DANA ANDREWS

Dana Andrews was an actor from the 1940s to the 1990s. He was born in 1909, and he was far from an "overnight success". He had many non-entertainment jobs before getting work at the Pasadena Playhouse (and training as an opera singer!). He was signed by Goldwyn in 1939, but it was two years before he got significant roles, and even those were pretty minor. He became a major star when World War II started, probably because most of the younger leading men were off at war, and he starred in some very memorable early 1940s movies, including several with Gene Tierney. But he became an alcoholic, and that severely hurt his career. In 1963, he became President of the Screen Actors Guild and served for two years. Some of his movies include: The Best Years of Our Lives, Laura, Tobacco Road, Belle Starr, and The Ox-Bow Incident. Sadly, Andrews suffered from Alzheimer's disease in his later years, and passed away in 1992 at the age of 83.