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Glenn Ford

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Gwyllyn Samuel Newton "Glenn" Ford (May 1 1916 – August 30 2006) was an acclaimed Canadian-American actor from Hollywood's Golden Era with a career that spanned seven decades. He was born to Welsh parents in Sainte-Christine-d'Auvergne, Portneuf, Québec and was a great-nephew of Canada's first Prime Minister Sir John A. MacDonald.[1] Ford moved to Santa Monica, California with his family at the age of eight, and became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1939.

Glenn Ford in 1979

Ford is best known for his film roles playing either cowboys or ordinary men in unusual circumstances. His acting career began on stage, and his first major movie part was in the 1939 film Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence.

Military Service

In 1942, Ford's film career was interrupted when he volunteered for duty in World War II with the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve on 13 December 1942 as a photographic specialist at the rank of sergeant. He was assigned in March 1943 to active duty at the Marine Corps Base in San Diego. He was sent to Marine Corps Schools Detachment (Photographic Section) in Quantico, Virginia, that June, with orders as a motion-picture production technician. Sergeant Ford returned to the San Diego base in February 1944 and was assigned next to the radio section of the Public Relations Office, Headquarters Company, Base Headquarters Battalion. There he staged and broadcast the radio program Halls of Montezuma. Glenn Ford was honorably discharged from the Marines on 7 December 1944.

In 1958, he joined the U.S. Naval Reserve and was commissioned as a lieutenant commander with a 1655 designator (public affairs officer). He was awarded a Navy Commendation Medal for outstanding service during a one month tour of Vietnam while on active duty for training in 1967. In Vietnam, Ford scouted combat locations for a training film entitled Global Marine. His World War II decorations are as follows: American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, Rifle Marksman Badge, and the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Medal. He retired from the Naval Reserve in the 1970s at the rank of Captain.[2]

Career development

Following military service, Ford's breakthrough role was in 1946, starring alongside Rita Hayworth in Gilda. He went on to be a leading man opposite her in a total of five films.

Ford's movie-acting career flourished in the 1950s and '60s, and continued into the early 1990s, with increasing television roles. His major roles in thrillers and dramas and action films include A Stolen Life, The Big Heat, Framed, Blackboard Jungle, Interrupted Melody, Experiment in Terror, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Ransom!, Superman and Westerns such as The Fastest Gun Alive, 3:10 to Yuma and Cimarron.

Ford's versatility also allowed him to star in a number of popular comedies, including Teahouse of the August Moon, Don't Go Near the Water, The Gazebo, Cry For Happy, and The Courtship of Eddie's Father. Ford also starred for one season in the television series Cade's County (1971-1972).

In addition to the previously mentioned Rita Hayworth, his co-stars included Hollywood greats such as Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, William Holden, Jack Lemmon, Shirley Maclaine, Marlon Brando, Sidney Poitier, Robert Mitchum, Charlton Heston, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson, Charles Boyer and Frederic March. Other notable co-stars included Gloria Grahame, Lee Marvin, Janet Leigh, Ernest Borgnine, Debbie Reynolds, Shirley Jones, Rod Steiger, Donald O'Connor, Geraldine Page, Ann Sheridan, Gene Tierney, Anne Bancroft, Ida Lupino, Joseph Cotton, Jeanne Crain, Melvyn Douglas and Lee J. Cobb.

Awards

After being nominated in 1957 and 1958, in 1962 Glenn Ford won a Golden Globe Award as Best Actor for his performance in Frank Capra's Pocketful of Miracles. He was listed in Quigley's Annual List of Top Ten Boxoffice Champions in 1956, 1958 and 1959, topping the list at number one in 1958. For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Glenn Ford has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6933 Hollywood Blvd. In 1978, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In 1992 he was awarded the Légion d'honneur medal for his actions in the Second World War.

Television

"Cade's County" (1971-72 TV Series) Ford starred as a Southwest sheriff in this mix of western drama and police mystery. The opening title sequence opened with Ford (as Sheriff Cade) driving his jeep through the desert mountains.

"The Family Holvak" (1975-1976) Ford starred as a depression era preacher in this family drama, peforming as the same character he played in the TV film "The Greatest Gift". Julie Harris co-starred as his wife.

Later career

In 1978, Ford played a supporting role in Superman, playing Clark Kent's adopted father, Jonathan Kent, a role that introduced Ford to a new generation of film audiences. Ford's final scene in the film begins with a direct reference to Blackboard Jungle as the earlier film's theme song "Rock Around the Clock" is heard on a car radio.

In 1980, Ford offered to buy the National Hockey League's Atlanta Flames for $8 million in order to keep the team in Atlanta, but he was outbid by Canadian Nelson Skalbania, who moved the team to Calgary, Alberta where they became the Calgary Flames.

A photograph of Ford as Jonathan Kent is clearly visible in the 2006 sequel, Superman Returns. The use of Ford's image in a 2006 film means that he appeared in feature films - directly or indirectly - in eight consecutive decades from the 1930s to the 2000s. He is the only leading man actor to have achieved this. (Mickey Rooney also achieved the feat of being seen in films in eight decades but was not considered a leading man.)

Ford was scheduled to make his first public appearance in 15 years at a 90th birthday tribute gala in his honor [1] hosted by the American Cinematheque at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood on May 1 2006, but at the last minute he was unable to attend. Anticipating that his health might prevent his attendance, Ford had worked the previous week with event organizer Martin Lewis to record a special filmed message for the audience -which was screened after a series of in-person tributes from friends including Martin Landau, Shirley Jones, Jamie Farr and Debbie Reynolds [2].

Ford had suffered a series of minor strokes which had left him in frail health in the years before his death. During his retirement he concentrated on his interest in collecting salt and pepper shakers. [citation needed]

Personal life

Ford was married four times: to actress Eleanor Powell (1943-1959, one son); Kathryn Hays (1966-1969); Cynthia Hayward (1977-1984); and to Jeanne Baus (1993-1994). All four marriages ended in divorce. Ford appeared on screen with Powell only once, in a short subject produced in the 1950s entitled The Faith of Our Children.

Ford's sole child, Peter Ford (born 1945 to mother Eleanor Powell), also became an actor as well as a singer and radio host. He is currently writing a biography of his father.

Glenn Ford at times supported the US Democratic Party - in the 1950s he supported Adlai Stevenson for Prresident - and in later years became a supporter of the Republican Party, and campaigned for his friend Ronald Reagan in the 1980 and 1984 presidential elections.

Films

References

  1. ^ "Glenn Ford, Leading Man in Films and TV, Dies at 90", New York Times Obituary, August 31, 2006
  2. ^ James E. Wise and Anne Collier Rehill, Stars in Blue: Movie Actors in America's Sea Services, ISBN 1557509379, 259-264.

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