Tod Andrews (born Theodore Edwin Anderson; November 9, 1914[1][3] – November 7, 1972) was an American stage, screen, and television actor.
Early years
Tod Andrews was born as Theodore Edwin Anderson in El Paso, Texas,[1] to Henry Anderson and Lydia A. Anderson (née Apodaca; later Silverman, who wed in Pima, Arizona, on November 18, 1913.[4] Tod and his sister, Gertrude Anderson Pierucci, were raised in southern California; both suffered untimely deaths, predeceasing their mother, Lydia.[5] Andrews graduated from Los Angeles High School and Washington State College.[6]
Career
Stage
Andrews began his career as Michael Ames[5] at the Pasadena Playhouse and moved to New York City to appear onstage. Andrews acted with the Margo Jones Company in New York City from 1944 to 1948, when he was spotted by Joshua Logan. When Henry Fonda left the title role in Mister Roberts, Logan gave Andrews the part in the road production.[7]
On Broadway, Andrews played in Summer and Smoke (1948-1949) and A Girl Can Tell.[8] Billed as Michael Ames, he was in Quiet, Please! (1940), My Sister Eileen (1940-1943), Storm Operation (1944), Mrs. Kimball Presents (1944), Public Relations (1944), and That Old Devil (1944).[9]
Andrews' television performances included a starring role from 1957 to 1958 in the syndicated series of the American Civil War, The Gray Ghost, based on the heroic ConfederateColonelJohn Singleton Mosby. In 1959, he starred in the 13-episode Counterthrust, a syndicated series "in which he played a secret agent in the Far East battling Communism".[5]
Andrews did a screen test for the Perry Mason 1950s TV series playing Perry Mason opposite Raymond Burr as Hamilton Burger. This and other screen tests for that show were released on the Perry Mason 50th Anniversary 3-DVD set from 2008.
Andrews was married three times, to Gloria Eleanor Folland, Alice Kirby Hooker, and Karolyn Rainwater. The first two marriages ended in divorce, and he was married to Rainwater when he died.[5] In early August 1961 Tod Andrews (reference: Tod Andrews Takes Overdose, NY (AP) August 6, 1961) was hospitalized following a suicide attempt. According to an AP article published August 6, 1961, Tod Andrews was hospitalized at Lenox Hill Hospital after an overdose of sleeping pills. It was reported that he had phoned a friend to say he was going to kill himself and was subsequently found slumped in a chair in the apartment of a female friend. He was hospitalized on a Saturday in critical condition but taken off the critical list later the same day. On August 15, 1961, an article by Dorothy Kilgallen in Voice of Broadway noted that friends of Andrews were "still mystified about his headlined suicide attempt” as only hours earlier he had apparently been "having a cheerful time at Danny's Hideaway" talking about the "great year he had coming up on Broadway and in TV and announced his engagement to Valerie Veigal." (ref: Dorothy Kilgallen Voice of Broadway, in Olean Times Herald, Aug 15 1967 page 13)
Death
Andrews died of a heart attack on November 7, 1972, in Los Angeles, two days before his 58th birthday. He was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City. He was survived by, among others, his wife Karolyn, at least two children (some sources indicate three children), and his mother. Some sources indicate his father survived him as well but his father's year of death has not been established.[5]
Filmography
Film
Dive Bomber (1941) as Telephone Man (film debut, uncredited)
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