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: After starring in a number of minor roles for MGM, Gardner received her big break in 1946 when she was loaned to Universal to star in The Killers, which starred Burt Lancaster in his film debut. The film was a big success and received a number of Academy Award nominations. Gardner went on to work with a number of big-name directors, including John Ford in Mogambo (1953) and George Cukor in Bhowani Junction (1956). Other notable films included Mayerling (1968), Earthquake (1974), The Cassandra Crossing (1976) and The Blue Bird (1976). Toward the end of her career, she primarily worked on TV, notably in Knots Landing, and The Long Hot Summer. Gardner died of pneumonia on January 25, 1990 at the age of 67 in London, a place she had called home since 1968.

Career: Astaire continued to achieve success on his own on the stage, before making his Hollywood debut in Dancing Lady (1933). He starred with Ginger Rogers for the first time in Flying Down to Rio (1933). Despite being reluctant to become part of another dance team, Astaire went on to star with Rogers in 10 films, including The Gay Divorcee (1934), Roberta (1935), Top Hat (1935), Follow the Fleet (1936), Swing Time (1936) and Carefree (1938). Astaire also starred alongside Bing Crosby in Holiday Inn (1942) and Blue Skies (1946), Rita Hayworth in You'll Never Get Rich (1941), Leslie Caron in Daddy Long Legs (1955), and Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face (1957). Astaire's last musical film was Francis Ford Coppola's Finian's Rainbow (1968). He received his only Academy Award nomination for his role in The Towering Inferno (1974). He died on June 22, 1987 at the age of 88.

Career: Perkins was nominated for an Oscar for his second film, Friendly Persuasion (1956), and went on to star in a number of films during the decade, including Fear Strikes Out (1957) and The Matchmaker (1958). His big break came in 1960 when Alfred Hitchcock cast him as Norman Bates in Psycho, a role he would be forever associated with. He would go on to play Norman Bates in two Psycho film sequels and a made-for-TV prequel. Other film credits included Goodbye Again (1961), The Trial (1962), Catch-22 (1970), and The Black Hole (1979). On the stage he was nominated twice for Broadway's Tony Award for Look Homeward, Angel (1958) and Greenwillow (1960.) He died from complications from the Aids virus in 1992.