1. Carver Dana Andrews was an American film actor who became a major star in what is known as film noir and later in Western films.
29 Facts About Dana Andrews
1. 2.
Dana Andrews is best known for his portrayal of obsessed police detective Mark McPherson in the noir mystery Laura and his critically acclaimed performance as World War II veteran Fred Derry returning home in The Best Years of Our Lives.
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Dana Andrews attended college at Sam Houston State University nearby in Huntsville and studied business administration in Houston.
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Dana Andrews worked various jobs, such as at a gas refueling station in the nearby community of Van Nuys.
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The founder of the Hollywood Community Theater, Neely Dickson, disputed the gas station story, saying it was invented by Samuel Goldwyn Studio publicists and that Dana Andrews was discovered at her theater.
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Dana Andrews continued at the Pasadena Playhouse of Pasadena, California, working in over 20 productions and proposed to his second wife Mary Todd.
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Dana Andrews then appeared in Sailor's Lady, developed by Goldwyn, but released by Twentieth Century-Fox.
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Dana Andrews had supporting roles in subsequent Twentieth Century-Fox films Tobacco Road, directed by John Ford; then Belle Starr, co-starring with Randolph Scott and Gene Tierney, billed third; and Swamp Water, starring Walter Brennan and Walter Huston and directed by Jean Renoir.
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Back at Fox, Dana Andrews was given his first lead, in the B-picture war movie Berlin Correspondent.
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Dana Andrews then went back to Goldwyn for The North Star, directed by Lewis Milestone.
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Dana Andrews was reunited with Milestone at Fox for The Purple Heart, then was in Wing and a Prayer for Henry Hathaway.
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Dana Andrews co-starred with Jeanne Crain in the movie musical State Fair, a huge hit, and was reunited with Preminger for the film noir Fallen Angel.
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Dana Andrews made another war movie with Milestone, A Walk in the Sun, then was loaned to Walter Wanger for a western, Canyon Passage, directed by Jacques Tourneur and co-featuring Susan Hayward.
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Dana Andrews starred in the anti-communist The Iron Curtain, reuniting him with Gene Tierney, then Deep Waters.
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Dana Andrews made a comedy for Lewis Milestone at Enterprise Pictures, No Minor Vices, then traveled to England for Britannia Mews.
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Dana Andrews was in Sword in the Desert, then Goldwyn cast him in My Foolish Heart with Susan Hayward.
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Dana Andrews played a fast-fisted police officer in the film noir Where the Sidewalk Ends, with Tierney and Preminger.
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Dana Andrews was then loaned to RKO to make Sealed Cargo, in which his brother Steve Forrest has an uncredited role.
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From 1952 to 1954, Dana Andrews was featured in the radio series I Was a Communist for the FBI, about the experiences of Matt Cvetic, an FBI informant who infiltrated the Communist Party of the United States of America.
20.
Dana Andrews made Elephant Walk in Ceylon, a film better known for Vivien Leigh's nervous breakdown and replacement by Elizabeth Taylor.
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In 1952, Dana Andrews toured with his wife, Mary Todd, in The Glass Menagerie, and in 1958, he replaced Henry Fonda on Broadway in Two for the Seesaw.
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Dana Andrews continued to make films like The Crowded Sky and Madison Avenue.
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Dana Andrews then went to Broadway for The Captains and the Kings, which had a short run in 1962.
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In 1965, Dana Andrews resumed his film work with support roles in The Satan Bug and In Harm's Way.
25.
Dana Andrews occasionally played leads in low-budget films like The Frozen Dead, The Cobra and Hot Rods to Hell by the late 1960s he had evolved into a character actor, as in The Ten Million Dollar Grab, No Diamonds for Ursula, and The Devil's Brigade.
26.
Dana Andrews spent the 1970s in supporting roles of Hollywood films such as The Failing of Raymond, Innocent Bystanders, Airport 1975, A Shadow in the Streets, The First 36 Hours of Dr Durant, Take a Hard Ride, The Last Tycoon, The Last Hurrah, and Good Guys Wear Black.
27.
Dana Andrews's final roles included Born Again, Ike: The War Years, The Pilot, Falcon Crest and Prince Jack.
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Dana Andrews struggled with alcoholism, but eventually won the battle and worked actively later with the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, using his experience as a teaching tool.
29.
On December 17,1992, Dana Andrews died of congestive heart failure and pneumonia, at the age of 83 years.