Andy Devine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Birth name Andrew Vabre Devine
Born October 7, 1905(1905-10-07)
Flagstaff, Arizona, U.S.
Died February 18, 1977 (aged 71)
Orange, California, U.S.
Andrew Vabre "Andy" Devine (October 7, 1905 - February 18, 1977) was a rotund, raspy-voiced American character actor and comic cowboy sidekick.
Life and work
He was born in Flagstaff, Arizona, and grew up in Kingman, where his family moved when he was a year old.
He was not named Jeremiah Schwartz at birth, as it is often reported. However, he did use this name as a pseudonym during his college football years.
He was a star football player at Ball State University, which led to his first film role in the silent film The Fighting Football Cardinals.
Although it was at first thought that his peculiar voice would prevent him from moving to the talkies, it became his trademark and strongest selling point. Devine told people that his speech was the result of a childhood accident. (His story is that he had been running with a curtain rod in his mouth and fell, the instrument piercing the roof of his mouth, and when he was finally able to speak, he had the wheezing, duo-tone voice that would make him famous as an actor.) However, a biographer explains that this wasn't true but was one of several stories about his voice fabricated by Devine; see the link to
http://www.froggythegremlin.com/. Devine's son Tad told an Encore Westerns Channel interviewer[1] that the accident had indeed happened but that Andy Devine himself was uncertain whether it was the actual cause of his unique vocal quality.
He appeared in more than 400 films and shared with Walter Brennan, another character actor, the rare ability to move with ease from "B" Westerns to "A" pictures.
His notable roles included ten films as sidekick "Cookie" to Roy Rogers, a role in Romeo and Juliet (1937), and "Danny" in A Star Is Born (1937). He made several appearances in films with John Wayne, including Stagecoach (1939), Island in the Sky (1953), and as the frightened marshal in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). He also played "The Cheerful Soldier" in The Red Badge of Courage. While most of his characters were reluctant to get involved in the action, he played the hero in Island in the Sky, as an expert pilot who leads his fellow aviators through the arduous search for a missing airplane.
Devine also worked in radio. He is well-remembered for his role as "Jingles", Guy Madison's sidekick in The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok, which Devine and Madison reprised on television. He often appeared on Jack Benny's radio show, sometimes appearing in Benny's semi-regular western series of sketches "Buck Benny Rides Again".
Devine also worked in television. He played "Hap" on the TV series Flipper and hosted a children's TV show, Andy's Gang. He starred in a Twilight Zone episode as "Frisby", a talkative braggart faced with an alien invasion called "Hocus-Pocus and Frisby". He was also a frequent guest star in many television shows throughout the 1950s and 1960s.
In addition, Devine performed voice parts in animated films, including "Friar Tuck" in Disney's Robin Hood. He provided the voice of Cornelius the Kellogg's Rooster in some TV commercials for their corn flakes.
His film appearances in his later years included movies such as Over-the-Hill Gang, and 'Coyote Bill' in Myra Breckinridge.
Devine also made many public appearances. He struck up a friendship with George C. Brian, an actor and filmmaker who headed the theater department at a Louisiana university. At Brian's request, Devine came to Monroe in 1973 to perform in Edna Ferber's Showboat.
Devine died of leukemia on February 18, 1977, at the age of seventy-one, in Orange, California. The main street of his home town of Kingman was renamed "Andy Devine Avenue" in his honor. His career is also highlighted in the Kingman museum.
Trivia
Andy was the Exalted Ruler of San Fernando, California, Elks Lodge No. 1539 in 1942-1943.
He is mentioned in a Jimmy Buffett song, "Pencil Thin Mustache" from Buffet's 1974 album, Living & Dying in 3/4 Time. The singer wishes for "an autographed picture of Andy Devine", which along with the mustache and other attributes, will make him cooler.
He is mentioned in a Frank Zappa song, "Andy," from the album One Size Fits All. The lyric is opaque:
Andy Devine
Had a thong rind
It was sublime
But the wrong kind
His amateur radio call sign, WB6RER, is now registered to an amateur radio club in Kingman, Arizona, which holds annual events in his honor.
There is a star in his honor in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
), he wrote my daughter a sweet note on a separate piece of paper. I love the way he sings "Dear Heart". 
