Name: John Ford
Date of Birth: 1 February 1894 There was a group of actors, known informally as the John Ford Stock Company (John Wayne, Harry Carey, John Carradine, Henry Fonda, etc.) that turned up regularly in Ford's films. They knew how to work with Ford and each other, which suited Ford's directing style: "I tell the actors what I want and they give it to me, usually on the first take.". Father of Barbara Ford, grandfather of Dan Ford. John Wayne called him by the nickname "Coach." 1973: First recipient of the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award. ... Brother of actor-director Francis Ford. Supporting members of Ford's "Stock Company" include Ward Bond, Ken Curtis, Jane Darwell, Francis Ford, Ben Johnson, Victor McLaglen, Mae Marsh, Mildred Natwick, John Qualen, Woody Strode, Tom Tyler, and Patrick Wayne. The character "John Dodge" in Ford's movie The Wings of Eagles (1957) is a spoof of Ford. Ford often used members of his family (including his two brothers, Francis Ford and Edward O'Fearna) in his films, but only in subordinate roles. Patrick Ford recalled, "My conversations with him, as his only son -- that I know of -- were always 'Yessir', until one day I said 'no sir', and then I was no longer around. Our family life was pretty much that of a ship master and his crew, or a wagon master and his people. He gave the orders, and we carried them out". His tombstone is marked 'Admiral John Ford'. Served as actress Anna Massey's Godfather John Wayne called him by the nickname "Pappy." He has referred to English director Brian Desmond Hurst as his "cousin". He was an infamously prickly personality, having constantly mocked John Wayne as a "big idiot" and having punched an unsuspecting Henry Fonda during the shooting of Mister Roberts (1955). Was voted the 3rd Greatest Director of all time by Entertainment Weekly, right after Orson Welles, who himself considered Ford to be the best director of all time. Embarrassed Jean-Luc Godard, then a young journalist for "Les Cahiers du Cinema", during an interview. When Godard asked the famous question, "What Brought you to Hollywood?" Ford replied, "A train". Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890- 1945". Pages 360-369. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987. May be the most influential director of sound films on other directors. Many of the greatest directors of all time point directly to him as their favorite or one of their favorite filmmakers: Orson Welles, Akira Kurosawa, Sergio Leone (and his own star, Clint Eastwood), Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Bernardo Bertolucci and many members of the French New Wave or their disciples, from Jean-Luc Godard to François Truffaut. His apparently madcap affair with Katharine Hepburn, when both were married, inspired his friend Dudley Nichols to write the script for Bringing Up Baby (1938). When (after Hepburn broke off her relationship with Ford) she began her lifelong affair with Spencer Tracy, Ford was allegedly incensed and, after the two had had a fruitful collaboration early on in their careers, he neither spoke with or worked with Tracy for about 20 years. When his western Hell Bent (1918) for Universal was released, "Motion Picture News" praised Ford's direction, writing, "Few directors put such sustained punch in their pictures as does this Mr. Ford." It was the ninth in a series of films featuring Harry Carey as "Cheyenne Harry," who was more of a saddle tramp than a conventional western hero. While John Ford is the director's "Hollywood" name, and his American birth name is John Feeney, his Irish name was Sean Aloysius O'Fearna. Allegedly his parents referred to him as 'Sean' Directed 10 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Victor McLaglen, Thomas Mitchell, Edna May Oliver, Jane Darwell, Henry Fonda, Donald Crisp, Sara Allgood, Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly and Jack Lemmon. McLaglen, Mitchell, Darwell, Crisp and Lemmon won Oscar for one of their roles in one of Fords movies. 