Sam Edwards

Sam Edwards was a popular, and very busy, character actor on stage, radio, film, and television. He caught the acting bug early as a child in the 1920s, performing with his family who were all thespians. His mother and stepfather were both prominent stage actors at the time and the young Sam, as well as his sister and brother, followed suit. In the 1930s, he performed on radio with his family as The Edwards Family (on his own too) and eventually landed an important voice job as the adult Thumper in the Walt Disney animated classic "Bambi." He enlisted in the Army Air Corps during World War II but was reassigned to entertain the troops in Europe and the Pacific. After the war, he appeared in a number of productions, including pivotal parts in the war films "Twelve O'Clock High" with Gregory Peck, "Operation Pacific" with John Wayne, and the crime film "The Sun Sets at Dawn." Beginning in the 1950s, he began his long career in television, guest-starring on the long-running Western "Gunsmoke," "The Andy Griffith Show" (particularly in a memorable first-season Christmas episode), and the rural-set sitcom "Petticoat Junction." Many viewers who grew up in the 1970s may recognize him best as Walnut Grove banker Mr. Bill Anderson on the family program "Little House on the Prairie."