Chuck Connors was an American actor, writer and a professional basketball and baseball player. For the course of his four decade career, he was best known for his roles in films of the 1950s, such as Pvt. Davey White, in the movie South Sea Woman, opposite Burt Lancaster, as Det. Ben Merrill in Hot Rod Girl and as Burn Sanderson in Old Yeller, opposite Dorothy McGuire. He was also known for his starring role on television in the 1960s ABC hit western series, The Rifleman. Towards the end of his career, he reprised his role as Lucas McCain in The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw, with Johnny Crawford and as veteran police officer, Capt. Damian Wright in his last film, Three Days to a Kill.

Connors was born Kevin Joseph Aloysius Connors in Brooklyn, New York, second of two children and only son of Allan and Marcella Connors, emigrants from the Dominion of Newfoundland. His father was a longshoreman and his mother a homemaker. He was reared Roman Catholic and served as an altar boy at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn.

According to his sister, Gloria Cole, she said Kevin was never close to his father, avoiding the father figure bond growing up, and he was always getting into trouble. Allan later took a job as night watchman.

His mother, Marcella, was absolutely marvelous to Kevin and his sister, and was an excellent cook who kept the family well fed despite the fact that they were poor. She took several jobs working as a janitor so her family wouldn’t to go hungry. Long before Kevin was a sports fan, she was a sports fan herself who always enjoyed listening to both the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants on radio. She had a wonderful relationship with Kevin, who cherished her.

Television producer Chuck Lorre was honored with the 2,380th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Mark Panatier, Hollywood Chamber of Commerce Chairman of the Board, presided over the ceremony. Guests included Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, Christine Baranski, and cast members from "Two and a Half Men" and "Big Bang Theory."

7021 Hollywood Boulevard on March 12, 2009.

BIOGRAPHY

Award-winning executive producer, writer, creator Chuck Lorre has created and helmed some of the most successful sitcoms in television history, ruling the airwaves for the past 20 years, with hit shows like "Grace Under Fire," "Dharma & Greg," and "Cybill." He currently is creator and executive producer of two Warner Bros. Television and the CBS hit comedies, "Two and a Half Men" the number one comedy on television and four-time People's Choice Award winner, and "The Big Bang Theory" one of television's fastest growing sophomore series which, in its second season, is averaging more than 10 million viewers per week.

A native of Long Island, New York, Lorre got his start as a guitarist/singer, touring the country and writing several hundred pop songs that, as he puts it, "helped keep him out of the big time" (Debbie Harry's top 40 hit "French Kissin' in the USA" being the lone exception). After more than a decade on the road, Lorre decided to turn his attention to television. He began writing animation scripts for DIC and Marvel Productions, as well as writing and producing the themes and scores for such animated series as "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles."

A spec primetime script soon led to freelance work on the syndicated comedy "Charles In Charge" and eventually to a staff job on the NBC sitcom "My Two Dads", starring Paul Reiser. Lorre's big break came in 1991, when he became a supervising producer on the ABC/Carsey-Werner hit comedy "Roseanne." Over the next two seasons, during which he was upped to co-executive producer, Lorre helped bring the show to the height of its critical and popular acclaim, shattering one sacred cow after another in the process.

Since then, Lorre has dominated network television by single-handedly keeping the multi-camera sitcom alive through hit series that generate mass appeal. He continues to break television records with "Two and a Half Men." It is the number one off-network sitcom in syndication for the 2007-2008 season. During this season, the rebroadcast of the show has delivered more viewers than first-run episodes of nearly every other sitcom.

In January 2009, Lorre kicked off the New Year when he was honored with the NATPE Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award for exhibiting extraordinary passion, leadership, independence and vision in the process of creating television programming and in evoking the spirit of Brandon Tartikoff's generosity. This past February, Lorre was presented with the 2009 Television Showman of the Year Award at the 46th Annual ICG Publicists Awards Ceremony, which recognizes individuals whose creative accomplishments reflect the finest qualities of what has traditionally been defined as showmanship. Lorre will also receive the David Angell Humanitarian Award on behalf of the American Screenwriters Association for demonstrating his charitable efforts at the Venice Family Clinic. This award is presented to an individual in the entertainment industry who contributes to global well-being through their donation of time, expertise or other support to improve the human condition.

Despite his busy schedule, Lorre is involved with the aforementioned

Venice Family Clinic and the Dharma/Grace Foundation, where he insisted that the foundation directly benefit the people for whom the money was intended. In other words, dollars had to be translated immediately into services. Through the Dharma/Grace Foundation, Lorre has made it possible for funds to be distributed to the Clinic in perpetuity. In 2002, Lorre was honored with the Silver Circle Humanitarian Award for his compassion and his determination to assure that the sick be cared for, that children be given a healthy beginning and that no one be turned away for lack of financial resources. Another addition to the clinic, The Robert Levine Family Health Center, named after Lorre's father, provided free healthcare services to more than 4,000 women and teens in 2008 and continues to serve a growing number of patients at 5% increase each year. In addition to serving as a core benefactor and advocate for the organization, Lorre is also a member of the Philanthropy Board.

Cornelius Crane “Chevy” Chase is an American comedian, writer, and television and film actor, born into a prominent entertainment industry family. Chase worked a plethora of odd jobs before moving into comedy acting with National Lampoon. He quickly became a key cast member in the inaugural season of Saturday Night Live, where his Weekend Update skit soon became a staple of the show. Chase is also well-known for his portrayal of the character Clark Griswold in four National Lampoon’s Vacation films, and for his roles in other successful comedies such as Caddyshack, Fletch, and ¡Three Amigos!. He has hosted the Academy Awards twice, briefly had his own late-night talk show, The Chevy Chase Show, and is currently a regular on the NBC comedy series Community.

Chase was born in Lower Manhattan, New York City. His father, Edward Tinsley “Ned” Chase, was a prominent Manhattan book editor and magazine writer. His mother, Cathalene Parker, a concert pianist and librettist, was the daughter of Miles Browning, who served a critical role at the Battle of Midway in World War II; she was adopted as a child by Cornelius Vanderbilt Crane, and took the name Cathalene Crane. Chase’s maternal grandmother was an opera singer who performed several times at Carnegie Hall. Chase is a fourteenth-generation New Yorker, and was listed in the Social Register at an early age. His mother’s ancestors arrived in Manhattan starting in 1624. Among his ancestors are New York City mayors Stephanus Van Cortlandt and John Johnstone; John Morin Scott, General of the New York Militia during the American Revolution; Anne Hutchinson, dissident Puritan preacher and healer; and Mayflower passengers and signers of the Mayflower Compact, John Howland and the Pilgrim colonist leader and spiritual elder of the Plymouth Colony, William Brewster. Chase’s paternal grandfather was artist/illustrator Edward Leigh Chase, and his great-uncle was painter/teacher Frank Swift Chase.

Chase was named for his adoptive grandfather Cornelius. The name Chevy was a nickname bestowed by his grandmother, derived from the medieval English Ballad of Chevy Chase. As a descendant of the Scottish Clan Douglas, the name “Chevy” seemed appropriate to her.

Chase’s parents divorced when he was four; his father remarried into the Folgers coffee family, and his mother was remarried twice. Both his parents died in 2005. Chase has stated that he grew up in an upper middle class environment and that his maternal grandfather did not bequeath any assets to Chase’s mother when he died. Chase has made recent claims that he was abused as a child by his mother and stepfather, John Cederquist.