Biografie

Trained as an opera singer, but was rarely--e.g. in The North Star (1943)--allowed to use his fine singing voice in the movies. In the one musical he did make, Jahrmarkt der Liebe (1945), his voice was dubbed because the studio was unaware he was a trained singer. He later explained that he didn't correct their mistake because he felt the singer dubbing him probably needed the money.

Although his career was considered to be slowing down by the early 1960s, in 1965, he appeared in eight different productions, by far the most roles in any one year of his entire career. Of those eight roles, all were feature films, and he portrayed military officers in five of them.

In the late 1940s, during the height of his popularity, the publicist for Fox sent a telegram to the mayor of Collins, MS, suggesting that the town officially change its name to Andrews in honor of its native son. The mayor wired back: "We will not change our name to Andrews. Have Andrews change his to Collins".

Spent the last years of his life in a nursing facility in Los Alamitos, CA, due to Alzheimer's Disease. Long-time friend Burt Lancaster was visiting him when Lancaster had the paralyzing stroke from which he never recovered and that led to his death two years later.

In 1931, at the height of the Great Depression, he quit his job in Texas working for an oil company, and hitchhiked to Los Angeles, hoping to break into show business.

[after having received "permission" from Samuel Goldwyn to get married] About a week before the wedding was planned I got a call from the casting director: "Let your hair and your beard grow. You're going to be in a western". So in the society column of the Santa Monica paper there was a picture of the two of us, me with this beard, and it said, "Mr. Andrews is an actor. Note the beard."

It's not difficult for me to hide emotion [on-screen], since I've always hidden it in my personal life.

[regarding his alcoholism] Finally, I said to myself, "You're a miserable man. Whether or not you want to remain miserable is up to you". So I quit.

I went through all the psychiatry thing, trying to find out why I drank. I finally ended up with the president of the American Psychiatry Association in Hartford telling me, "I'm damned if I know why you drink".

[on why he couldn't pick one of his films as his favorite] I simply love this business. That's all.