Nat King Cole became the first African-American performer to host a variety TV series in 1956. He's best known for his soft baritone voice and for singles like "The Christmas Song," "Mona Lisa" and "Nature Boy."

• Singer, Television Personality, Television Actor, Film Actor, Pianist
  (1919–1965)

American performer Jimmy Durante is best known for his long comedy career, during which he starred on stage, radio, and television.

• Comedian, Pianist, Television Personality, Film Actor, Theater Actor, Singer
  (1893–1980)

American bandleader and musician Spike Jones was best known for his novelty songs of the 1940s and '50s, which used unusual sound effects and instruments.

• Musician
  (1911–1965)

Peter Graves was an enormously successful film and TV actor. He is known for his role in Airplane! and for hosting A&E's signature series Biography.

• Actor, Television Personality
  (1926–2010)

Tommy Dorsey was a popular American trombonist who performed with brother Jimmy in the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra during the 1920s and '30s. He was bandleader of the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra in the 1930s and '40s.

• Trombone Player, Conductor
  (1905–1956)

Ernest O. Lawrence was a nuclear physicist known for his work on the Manhattan Project and for the invention of the cyclotron, for which he won the Nobel Prize.

• Educator, Inventor, Scientist, Physicist
  (1901–1958)

Actor and dancer Cesar Romero performed in movies from the '30s through the '60s. He became a pop culture icon in the 1966 Batman television series.

• Television Actor, Theater Actor, Film Actor, Dancer
  (1907–1994)

Argentine musician Astor Piazzolla composed and performed music for the bandoneón, and fused tango music with jazz and classical for a whole new sound.

• Songwriter
  (1921–1992)