Dr. Robert Bruce Smith was born July 08, 1937 in Philadelphia, but considers California as home. His father’s career as a minister had taken them back to the east coast, and after his seminary training they returned to Los Angeles, California, followed by a five year stint in Oregon before returning to Vista, California. After graduating high school, Smith left home to attend Wheaton College in Illinois, a small Protestant school.

Willard H. George (1889-1956) was a Los Angeles, California based furrier who designed, created, and supplied furs to movie studios during the Golden Age of Hollywood (1920s-1960s). George was the son of Sadie Kiel George, and great-grandson of early Las Vegas, Nevada settler Conrad Kiel, owner of the Kiel Ranch in North Las Vegas, Nevada.

Notorious Western film villian Lee Van Cleef was born Clarence Leroy Van Cleef Jr. in Somerville, New Jersey to Marion Lavinia Gilbert Van Fleet and Clarence Leroy Van Cleef Sr. on January 9, 1925. Van Cleef attended Somerville High School before dropping out in order to elist in the United States Nacy in 1942. He worked as a sonarman on the U. S. S. Incredible in Mediterranean Sea, before moving to sweeping seabeds near Russia.