William Montgomery Campbell (1922 - 1988)

Born 22 Apr 1922 in New York City, New York, United States

Died 26 Jun 1988 at age 66 in New York City, New York, United States

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Biography

Sandy Campbell was a Broadway actor, and later editor and publisher, and the life partner of the author Donald Windham. Sandy and Donald were friends of many of the primary artists and intellectuals of the time, including Tennessee Williams, Lincoln Kirstein, Pavel Tchelitchew, W. H. Auden, Tony Smith, Glenway Wescott and Paul Cadmus.

Verbatim from Wikipedia:^[1]

Early life

Sandy Campbell was born in New York City in 1922, the son of the owner of a chemical manufacturing company, William Montgomery Campbell, Sr. and Doris Kernan Joffrion.^[2]

He attended Kent School, Connecticut and then studied at Princeton University.

Career

After college, Sandy Campbell tried to become an actor in Broadway; he was in Life with Father, Spring Awakening, and A Streetcar Named Desire. In more than 20 years of acting he played alongside actors by the like of Marlon Brando, Spencer Tracy, Jessica Tandy, Tallulah Bankhead, Lynn Fontanne, Alfred Lunt, Lois Smith. On the screen he can be seen in Shades of Gray (1948), Man Against Crime (1949) and The Philco Television Playhouse (1948).

Campbell was a book collector, avid reader and publisher. His collection includes signed first editions by Graham Greene, Vladimir Nabokov, William Faulkner, E.M. Forster, Katherine Anne Porter, Isak Dinesen, Alice B. Toklas, and Marianne Moore.

As author, Campbell wrote biographies for Harper's Magazine, among whom those of Nora Joyce, E.M. Forster, Lynn Fontanne and Alfred Lunt. He also collaborated with The New Yorker as fact checker and book reviewer. He wrote B: Twenty-Six Letters from Coconut Grove, an account of his experience playing A Streetcar Named Desire alongside Tallulah Bankhead.

He stopped acting in the 1950s and he devoted himself to publishing and editing Donald Windham's books through the Stamperia Valdonega in Verona, Italy.

Personal life

Sandy Campbell met Donald Windham in 1943 while Campbell was modeling for painter Paul Cadmus. The relationship lasted until Campbell's death in 1988.

Sandy died 26 June 1988 in New York City at the age of 66.^[3][4]

When Sandy died he left his estate to his partner, Donald Windam, with the understanding that the proceeds from the estate would be used to create a prize to support young writers. After Donald's death, The Windham-Campbell Prizes were established.^[5]

There's an excellent biography of Sandy that appears on the Windham-Campbell Prizes website, which can be found here.^[6]

There's another excellent write-up of the couple, including photos, online at Gay Influence, which can be found here.^[7]

The University of Georgia houses the Donald Windham and Sandy Campbell papers. A description of the content of the papers can be found here.^[8] The collection description includes an informative historical note with biographical information on both men.

Sources

1. ↑ Sandy Campbell Biography on Wikipedia.
2. ↑ "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X4N7-T48 : accessed 26 August 2021), William M Campbell Jr. in household of William M Campbell, Westfield, Union, New Jersey, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 174, sheet 2A, line 40, family 32, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 1390; FHL microfilm 2,341,125.
3. ↑ "United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JTR5-V4Z : 7 January 2021), Sandy M Campbell, 26 Jun 1988; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).
4. ↑ Find a Grave Memorial for Sandy Campbell.
5. ↑ Windham Campbell Prizes Sandy Campbell Biography.
6. ↑ Windham Campbell Prizes Sandy Campbell Biography.
7. ↑ Gay Influence Donald Windham and Sandy Campbell
8. ↑ Donald Windham and Sandy Campbell papers at the University of Georgia.