http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Movies/08/30/glenn.ford.dead.ap/index.html
A very talented actor and Marine Corps veteran, perhaps best known to modern audiences as Clark Kent’s dad in the 1978 movie “Superman” and as the young teacher in “Blackboard Jungle.” Rest in peace.
I watched Jubal (with Rod Steiger and Ernest Borgnine) again the other night for the first time in decades. I saw that as a kid and liked it almost as much as Shane (which it resembled in several ways). It startled me to realize that both Ford and Borgnine were still alive.
Either that night or the next TCM had Gilda on and I watched a few minutes of that before deciding it just didn’t hold up well enough to continue.
I believe my favorite role of his was in Cowboy with Jack Lemmon.
Not a great actor but always exciting, especially in his westerns. I like the way he rode a horse.
RIP
Blasphemy! Blasphemy! Even absent the rest of the film, the moment of Rita Hayworth’s first appearance from the bottom of the frame is an immortal film moment.
*Pocketful of Miracles * is my favorite. I was just thinking about him the other day. I also loved The Ben Hogan Story.
I think the NY Times headline summed it up best. They just called him Glenn Ford, Leading Man. He did just about everything an actor had to do in the '50s, and that included noir, war, cop, and light comedy pics in addition to the steady diet of oaters.
He was also a damn fine V/O narrator, as evidenced by the cult classic documentary A Day Called X, a story of 1957 Portland, Oregon, and its plans for atomic attack.
Not sure if this is apocryphal or not, but I love telling it, and applying it to all sorts of advice for me to change my style:
When he was asked by a director on some film to speed his delivery of a line, Ford supposedly said, “I’ve only got one other speed, and it’s slower.”
Alas, now laughter rings in the halls of the Beta Epsilon Lambda. The Brotherhood wins again.
How could they tell he was dead? Certainly not from his acting or they’d’ve buried him before his first movie. No great talent plus no charisma whatsoever equals no star power. How he got hired in the first place is beyond me and how he continued to get work is unfathomable, unless it was because he was a nice guy who showed up on time with his lines memorized and didn’t cause any trouble. I suppose that would be enough of a relief for directors to keep the guy working.
In the movies I saw him in, his low-key style always seemed to fit the role. I liked him.
But I gotta admit, when I saw the OP, I thought this must be a zombie thread.
I heard the same sort of story about Bob Newhart. Some directory told him he needed to speed it up, and he responded, “This stammer paid for a house in Beverly Hills. If you want me to finish the line quicker, take out some words.”
Again, could also be apocryphal.
Huh?
Please.
Please- won’t someone get it?
Has no one seen his movie THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE BELL?
dropzone- too funny! your post should be printed under the headlines announcing his death.
I too echo the surprise that he was still alive. I also wonder how great a classic noir like The Big Heat would have been with an actor with range and/or a personality in his role.
Did the ladies love him? Was he frequently featured on whatever the 1950’s precursor to Tiger Beat was? That’s the only other reason I can think of for his career longevitiy, other than what dropzone mentioned. He was blander than Dana Andrews and George Raft combined.
I was back stage at a performance of Love Letters (a play with two characters who would “read” their script on stage). One night, I foget the actors who were on stage, but Jimmy Stewart and his wife came back to meet them. I overheard Jimmy Stewart, in his usual stammer, say, “I would like to do this show…” and his wife looked over and said, “Jimmy, if you did it the show would last four hours.”
Darn you FriarTed, I was just going to post that I caught your reference.
So, you think Mr Ford has passed on because he “broke the silence” about the bell?
That was a damned good movie by the way (and a TV movie at that).
Stuff him in the gaze-bo.
I never thought he was a bad actor; I don’t know where that’s coming from. His comic timing was pretty good, too.
For prime Glenn Ford, catch one of the periodic TCM showings of a waaay past his prime (whenever that was) Ford teaming with a waaay past her prime Rita Hayworth in The Money Trap, which has one of the most ridiciulous pairings in screen history- Ford is married to Elke Sommer! And one of them is rich, but it’s not him! This hot young piece of ass is married to a 50-ish nebbish policeman- he must have demanded it to appear in the film. This would make a good double bill with **Hot Rods to Hell ** starring the equally bland and past his prime Dana Andrews.
And you gotta love it in **Ransom! ** when Ford refuses to pay the ransom to those who have kidnapped his son 
I heard that it was actually considered as a pilot for a series, which didn’t get
launched.
Another win for the Conspiracy!G
I never thought Glenn Ford was a bad actor- I just figured they got him when the couldn’t get Gary Cooper.