Dear Ken: I read where Dandy Don Meredith, the Dallas Cowboys quarterback of the 1960s before Roger Staubach and later a TV sports commentator with Howard Cosell on “Monday Night Football,” died in December. Didn’t he make some TV movies? Can you refresh my memory on a few of those?

Meredith, who was born in Mount Vernon, Texas, was the Cowboys starting quarterback from 1962-1968. He partnered with Cosell and Frank Gifford when “MNF” debuted in 1970 and was the light-hearted partner of the trio. He often sang, “Turn out the lights, the party’s over,” once the outcome of the game was obvious. He had a recurring role as a detective on “Police Story” in the early 1970s. He worked in the TV movies “Terror on the 40th Floor,” “Sky Heist,” “Banjo Hackett: Roamin’ Free,” “Mayday at 40,000 Feet,” “Kate Bliss and the Ticker Tape Kid,” “The Night the City Screamed,” “Terror Among Us” and “Wyatt Earp: Return to Tombstone.” He voiced himself in a 1999 episode of “King of the Hill” and made his final appearance in the 2002 movie “Three Days of Rain.” He also made commercials for Lipton Iced Tea. Meredith died Dec. 5 at 72 after suffering a brain hemorrhage in Santa Fe, N.M. His son, Michael Meredith, 43, is in show biz as a director and writer.   

Dear Ken: How many movies did Marilyn Monroe make and how old was she when she died? 
Born Norma Jeane Mortonsen, when Monroe died in 1962 she was 36. She appeared in 31 movies between 1947 and 1961. She won a Golden Globe for best actress in a musical/comedy motion picture in 1959 for her role in “Some Like It Hot.”

Dear Ken: Tell us a bit about Maggie Lawson, who plays Juliet O’Hara on “Psych.”
Lawson, 30, was born in Louisville, Ky., and was working as professional actor by age 10. Her previous TV series include “Unhappily Ever After,” “Family Rules,” “Party of Five,” “It’s All Relative” and “Crumbs.” Her boyfriend is James Roday, who plays Shawn Spencer on “Psych.”

Dear Ken: What year did country music star Skeeter Davis have a hit with “The End of the World”?
The Kentucky native, who died in 2004, hit four different top-10 charts with that tune in 1963. It was No. 1 on the easy listening charts, No. 2 on the country and pop charts and  No. 4 on the rhythm and blues chart.

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