Career: After graduating from high school, MacLaine moved to New York and within a year was a star after taking over a lead role in The Pajama Game on Broadway. In 1955, she made her film debut in Alfred Hitchcock's The Trouble With Harry. Around the World in 80 Days followed, and in 1958 she received her first Oscar nomination for Some Came Running. Further acting nods came for The Apartment, Irma La Douce and The Turning Point before a win in 1983 for Terms of Endearment. Other notable movies include Being There, Sweet Charity, Steel Magnolias, Postcards from the Edge, Bewitched, In Her Shoes, and acclaimed TV movie Coco Chanel.

Career: Plummer made his Broadway debut in 1953 in The Starcross Story - a play that lasted just one night. He had better luck with his next show, Home is the Hero, which lasted for 30 performances. He has since appeared successfully on stages around the world, including London. Plummer's film career began in 1958 when he was cast in Stage Struck, but it was The Sound of Music in 1965 that made him an international star. Since then, he has been a heavily in-demand character actor and appeared in a number of notable films, including The Night of the Generals (1967), The Return of the Pink Panther (1975), Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), Malcolm X (1992), The Insider (1999), A Beautiful Mind (2001) and The Lake House (2006). He received his first Academy Award nomination in 2009 for The Last Station, but lost out to Christoph Waltz. He had better luck in 2012 when he won an Oscar for his performance in Beginners (2010). His recent credits include Priest (2011) and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011).

Career: Bakula continued to work on stage before gaining TV roles on shows such as Designing Women, Gung-Ho and I-Man. His big break came in 1989 with TV movie Quantum Leap: Genesis. A hugely popular series based on the adventures of time-travelling scientist Sam Beckett followed. Since then, he's continued to work on TV, including a three-year stint in sitcom Murphy Brown, and in films such as American Beauty, The Colour Of Night and Sibling Rivalry. Theatre work includes a Tony-nominated role in the musical Romance/Romance. His stint as Captain Jonathan Archer in Enterprise, the prequel to the original Star Trek series, lasted for four seasons until it was axed in 2005. More recently, he has had a recurring role in Chuck, and starred in American comedy drama Men of a Certain Age, Behind the Candelabra, Looking and NCIS: New Orleans.

Career: Noth studied acting with Sandford Meisner in New York and at the Yale School of Drama. He made his film debut in 1981's Waitress! and eventually caught producers' interest with a solid performance in Off Beat in 1986. Roles in I'll Take Manhattan and Baby Boom followed, and he became a household name in the US thanks to his part as Detective Mike Logan in Law and Order. He quit after five years with the show. Sex and the City introduced him to an international audience in 1998. He's also appeared on the big screen in the show's spin-off movies, as well as Cast Away, The Glass House and My One and Only. His recent work includes The Good Wife and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.