Dear Ken: Is Michael B. Jordan, one of the young stars of the sci-fi thriller “Chronicle,” the son of basketball star Michael Jordan?

Michael Bakari Jordan, 25, is not related to the hoops superstar. Michael B, who was born in Santa Anna, Calif., and grew up in Newark, N.J., was discovered at 13 by Bill Cosby and had a recurring role as Michael in “Cosby.” Most TV viewers would know him best from three roles: quarterback Vince Howard on “Friday Night Lights,” teen drug dealer Wallace on “The Wire” and Reggie Montgomery on “All My Children.” The actor, who is also in the movie “Red Tails,” was a regular on TV’s “Parenthood” and a guest on such shows as “The Sopranos,” “CSI,” “Cold Case,” “Burn Notice, “Bones” and “House.” By the way, the young Jordan’s favorite NBA basketball player is Baron Davis of the New York Nicks.

Dear Ken: What can you tell me about Mrs. Grissom of salad fame, whom I’ve seen in TV commercials recently?

That would be Grace Grissom, 93, who was a secretary in Knoxville in 1955 when she and her husband Herbert went into business with one of her friends who had a small company that made prepared sandwich spreads, which were sold at local grocery stores. Within a year the couple bought out their partners, and soon Mrs. Grissom’s sandwich spreads (chicken salad, pimento cheese, ham salad and tuna salad) were being sold across the South. “My husband and I worked day and night to build the business and loved every single minute of it,” Grissom says about the Nashville-based enterprise. “I still enjoy coming in and working. Of course, I leave the 18-hour days up to the younger folks now.”

Dear Ken: What has happened to British actress Vanessa Redgrave? Didn’t she make a movie near Lebanon, Tenn., several years ago?

It was Lynn Redgrave, Vanessa’s sister, who starred with Olympia Dukakis and Diane Ladd in the 2003 film “Charlie’s War,” which was largely filmed in Watertown. Lynn died of breast cancer in 2010 at 67. Vanessa, 75, continues to work. She was the voice of the Queen in “Cars 2,” stars in the current BBC series “Call the Midwife” and next appears in the film “Song for Marion.” 

Dear Ken: When and how did Jack Webb of TV’s “Dragnet” die?

Webb, famous as Sgt. Joe Friday on the long-running police series, died in 1982 at age 62 of a heart attack. A jazz enthusiast who played cornet, he was also a producer, director and writer. He was the executive producer of the TV series “Adam-12” and “Emergency!” and the movies “Pete Kelly’s Blues,” “The Last Time I Saw Archie” and “The D.I.” Married four times, Webb’s first wife was actress-singer Julie London, a co-star of “Emergency!”

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