Born Today October 7: Andy Devine

1905-1977

Born Andrew Vabre Devine in Flagstaff, Arizona; his parents moved with him to Kingman, AZ when he was 1 year old where he grew up, was and affectionately known as simply as Andy.  He attended Northern Arizona State Teacher's college (now Northern Arizona State), where he was a football star.  This led to him to play semi-professional football under the strange pseudonym "Jeremiah Schwartz;" I am assuming that he did this because he developed acting ambitions when he was in college and wanted to use his real name as an actor.  After college, he did, in fact, move directly to Hollywood.  Ironically though, it was his football notoriety that led to his first break out role in The Spirit Of Notre Dame in 1931.  He did manage to get roles as extras in 15 films in the 1920's, however.  His first credited role came in the 1928 Red Lips.  He went on to have a very long career in Hollywood, becoming one of America's most recognized character actors with a penchant for comedy.  He starred in a lot of westerns and television, including one episode on the original The Twilight Zone; he also had on uncredited appearance in the Batman series as "Santa."  He passed away of leukemia on the 18th of February 1977.  He worked right up until the time of his death.  He was cremated and urned.