She’s best remembered for her role as Morticia Addams, the macabre matriarch of the 1964 version of The Addams Family, but Carolyn Jones didn’t always have it easy. Throughout her yo-yoing career, she battled through health issues, typecasting, multiple marriages, and at times, even poverty. Still, the dedicated actress valued her profession as much as life itself—or, possibly, even more. From ingénue to icon, this is the story of the indomitable Carolyn Jones.

Jack Lemmon was a jack of all trades. He could do it all: comedy—slapstick and romantic—and hard-hitting dramas. Then there were his eyes, which showed a vulnerability that made audiences want him to succeed—no matter what craziness he was up to. And speaking of craziness, there was a LOT of it.

Dean Martin was one of a kind. This shy, stammering boy grew up to be a legend—but it didn't come easy to the King of Cool. Dean Martin faced simmering feuds, rocky marriages, and life-altering tragedies on his road to the top.

Gloria Grahame shot to stardom after appearing in the Christmas classic It’s a Wonderful Life. Yet if her name isn’t as well known today, maybe that’s because this ingénue never got a happy holiday ending—far from it.

Plenty of today’s Hollywood action stars seem a little below average when it comes to height—hello, Tom Cruise. Jeff Chandler was something different entirely. With his broad frame, he towered over most of his costars. The wavy silver hair, dark complexion, and deep, resonant voice certainly didn’t hurt either. When a terrible tragedy took his life far too early, Hollywood lost one of its true leading men. But years later, a shocking accusation would force people to see Chandler in a completely different light.

Jean Harlow had one of the strangest trajectories to superstardom in Hollywood history. For one thing, she wasn’t in it for the money. She was already a millionaire before she started in Hollywood. Secondly, her acting was uniformly ridiculed by critics for her first films. Yet somehow Harlow rose to the top and made over 30 feature films all before her tragic passing at the age of 26. This “Platinum Blonde” has one of the most fascinating stories in Hollywood.