Career: Small roles in various TV shows and movies followed before Richard landed the lead role in medical drama Dr Kildare in 1961. He also had several hit records during this period. When the series ended in 1966, he went on to appear in The Portrait of a Lady, Hamlet, The Music Lovers, The Three Musketeers and its two sequels, The Towering Inferno, The Man in the Iron Mask and The Slipper and the Rose. TV dramas Centennial, Shogun, and The Thorn Birds (the latter two won him Golden Globe awards) were hugely successful. Since then he's continued to work on stage, TV and in film in such projects as Casanova, Island Son, Hustle, Desperate Housewives, Chuck, and Brothers & Sisters.

Career: A late starter, Finlay didn't appear in the West End until he was 31. After making a series of acclaimed performances in various plays, he was invited to join Laurence Olivier's National Theatre Company. He starred opposite the legendary actor in Othello, and then reprised the role on the big screen in 1965, bagging an Oscar nomination in the process. Other major projects included Dennis Potter's version of Casanova, The Three Musketeers, and controversial TV drama Bouquet of Barbed Wire. He also featured in Common as Muck, Longitude, The Sins, Station Jim, Johnny and the Bomb, The Pianist and Life Begins. He died on January 30, 2016, from heart failure after a long illness. He was 89.

Career: After the war, Heston worked as a model and honed his skills while running a theatre in Asheville, North Carolina. In 1947, he made his Broadway debut in Antony and Cleopatra. His first film was 1950's Dark City. Other major movies include Ben-Hur (for which he won an Oscar), Touch of Evil, The Big Country, The Greatest Story Ever Told, The Ten Commandments, Planet of the Apes and Earthquake. He also appeared in The Colbys, Wayne's World 2, and provided a voice for Cats and Dogs. Heston died of natural causes at his home in Beverly Hills on April 5, 2008, at the age of 84.

Career: Dunaway landed her first starring role, in a stage production of A Man for All Seasons, just days after graduating from university. Her TV debut was in a 1965 episode of Seaway, and her first film, Hurry Sundown, was released two years later. She became a household name thanks to Bonnie and Clyde, and followed it with such hits as The Thomas Crown Affair, Chinatown, The Towering Inferno, Network (for which she won an Oscar) and The Champ. Her films in the 1980s and 1990s weren't as successful, although she had a cameo role in the Thomas Crown remake.

Career: Welch's first major acting role was in the film A Swingin' Summer (1965). Her big break came a year later when she played the lead in popular sci-fi film Fantastic Voyage (1966). In the same year, she created a stir by wearing only a two-piece deer skin bikini in One Million Years BC (1966). A publicity still of her in the bikini became a best-selling poster and she has been regarded as an international sex symbol ever since. She later starred in Bedazzled (1967), 100 Rifles (1969) and The Three Musketeers (1973), for which she won a Golden Globe. In 1970, she joined forces with Tom Jones for a TV song-and-dance special. She struggled to capture her early success on the big screen and made a number of flops. She continued to act in TV movies and made guest appearances in a number of shows. More recently, she starred in American Family, Welcome to the Captain and CSI: Miami. In 2001, she had a supporting role in popular film comedy Legally Blonde.

Career: Lee hit the big time in 1957 when his formidable height landed him the role of the monster in Hammer's The Curse of Frankenstein. It marked the beginning of his horror movie partnership with Peter Cushing, which also included such films as Dracula, The Mummy, and The Gorgon. Lee went on to become one of the world's most prolific actors. Star Wars episodes II and III and The Lord of the Rings introduced him to a new generation of fans. Other significant titles include The Wicker Man, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Gremlins II, The Man with the Golden Gun and The Golden Compass. He also appeared in Alice in Wonderland, Burke and Hare, Season of the Witch and The Hobbit. He died on June 7, 2015, at the age of 93 due to respiratory problems and heart failure.

Career: Geraldine began her professional career with roles in European projects, such as Gran Parada and Dernier Soir. Her breakthrough came in David Lean's adaptation of Dr Zhivago in 1965. She appeared in her father's A Countess from Hong Kong two years later. She's rarely been out of work since, mixing mainstream movies and TV shows with arty European fare. Among her more famous projects are The Three Musketeers and its sequels, Nashville, The Mirror Crack'd, My Cousin Rachel, White Mischief, Jane Eyre and Dinotopia. She also played her own grandmother in biopic Chaplin.