John Ford

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other persons named John Ford, see John Ford (disambiguation).

John Ford (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973) was an American film director famous for westerns as Stagecoach and The Searchers and adaptations of such classic 20th century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath. His four Academy Awards for Best Director (1935, 1940, 1941, 1952) are unmatched. His style of film-making has been tremendously influential, leading colleagues such as Ingmar Bergman and Orson Welles to name him one of the greatest directors of all time; when asked where he learned the craft of film-making, Welles famously replied, "the old masters, by which I mean John Ford, John Ford and John Ford." Ford has further influenced directors as diverse as Akira Kurosawa, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Sam Peckinpah, Sergio Leone and Jean-Luc Godard.

John Ford
John Ford's Point in Monument Valley
Born 1 February 1894
Cape Elizabeth, Maine, USA
Died 31 August 1973
Palm Desert, California, USA

Contents

[edit] From Feeney to Ford

He was born John Martin Feeney (though he later often gave his given names as Sean Aloysius, sometimes with surname O'Feeny or O'Fearna) in Cape Elizabeth, Maine to John Augustine Feeney and Barbara (Abbey) Curran, both of whom were born in Spiddal [1], County Galway, Ireland in 1856.

John A. Feeney's grandmother, Barbara Morris, was said to be a member of a local (impoverished) gentry family, the Morrises of Spiddal, headed at present by Lord Killanin.

John Augustine and Barbara Feeney arrived in Boston and Portland respectively within a few days of each other in May and June 1872, were married in 1875, and became American citizens three years later. They had eleven children: Mamie (Mary Agnes), born 1876; Delia (Edith), 1878-1881; Patrick; Francis Ford, 1881-1953; Bridget, 1883-1884; Barbara, born and died 1888; Edward, born 1889; Josephine, born 1891; Hannah (Johanna), born and died 1892; John Martin, 1894-1973; and Daniel, born and died 1896.

Feeney attended Portland High School in Portland, where the auditorium is named after him.

Many of his films contain direct and indirect references to his Irish and Gaelic heritage. His family referred to him as Sean.

Feeney began acting in 1914, taking "Jack Ford" as a stage name. In addition to credited roles, he appeared uncredited as a Klansman in D.W. Griffith's 1915 classic, The Birth of a Nation, as the man who lifts up one side of his hood so he can see clearly.

He married Mary McBryde Smith, on July 3, 1920 (two children). Ford never divorced his wife, but had a five-year affair with Katharine Hepburn after they met during the filming of Mary of Scotland (1936). The longer revised version of Directed by John Ford shown on Turner Classic Movies in November, 2006 features directors Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, and Martin Scorsese, who suggest that the string of classic films Ford directed 1936-1941 was due in part to his affair with Hepburn.

[edit] Director

In 1921, Ford turned to directing, beginning as an assistant to Lois Weber. During the 1920s, he served as president of the Motion Picture Directors Association, a forerunner to today's Directors Guild of America.

Over 35 years John Wayne appeared in more than twenty of Ford's films, including Stagecoach (1939), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), The Quiet Man (1952), The Searchers (1956), The Wings of Eagles (1957), and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962).

Ford's favorite location for his films was Utah's Monument Valley. Ford defined images of the American West with some of the most beautiful and powerful cinematography ever shot, in such films as Stagecoach, The Searchers, Fort Apache, and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.

His good friend Merian C. Cooper, the director of King Kong (1933), produced several of Ford's most admired films.

[edit] Navy career and subsequent work

During World War II Commander John Ford, USNR, served in the United States Navy and made documentaries for the Navy Department. He won two more Academy Awards during this time, one for The Battle of Midway (1942), and a second for acclaimed documentary December 7th (1943) ([2]). For more information on his military contributions check the Naval Historical Center link below.

Ford was present on Omaha Beach on D-Day. As head of the photographic unit for the Office of Strategic Services, he crossed the English Channel on the USS Plunket, anchored off Omaha Beach at 0600. He observed the first wave land on the beach from the ship, landing on the beach himself later with a team of US Coast Guard cameraman who filmed the battle from behind the beach obstacles, with Ford directing operations. The film was edited in London, but very little was released to the public. Ford explained in a 1964 interview [3] that the US Government was "afraid to show so many American casualties on the screen", adding that all of the D-Day film "still exists in color in storage in Anacostia near Washington, DC". Thirty years later, historian Stephen E. Ambrose reported that the Eisenhower Center had been unable to find the film [4].

In 1955, Ford was tapped to direct the classic Navy comedy Mister Roberts, starring Henry Fonda, Jack Lemmon, William Powell, and James Cagney. However, Mervyn LeRoy replaced Ford during filming when he suffered a ruptured gallbladder.

Ford cast Ward Bond as John Dodge, a character based on Ford himself, in the 1957 movie The Wings of Eagles, again starring his good friends John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara.

On Sunday evenings the "good ol' boys club" met at the John Ford Ranch in the San Fernando Valley. John Ford and John Wayne (whom Ford used to kid about having decided not to fight in World War II), would be at the Ranch, together with Ben Johnson, Chill Wills, Ward Bond, Grant Withers, Harry Carey, Jr., Ken Curtis, Victor McLaglen, Francis Ford and many of the other supporting actors who were usually in all of Wayne's pictures. Sometimes Lee Marvin would show up. This group was often known as "The John Ford Stock Company."

