In Memory of Actor Glenn Ford: 18 Years After His Tragic Death at 90 Following a Series of Strokes

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It's been nearly two decades since actor Glenn Ford died at 90 in 2006 following a series of strokes a few years before. Best known for classic feature films such as The Blackboard Jungle, Gilda, and The Big Heat, Ford also appeared on 1970s TV shows like Cade's County, and The Family Holvak. This is his story.

A Closer Look

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. When he was only 8 years old, Ford's family moved to Santa Monica, California where began acting in high school plays, and later, the West Coast traveling theater troupe.

In 1939, Ford was discovered by Tom Moore, a talent scout for 20th Century Fox. That same year, he signed a contract with Columbia Pictures.

Ford went on to make scores of feature films, including several notable Westerns such as Cowboy, The Rounders, The Fastest Gun Alive, and more. A diverse talent, the actor also appeared in many acclaimed melodramas including A Stolen Life, and romantic comedies like The Courtship of Eddie's Father.

That latter was a 1963 feature film that led to the 1969-1972 ABC TV series of the same name starring Bill Bixby.

Soon following, Ford himself transitioned to the small screen with somewhat less success in short-lived TV shows such as Cade's County (playing a smalltown lawman) The Family Holvak (as a pioneering preacher), and in TV-movies including Once an Eagle and When Havoc Struck.

The Big Screen Gems

However, it was Glenn Ford's feature films that made him a star. Namely, in 1953 with The Big Heat, an edgy crime story in which he was cast as a police detective, and in the heralded 1955 movie, The Blackboard Jungle.

In The Blackboard Jungle, Ford played a young, soft-spoken teacher in a slum school who inspires a class full of juvenile delinquents to care about life.

Personally Speaking

In 1943, Glenn Ford wed actress-dancer Eleanor Powell, with whom he had a son named Peter. The couple divorced in 1959 and, in 1965, Ford married actress Kathryn Hays, which swiftly ended. In 1977, he tried the matrimony route once more, this time with model Cynthia Hayward, 32 years his junior. But that didn't work either; they divorced in 1984.

Conclusion

Glenn Ford may not have always succeeded in love and marriage, but in the movies, he was a superstar with countless praised performances.