Sam Wood

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 actresses K.T. Stevens and Jeane Wood.

Ex-father-in-law of Hugh Marlowe and Joe Sawyer.

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 Woods movies.

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

Is portrayed by John Getz in Trumbo .

Along with Ernst Lubitsch , Jack Conway , Michael Curtiz , Victor Fleming , John Ford , Alfred Hitchcock , Francis Ford Coppola , Herbert Ross and Steven Soderbergh , he is one of ten directors to have more than one film nominated for Best Picture in the same year and the only one to achieve this feat twice. Kitty Foyle and Our Town were both so nominated at the 13th Academy Awards in 1941 while Kings Row and The Pride of the Yankees were both so nominated at the 15th Academy Awards in 1943.