Dear Ken: What can you tell me about Anson Mount, who stars in the new AMC western series “Hell on Wheels”?

That is Anson Mount IV, 38, who was born in White Bluff, Tenn., and graduated from Dickson County High School, playing Cullen Bohannan on the series about building a new railroad across the West. The actor’s father was an original contributing editor to “Playboy” and his mom was a pro golfer. Mount IV graduated from the University of the South: Sewanee before earning a masters degree in acting at Columbia University. His TV credits include “Third Watch,” “Line of Fire,” “The Mountain” and “Conviction.” He worked in the movies “Crossroads,” “City by the Sea” and “Straw Dogs” and stars in April in the thriller “Safe.” Before “Hell on Wheels,” he played a lot of clean-cut characters, something he grew tired of. “I was bored. And I just decided to start going for roles that I wanted to play, not the ones they wanted to see me in. I moved back to New York and let my hair grow out a little bit. I was pursuing my interest in acting instead of what other people wanted me to do,” said Mount, whose great-great-great grandfather was a Confederate cavalry colonel in the Civil War.

Dear Ken: Where is Tim Conway from? Does he have children?

Born Thomas Daniel Conway in Willoughby, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, the actor, 78, grew up in Chagrin Falls. He was discovered by Rose Marie of “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and shot to national fame on the sitcom “McHale’s Navy” and later starred on “The Carol Burnett Show.” Married twice, he has six children, and son Tim Conway Jr. is a Los Angeles radio host.   

Dear Ken: Who were movie star Ava Gardner’s husbands and how did she die?

Gardner, who was born in Grabtown, N.C., was married thrice. Her hubbies were movie star Mickey Rooney, band leader Artie Shaw and singer-actor Frank Sinatra. A lifelong smoker, the actress suffered from emphysema and died of pneumonia in 1990 at age 67. She was buried in Smithfield, N.C., a few miles from the community where she was born, and the town is home to the Ava Gardner Museum.

Dear Ken: How many top-10 hits did Roger Miller have?

The Oklahoma singer-songwriter had 12 top-10 tunes including “Dang Me,” “King of the Road,” “Chug-A-Lug,” “Engine, Engine,” “England Swings,“ “Husbands and Wives,” “Walkin’ in the Sunshine” and “Little Green Apples.”  Miller, who was a heavy smoker for most of his life, died of lung and throat cancer in 1992. He was 56.

by Ken Beck

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