Dear Ken: What’s the lowdown on Luke Evans, who stars as Detective Fields in “The Raven”?

The 33-year-old Welsh native came from a working-class background and labored in a shoe shop during his early teen years, using the money to pay for singing and acting lessons. It paid off well as he kept busy on London’s West End from 2000 to 2008 before making the jump to the silver screen as Apollo in “Clash of the Titans.” He’s been making movies since, including “Robin Hood,” “Tamara Drewe,” “The Three Musketeers” and “Immortals.” He stars later this year in the psychological horror film “No One Lives” and has taken the role of Bard the Bowman in director Peter Jackson’s two-part adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit.” As for “The Raven,” Evans partners with John Cusack, who portrays Edgar Allen Poe, as they seek a serial killer in mid-19th-century Baltimore. Filming took place in Budapest and Serbia.

Dear Ken: How old is Andy Griffith? How many of the Darlings, the hillbilly music-making family, from “The Andy Griffith Show,” are still living?

Griffith, who lives in Manteo, N.C., turns 86 on June 1. As for the Darlings, Brisco, the patriarch who played the jug and once wooed Aunt Bee, was portrayed by character actor great Denver Pyle, who died in 1997. Of the four boys in the band, brothers Doug and Rodney Dillard survive as does mandolin picker Dean Webb. Mitch Jayne, who played the bass fiddle player, died in 2010. Maggie Peterson, who played Charlene and often said, “That one always makes me cry, Pa,” is alive and well at age 70 in Nevada.

Dear Ken: Did Ronald Reagan ever star in a TV western series? Did he make any western movies?

Reagan served as host of “Death Valley Days” during the 1965-1966 season. He also acted in eight episodes of the western anthology series which aired from 1952 into the 1970s. As for cowboy films, among his credits were “Santa Fe Trail” (as Gen. Custer), “The Bad Man,” “The Last Outpost,” “Law and Order,” “Cattle Queen of Montana” and “Tennessee’s Partner,” plus he was in an episode of  “Wagon Train.” 

Dear Ken: What are the last lines of the campfire song “There’s a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea”?

Well, there may be several versions out there, but try this on for size:

There’s a fleck on the speck on the tail on the frog on the bump on the branch on the log in the hole in the bottom of the sea. 
So let’s flick the fleck, brush the speck, twist the tail, chase the frog, flatten the bump, break the branch, burn the log, fill the hole in the bottom of the sea.

Because we need it like a hole in the sea. 

See? 

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