Dear Ken: What has happened to Mayim Bialik, who starred in the 1990s sitcom “Blossom”?

Bialik, 36, who starred in that 1990-1995 TV series, also portrayed the young version of the Bette Midler character in the 1989 movie “Beaches.” She has since earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience, specializing in obsessive-compulsive disorder in adolescents with Prader-Willi syndrome, and returned to television as Amy Farrah Fowler in “The Big Bang Theory.” She recently appeared with Joey Lawrence in Old Navy TV commercial. The mother of two sons, 6 and 3, serves as the spokesperson for the Holistic Moms Network and just released a book, “Beyond the Sling: A Real-Life Guide to Raising Confident, Loving Children the Attachment Parenting Way.” “We need to live in a culture where people can be strong and be mothers! When a culture is so driven toward convenience, towards beauty, towards vanity, towards Me Time, towards martinis with your girlfriends. Who wouldn‘t feel like, ’Where did my life go and why am I changing diapers all day?’ When our culture doesn’t value it, we don’t,” says Bialik.

Dear Ken: When did actor Richard Harris die? Did he not have a big hit song a long time ago and what were his best-known movies?

Irishman Harris, most recently known as Professor Dumbledore in the first two “Harry Potter” movies, died in 2002 of Hodgkin’s lymphoma at 72. As a singer, he had a Top-10 hit in 1968 with “McArthur Park.” Among his top films would be such titles as “Camelot,” “Major Dundee,” “A Man Called Horse,” “Cromwell,” “Man in the Wilderness,” “The Deadly Trackers,” “Orca,” “Unforgiven,” “Patriot Games” and “Gladiator.” “Camelot,” with Harris as King Arthur, was released on Blu-ray last month. 

Dear Ken: What’s the background on Josh Hutcherson, who stars as Peeta Mellark in “The Hunger Games”?

Hutcherson, 19, was born Union, Ky., and decided to be an actor at 4. When he was 9, his family moved to Los Angeles and he got his first role in the TV movie “House Blend” then a spot on the TV series “ER.” He’s been on a roll since in such films as “Kicking & Screaming,” “Zathura: A Space Adventure,” “RV,” “Bridge to Terabithia,” “Journey to the Center of the Earth” and “The Kids Are All Right. He is also a major fan of the Cincinnati Reds and in early April threw out the first pitch at a Reds game. He will star in the remake of “Red Dawn,” set for a November release.

Dear Ken: Who sang the hit song “Purple People Eater”?

That 1958 novelty song that hit No. 1 on the “Billboard” charts was written and performed by Sheb Wooley, who, a year later, co-starred on the TV western “Rawhide” as scout Pete Nolan. The native of Erick, Okla., taught his wife’s cousin, Roger Miller, how to play the guitar. Wooley, who also wrote the “Hee Haw” theme song, appeared in such films as “High Noon,” “Giant,” “The Outlaw Josey Wales” and the TV movie “The Dollmaker.” He died of leukemia in 2003 at 82 and was buried in Hendersonville, Tenn., his home for many years. He was a very talented, very funny and very nice guy.

If you have a trivia question about actors, singers, movies, TV shows or pop culture, e-mail your query to Ken Beck at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it