Q. I'd like to know more about Danny Glover. Where's he from, age, etc. - M.H., Philadelphia.
A. Glover's 42, a San Franciscan who still calls the city home. He went to City College of San Francisco and San Francisco State College and started acting while working for a city planner. He tried acting full time in 1978, working up from small TV roles. His movies include "The Color Purple," "Places in the Heart" and "Lethal Weapon" and its sequel. He co-starred in the CBS miniseries "Lonesome Dove." He's married, father of a daughter, 14.Q. My mom and I don't agree on the age of Grant Aleksander, Phillip Spaulding on "The Guiding Light." She says he's at least 40 and I say much younger. - P.Z., Royal Oak, Mich.
A. Aleksander, who is leaving the show, is 31.
Q. Tell me about Stephen Gregory, who plays Chase Benson on "The Young and the Restless." - C.S., Philadelphia.
A. He's 24, a New Yorker and single. He started in theater in New York, moved to California to do movies ("The Heavenly Kid") and joined "Y&R" in 1988. Write: Columbia Pictures Television, 8300 Riverside Drive, Burbank, CA 91505.
Q. Tell me about Harry Connick Jr. - S.S., Roselle, Ill.
A. New Orleans-born Connick, 23, is the son of politicians. His mother, who died when he was 13, was a judge and his father was Louisiana district attorney. He started piano lessons at 5 and played at jazz sessions in New Orleans' Bourbon Street at 6. He studied a semester at Loyola University before heading to New York in 1986, where he studied a year at the Manhattan School of music. At 18, he had a recording contract. He has a gold album for the soundtrack music for the feature "When Harry Met Sally . . ." He made his acting debut in 1990's "Memphis Belle" and has another movie coming out, "Little Man Tate."
Q. Is there a movie called "The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing" starring Ray Milland and Joan Collins? I remember it, but I seem to be a majority of one. - W.S., Deitrich, Idaho.
A. Farley Granger was the third star of the 1955 movie about the Evelyn Nesbitt-Stanford White-Harry Thaw triangle, which led to famous architect White's death.
Q. Pray tell, what is this Vanilla Ice, the so-called Elvis of rap, all about?
A. Vanilla Ice, who draws screaming white teenage girls to the audience of rap, is Robby Van Winkle, a 22-year-old Miami boy who received the nickname "Vanilla" from black friends in seventh grade. He started his entertainment career earning spare change from breakdancing on a sheet of cardboard outside a mall. His debut rap album, "To the Extreme" (SBK Records), sold nearly 5 million copies its first three months and is partly responsible for winning Ice a rapper's role in the latest Ninja Turtles movie ("The Secret of the Ooze"). "I see his rap career as short-lived," says Tommy Quon, Ice's manager. "My goal is to have a couple of successful albums, then have him go into the movies."
Q. How old is Ray Sharkey? Is he married? What are his chances of returning to "Wiseguy"? He was great as Sonny Steelgrave. - K.M., Buffalo, N.Y.
A. Sharkey is 37, married and father to a daughter. Sonny Steelgrave is long gone, as is "Wiseguy," which CBS pulled after only one episode this season. The role was a career saver for Sharkey, who had an Oscar nomination for "The Idolmaker" in 1980 and then, by his own admission, spent the next six years an alcohol and heroin addict. Steelgrave was his first role after rehab.
Q. I think Beverly D'Angelo is a wonderful actress. How old is she? What movies has she done other than "National Lampoon's Vacation" in 1983? - T.M.P., Chicago.
A. D'Angelo's movies include
"Every Which Way But Loose," 1978; "Hair," 1979; "Coal Miner's Daughter," 1980; "Paternity," 1981; "Honky Tonk Freeway," 1981; "Maid to Order," 1987; "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation," 1989. She's 39.
Q. Recently, my brother and I saw an old movie in which a husband (Ray Milland) plotted to kill his wife (Grace Kelly). I say it was "Sorry, Wrong Number." My brother says "Dial M for Murder." There's a dinner riding on this. - G.W.D., Niagara Falls, N.Y.
A. You're buying. It's "Murder," Hitchcock's 1954 adaptation of Fredrick Knott's suspense play. It was remade for TV in 1981 with Angie Dickinson and Christopher Plummer. "Sorry, Wrong Number" was the 1948 movie version of a radio thriller about an invalid woman overhearing a murder plot and discovering she is the victim. Barbara Stanwyck starred and had an Oscar nomination, but the the original radio version with Agnes Moorhead is a classic. Loni Anderson starred in a 1989 cable remake that was a bomb.
Q. Re: your answer that Michael Crawford was the first to play "The Phnatom of the Opera." According to the book "Andrew Lloyd Webber: His Life and Works" by Michael Walsh, Colm Wilkinson did the role in a private tryout but when the play was produced in London, Wilkinson was committed to "Les Miserables" and the part went to Crawford. - J.M., Buffalo, N.Y.
A. True, but Crawford was still the creator of the Phantom in the entire play seen by the public.
Q. What was the year and the date of Marilyn Monroe's death? - A.H., Panama City, Fla.
A. Monroe was found dead by her housekeeper the morning of Aug. 5, 1962. The coroner's verdict was death from an overdose of barbituates.
Q. In the late 1960s, there was a TV show called "Here Come the Brides." I know Joan Blondell died, but what happened to the rest of the cast? - A.B., Owosso, Mich.
A. Robert Brown (Jason Bolt) did another series, "Primus," and has faded from view. Bobby Sherman (Jeremy Bolt) did "Getting Together," and produced records and videos. David Soul (Joshua Bolt) has made several series, including "Starsky & Hutch," and TV movies. Blondell died in 1979. Bridget Hanley did two more series before retiring to raise a family.
Q. Where can I write to Ted Turner, owner of CNN and Turner Television? - Mrs. M.C., Virginia Beach, Va.
A. Write: 1 CNN Plaza, Atlanta, GA 30348.
Q. Give me some information on Mark Harmon. - D.H., Austin, Texas.
A. Harmon, 39, is the youngest of the three children of sports legend Tom Harmon and one-time movie starlet Elyse Knox. His older sisters are Kelly and Kristen Harmon (mother of actress Tracey Nelson and rock combo Gunnar and Matthew Nelson). Mark is married to actress Pam Dawber and father of Sean. He was star quarterback at UCLA before he turned to acting with bits in "Adam 12," "Police Story" and a series of series: "Sam," "Centennial," "240 Robert," "Flamingo Road" and "St. Elsewhere." Since the last, he's concentrated on movies.
Q. Do the producers of "The People's Court" pay the litigants a fixed amount to appear on the program? How much? - H.A.H., Lancaster, S.C.
A. If Judge Wapner rules in favor of the person who sued, the show pays whatever the judge awards him/her, up to $1500 (the limit in California Small Claims Court). The show pays the defendant $25 for being on the show. If the litigant loses, the show pays him/her $250.
- Send your questions to Celebrity Questions, Detroit Free Press, Detroit, MI 48231.