Ford died in Palm Desert, California, aged 79 from stomach cancer. He was interred in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California. A statue of Ford in Portland, Maine depicts him sitting in a director's chair.

[edit] Awards

Ford won four Academy Awards as Best Director for The Informer (1935), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), and The Quiet Man (1952) - none of them Westerns (also starring in the last two was Maureen O'Hara, "his favorite actress"). He was also nominated as Best Director for Stagecoach (1939). Ford is the only director to have won four Best Director Academy Awards: both William Wyler and Frank Capra won the award three times.

As a producer he received nominations for Best Picture for The Quiet Man and The Long Voyage Home.

He was the first recipient of the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award in 1973.

[edit] Politics

Despite his association with conservative actors John Wayne, James Stewart and Ward Bond, Time Magazine editor Whittaker Chambers wrote a harsh review of The Grapes of Wrath claiming it was left-wing propaganda.

Ford's attitude to McCarthyism in Hollywood is expressed by a story told by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. A faction of the Director's Guild of America led by Cecil B. DeMille had tried to make it mandatory for every member to sign a loyalty oath. A whispering campaign was being conducted against Mankiewicz, then President of the Guild, alleging he had communist sympathies. At a crucial meeting of the Guild, DeMille's faction spoke for four hours until Ford spoke against DeMille and proposed a vote of confidence in Mankiewicz, which was passed. According to Mankiewicz, Ford's words were:

"My name's John Ford. I make Westerns. I don't think there's anyone in this room who knows more about what the American public wants than Cecil B. DeMille - and he certainly knows how to give it to them. But I don't like you, C.B., and I don't like what you've been saying here tonight." [5]

Preceded by
Frank Capra
for It Happened One Night		 Academy Award for Best Director
1935
for The Informer		 Succeeded by
Frank Capra
for Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Preceded by
Victor Fleming
for Gone with the Wind		 Academy Award for Best Director
1940
for The Grapes of Wrath
1941
for How Green Was My Valley		 Succeeded by
William Wyler
for Mrs. Miniver
Preceded by
George Stevens
for A Place in the Sun		 Academy Award for Best Director
1952
for The Quiet Man		 Succeeded by
Fred Zinnemann
for From Here to Eternity

[edit] Notes

↑  Probably better known at the time by its Irish name An Spidéal.

↑  1964 interview with American Legion Magazine.

↑  See Stephen E. Ambrose's book D-Day (1994 ISBN 0-671-67334-3) pp395-7 in Touchstone 1995 paperback edition.

↑  Peter Bogdanovich, John Ford (1978 revised edition) pp18-19.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Silent films

As Jack Ford: All films were made by Universal Studios unless otherwise noted.

  • The Tornado (1917)
  • The Scrapper (1917)
  • The Soul Herder (1917)
  • Cheyenne's Pal (1917)
  • Straight Shooting (1917)
  • The Secret Man (1917)
  • A Marked Man (1917)
  • Bucking Broadway (1917)
  • The Phantom Riders (1918)
  • Wild Women (1918)
  • Thieves' Gold (1918)
  • The Scarlet Drop (1918)
  • Hell Bent (1918)
  • A Woman's Fool (1918)
  • Three Mounted Men (1918)
  • Roped (1919)
  • The Fighting Brothers (1919)
  • A fight for love (1919)
  • By Indian Post (1919)
  • The Rustlers (1919)
  • Bare Fists (1919)
  • Gun Law (1919)
  • The Gun Packer (1919)
  • Riders of Vengeance (1919)
  • The Last Outlaw (1919)
  • The Outcasts of Poker Flat (1919)
  • The Ace of the Saddle (1919)
  • The Rider of the Law (1919)
  • A Gun Fightin' Gentleman(1919)
  • Marked Men (1919)
  • The Prince of Avenue(1920)
  • The Girl in No. 29 (1920)
  • Hitchin' Posts (1920)
  • Just Pals (1920), Fox-20th Century
  • The Big Punch (1920), Fox-20th Century
  • The Freeze Out (1921)
  • The wallop (1921)
  • Desperate Trails (1921)
  • Action (1921)
  • Sure Fire (1921)

At this point he moves to Fox

  • Jackie (1921)

As John Ford:

  • Hoodman Blind (1923)
  • The Iron Horse (1924)
  • Kentucky Pride (1925)
  • 3 Bad Men (1926)
  • Upstream (1927)

[edit] Sound films

[edit] Documentaries and shorts

  • Napoleon's Barber (1928, short sound film)
  • Sex Hygiene (1942, documentary)
  • The Battle of Midway (1942, documentary)
  • We Sail at Midnight (1943, documentary)
  • December 7th (1943, documentary)
  • This is Korea! (1951, documentary)
  • Korea (1959, documentary)
  • Vietnam! Vietnam! (1971, documentary)
  • Chesty: A Tribute to a Legend (1976, documentary)

[edit] Documentaries About Ford

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Biographies

  • John Ford by Peter Bogdanovich, revised edition, Universty of California Press, 1978
  • John Ford by Andrew Sinclair, 1979.
  • The Unquiet Man: The Life of John Ford by Dan Ford, 1982.
  • Print the Legend by Scott Eyman, 1999.
  • Searching for John Ford: A Life by Joseph McBride, 2001.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../j/o/h/John_Ford_b3d3.html"