Carver Dana Andrews (January 1, 1909 – December 17, 1992) was an American film actor and a major Hollywood star during the 1940s. He continued acting in less prestigious roles into the 1980s. He is remembered for his roles as a police detective-lieutenant in the film noir Laura (1944) and as war veteran Fred Derry in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), the latter being the role for which he received the most critical praise.

Andrews was born on a farmstead near Collins in southern Mississippi in Covington County, the third of 13 children of Charles Forrest Andrews, a Baptist minister, and his wife, the former Annis Speed.^[1] The family relocated subsequently to Huntsville in Walker County, Texas, the birthplace of his younger siblings, including future Hollywood actor Steve Forrest.^[2]

Andrews attended college at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville^[3] and studied business administration in Houston. During 1931, he traveled to Los Angeles, California, to pursue opportunities as a singer. He worked in various jobs, such as working at a gas station in the nearby community of Van Nuys. To help Andrews study music at night, "The station owners stepped in ... with a deal: $50 a week for full-time study, in exchange for a five-year share of possible later earnings."^[4]

Andrews signed a contract with Samuel Goldwyn, and nine years after arriving in Los Angeles was offered his first movie role in Lucky Cisco Kid (1940) at 20th Century Fox.

He was in Sailor's Lady (1940), developed by Goldwyn but sold to Fox.^[5] Andrews was loaned to Edward Small to appear in Kit Carson (1940), before Goldwyn used him for the first time in a Goldwyn production: William Wyler's The Westerner (1940), featuring Gary Cooper.^[6]

Fox liked Andrews and since Goldwyn did not make films very often, he agreed to share his contract with Andrews with that studio. Andrews had support parts in Fox films Tobacco Road (1941), directed by John Ford; Belle Starr (1941), with Gene Tierney, billed third; and Swamp Water (1941), directed by Jean Renoir.

His next film for Goldwyn was Ball of Fire (1941), again teaming with Cooper, where Andrews played a gangster.

Back at Fox, Andrews was given his first lead, in the B-movie Berlin Correspondent (1942). He was second lead to Tyrone Power in Crash Dive (1943) and then appeared in the 1943 film adaptation of The Ox-Bow Incident with Henry Fonda, in a role often cited as one of his best in which he played a lynching victim.

Andrews then went back to Goldwyn for The North Star (1943), directed by Lewis Milestone. He worked on a government propaganda film December 7th: The Movie (1943), then was used by Goldwyn again in Up in Arms (1944), supporting Danny Kaye.

Andrews was reunited with Milestone at Fox for The Purple Heart (1944), then was in Wing and a Prayer (1944) for Henry Hathaway.

One of his most famous roles was as an obsessed detective in Laura (1944) with Gene Tierney at Fox, directed by Otto Preminger.

He co-featured with Jeanne Crain in the movie musical State Fair (1945), a huge hit, and was reunited with Preminger for Fallen Angel (1945).

Andrews did another war movie with Milestone, A Walk in the Sun (1945), then was loaned to Walter Wanger for a western, Canyon Passage (1946).

Andrews's second film with William Wyler, also for Goldwyn, was his most successful: The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), both a popular and a critical success (#37 in the 2007 AFI Top 100 films of all time) and became the role for which Andrews is best known.

Andrews appeared in Boomerang! (1947), directed by Elia Kazan; Night Song (1947), at RKO; and Daisy Kenyon (1947) for Preminger. In 1947, he was voted the 23rd most popular actor in the U.S.^[7]

Andrews starred in the anti-communist The Iron Curtain (1948), reuniting him with Gene Tierney, then Deep Waters (1948). He made a comedy for Lewis Milestone at Enterprise Pictures, No Minor Vices (1948), then went to England for Britannia Mews (1949).

Andrews went to Universal for Sword in the Desert (1949), then Goldwyn called him back for My Foolish Heart (1949) with Susan Hayward.

He played a brutal police officer in Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950), also with Tierney and Preminger. Around this time, alcoholism began to damage Andrews's career, and on two occasions it nearly cost him his life as he drove a car.

Edge of Doom (1950) for Goldwyn was a flop. He went to RKO to make Sealed Cargo (1951) which was the only film he made with his brother, Steve Forrest. ( In interview on TCM - Steve Forrest stated he and his brother never got to act together; 2019.) At Fox, he was in The Frogmen (1951). Goldwyn cast him in I Want You (1951), an unsuccessful attempt to repeat the success of The Best Years of Our Lives.

