JOHN FORD

'John Ford' (February 1 1894 – August 31 1973) was an American film director famous for both his westerns such as ''Stagecoach'' and ''The Searchers'' and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as ''The Grapes of Wrath''. His win of four Best Director Academy Awards (1935, 1940, 1941, 1952) is a record till today unmatched, although only one of those films, ''How Green Was My Valley'', won Best Picture.
His style of film-making has been tremendously influential, leading colleagues such as Ingmar Bergman and Orson Welles to name him as one of the greatest directors of all time. In particular, Ford is a pioneer of location shooting and the extreme long shot which frames his characters against a vast, harsh and rugged natural terrain. Ford has further influenced directors as diverse as Akira Kurosawa, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Sam Peckinpah, Peter Bogdanovich, Sergio Leone, and Jean-Luc Godard.

Contents

From Feeney to Ford

Director

Navy career and subsequent work

Awards

Politics

Filmography

Silent films

Sound films

Documentaries and shorts

Documentaries about Ford

See also

References

Other sources

External links

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 Seán.
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.

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 in southern 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'', while the influence on the films of classic Western artists such as Frederic Remington and others has been examined.^[2]
His good friend Merian C. Cooper, the director of King Kong (1933), produced several of Ford's most admired films.

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 semi-documentary ''The Battle of Midway'' (1942), and a second for the propaganda film ''December 7'' (1943) ^[3].
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 cameramen 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 ^[4] 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.^[5]. After the war, Ford became a Rear Admiral in the United States Navy Reserve.
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.
Ford used many of the same actors repeatedly in his films, far more so than many directors. John Wayne, Ben Johnson, Chill Wills, Ward Bond, Grant Withers, Harry Carey, Jr., Ken Curtis, Victor McLaglen, Woody Strode, Francis Ford, Hank Worden, John Qualen, Arthur Shields, John Carradine, and Carleton Young were among this group, informally 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.

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.

Politics

Ford's politics were conventionally progressive as his favorite presidents were Democrats FDR and JFK and Republican Abraham Lincoln^[6] But despite these leanings, many thought he was a right-wing Republican because of his long association with actors John Wayne, James Stewart and Ward Bond. ''Time Magazine'' editor Whittaker Chambers wrote a harsh review of ''The Grapes of Wrath'' as a left-wing propaganda assuming Steinbeck, the author, and Ford to be of that political stripe.
Ford's attitude to McCarthyism in Hollywood is expressed by a story told by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. A faction of the Directors 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."

Filmography

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 Films ★ '' The Big Punch'' (1920), Fox Films ★ '' The Freeze Out'' (1921) ★ '' The wallop'' (1921) ★ '' Desperate Trails'' (1921) ★ '' Action'' (1921) ★ '' Sure Fire'' (1921) At this point he moved to Fox Films ★ '' Jackie'' (1921)

'As John Ford:'

★ ''Hoodman Blind'' (1923) ★ ''The Iron Horse'' (1924) ★ ''Kentucky Pride'' (1925)

★ ''3 Bad Men'' (1926) ★ ''Upstream'' (1927) ★ ''Hangman's House'' (1928), producer & director (uncredited)

All but around 10 of his silent films are lost, although ''Bucking Broadway'' was rediscovered in 2002.

Sound films

★ ''Mother Machree'' (1928), part sound ★ ''Four Sons'' (1928), part sound ★ ''Riley the Cop'' (1928) ★ ''Strong Boy'' (1929) ★ ''The Black Watch'' (1929) ★ ''Salute'' (1929) ★ ''Men Without Women'' (1930) ★ ''Born Reckless'' (1930) ★ ''Up the River'' (1930) ★ ''The Brat'' (1931) ★ ''Arrowsmith'' (1931) ★ ''Airmail'' (1932) ★ ''Flesh'' (1932) ★ ''Pilgrimage'' (1933) ★ ''Doctor Bull'' (1933) ★ ''The Lost Patrol'' (1934) ★ ''The World Moves On'' (1934) ★ ''Judge Priest'' (1934) ★ ''The Whole Town's Talking'' (1935) ★ ''The Informer'' (1935) ★ ''Steamboat Round the Bend'' (1935) ★ ''The Prisoner of Shark Island'' (1936) ★ ''Mary of Scotland'' (1936) ★ ''The Plough and the Stars'' (1936) ★ ''Wee Willie Winkie'' (1937) ★ ''Four Men and a Prayer'' (1938) ★ ''The Hurricane'' (1937) ★ ''Submarine Patrol'' (1938) ★ ''Stagecoach'' (1939) ★ ''Young Mr. Lincoln'' (1939) ★ ''Drums Along the Mohawk'' (1939) ★ ''The Grapes of Wrath'' (1940) ★ ''The Long Voyage Home'' (1940)

