Career: Widmark was performing in a stage production in Chicago when 20th Century Fox signed him to a seven-year film contract. His first movie role was Kiss of Death (1947), a part that earned him a Golden Globe and his only Academy Award nomination. His early films were The Street with No Name (1948), Road House (1948) and Yellow Sky (1948) and he quickly developed a reputation for playing movie villains. After demanding more diverse roles, he went on play a wide range of parts in the likes of Panic in the Streets (1950), No Way Out (1950), Night and the City (1950), Broken Lance (1954), The Alamo (1960), Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) and Madigan (1968). He made the transition to the small screen in 1971 with the TV movie Vanished, and he reprised his detective role from Madigan in six TV movies. After a career that had seen him star in more than 60 films, he retired from acting in 2001. After a long illness, he died in 2008 at the age of 93.

Career: Poitier initially proved unpopular with audiences as he was judged to be tone deaf and not a talented singer or dancer, something that was expected of black actors at the time. He resolved to rid himself of his Bahamian accent and achieve stage success. After receiving excellent theatrical reviews, he left the stage for the screen in 1950 for the film noir No Way Out. His breakout role came at the age of 27, when he appeared in Blackboard Jungle, and was the first black actor to be nominated for a competitive Academy Award for The Defiant Ones in 1958. He went on to win the Oscar for Best Actor five years later for his performance in Lilies of the Field. By this time, Poitier had risen to become the first major black star in Hollywood, a role he took very seriously, and was the biggest box office draw in 1967. It was this year that he starred in his most acclaimed films To Sir, with Love and In the Heat of the Night. He reprised his role as Virgil Tibbs from the latter film two more times in the following decade. His last major role was as FBI deputy director Carter Preston in 1997's The Jackal. Poitier also directed a number of films, including Stir Crazy, Hanky Panky and Ghost Dad.

Career: Sutherland appeared in several British TV dramas before making his film debut in 1964's Crypt of Horror. He named his eldest son after its director, Warren Kiefer. More small-screen and low-budget movie projects followed until 1967's The Dirty Dozen. That led to bigger roles in acclaimed films, including 1970's MASH, which made him a star. Impressive yet occasionally offbeat performances followed in films such as Kelly's Heroes, Klute, Don't Look Now, The Eagle Has Landed, Animal House, Ordinary People and JFK. More recently he's featured in Dirty Sexy Money, Astro Boy (as the voice of President Stone), The Hunger Games and The Pillars of the Earth.