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Lucille Ball's son, Desi Arnaz Jr. was born the same day as the I Love Lucy character, Little Ricky: January 19, 1953.

Barbara Bel Geddes, who played Miss Ellie on Dallas, was only nine years older than Larry Hagman, who played her son.   Donna Reed also played Miss Ellie temporarily when Bel Geddes was ill.  

Marion Cunningham of Happy Days was an archeology major in college.

Jane Wyatt did not want to take the role of Margaret Anderson on Father Knows Best, later recalling that she "didn't want to be just a mother," but she ended up winning three Emmys for the part.

Actress Katey Sagal wore her own red bouffant wig to audition for the role of Peg Bundy in Married With Children.

June Cleaver was famous for doing housework in heels and pearls, but Barbara Billingsley, the actress who played her, later said that there were practical reasons for the wardrobe-the pearls hid shadows on her neck and the heels allowed her to remain taller than her rapidly growing TV sons.

Like Mary Tyler Moore, the Dick Van Dyke Show character Laura Petrie was a dancer-she met husband Rob on an army base where she was dancing with the USO.

On the show Everybody Loves Raymond, it was Debra Barone who convinced her husband Raymond to purchase the house across the street from his parents, ensuring the constant presence of her mother-in-law, Marie.

When remembering her audition for the role of Caroline Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie, Karen Grassle said, "When they told me that Michael Landon was directing and that he was the guy from Bonanza, I said, 'which one?'"

During the third season of the Cosby Show, actress Phylicia Rashad was pregnant, and to cover it up, producers raised the counters on the kitchen set, and cut a hole in the Huxtables' bed, so that her stomach would appear level.

Roseanne's husband Tom Arnold hated her favorite Egg and Chicken t-shirt, so after their divorce the shirt appeared in every episode of Roseanne -either worn by one of the characters or used as a prop (part of a load of laundry; framed on a wall.)

Actress Diana Hyland played the original mother on Eight is Enough -she fell ill shortly after filming began, and only appeared in four episodes of the series.   Betty Buckley, who became stepmother to the eight children, was actually younger than her tv stepdaughter, Laurie Walters

Meredith Baxter was born on the same day as the actor who played her husband on Family Ties, Michael Gross: June 21, 1947.

The only time Wilma Flintstone was seen wearing shoes was in the pilot episode for the series, "The Swimming Pool."

Florence Henderson later claimed she had begged the producers to give Carol Brady a job on Brady Bunch.  

To avoid the impression that they were lesbians, CBS insisted that the title characters on Kate and Allie were often filmed heading upstairs for their separate bedrooms.

In 2004, Marge Simpson was voted the UK's "Most Respected Mother" in a poll conducted by the Mothers' Union.   She beat Cherie Blair and Victoria Beckham.    

Patridge Family matriarch Shirley Jones was actually David Cassidy's stepmother.   She married actor Jack Cassidy, when David was 6.  

My Mother, the Car was voiced by actress Ann Sothern.   Jerry Van Dyke turned down the lead in Gilligan's Island, and a role in the Andy Griffith Show to star in the show.   

Morticia Addams' maiden name was Frump.   It took Carolyn Jones two hours every day to put on Morticia's make-up, including a wig made of human hair.

Linda Lavin, who played the role of Alice, also sang the show's theme song.

Jane Jetson won the title of Miss Solar System, which she held until it was discovered that she was married to the pageant's judge.

The role of Carmela Soprano was originally offered to Lorraine Bracco, who turned it down.  

Esther Rolle left the cast of the comedy Good Times because she disapproved of the character, J.J.    Her character, Florida, was written off the show when she married.   Rolle returned a year later, when the producers agreed to change the direction of the writing, but Florida's marriage was never mentioned again.