[2] Raised in Winnetka, Illinois, on the North Shore of Chicago, Byrum attended New Trier High School, and later studied at New York University in the late 1960s.
[3] Byrum directed his first feature film Inserts with stars Richard Dreyfuss, Jessica Harper, Veronica Cartwright, Stephen Davies, and Bob Hoskins.
Following the box-office failure of The Razor's Edge, financially strapped Byrum directed the goofy comedy The Whoopee Boys starring Michael O'Keefe and Paul Rodriguez.
Byrum's television movie Murder in High Places starred Ted Levine as a Hunter Thompson-like character who is elected mayor of a Colorado ski resort, which showcased a young Lisa Kudrow in one of her first acting roles.
Byrum was scheduled to direct his original script of karaoke road-trip dramedy Duets when he was felled by a serious case of Lyme disease that had gone long undiagnosed.
Duets was filmed several years later with Scott Speedman in the role originally chosen by Pitt, along with Paul Giamatti, Maria Bello, Andre Braugher, and Huey Lewis.