Career: Her first taste of showbusiness was as an actress, appearing as a lesbian opposite a then-unknown Barbra Streisand in an Off-Broadway play. After realising she was better at stand-up comedy, Rivers spent seven years trying to get her career off the ground. It was an appearance on The Tonight Show in 1965 which turned her into a star. In 1968, she landed a daytime TV chat show. She returned to acting sporadically, wrote the movies The Girl Most Likely To and Rabbit Test (which she also directed), hosted various other small-screen shows and, with her daughter Melissa, become a celebrity and fashion expert on US TV. She died on September 4, 2014 at the age of 81.

Career: Shields' movie debut was in 1976's Communion. Two years later she appeared as a child prostitute in Pretty Baby, the hugely successful - though controversial - film that made her name. The Blue Lagoon - featuring scenes with her frolicking naked - was also a success in 1980. However, she subsequently appeared in several flops, prompting her to ditch acting in favour of studying French literature at Princeton University. She later starred in an acclaimed version of Grease on Broadway and appeared in her own sitcom, Suddenly Susan, which ran for four years until 2000. In recent years, she has made guest appearances on Two and a Half Men, Hannah Montana, Lipstick Jungle and The Middle. She has also starred in Chicago on Broadway and the West End. In June 2011 she assumed the role of Morticia in Broadway musical, The Addams Family.

Career: Gould landed a role in musical Rumple, then met Barbra Streisand while starring alongside her on Broadway. His first film was 1964's The Confession. Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice (for which he was Oscar nominated) was a hit in 1969. A year later the movie version of MASH was a blockbuster. He continued to make decent films throughout the 1970s, but fell out of favour in the 1980s. Playing Ross and Monica's father in Friends introduced him to a new generation of viewers in 1994. His most recent hits were the Ocean's films, alongside George Clooney and Brad Pitt. More recently, he has starred in the TV series Ray Donovan and Mulaney.

Career: Despite warnings from her mother, Minnelli attempted to break into showbusiness at 16. Living alone in New York, she gained good reviews for the play Best Foot Forward and later appeared with her mother in two sell-out London concerts. Her first film was 1967's Charlie Bubbles, and two years later she received an Oscar nomination for The Sterile Cuckoo, eventually winning the Best Actress award in 1973 for Cabaret. Other movies include New York, New York (1977) and Arthur (1981). On TV she had recurring role as Lucille Austero in the sitcom Arrested Development. She continues to tour and release albums.