diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Actor.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Actor.scala
index 4c8877463c..72c4ecabc3 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Actor.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Actor.scala
@@ -156,15 +156,44 @@ object Actor {
 /**
  * Actor base trait that should be extended by or mixed to create an Actor with the semantics of the 'Actor Model':
  * <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actor_model">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actor_model</a>
- * <p/>
- * An actor has a well-defined (non-cyclic) life-cycle.
- * <pre>
- * => RUNNING (created and started actor) - can receive messages
- * => SHUTDOWN (when 'stop' or 'exit' is invoked) - can't do anything
- * </pre>
  *
- * <p/>
- * The Actor's own ActorRef is available in the 'self' member variable.
+ * An actor has a well-defined (non-cyclic) life-cycle.
+ *  - ''RUNNING'' (created and started actor) - can receive messages
+ *  - ''SHUTDOWN'' (when 'stop' or 'exit' is invoked) - can't do anything
+ *
+ * The Actor's own [[akka.actor.ActorRef]] is available as `self`, the current
+ * message’s sender as `sender` and the [[akka.actor.ActorContext]] as
+ * `context`. The only abstract method is `receive` which shall return the
+ * initial behavior of the actor as a partial function (behavior can be changed
+ * using `context.become` and `context.unbecome`).
+ *
+ * {{{
+ * class ExampleActor extends Actor {
+ *   def receive = {
+ *                                      // directly calculated reply
+ *     case Request(r)               => sender ! calculate(r)
+ *
+ *                                      // just to demonstrate how to stop yourself
+ *     case Shutdown                 => context.stop(self)
+ *
+ *                                      // error kernel with child replying directly to “customer”
+ *     case Dangerous(r)             => context.actorOf(Props[ReplyToOriginWorker]).tell(PerformWork(r), sender)
+ *
+ *                                      // error kernel with reply going through us
+ *     case OtherJob(r)              => context.actorOf(Props[ReplyToMeWorker]) ! JobRequest(r, sender)
+ *     case JobReply(result, orig_s) => orig_s ! result
+ *   }
+ * }
+ * }}}
+ *
+ * The last line demonstrates the essence of the error kernel design: spawn
+ * one-off actors which terminate after doing their job, pass on `sender` to
+ * allow direct reply if that is what makes sense, or round-trip the sender
+ * as shown with the fictitious JobRequest/JobReply message pair.
+ *
+ * If you don’t like writing `context` you can always `import context._` to get
+ * direct access to `actorOf`, `stop` etc. This is not default in order to keep
+ * the name-space clean.
  */
 trait Actor {
 
@@ -218,25 +247,8 @@ trait Actor {
   final def sender: ActorRef = context.sender
 
   /**
-   * User overridable callback/setting.
-   * <p/>
-   * Partial function implementing the actor logic.
-   * To be implemented by concrete actor class.
-   * <p/>
-   * Example code:
-   * <pre>
-   *   def receive = {
-   *     case Ping =&gt;
-   *       println("got a 'Ping' message")
-   *       sender ! "pong"
-   *
-   *     case OneWay =&gt;
-   *       println("got a 'OneWay' message")
-   *
-   *     case unknown =&gt;
-   *       println("unknown message: " + unknown)
-   * }
-   * </pre>
+   * This defines the initial actor behavior, it must return a partial function
+   * with the actor logic.
    */
   protected def receive: Receive
 
@@ -258,11 +270,10 @@ trait Actor {
   def postStop() {}
 
   /**
-   * User overridable callback.
+   * User overridable callback: '''By default it disposes of all children and then calls `postStop()`.'''
    * <p/>
    * Is called on a crashed Actor right BEFORE it is restarted to allow clean
    * up of resources before Actor is terminated.
-   * By default it disposes of all children calls postStop().
    */
   def preRestart(reason: Throwable, message: Option[Any]) {
     context.children foreach (context.stop(_))
@@ -270,10 +281,9 @@ trait Actor {
   }
 
