Glenn Ford

The cunning Cohn usually assigned these stars (his little studio could not normally afford then) into pictures, and the studio's status rose immensely as the 1930s progressed.

Understandably, Cohn had long resisted developing his own stable of contract stars (he'd first hired Peter Lorre in 1934 but didn't know what to do with him) but had relented in the late 1930s, first adding Rosalind Russell, then signing Ford and fellow newcomer William Holden. Cohn reasoned that the two prospects could be used interchangeably, should one become troublesome. Although often competing for the same parts, Ford and Holden became good friends.

In 1938 he was John Beal's understudy in the West Coast stage production of "Soliloquy".

Legendary actor Glenn Ford was born Gwyllyn Samuel Newton Ford in Sainte-Christine-d'Auvergne, Quebec, Canada, to Hannah Wood (Mitchell) and Newton Ford, a railroad executive. His family moved to Santa Monica, California when he was eight years old. His acting career began with plays at high school, followed by acting in West Coast, a traveling theater company. Ford was discovered in 1939 by Tom Moore, a talent scout for 20th Century Fox. He subsequently signed a contract with Columbia Pictures the same year. Ford's contract with Columbia marked a significant departure in that studio's successful business model. Columbia's boss, Harry Cohn, had spent decades observing other studios'-most notably Warner Brothers-troubles with their contract stars and had built his poverty-row studio around their loan-outs. Basically, major studios would use Columbia as a penalty box for unruly behavior-usually salary demands or work refusals.

Ford made his official debut in Fox's Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence (1939), and continued working in various small roles throughout the 1940s until his movie career was interrupted to join the Marines in World War II. Ford continued his military career in the Naval Reserve well into the Vietnam War, achieving the rank of captain.

Their careers would roughly parallel each other through the 1940s, until Holden became a superstar through his remarkable association with director Billy Wilder in the 1950s.

After having been a member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary for a year, he joined the Marine Corps during WWII in December of 1942, and subsequently met first wife, tap-dancing extraordinaire Eleanor Powell, at a war-bond cavalcade. They married in 1943.

In 1943 Ford married legendary tap dancer Eleanor Powell, and had one son, Peter Ford. Like many actors returning to Hollywood after the war (including James Stewart and Holden (who had already acquired a serious alcohol problem), he found it initially difficult to regain his career momentum.

Grandfather of Aubrey Newton Ford (b. 1977), Ryan Welsie Ford (b. 1984), and Eleanor Powell Ford (b. 1988), whose parents are Ford's son, Peter Ford (b. 5 February 1945), and his wife, Lynda Gundersen.

He was able to resume his movie career with the help of Bette Davis, who gave him his first postwar break in the 1946 movie A Stolen Life (1946).

However, it was not until his acclaimed performance in a 1946 classic film noir, Gilda (1946), with Rita Hayworth, that he became a major star and one of the the most popular actors of his time.

In 1951 RKO Radio Pictures planned to make a film-noir, to be entitled "The Sins of Sarah Ferry." The story was to be about a Binghamton, NY, courthouse clerk who finds himself falling in love with a beautiful liar who is accused of armed robbery as well as a hit-and-run charge involving a death. The cast was to have included Laraine Day, Fred MacMurray, Yvonne De Carlo, Hugh Beaumont, Glenn Ford, Howard Duff, and Evelyn Keyes, with the studio wanting to shoot on location in Binghamton and neighboring Johnson City. The project never materialized because the plot was considered too much of a generic step-up of Double Indemnity (1944), plus the studio never received a reply via phone or standard mail, from the Binghamton Courthouse, or from the- Mayor Donald Kramer, granting permission to film on location in the area, and to negotiate a fair range of payment. Based on that neglect, the studio canceled the project and moved on.

He has appeared in five films with Rita Hayworth: Affair in Trinidad (1952), The Lady in Question (1940), The Loves of Carmen (1948), The Money Trap (1965) and Gilda (1946).

He scored big with the film noir classics The Big Heat (1953) and Blackboard Jungle (1955), and was usually been cast as a calm and collected everyday-hero, showing courage under pressure.

Credited with being one of the fastest "guns" in Hollywood westerns; able to draw and fire in 0.4 seconds, he was faster than James Arness (Matt Dillon of Gunsmoke (1955)) and John Wayne. However, Peter Breck (Nick Barkley of The Big Valley (1965)) has been credited by Wild Western Magazine as being able to draw and fire in .16 seconds.

Actively campaigned for Adlai Stevenson in the 1956 presidential election, and attended the Democratic National Convention that year.

Ford continued to make many notable films during his prestigious 50-year movie career, but he is best known for his fine westerns such as 3:10 to Yuma (1957) and The Rounders (1965).

Ford pulled a hugely entertaining turn in The Sheepman (1958) and many more fine films.

Mentioned in "The Andy Griffith Show" (1960) {The Bank Job (#3.13)}.

In 1967 Naval Reserve Officer Lt. Cmdr. Ford (then aged 51) volunteered to serve for three months as a liaison officer attached to a Marine unit, with the Marine rank of full colonel, in Vietnam, and on several occasions endured enemy shelling.

According to a biography of Sam Peckinpah, Ford was considered for Robert Ryan's role in The Wild Bunch (1969).

In the 1970s, Ford made his television debut in the controversial The Brotherhood of the Bell (1970) and appeared in two fondly remembered television series: Cade's County (1971) and The Family Holvak (1975).

He was accused of racism after refusing to sit next to Gail Fisher at the Logie Awards in March 1973. He was upset by sentiments expressed by the Australian media and politicians against President Richard Nixon and the Vietnam War and even refused to shake hands with then Labor Senator and Minister for Media Doug McClelland at the Logies ceremony. The biography "Glenn Ford: A Life", written by his son, Peter Ford, states,"Before the end of the trip Prime Minister [Gough] Whitlam was quoted as saying: 'Someone should have put a bucket over Glenn Ford's head.' My father challenged Whitlam to it himself--if he dared." US ambassador Walter Rice felt obliged to offer a formal apology to the nation of Australia.

Proposed to his third wife, Cynthia Ford (nee Cynthia Howard), at Windsor Castle in England in August 1977.

Inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in 1978.

Retired from acting in 1991, at age 75, following heart and circulatory problems.

Awarded the French Legion of Honor Medal (Legion d'Honneur), and appointed to the rank of Knight of the Legion of Honor in 1992, by the French Government for service in World War II. Created to honor extraordinary contributions to the Republic of France, the Legion of Honor is France's highest distinction.

On May 1, 2006, he had a gala 90th birthday celebration at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. There was a showing of a newly-restored print of Gilda (1946) and his son, Peter Ford, hosted the event. Over 700 tickets went on sale and were quickly sold out.

Received a special tribute as part of the Annual Memorial tribute at The 79th Annual Academy Awards (2007).