Besides being a compelling and believable actor in a film, it takes a set decorator or set designer to make sure what the audience sees looks real.

This is considered a special talent and one that Samuel Matthew Comer had and exhibited in many of Hollywood’s popular movies from its Golden Days.

In a career that covered more than 40 years, more than 300 films and Comer won four set decorating Oscars: “Frenchmen’s Creek” in 1945, “Sunset Boulevard” and “Samson and Delilah,” both in 1950, and “The Rose Tattoo,” in 1955. He was also set director for the popular weekly show, “Bonanza.”

He was also nominated for another 22 in the category of Best Art Direction and served behind the scenes for “Vertigo” in 1958 and “To Catch a Thief” in 1955 among many others.

Active in Hollywood from 1934 to 1968, according to IMDb, he was a former head of Paramount Pictures’ art and interior decorating departments.

After he retired from Paramount in 1963 Comer retired, moved from Hollywood, and settled in Oceanside. After a brief illness at Scripps Hospital in La Jolla, he died on Dec. 13, 1974.

RELATIVES AND OTHERS

Comer was born on July 13, 1893, in Topeka, Kan., and at the time of his passing an LA Times obit from Dec. 28, 1974, page 13, said he was survived by a nephew Fred G. Comer, of Rosarita Beach, in Baja California.

However, during some research, another relative albeit distant Molly Comer McCune was found.

When contacted she said: “I’ve been interested in him [Comer] since a little girl seeing his name scrolled in the credits for ‘Bonanza.’ His direct line has always been a mystery. He is somehow related to Anjanette Comer. Wikipedia is not even sure…

“Well, I appear to be a distant cousin to him. I remember as a child while living with my mother and stepfather in Costa Mesa back in the mid-1960s that Sam Comer and I shared the same surname … At that time, he was the set director for the ‘Bonanza’ show. In my adult years, I have become very interested in my birth name …”

Now living in Riverside, she continued: “I’m checking Ancestry.com. I feel he is a distant cousin to me but not sure who his correct parents were. There are lots of William Comers out there … It appears he never married. There was an earlier listing for him on Find A Grave, but the creator and or the maintainer had deleted him.

“I had seen that he died in Oceanside, and it meant something to me because I lived nearby in Escondido and San Marcos. When I saw he was deleted, I recreated him, so why did they delete him? Maybe there is a secret, I don’t know…

“I am watching his four Academy Awards movies. I just watched another of his pictures, ‘Wild Is The Wind’ … Many films are in black and white so perhaps he had to work a certain method to capture the essence of the story. I found an article on Newspapers.com regarding the violent, bloody nature of ‘Wild’… and its Disneyland compared to today’s movies … Sound in movies was available in 1920. The right set makes the movie come to life so it’s essential to get it right.”

DAUGHTER OR NIECE

Speaking of Anjanette Comer, who was a star in the 1970s appeared in many movies like “Appaloosa” in 1966 with Marlon Brando and TV shows such as “Jake and the Fat Man” in 1991, among many others.

Oddly, it’s reported in various places that she was Comer’s niece and that he “… guided her into the biz.”  However, in other places, he is cited as being Anjanette’s father.

She was born Aug. 7, 1939 (some sources cite 1942), in Dawson, Texas, and here it says she is the daughter of Rufus Franklin and Nola (maiden name, Dell).

She is listed as his daughter on IMDb and the website famousdetails.com.

Now 83, she is reportedly still alive and left Hollywood in 2011, with her last appearance being in “A Bird of the Air.” In the movie, she played the role of Mrs. Weber. Since then, Comer has not starred in any other movies or TV series.

KANSAS NATIVE

Comer’s parents were William Charles Comer (1866-1920) and Mary Griffitt Comer (1863-1894).

He also had a somewhat famous brother, Fred Griffitt Comer (1892-1928), who died at the young age of 36 in Salem Depot, Rockingham County, N.H.

He is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, Los Angeles County in the Col. of Tranquility, Gardenia Terrace.

According to the Helena Daily Independent, “Fred was driving the Boyle Valve Special when he flipped in the air and plunged down the steep banking of the board track at Rockingham – Salem, New Hampshire race track. Fred was a four-time starter in the Indianapolis 500, with three top 10s and one 11th-place finish. He was living in the Los Angeles area at the time of his death.”

OTHER FILMS AND TV

Samuel Comer has a long list of films – four wins and 12 nominations – he worked on and leaves behind an impressive legacy.

Here are some more titles of his that were also nominated that you might be familiar with such as “Sabrina” in 1954 to “Funny Face” in 1957, “The Ten Commandments” in 1956, and “Breakfast and Tiffany’s” in 1961

Comer was buried at Eternal Hills Memorial Park, Oceanside.

Several other obits like the New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle also reported his death in 1974.