If I had a tambourine, I would play Happy Birthday to Suzanne Crough! The former child star played Tracy on the classic 1970s sitcom The Partridge Family…she turns 51 today.

Other classic TV friends celebrating a birthday: actor-turned-director Rob Reiner (All in the Family) is 67, Martin Cove (guested on McMillan and Wife, Rhoda…later a regular on Cagney and Lacey) turns 68, Ben Murphy (Alias Smith and Jones, Gemini Man) is 72 and Joanna Miles is 74. Miles guested on Kojak, Mannix and Medical Center. She also won a pair of Emmys for her role in a 1973 TV adaption of The Glass Menagerie.

Old favorites born March 6 but since passed: William J. Bell (creator of Another World, The Young & The Restless), Lou Costello (The Abbott & Costello Show), Ed McMahon (The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson) and stuntman-actor-director Hal Needham. Needham acted and did stunts on such classics as Gunsmoke and Have Gun Will Travel. He also directed a number of movies, including Smokey and the Bandit.

Today was also the day we lost some classic TV friends. Singer-actor Nelson Eddy guested on numerous talk and variety shows of the 1950s and 60s. William Hopper played Paul Drake on the long-running courtroom drama Perry Mason. Boxer Max Rosenbloom guested on such favorites as I Dream of Jeannie and The Munsters. Teresa Wright appeared on Bonanza, Playhouse 90 and The United States Steel Hour.

Movie actor and director Henry Wilcoxon also died March 6. He guested on classic TV shows including The F.B.I., Gunsmoke and The Wild Wild West. Wilcoxon appeared in a wide range of movies, from Marc Antony in 1934’s Cleopatra to a golf-crazed bishop in Caddyshack.