Career: After graduating from Berkeley, Peck went to New York to study at the Neighborhood Playhouse. To make ends meet, he worked at the 1939 World's Fair and as a tour guide for NBC at Radio City Music Hall. He made his Broadway debut in 1942 as the lead in The Morning Star. He was in high demand as an actor during the Second World War as he was exempt from military service due to a back injury. In 1947, he co-founded The La Jolla Playhouse with Mel Ferrer and Dorothy McGuire. Peck's first film, Days of Glory, was released in 1944. He received Academy Award nominations for The Keys of the Kingdom (1944), The Yearling (1946), Gentleman's Agreement (1947) and Twelve O'Clock High (1949). He went on to win an Oscar for his performance as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). Among his other films were Spellbound (1945), Moby Dick (1956), The Guns of Navarone (1961), Roman Holiday (1953), The Omen (1976), MacArthur (1977), The Boys from Brazil (1978) and Other People's Money (1991). Peck died in his sleep on June 12, 2003 at the age of 87.

Career: Moore's first important film role came in the 1949 musical comedy Trottie True, but he supplemented his income by modelling. In 1953 he moved to the US, gaining a contract with MGM. He appeared alongside Elizabeth Taylor in The Last Time I Saw Paris before concentrating on TV work. Ivanhoe made him a star and he followed that with Maverick and The Alaskans. After moving back to the UK, Moore starred in The Saint and The Persuaders before becoming James Bond in 1973's Live and Let Die. He stuck with the role until 1985's A View to a Kill. Other films include Gold, The Wild Geese and The Cannonball Run, as well as plenty of comic turns as parodies of himself. He died on May 23, 2017 at the age of 89.

Career: Howard had small roles in the films The Way Ahead (1944) and The Way to the Stars (1945) before his big break in 1945, playing the stoic Dr Alec Harvey in David Lean's Brief Encounter. He went on to have an acclaimed film career, starring in The Third Man (1949), Outcast of the Islands (1951), The Cockleshell Heroes (1955), The Key (1958), Sons and Lovers (1960), Mutiny on the Bounty (1962), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968) and Rawlinson End (1980). He died on January 7, 1988 at the age of 74.

Career: On his return from service, Macnee studied at the Webber Douglas School of Dramatic Art. Small roles in several films followed but, frustrated at the lack of opportunity in Britain, he emigrated to Canada, then moved to the US. He appeared in numerous TV plays and films before returning to the UK in 1959. Producing Winston Churchill: The Valiant Years brought him to the attention of TV bosses who, to his surprise, offered him the role of John Steed in The Avengers in 1961. He stayed with the popular series until it ended in 1969, but returned to the role in The New Avengers in 1976. Macnee also appeared in such movies as A View to a Kill, This Is Spinal Tap and The Sea Wolves. He died on June 25, 2015.