Northern Light Glenn Ford, Dead at age 90

Glenn Ford

From www.news.bbc.co.uk

Gwyllyn Samuel Newton might be called the anti-star. He didn't hang out with the gang in Hollywood watering holes. He never quarreled with directors or studio bosses. His name was never sullied by scandal. He did his acting job and went on to the next one.

Better known by his stage name, derived from his birth place Glenn Ford died aged 90 at his home in Beverly Hills. The actor, who appeared in hits like Gilda, The Big Heat and Midway, was found dead by paramedics. His health had been failing for some time.

Born in the town of Glenford in his native Canada, Ford moved to California as a child and joined Columbia Pictures in 1939, with a part in "Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence".His career peaked when he won a Golden Globe for best actor for Capra's "Pocketful of Miracles" in 1961. He was earlier nominated in the same category for "The Teahouse of the August Moon," made in 1956.

During a 53-year Hollywood career, he featured in more than 100 films from romance to comedy, often portraying the tough, introspective hero. He never won an Academy Award. He never earned the big bucks that stars of his stature enjoyed. Yet for 52 years Glenn Ford remained an in-demand actor whose name above the title could attract movie ticket buyers.

Early in his career, Ford turned out a film every five days from Columbia Pictures' B-unit. His career contrasts with that of his (mostly) friendly rival at Columbia studio, William Holden. Both were put under contract by Columbia boss Harry Cohn in the pre-World War II period. Both vied for good roles; sometimes they co-starred, as rivals in such films as "Texas" and "The Man from Colorado."

Ford was sedate, Holden was a roisterer, noted for his boozing and romancing. Holden once bragged to Robert Mitchum that he had bedded every one of his leading ladies.

Holden won the Oscar for "Stalag 17" and was nominated for "Sunset Boulevard" and "Network." He died in 1981 during a drinking binge. He was 63. Ford continued working until 1991 when a series of strokes overcame him.

Volenteer service in the Marines during World War II interrupted his fledgling career, but only briefly. His interest in the military continued as, during both the Korean War and the Vietnam War, Ford took the time to make goodwill visits to the American troops.

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! and Westerns such as The Fastest Gun Alive, 3:10 to Yuma, Cowboy and Cimarron.

Ford established himself as a leading Hollywood star and formed an electric on-screen partnership with Rita Hayworth, which lasted for six films.

Ford and Hayworth in 'Gilda'

His acting talents ranged from romance to comedy, with famous credits like Superman, The Sheepman, The Gazebo and Don't Go Near the Water.

In addition to the previously mentioned Rita Hayworth and William Holden, his co-stars included Hollywood greats such as Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, 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.

An action man both on and off screen, he later took up hang-gliding at the age of 64 and got married for the fourth time at 76.

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.

Failing health meant Ford missed a 90th birthday tribute on May 1st at Hollywood's Grauman's Egyptian Theatre.

But he did send greetings via video, saying: "I wish I were up and around, but I'm doing the best that I can. There's so much I have to be grateful for."

At the event, Shirley Jones, who co-starred with him in the comedy The Courtship of Eddie's Father, called Ford "one of the cornerstones of our industry, and there aren't many left."

During interviews with this reporter over the years, Ford revealed some of the factors contributing to his longevity.

"I've always been of the opinion that motion pictures talk too much," he remarked in 1975. "When I see films that go on and on with dialogue, I feel like telling the actors, `Be quiet! Let the audience do some of the work.' It's much better to let the audience use their imaginations than to tell them everything.

"Some actors count their lines as soon as they receive a script. I'm the opposite. I try to see how many lines I can whittle down. I tell producers and directors, `Do me a favor and trim that speech to four lines.' You can say just as much in four as you can in fourteen."

In the era after WWII, stars like Kirk Douglas and John Wayne formed their own production companies. Ford tried it once, with "Pocketful of Miracles," Frank Capra's remake of his hit "Lady for a Day."

That was Ford's last venture as producer. He reasoned, "Hell, no actor is going to tell Frank Capra how to make a picture. He had forgotten more about movie making than most directors know."

Ford said in 1960 that he preferred to work for major studios than independent producers. His reasoning:

"I've had a lot of (independent) guys tell me I can earn a million dollars by making a picture with them. Of course, the script isn't quite right, and they won't spend much money on the picture. It doesn't take many of those before you're washed up."

"It comes to mind instantly what a remarkable actor he was," actor Sidney Poitier, who starred in "The Blackboard Jungle" with Ford, said Wednesday evening. "He had those magical qualities that are intangible but are quite impactful on the screen. He was a movie star."

That was no worry for Glenn Ford. He was a star to the end of his career.

Glenn Ford links,
Glenn Ford at the Internet Movie Database
Glenn Ford biography at Northern Stars

Later,
Kenaz