy in disguise.

In the early 80s, Andy switched gears and adopted a leering, abhorrent personality, becoming the self-appointed “Inter-Gender Wrestling Champion of the World.” He wrestled women, taunting and humiliating them, offering $1000 to any woman who could pin him in the ring. Among his “opponents” were his friend, singer Laurie Anderson. Andy accepted a challenge from professional wrestler Jerry Lawler. During their match, Lawler delivered a piledriver that seriously injured the much-smaller Andy. A hospitalized Andy threatened a lawsuit. Years later, it was revealed to be a hoax executed by long-time friends Andy and Lawler.

In late 1983, Andy’s family expressed concern at the persistent cough Andy exhibited during a visit for Thanksgiving dinner. Andy, a life-long, non-smoking, health conscious vegetarian, was diagnosed with a rare type of lung cancer. He took all sorts of measures to combat the disease, from special diets to chemotherapy to psychic surgery performed in Philippines. Keeping his illness a secret from the public, Andy passed away from kidney failure in May 1984 at the age of 35. Once again, Andy’s death was believed by some to be just another extravagant prank. A year later, when Tony Clifton appeared at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles, those beliefs were reinforced. (Tony was actually portrayed by Andy’s long-time collaborator Bob Zmuda.)

Although, Andy had the last laugh.

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Nineteen-year-old Pamela Courson met Jim Morrison in a club on Sunset Boulevard in 1965. They remained a couple for six years, when Pamela found Jim dead in their Paris apartment’s bathtub.

After Jim’s death, Pamela returned to Los Angeles and shunned all publicity, essentially becoming a recluse. She became a heavy heroin user and allegedly began working as a prostitute to subsidize the high cost of her lavish lifestyle and ever-increasing drug habit. She often talked about seeing Jim Morrison again and on April 25, 1974, Pamela got her wish. She overdosed on heroin in the apartment she shared with two friends.

Pamela’s parents made plans to have their daughter interred next to Jim in a Paris cemetery, but their plans were dashed by legal issues involving the international transport of the body. Although her death certificate lists “Père Lachaise Cemetery” as her final resting place, Pamela is, in fact, buried in Santa Ana, California.

Upon her death, Pamela’s parents inherited the remains of the fortune that Jim Morrison had left when he died. Jim’s parents contested the legalities of the Morrison-Courson union. Eventually, the Coursons retained control of the estate, as the California courts recognized that Pamela and Jim had a common-law marriage.

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Based on his excellence in high school, Kevin Peter Hall was awarded a basketball scholarship to George Washington University. At 7′ 2″, Kevin dominated the game, but despite his athletic prowess, he decided his major would be theatrical arts.

After abandoning a brief basketball career in Venezuela, Kevin landed his first role in the 1979 horror film Prophecy.  Under special effects make-up that concealed his face but enhanced his imposing frame, he was featured in two more films, the 1980 sci-fi thriller Without Warning  and the early Tom Hanks sword-and-sorcery TV-movie Mazes and Monsters.  Kevin guest starred on episodic television including Night Court  (in a comedic turn opposite 6′ 8″ cast regular Richard Moll) and The Dukes of Hazzard.  He was part of an ensemble cast of the short-lived series Misfits of Science.  He returned to the big screen as the title character battling Arnold Schwarzenegger in Predator.  Kevin followed that again as the title character bigfoot in Harry and the Hendersons,  another role showcasing his impressive height.

For two years, Kevin had a recurring role on the sitcom 227.  While working on the show, he met actress Alaina Reed. Alaina, who played the good-natured Rose Lee Holloway, had previously played Gordon’s sister Olivia on Sesame Street  for over a dozen years. In 1988, the couple were married on the show and  in real life.

In 1990, Kevin was involved in a serious car accident and required a blood transfusion. At the hospital, he received blood contaminated with the HIV virus. With his immune system compromised, Kevin died from pneumonia several months later. He was 35 years old.

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Seventeen-year old Germaine Hélène Irène Lefebvre was riding in a carriage in Paris when she was spotted by a fashion photographer. With a little encouragement, she used that chance meeting to kick off a career as a model for the likes of Givenchy and Christian Dior. She changed her name to the mysterious Capucine (French for the flower nasturtium ). While modeling, she met fellow model (and future actress) Audrey Hepburn. The two remained life-long friends.

In 1949, Capucine made her film debut in the French-produced Rendez-vous de Juillet. On the set, she met actor Pierre Trabaud and the two were married the next year — a marriage that would last only six months before ending in divorce. Soon Capucine was signed to a contract with Columbia Pictures and made her English-speaking film debut in 1960’s Song Without End,  a biopic of composer Franz Liszt. She followed that with the John Wayne comedy-Western North to Alaska.  After a few forgettable melodramas, she returned to comedy, landing the role of Lady Simone (wife of Peter Sellers’ Inspector Clouseau) in The Pink Panther.  Capucine reprised the role in several sequels, including the critically-panned Trail of the Pink Panther  in which Sellers’ scenes were culled from outtakes from previous films. (Sellers had died before production on the film had begun.) She also appeared as part of an all-star cast in 1965’s Woody Allen acting debut What’s New Pussycat?,  which was Allen’s screenwriting debut as well.

Capucine moved to Switzerland in the early 1960s and continued to make films in predominantly in Europe, with the occasional appearance on American episodic television. While working on the French film The Lion,  she began a two-year affair with married actor William Holden.

In March 1990, an ill Capucine, battling depression, jumped to her death from the eighth-story window of her Swiss apartment. She was 62.

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In 1963, The State Mutual Life Assurance Company of Worcester, Massachusetts purchased Guarantee Mutual Company of Ohio. As a result of the takeover, employee morale plummeted. Freelance artist Harvey Ross Ball was hired to create something as a confidence builder for distribution among the distraught employees. Harvey’s creation would be plastered everywhere — cards, posters and buttons. Harvey set to work and, in the short span of ten minutes, he created the smiley face.

State Mutual launched a “friendship” campaign. Smiley face buttons were handed out to encourage a cheerful attitude among employees when dealing with customers in person and on the phone. The campaign was so popular that, by 1971, over fifty million buttons were circulated.

Harvey’s son Charles said of his father, “He was not driven by money. He would often say ‘Hey, I can only eat one steak at a time, drive one car at a time’.” Harvey never had his design trademarked or copyrighted. He was paid $45 for his work.

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