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Intro:
Today Glenn Ford resides with son Peter (the veteran
actor's only child) and his family in Beverly Hills, California. We at
Wildest Westerns worked on the following questions with Mr. Ford
over a period of months. Mr. Ford is now 89 years old, and for his
age, his health is good; however, his recall, according to Peter, is not
as thorough as it once was. Therefore, when applicable, special notes
provided by Peter have been placed in parentheses at the end of some of
his father's answers (denoted as "Peter's Notes") to give our readers
some additional background information. These notes are based on Glenn
Ford's past in-person recollections, as well as on information extracted
from Mr. Ford' letters, diaries, cassette tapes and scrapbooks in the
Glenn Ford Library and Archives files.
Wildest Westerns:
Who were your heroes growing up, Western stars or otherwise?
GLENN FORD: My heroes were my father and Will Rogers.
WW: Did you
ever meet Will Rogers?
GF: I worked for Mr. Rogers after school grooming his horses at
his ranch and that's where I rode my first horse.
WW: Was he your
inspiration to become an actor?
GF: I used to watch the polo matches [at Mr. Rogers' ranch] and I
saw Darryl Zanuck, Clark Gable and many of the Hollywood crowd on those
occasions. I dreamed one day I might be and actor, but my aspirations
were to act on stage. I suppose I looked up to anyone working on stage
or in the movies when I was a youngster, and I dreamed about meeting
them in person one day.
WW: And your father?
GF: My dad was my hero. He was larger than life to me.
Sadly, he died in 1940 when I first started in films, but I think he
knew Mom and I would be okay because I was making my fifth picture
(Babies for Sale) at the time.
WW: And your parents were
originally from...
GF: My father and mother came to California in 1922 from Canada.
My dad worked for the Canadian Pacific Railroad, but here in California
he drove the tram on the boardwalk in Venice. On the weekends and when I
wasn't in school, I helped him. He worked hard and was a proud man who
devoted himself to his family.
[Peter's Notes: In an entry from my father's diary on
9/18/34 (He was 17 years old.), he says that he had pin-up photos of
Alice Faye and Claudette Colbert at the head of his bed in his bedroom.
Perhaps they weren't "heroes" but certainly persons of interest to a
young aspiring actor!]
WW: You had a long
stretch at Columbia Pictures. How did you come to be put under contract
there?
GF: I had completed Heaven with a Barded Wire Fence for 205h
Century Fox at the end of June 1939 on an initial two-week contract that
ended up being extended to six weeks. The very same Daryll Zanuck who I
first saw at Will Rogers' Ranch when I was a stable boy became my boss.
I had done many stage plays by this time but I didn't think I wanted to
be in films.........
This link goes to the only web site fully
sanctioned by the Ford family.
http://www.glennfordbio.com
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