Career: Wayne began doing bit parts in westerns and adventures and appeared in about 70 movies before his breakthrough role in John Ford's Stagecoach (1939). He went on to star in more than 20 John Ford pictures, including Fort Apache (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), Rio Grande (1950), The Searchers (1956) and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). Other notable films included Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), The Alamo (1960), The Green Berets (1968), True Grit (1969) and The Shootist (1976). He died of stomach cancer on June 11, 1979 at the age of 72.

Career: Holden went on to star in several minor pictures before serving in the United States Army Air Forces during the Second World War, where he acted in training films for the First Motion Picture Unit. His big break came when Billy Wilder cast him as screenwriter Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard (1950). The role earned Holden an Academy Award nomination. He went on to star in a number of acclaimed films, including Stalag 17 (1953), Sabrina (1954), Love is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), The Wild Bunch (1969), The Towering Inferno (1974) and Network (1976). He won an Academy Award for Stalag 17, and a Primetime Emmy in 1974 for The Blue Knight. He died in his Santa Monica apartment on November 12, 1981 at the age of 63.