From 1952 to 1954, 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.

Andrews's film career struggled in the 1950s. Assignment: Paris (1952) was not widely seen. He did Elephant Walk (1954) in Ceylon, a film better known for Vivien Leigh's nervous breakdown and replacement by Elizabeth Taylor. Duel in the Jungle (1954) was an adventure tale; Three Hours to Kill (1954) and Smoke Signal (1955) were Westerns; Strange Lady in Town (1955) was a Greer Garson vehicle; Comanche (1956), another Western.

By the middle 1950s, Andrews was acting almost exclusively in B-movies. However, his acting in two movies for Fritz Lang during 1956, While The City Sleeps and Beyond A Reasonable Doubt, and two for Jacques Tourneur, Night of the Demon (1957) and The Fearmakers (1958), are well regarded. Around this time he also appeared in Spring Reunion (1957), Zero Hour! (1957), and Enchanted Island (1958).

In 1952, Andrews toured with his wife, Mary Todd, in The Glass Menagerie, and in 1958, he replaced Henry Fonda (his former co-star from The Oxbow Incident and Daisy Kenyon) on Broadway in Two for the Seesaw.^[5]

Andrews began appearing on television on such shows as Playhouse 90 ("Right Hand Man", "Alas, Babylon"), General Electric Theatre, The Barbara Stanwyck Show, Checkmate, The DuPont Show of the Week, The Twilight Zone ("No Time Like the Past"), The Dick Powell Theatre, Alcoa Premiere, Ben Casey, and Theatre of Stars.

Andrews continued to make films like The Crowded Sky (1960) and Madison Avenue (1961). He went to Broadway for The Captains and the Kings, which had a short run in 1962.

In 1963, he was elected president of the Screen Actors Guild.

In 1965, Andrews resumed film work with The Satan Bug and In Harm's Way, playing supporting roles in both. He also had the lead in Crack in the World (1965), Brainstorm (1965), and Town Tamer (1965). However, he was cast increasingly in supporting roles: Berlin, Appointment for the Spies (1965), The Loved One (1965), Battle of the Bulge (1965), and Johnny Reno (1966).

Andrews still played leads in low-budget films like The Frozen Dead (1966), The Cobra (1967) and Hot Rods to Hell (1967). By this time, Andrews had evolved into a character actor, as in "The 1000 Carat Diamond" (1967), "No Diamonds for Ursula" (1967), and The Devil's Brigade (1968).

Later, Andrews returned to the leading role of college president Tom Boswell on the NBC daytime soap opera Bright Promise from its premiere on September 29, 1969, until March 1971.^[8]

Andrews spent the 1970s in supporting Hollywood roles such as The Failing of Raymond (1971), Innocent Bystanders (1972), Airport 1975 (1974), A Shadow in the Streets (1975), The First 36 Hours of Dr. Durant (1975), Take a Hard Ride (1975), The Last Tycoon (1976), The Last Hurrah (1977), and Good Guys Wear Black (1978)

He also appeared regularly on TV in such shows as Ironside, Get Christie Love!, Ellery Queen, Have Girls, Will Travel, The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, and The Love Boat.

It was at this time, the 1970s, that Andrews became involved in the real estate business, telling one newspaper reporter, for example, that he owned "a hotel that brings in $200,000 a year".^[6]

Andrews's final roles included Born Again (1978), Ike: The War Years (1979), The Pilot (1980), Falcon Crest and Prince Jack.

Andrews married Janet Murray on December 31, 1932. Murray died in 1935 as result of pneumonia. Their son, David (1933–1964), was a musician and composer who died from a cerebral hemorrhage. On November 17, 1939, Andrews married actress Mary Todd, by whom he had three children: Katharine, Stephen, and Susan. For two decades, the family lived in Toluca Lake, California.

Andrews eventually controlled his alcoholism and worked actively with the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence.^[6] During 1972, he appeared in a television public service advertisement concerning the subject.^[1]

During the last years of his life, Andrews suffered from Alzheimer's disease. He spent his final years living at the John Douglas French Center for Alzheimer's Disease in Los Alamitos, California.^[1]

On December 17, 1992, 15 days before his 84th birthday, Andrews died of congestive heart failure and pneumonia. His wife died in 2003 at the age of 86.