Tobacco Road (film) Tobacco Road (film) Tobacco Road is a 1941 film directed by John Ford and starring Charley Grapewin, Marjorie Rambeau, Gene Tierney, William Tracy Dana Andrews and Ward Bond. It was based on the novel of the same name by Erskine Caldwell, but the plot was rewritten for the film. Studios attempting to acquire the screen rights to the novel date back to 1933. RKO Pictures and Warner Bros. considered buying the rights, the first intending to assign Charles Laughton in the lead role, but were discouraged from doing so. In March 1940, Columbia Pictures showed interest, but was informed that
Tobacco Road (rivalry) Tobacco Road (rivalry) Tobacco Road is a term used in college sports, mainly basketball, for four rival universities in North Carolina that play in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The term refers to the area's history as a major tobacco producer. The Tobacco Road teams represent the following universities: North Carolina, Duke, and NC State lie in the Research Triangle and are separated by no more than 25 miles (40 km). (Before moving to Winston-Salem in 1956, Wake Forest was also located within Wake County and the Triangle, to the northeast of Raleigh.) The schools are historical and present powerhouses