Alex Chilton had a number one hit while he was still in high school, but his brilliant later music never had the same success.

For decades, television was considered a step down from Hollywood movies, and some major stars wanted nothing to do with it. But that attitude led to some spectacular missed opportunities. John Lithgow dismissed a role that would make Kelsey Grammer a legend, while another movie star reportedly wouldn't even consider playing Don Draper. And those weren't the only actors who watched someone else become famous playing a character they could have had.

In 1974, Hollywood star Jack Nicholson discovered a shocking family secret when a reporter revealed that his supposed sister was actually his mother, changing everything he knew about his childhood.

Christina Applegate had spent years telling people what it was like to live with multiple sclerosis. Then a doctor told her she didn’t have it. People around her were happy. Applegate wasn’t.

Behind John Banner's endearing character on Hogan's Heroes was the heartbreaking story of a refugee from Europe who lost members of his family in the Holocaust.

Classic sitcom episodes inspired by actors’ real lives reveal how pregnancies, childhood memories, family drama, and loss became unforgettable TV.