   /**
-   * User overridable callback.
+   * User overridable callback: By default it calls `preStart()`.
    * <p/>
    * Is called right AFTER restart on the newly created Actor to allow reinitialization after an Actor crash.
-   * By default it calls preStart()
    */
   def postRestart(reason: Throwable) { preStart() }
 
@@ -281,7 +291,9 @@ trait Actor {
    * User overridable callback.
    * <p/>
    * Is called when a message isn't handled by the current behavior of the actor
-   * by default it does: EventHandler.warning(self, message)
+   * by default it fails with either a [[akka.actor.DeathPactException]] (in
+   * case of an unhandled [[akka.actor.Terminated]] message) or a
+   * [[akka.actor.UnhandledMessageException]].
    */
   def unhandled(message: Any) {
     message match {
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorSystem.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorSystem.scala
index 26a81d5eba..f801f7120d 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorSystem.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorSystem.scala
@@ -365,18 +365,12 @@ class ActorSystemImpl(val name: String, applicationConfig: Config) extends Actor
   def stop(actor: ActorRef): Unit = {
     implicit val timeout = settings.CreationTimeout
     val path = actor.path
-    if (path.parent == guardian.path) {
-      (guardian ? StopChild(actor)).get match {
-        case ex: Exception ⇒ throw ex
-        case _             ⇒
-      }
-    } else if (path.parent == systemGuardian.path) {
-      (systemGuardian ? StopChild(actor)).get match {
-        case ex: Exception ⇒ throw ex
-        case _             ⇒
-      }
-    } else {
-      actor.asInstanceOf[InternalActorRef].stop()
+    val guard = guardian.path
+    val sys = systemGuardian.path
+    path.parent match {
+      case `guard` ⇒ (guardian ? StopChild(actor)).get
+      case `sys`   ⇒ (systemGuardian ? StopChild(actor)).get
+      case _       ⇒ actor.asInstanceOf[InternalActorRef].stop()
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/UntypedActor.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/UntypedActor.scala
index 1692396a8f..13677f84cc 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/UntypedActor.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/UntypedActor.scala
@@ -8,46 +8,67 @@ import akka.japi.{ Creator, Procedure }
 import akka.dispatch.{ MessageDispatcher, Promise }
 
