Carver Dana Andrews
Sign | Capricorn |
Born | Jan 1, 1909 Covington County, MS |
Died | Dec 17, 1992 Los Alamitos, CA |
Age | Died at 84 |
Final Resting PlaceCremated |
Dana Andrews | |
Job | Actor |
Years active | 1940-85 |
Top Roles | Hod Johnson, Pat Gilbert, Dan O'Mara, Martin Greer, Igor Gouzenko |
Top Genres | Drama, Romance, War, Action, Western, Thriller/Suspense |
Top Topics | World War II, Book-Based, Aviation |
Top Collaborators | Otto Preminger (Director), Samuel Goldwyn (Producer), Darryl F. Zanuck (Producer), Lewis Milestone (Director) |
Shares birthday with | William Fox, Snitz Edwards, Charles Bickford see more.. |
Dana Andrews Overview:
Legendary actor, Dana Andrews, was born Carver Dana Andrews on Jan 1, 1909 in Covington County, MS. Andrews died at the age of 84 on Dec 17, 1992 in Los Alamitos, CA and was cremated and his ashes given to family or friend.
Early Life
Carver Dana Andrews was born on January 1st, 1909 to large Baptist family on a farm just outside Covington County, Mississippi. He was the third of nine children born to Minister Charles Forrest and stay at home mother Annis. His younger brother, Steve Forrest, would also grow to become an actor as well. During his most formative years the Andrews family moved to Louisville, Kentucky before finally settling in Huntsville Texas. It was there that Andrews received his basic education, graduating from Huntsville High School in 1926. He then went on to attend Sam Houston State Teachers College where he studied business administration. During his time in higher education, Andrews also played for the football teams and developed an interest in acting, appearing in many of the school's staged productions. After three years at Sam Houston, he left his studies to take a job as an accountant with the Gulf Corporation in Austin. Although Andrews found he enjoyed acting while in college, he feared pursuing such as career would be considered disrespectful to his fairly traditional Baptist parents. However. He remained at the job while quickly becoming increasingly dissatisfied. Finally, after two years with the company, Andrews decided he had enough, packed his bags and hitchhiked all the Hollywood to pursue a career in entertainment.
Early Career
His first venture into the world of acting was not so successful. Like any aspiring actor, the first thing Andrews did when he got to Hollywood was make a stop at the studios. However, with little experience under his belt and no connections to help him along the way, the studios had no interest in the earnest young actor. He was then turned down for an internship at the Pasadena Playhouse. For the next few years, Andrews made a living by work various manual labor jobs while taking singing and elocution lessons at night. He married his first wife, Janet, in 1932. Sadly, only three years later, she would die of pneumonia. In a bit of cosmic irony, that year he was finally accepted as an intern to the Pasadena Playhouse. He remained at the Playhouse for years, honing his skills and never loosing track of his true dream: the big screen.
Film Career
After years of stage work, Andrews finally got a chance to
realize his dream: a contract with a major studio. In 1938 he signed a
long-term contract with Samuel Goldwyn. However, no roles were immediately
available for the earnest actor and Andrews instead spent the next year back at
the playhouse. Thanks to his shiny new contract with Goldwyn, Andrews was now
offered the leading parts that had previously escaped him. During this time
Goldwyn sold half of Andrew's contract to 20th Century Fox. In 1940 Goldwyn
finally put Andrews in a film with a supporting role in Lucky Cisco Kid. Later
that year he also appeared with Gary Cooper in the William Wyler western aptly
titled The Westerner. He worked with
Cooper again in 1941, playing gangster Joe Lilac in the Howard Hawks comedy Ball of Fire with Barbara Stanwyck and nn
1943 Andrews starred opposite Henry Fonda in the William Wellman western The Ox-Bow Incident. In the film he
played Donald Martin, a young cattle rustler unjustly lynched after being
suspected of murdering and stealing from a local rancher. The next year Andrews
starred opposite Gene Tierney as the obsessive Detective Mark McPherson in the
Otto Preminger noir Laura. The film
was great critical hits of the year and didn't do too shabby at the box-office
either. That same year, Andrews also starred in the films Up In Arms, The Purple Heart and Wing and a Prayer. The next year he demonstrated his great acting
range and appeared in the film that were as different as different cane be: The
musical romance State Fair, the
noir-thriller Fallen Angel, and the
war picture A Walk in the Sun.
In 1946 Andrews co-starred in what has now become one of his most signature roles: The Best Years of Our Lives. The William Wyler film follows three World War II service men, played by Andrews, Fredric March, and Harold Russell, as they try to readjust to civilian life after returning home to their families. Andrews portrayed Fred Derry, a young servicemen whose return to his new-wife and hometown does not go as expected. The film was massive hit, grossing over 23 millions dollars at the box-office as well as becoming one of the best-reviewed films of the year, walking away with nine Academy Awards including the Best Picture, Best Writing, Best Director and Best Editing. Although Andrews was not nominated for his performance, he nonetheless received a great deal of praise for his work in the film. The next year he would star in three films Boomerang!, Night Song and Daisy Kenyon.
