Actor left big screen
to focus on family and ocean
Elbert Harp Jr., a half-Cherokee boy born in Lorenzo, Texas, just before the Great Depression, had a grand dream of being in the movies.
At 13 he said goodbye to his parents, both factory workers, hitchhiked to Hollywood and took a job as a theater usher.
Twenty-nine years later, after starring in 14 films alongside such big-name actors as Cary Grant and Shirley Temple, Harp, who had changed his name to Johnny Sands Jr., quietly came to Honolulu, became a real estate agent and never returned to the big screen.
"Though he really loved acting, he became somewhat disillusioned with the lifestyle," said Sands' daughter, Catherine Browning.
"He didn't want to play all the games that were necessary to play. My father never believed in selling out to a job. He knew that the important things in life weren't the glamour and glitz," Browning said.
Sands, best known for his roles in "The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer" and "Aladdin and His Lamp," died last Tuesday at his Big Island home. He was 75.
Growing up, Browning would argue with her two half brothers whether their father was ever really a famous actor. Browning was old enough to remember her father's first career -- the trips around the world, the swooning women and the autograph signing.
Her brothers were not.
And Sands rarely advertised his stint in the movies: He had no pictures of himself displayed in their home, no memorabilia plastered on the walls, no remnants of that other life. But Sands did get fan mail up until his death from people around the world who enjoyed his films.
Spotted by a talent scout while headed to the beach in 1944, Sands, who chose his stage name because of a passion for the ocean, landed his first movie role as Danny in the 1946 romantic comedy "Affairs of Geraldine."
Thirteen movie parts followed, and, just as television was becoming popular, Sands piloted a series that could have thrust him into a television career.
But meanwhile, the actor was becoming disillusioned with Hollywood and wanted a dramatic change that would allow him to concentrate on his loves: his wife, children and the water.
Sands' solution was to pack up, move to Hawaii and test for a real estate agent's license.
"I suspect that there was maybe a little bit of wondering -- 'what if?'" Browning said. "But he had this expression: 'It's better to be a has-been than a never-was.' He would say that with such humor."
Sands worked in Honolulu as a real estate agent for 20 years before retiring in 1991 and moving to Ainaloa on the Big Island. The closest he ever got to acting again after he left the movies was doing a few television commercials for his real estate agency.
"I think we have grown to appreciate what our father accomplished," both in Hollywood and in Hawaii, Browning said. "He never tried to push values on us. He's always encouraged us kids to do and be the best that we can be."
Besides Browning, Sands is survived by wife Donella, sons Michael and Marco, and four grandchildren. Private services were held Saturday.