 /**
+ * Actor base trait that should be extended by or mixed to create an Actor with the semantics of the 'Actor Model':
+ * <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actor_model">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actor_model</a>
+ *
+ * This class is the Java cousin to the [[akka.actor.Actor]] Scala interface.
  * Subclass this abstract class to create a MDB-style untyped actor.
- * <p/>
- * This class is meant to be used from Java.
- * <p/>
+ *
+ * An actor has a well-defined (non-cyclic) life-cycle.
+ *  - ''RUNNING'' (created and started actor) - can receive messages
+ *  - ''SHUTDOWN'' (when 'stop' or 'exit' is invoked) - can't do anything
+ *
+ * The Actor's own [[akka.actor.ActorRef]] is available as `getSelf()`, the current
+ * message’s sender as `getSender()` and the [[akka.actor.UntypedActorContext]] as
+ * `getContext()`. The only abstract method is `onReceive()` which is invoked for
+ * each processed message unless dynamically overridden using `getContext().become()`.
+ *
  * Here is an example on how to create and use an UntypedActor:
- * <pre>
+ *
+ * {{{
  *  public class SampleUntypedActor extends UntypedActor {
+ *  
+ *    public class Reply {
+ *      final public ActorRef sender;
+ *      final public Result result;
+ *      Reply(ActorRef sender, Result result) {
+ *        this.sender = sender;
+ *        this.result = result;
+ *      }
+ *    }
+ *    
  *    public void onReceive(Object message) throws Exception {
  *      if (message instanceof String) {
  *        String msg = (String)message;
  *
- *        if (msg.equals("UseReply")) {
- *          // Reply to original sender of message using the 'reply' method
- *          getContext().getSender().tell(msg + ":" + getSelf().getAddress());
- *
- *        } else if (msg.equals("UseSender") && getSender().isDefined()) {
- *          // Reply to original sender of message using the sender reference
- *          // also passing along my own reference (the self)
- *          getSender().get().tell(msg, getSelf());
+ *        if (msg.equals("UseSender")) {
+ *          // Reply to original sender of message
+ *          getSender().tell(msg + ":" + getSelf());
  *
  *        } else if (msg.equals("SendToSelf")) {
  *          // Send message to the actor itself recursively
- *          getSelf().tell(msg)
+ *          getSelf().tell("SomeOtherMessage");
  *
- *        } else if (msg.equals("ForwardMessage")) {
- *          // Retreive an actor from the ActorRegistry by ID and get an ActorRef back
- *          ActorRef actorRef = Actor.registry.local.actorsFor("some-actor-id").head();
+ *        } else if (msg.equals("ErrorKernelWithDirectReply")) {
+ *          // Send work to one-off child which will reply directly to original sender
+ *          getContext().actorOf(new Props(Worker.class)).tell("DoSomeDangerousWork", getSender());
+ *
+ *        } else if (msg.equals("ErrorKernelWithReplyHere")) {
+ *          // Send work to one-off child and collect the answer, reply handled further down
+ *          getContext().actorOf(new Props(Worker.class)).tell("DoWorkAndReplyToMe");
  *
  *        } else throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unknown message: " + message);
+ *
+ *      } else if (message instanceof Reply) {
+ *
+ *        final Reply reply = (Reply) message;
+ *        // might want to do some processing/book-keeping here
+ *        reply.sender.tell(reply.result);
+ *
  *      } else throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unknown message: " + message);
  *    }
- *
- *    public static void main(String[] args) {
- *      ActorSystem system = ActorSystem.create("Sample");
- *      ActorRef actor = system.actorOf(SampleUntypedActor.class);
- *      actor.tell("SendToSelf");
- *      actor.stop();
- *    }
  *  }
- * </pre>
+ * }}}
  */
 abstract class UntypedActor extends Actor {
 
@@ -65,8 +86,9 @@ abstract class UntypedActor extends Actor {
   def getSelf(): ActorRef = self
 
   /**
-   * The reference sender Actor of the last received message.
-   * Is defined if the message was sent from another Actor, else None.
+   * The reference sender Actor of the currently processed message. This is
+   * always a legal destination to send to, even if there is no logical recipient
+   * for the reply, in which case it will be sent to the dead letter mailbox.
    */
   def getSender(): ActorRef = sender
 
@@ -77,7 +99,7 @@ abstract class UntypedActor extends Actor {
    * Actor are automatically started asynchronously when created.
    * Empty default implementation.
    */
-  override def preStart() {}
+  override def preStart(): Unit = super.preStart()
 
   /**
    * User overridable callback.
@@ -85,24 +107,22 @@ abstract class UntypedActor extends Actor {
    * Is called asynchronously after 'actor.stop()' is invoked.
    * Empty default implementation.
    */
-  override def postStop() {}
+  override def postStop(): Unit = super.postStop()
 
   /**
-   * User overridable callback.
+   * User overridable callback: '''By default it disposes of all children and then calls `postStop()`.'''
    * <p/>
    * Is called on a crashed Actor right BEFORE it is restarted to allow clean
    * up of resources before Actor is terminated.
-   * By default it calls postStop()
    */
-  override def preRestart(reason: Throwable, message: Option[Any]) { postStop() }
+  override def preRestart(reason: Throwable, message: Option[Any]): Unit = super.preRestart(reason, message)
 
   /**
-   * User overridable callback.
+   * User overridable callback: By default it calls `preStart()`.
    * <p/>
    * Is called right AFTER restart on the newly created Actor to allow reinitialization after an Actor crash.
-   * By default it calls preStart()
    */
-  override def postRestart(reason: Throwable) { preStart() }
+  override def postRestart(reason: Throwable): Unit = super.postRestart(reason)
 
   /**
    * User overridable callback.