Biography for
Sam Wood (I) More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

10 July 1883, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Date of Death

22 September 1949, Hollywood, California, USA (heart attack)

Birth Name

Samuel Grosvenor Wood

Height

6' (1.83 m)

Spouse

Clara L. Roush

(1908 - 22 September 1949) (his death)

Trivia

Before becoming a director, Wood had worked on pipelines for an oil company.

Former real estate broker.

Appeared as actor in the early part of the century under the name Chad Applegate.

Late in his life, he served as the President of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, a right-wing political organization whose aim was to ferret out "subversives" in Hollywood. In this capacity, he provided key testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947, helping to fan fears of Communist influence in the U.S. film industry.

Father of actress K.T. Stevens.

Father of actress Jeane Wood.

Directed 11 actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Robert Donat, Greer Garson, Martha Scott, Ginger Rogers, Charles Coburn, Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, Katina Paxinou, Akim Tamiroff, Ingrid Bergman and Flora Robson. Donat, Paxinou and Rogers won Oscars for their performances in one of Wood's movies.

The Wood sisters Natalie Wood, Lana Wood, and Olga Wood were named after him.

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