Ward Bond

Gruff, burly American character actor. Born in 1903 in Benkelman, Nebraska (confirmed by Social Security records; sources stating 1905 or Denver, Colorado are in error. ) Bond grew up in Denver, the son of a lumberyard worker. He attended the University of Southern California, where he got work as an extra through a football teammate who would become both his best friend and one of cinema's biggest stars: John Wayne.

Many sources incorrectly quote 1905, and/or Denver, Colorado, USA regarding his birth.

Entered films in 1928 while attending the University of Southern California.

Director John Ford promoted Bond from extra to supporting player in the film Salute (1929), and became another fast friend. An arrogant man of little tact, yet fun-loving in the extreme, Bond was either loved or hated by all who knew him. His face and personality fit perfectly into almost any type of film, and he appeared in hundreds of pictures in his more than 30-year career, in both bit parts and major supporting roles. In the films of Wayne and Ford, particularly, he was nearly always present. Among his most memorable roles are John L.

He appeared in 13 films that were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, Arrowsmith (1931), Lady for a Day (1933), It Happened One Night (1934), Dead End (1937), You Can't Take It with You (1938), Gone with the Wind (1939), The Long Voyage Home (1940), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), The Maltese Falcon (1941), Sergeant York (1941), It's A Wonderful Life (1946), The Quiet Man (1952) and Mister Roberts (1955).

Bond appears in the most films (seven) of the American Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest American Movies: It Happened One Night (1934), Bringing Up Baby (1938), Gone with the Wind (1939), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), The Maltese Falcon (1941), It's A Wonderful Life (1946) and The Searchers (1956).

Bond did not have any children. United States census records from 1940 show a son, Kenneth Bond, approximately 12 years old, living in his household. He was actually Bond's stepson, Kenneth Duane Childs (1927-2003), his wife Doris's son by a previous marriage.

Tom Polhaus in The Maltese Falcon (1941) and the Rev. Capt.

Sullivan in Gentleman Jim (1942), Det.

An ardent but anti-intellectual patriot, he was perhaps the most vehement proponent, among the Hollywood community, of blacklisting in the witch hunts of the 1950s, and he served as a most unforgiving president of the ultra-right-wing Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals.

Samuel Johnson Clayton The Searchers (1956).

A popular urban myth holds that on the day he died, Bond was scheduled to meet singer Johnny Horton in Dallas to sign a contract to appear on Wagon Train (1957). Horton died in an auto accident, hit by a drunk driver, at 1:30 a.m. and Bond died in Dallas at noon the same day. However, Bond was only the star of the series and not a producer, so he had no say in casting.

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6933 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 8, 1960.

The muppet "Bert" on Song of the Cloud Forest (1969) was rumored to be named after Bond's character (Bert the cop) in It's A Wonderful Life (1946).

He was survived by his mother, who later died in 1974 at age 90.

Inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 2001.