Byrd, Sam, 1908-

Sam Byrd (1908-1955) was an author, actor, and producer. Byrd was born in Mt. Olive, N.C., and attended the University of Florida but dropped out to go to New York City, where he started with small roles in Broadway plays. He played the original Dude Lester, 1933-1936, in Tobacco Road and received the Literary Digest Award for Best Young Actor on Broadway for the 1933-1934 season. He was Curley in Of Mice and Men, 1937-1938, and at the same time produced Caldwell's Journeyman . In 1940 he produced Roark Bradford's dramatization of the John Henry stories, and in 1941 produced a play, Good Neighbor .

He published three books: Small Town South (1942); South Atlantic Shakedown (for the United States Navy in World War II) and Hurry Home to My Heart, following the Normandy landing; and two celebration pageants, For Those who Live in the Sun, for the Jewish Congregation in Charleston, S.C., and The Duplin Story for Kenansville and Duplin County, N.C. At the time of his death he was working on two novels and dramatic productions of Edgar Lee Masters' Domesday Book and James Joyce's Ulysses .

His wife was Patricia Bolam. He first met her during World War II when she was a child, adopted her in 1946 when she was 12, brought her to his home Prospect Hill Plantation near Charleston, S.C., educated her at Ashley Hall there and in Paris and married her in 1951.