(Photo) Andy Devine Avenue in Kingman, Arizona

Best known for his character actor performances in Westerns, portly Andy Devine appeared in over 400 movies and was a radio and TV fixture as well. Among those Westerns were Stagecoach and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. He also had small roles in three epic-genre films, Around the World in Eighty Days, How The West Was Won, and It's A Mad, Mad, Mad World.

His high-pitched raspy voice was his trademark--Devine usually served as a comic foil even in dramatic films.

And he was a true westerner. Devine was born in Flagstaff, Arizona Territory in 1905, but he grew up west of there in Kingman. Main Street in that town, which was part of US Route 66, was renamed Andy Devine Avenue in his honor.

Accounts vary on why Devine's voice was so distinct--but they center on a childhood accident.

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