★ ''Tobacco Road'' (1941) ★ ''How Green Was My Valley'' (1941) ★ ''They Were Expendable'' (1945) ★ ''My Darling Clementine'' (1946) ★ ''The Fugitive'' (1947) ★ ''Fort Apache'' (1948) ★ ''3 Godfathers'' (1948) ★ ''Pinky'' (1949, uncredited) ★ ''She Wore a Yellow Ribbon'' (1949) ★ ''Wagon Master'' (1950) ★ ''Rio Grande'' (1950) ★ ''When Willie Comes Marching Home'' (1950) ★ ''The Quiet Man'' (1952) ★ ''What Price Glory?'' (1952) ★ ''The Sun Shines Bright'' (1953) ★ ''Mogambo'' (1953) ★ ''The Long Gray Line'' (1955) ★ ''Mister Roberts'' (1955, replaced by Mervyn LeRoy) ★ ''The Bamboo Cross'' (1955), made for TV ★ ''The Searchers'' (1956) ★ ''The Wings of Eagles'' (1957) ★ ''The Rising of the Moon'' (1957) ★ ''The Last Hurrah'' (1958) ★ ''Gideon of Scotland Yard'' (1958) (UK: Gideon's Day (film)) ★ ''The Horse Soldiers'' (1959) ★ ''Sergeant Rutledge'' (1960) ★ ''The Alamo'' (1960, some 2nd unit work) ★ ''Two Rode Together'' (1961) ★ ''The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance'' (1962) ★ ''How the West Was Won'' (1962), The Civil War segment ★ ''Donovan's Reef'' (1963) ★ ''Cheyenne Autumn'' (1964) ★ ''7 Women'' (1966)

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 7'' (1943, documentary)

★ ''This is Korea!'' (1951, documentary) ★ ''Korea'' (1959, documentary) ★ ''Vietnam! Vietnam!'' (1971, documentary) ★ '' (1976, documentary)

Documentaries about Ford

★ ''Directed by John Ford'' (1971) directed by Peter Bogdanovich and narrated by Orson Welles

★ ''Directed by John Ford'' (2006) restored longer version which premiered on Turner Classic Movies on 7 November 2006

See also

★ Notable figures in Western films

★ List of film collaborations

References

1. Probably better known at the time by its Irish name ''.
2. Peter Cowie, see below
3. IMDb entry. For more information on his military contributions check the Naval Historical Center link below
4. Pete Martin, "We Shot D-Day on Omaha Beach (An Interview With John Ford), ''The American Legion Magazine'', June 1964, as it appears in thefilmjournal.com
5. Stephen E. Ambrose, ''D-Day'', Touchstone (paperback), 1994, pp 395-397 ISBN 0-671-67334-3
6. Peter Bogdanovich, ''John Ford'', See below, pp 18-19.

Other sources

★ Bogdanovich, Peter, ''John Ford'', Berkeley, Calif: University of California Press, revised 1978

★ Cowie, Peter, ''John Ford and the American West'', Harry Abrams Inc., New York, 2004

★ Eyman, Scott, ''Print the Legend'', 1999.

★ Ford, Dan, ''The Unquiet Man: The Life of John Ford'', 1982.

★ Gallagher, Tag, ''John Ford: The Man and His Films'', 1985.

★ Mitry, Jean, ''John Ford'', 1954.

★ McBride, Joseph, ''Searching for John Ford: A Life'', 2001.

★ Rollet, Patrice and Nicolas Saada, ''John Ford'', 1990.

★ Sinclair, Andrew, ''John Ford'', 1979.

External links

★

★ Ford biography at Yahoo! Movies

★ Tag Gallagher, "Ford Till '47", senses of cinema.com

★ Richard Franklin, "John Ford", senses of cinema.com

★ Ford biography with film poster illustration on reelclassics.com

★ Biography of Rear Admiral John Ford, US Naval Reserve, at Naval Historical Center, pub. Navy Department Library.

★ "Oral History - Battle of Midway:Recollections of Commander John Ford" from Naval Historical Center

★ Bibliography from film.virtual-history.com

★ "John Ford" on theyshootpictures.com

★ John Ford document collection @ the Edmonton Public Library