Decline and Recovery
Andrews continued to play relatively good roles for the rest of the 1940s. However, soon his drinking problem would derail his career. In 1950 he reteamed with Tierney and Preminger for Where the Sidewalk Ends, this time playing crooked cop Detective Mark Dixon. In 1952 he began work on a radio series, I was a Communist for the FBI, which he worked on through 1954. By the mid-1950s, however, Andrew's alcoholism took a turn for the worse. He had already lost some higher profile jobs due to his fondness for the drink and by 1955 was relegated to mostly B-films such as Comanche, Spring Reunion and Enchanted Island. Despite his spiraling career, he did mange to star in some critical hits, such as While the City Sleeps and Night of the Demon. He returned to the stage and toured with his second wife in a traveling production of Tennessee Williams The Glass Menagerie. He then joined the cast of Two for the Seesaw on Broadway after Hnery Fonda's run was over.
By the 1960 Andrews began working mostly on television and on the stage. He remained on Broadway to star in hit plays such as A Man for All Seasons, The Odd Couple and Plaza Suite. His first TV appearance was on 1958 episode of Playhouse 90. He continued to appear on other high profile television series such as General Electric Theatre, The Barbara Stanwyck Show, The DuPont Theater, The Twilight Zone and The Dick Powell Show. During this time Andrews also began to clean up his act and get help for alcoholism and by the mid-1960s Andrew's had kicked the habit. He regained the respect of Hollywood, evident by his reign as the President of the Screen Actors Guild from 1963 to 1965. Soon after he was seen on the big screen again. In 1965 he made somewhat of a comeback by appearing in a total of eight films, including the Otto Preminger war-time drama In Harms Way with John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, and Patricia Neal and Battle of the Bulge with Henry Fonda and Robert Ryan.
Later Career
Now with his life under control, Andrews would spend the next couple of decades rotating between film and television. He appeared on well-known series such as Family Affair and The Name of the Game, while also appearing in the occasional film, like Airport 1975. In 1972 Andrews became one of the first actors to publically speak out about his alcoholism and against drunk driving, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation. For the rest of the decade Andrews made the occasional stage appearance while remaining on the silver and small screen. His final TV appearance was on the hit prime-time soap opera Falcon Crest while his final screen appearance was in 1985 with the independent drama Prince Jack. He was then forced into retirement, as he started to develop the Alzheimer's disease. He spent the rest of his retirement in Los Alamitos, California with his wife, Mary. Dana Andrews died of congestive heart failure on December 17th, 1992. He was 83 years old.
HONORS and AWARDS:
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Andrews was never nominated for an Academy Award.
BlogHub Articles:
leads the cast of "Boomerang!"
By Stephen Reginald on Aug 20, 2024 From Classic Movie Manleads the cast of "Boomerang!" Boomerang! (1947) is based on a true crime. A minister is murdered in a small town in Connecticut and John Waldron (Arthur Kennedy), a young drifter, is arrested and charged with the crime.Arthur Kennedy and The prosecuting attorney Henry ... Read full article
and Gene Tierney lead the cast in "Laura"
By Stephen Reginald on Aug 13, 2024 From Classic Movie Manand Gene Tierney lead the cast in "Laura" Laura (1944) is set among New York City’s upper crust, with Detective Mark McPherson () investigating the murder of beautiful advertising executive Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney). The suspects are some of her closest friends an... Read full article
and Jean Peters are in "Deep Waters"
By Stephen Reginald on Jan 30, 2023 From Classic Movie Manand Jean Peters are in "Deep Waters" Deep Waters (1948) is a drama film directed by Henry King and starring Dana Andrews and Jean Peters. The film co-stars Cesar Romero, Ed Begley, Anne Revere, and Dean Stockwell. Others in the cast include Mae Marsh and Will Geer. Hod Stillwell (... Read full article
and Gene Tierney find out “Where the Sidewalk Ends”
By Stephen Reginald on Oct 21, 2021 From Classic Movie Manand Gene Tierney find out “Where the Sidewalk Ends” Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950) is an American film noir directed and produced by Otto Preminger and starring and Gene Tierney. The screenplay was written by Ben Hecht and the cinematography was by Joseph L... Read full article
A Walk in The Sun (1945) with and Company
By 4 Star Film Fan on Nov 26, 2020 From 4 Star FilmsOpening as it does with the cover of its source material, A Walk in The Sun makes itself out to be a bit grand and simultaneously undermines a certain amount of its ethos as a gritty war picture. Is it a fallacy to think a book can never capture all the textures of life? Does the same hold true with... Read full article
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Dana Andrews Quotes:
Det. Sgt. Mark Dixon: Where the devil am I? I keep coming and going.
Mark MacPherson: On Saturday when our men went to the hotel to tell you that Laura Hunt was dead you seemed sincerely shocked.
Shelby Carpenter: I was. I hadn't expected that mistake.
Mark MacPherson: But you had your alibi ready no matter who was dead.
read more quotes from Dana Andrews...