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 subsequently relocated to Huntsville in Walker County, Texas, the birthplace of his younger siblings, including fellow Hollywood actor Steve Forrest.Andrews attended college at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville and studied business administration in Houston. During 1931, he traveled to Los Angeles, California, to pursue opportunities as a singer. He worked various jobs, such as 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." In 1938, Andrews was spotted in the play Oh Evening Star and Samuel Goldwyn signed the promising actor to a contract, but felt he needed time to develop experience. Andrews continued at the Pasadena Playhouse, working in over 20 productions and proposed to second wife Mary Todd. After twelve months, Goldwyn sold part of Andrews contract to 20th Century Fox where he was put to work on the first of two B pictures; his first role was in Lucky Cisco Kid (1940). He was then in Sailor's Lady (1940), developed by Goldwyn but released by Fox. 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. Andrews had support parts in Fox films Tobacco Road (1941), directed by John Ford; Belle Starr (1941), with Randolph Scott and Gene Tierney, billed third; and Swamp Water (1941), starring Walter Brennan and Walter Huston and directed by Jean Renoir. His next film for Goldwyn was the Howard Hawks comedy Ball of Fire (1941), again teaming with Cooper, where Andrews played a gangster.