Tom Arnold
Born: March 6 1959
Where: Eldon, Iowa, USA
The actor and comedian attracted all the wrong sort of attention following his marriage to Roseanne Barr.
He was dismissed in many quarters as an obnoxious opportunist of dubious who lucked out by hitching up with a brilliant and popular artist.
Most of the flak stems from his graduation from mere writer on the show only to become - post wedding - a producer, then co-executive producer and finally executive producer.
He also played a recurring character on the show, which added fuel to the vituperative fire.
However, others enjoyed his brash, public style and admired his rise from the job of pulling the fat out of hogs at an Iowa meat-packing plant.
In their public personas, appeared across the country on a 25-city "Honeymoon Tour", where their errant brand of comedy and candidness alternately repulsed and captivated the nation.
Arnold once described himself and Roseanne as "America's worst nightmare - white trash with money."
In the 1992-93 season, Arnold starred in his own sitcom, The Jackie Thomas Show, which he also executive produced and created.
Mr and Mrs Arnold used their considerable leverage to have the new show scheduled directly after their established hit.
Though The Jackie Thomas Show, a competent comedy about a stupid overbearing TV personality, was a modest ratings success, the massive falloff in viewership after Roseanne alarmed the network into cancelling the show.
Arnold made two other ill-fated attempt to become a sitcom star with Tom, a mild family sitcom and The Tom Show.
Many were prepared to write him off after his highly publicized breakup with his formidable spouse but he fought back with an outstanding comedy performance as Arnold Schwarzenegger's sidekick in James Cameron's True Lies.
However, subsequent efforts - The Stupids and McHale's Naby - did not perform so well and Arnold would rarely headline a film after that.
He continued to be cast in dozens of middling comedies, with the action thrillers Exit Wounds and Cradle 2 the Grave and the urban comedy Soul Plane being perhaps the most notable.