1973: Received a Presidential Medal of Freedom from Richard Nixon. Is portrayed by Jerome Ehlers in Child Star: The Shirley Temple Story (2001) (TV) Prior to making The Searchers (1956), Ford entered the hospital for the removal of cataracts. While recuperating after the surgery, he became impatient with the bandages covering his eyes and tore them off earlier than his doctors told him to. The result of that rash action was that Ford suffered a total loss of sight in one eye, which is how he came to wear his famous eyepatch. Has won more directing Oscars than any other director: four, for The Informer (1935), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), and The Quiet Man (1952). He also won an Oscar for Best Documentary, Short Subject for The Battle of Midway (1942) and an Oscar for Best Documentary for December 7th (1943). Because his friends and colleagues John Wayne, James Stewart and Ward Bond were conservative Republicans, many assumed that Ford was as well. According to his friends, family, and workers, nothing could be further from the truth, as he was an activist liberal Democrat. His favorite Presidents were Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy. Ford once went up to the right-wing Victor McLaglen and Wayne on a film set and said, "You know, all of you guys should stop complaining. You made your money under Roosevelt." Wayne, who hated Roosevelt, said nothing and changed the subject. His respect for Ford meant that politics were rarely discussed. Ford was disgusted by John Wayne's refusal to enlist in 1941. When Ford filmed They Were Expendable (1945) after World War II he included every actor's former military rank and branch (Ford himself was a Navy officer and combat photographer). Of course, there were no credentials behind Wayne's name, which the actor took as a real slap. Was the first director to win back-to-back Best Director Oscars (having won in 1941 and 1942). Enlisted in the US Naval Reserve in 1934, commissioned as a lieutenant commander. He served on reserve and active status until 1951, when Captain John Ford was retired with the honorary rank of rear admiral. A young would-be director once came to him for advice, and Ford pointed out two landscape photographs in his office. One had the horizon at the top of the picture, and the other had it at the bottom of the picture. Ford said "when you know why the horizon goes at the top of the frame or the bottom of a frame, then you're a director," and threw the kid out of his office. The would-be director was Steven Spielberg. Was a character in "Short Letter, Long Farewell," a 1974 novel by the innovative Austrian writer and filmmaker Peter Handke. Rarely shot a scene with more than two takes per shot. Profiled in "Through a Catholic Lens: Religious Perspectives of 19 Film Directors from Around the World", ed. by Peter Malone. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2007. President Richard Nixon and California Governor Ronald Reagan were present at the dinner at which Ford received the first American Film Institute dinner Lifetime Achievement Award. President Nixon presented Ford with the Presidential Medal of Freedom and declared that, as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, he was promoting Rear Admiral John Ford to full admiral for the remainder of the night. (It was 10:37 PM on the night of March 31, 1973 when Nixon began speaking.) After the President's remarks, Ford responded with his own speech: "Thank you, sir. As [former POW] Captain Jeremiah Denton said -- I hope I get through with this; I am about ready to bust out in crying -- as Captain Denton said as he set foot for the first time in many years on continental American soil, 'I am stunned and bewildered at this reception.' He ended with 'God bless America.' I quote his words with feeling. There are some people in this world who don't think that we movie folks have any religion, but a glance around this distinguished audience is living refutation of that nonsense. In a recent telephone conversation with the President, he said, 'What is your reaction to the prisoners coming home?' I said, 'Frankly, sir, I broke down and blubbered and cried like a baby. Then I reached for my rosary and said a few decades of the beads, and I uttered a short fervent prayer, not an original prayer, but one spoken in millions of American homes today. It is a simple prayer, simply, God bless Richard Nixon.'". His granddaughter Carolina Liechtenstein is an independent film producer in California. John Wayne gave the eulogy at his funeral. In the 5th edition of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (edited by Steven Jay Schneider), 9 of his films are listed: Judge Priest (1934), Stagecoach (1939), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), My Darling Clementine (1946), Rio Grande (1950), The Quiet Man (1952), The Searchers (1956) and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). His filmmaking experience proved valuable in the Navy during World War II. He photographed the attack on Omaha Beach on D-Day for the OSS. Read more John Ford movies (actor)John Ford movies (director)
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