First of all, something more about the title, so you don't think "that's such a n00b question" ...
I know how to make a cell have a background image and a color which is only shown when the image isn't loaded, but that's not what I want.

I'm constructing a website for someone and he wants to have the cells have a background gradient (333333 -> 999999) and I've made a .png for that, but I've also got some bigger cells (in lenght) than the picture, so I get a grey zone underneath.
I've searched the internet for some code to have a background image on the top of a cell and a color which also continues underneath the picture when more text is added. And I found some and used it, but the one I'm working for didn't like it so I deleted everything.

Now, after a week, he decides to use the code after all ... But I don't have it anymore.
I've just been searching for over 3 hours but I haven't found it anywhere.

Does anyone know who this can be done? I remember that everything was done within the <td> tags, so without any CSS.

Or if anyone knows another way to do this, let me know!

Florian