John Ford

He wedded Mary McBryde Smith on July 3, 1920 and had two children. Although the marriage lasted through his death, it was dotted with Ford’s countless extra-marital affairs.

Towards the end of his life, he suffered from a number of problems including cancer and a broken hip which confined him to a wheelchair. His health deteriorated rapidly even more due to his early alcohol and smoking habits.

He passed away at Palm Desert and he was interred at the Holy Cross Cemetery in California.

John Ford was born as John Martin "Jack" Feeney to John Augustine Feeney and Barbara Curran in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, U.S.

He studied at Portland High School in Portland, Maine, where he earned the nickname ‘Bull’. He moved to California in 1914 and began working in film production and acting, inspired by his elder brother, Francis, who was involved in showbiz.

He assumed the name, ‘Jack Ford’ which was his stage name and appeared in a number of theatre productions/plays including the 1915 classic, ‘The Birth of a Nation’.

He initially started working for films as a handyman, assistant and occasional side actor and earned his first role in the movie, ‘The Mysterious Rose’. He learned the ways of filmmaking quickly and earned his first break as a director at a time when his brother’s career was waning.

His directorial debut, as mentioned by a number of sources, was for the film, ‘The Tornado’, which released in March 1917. ‘The Trail of Hate’, ‘The Scrapper’, ‘The Soul Herder’ and ‘Cheyenne’s Pal’ soon followed. The same year, his first feature-length production, ‘Straight Shooting’ was released. ‘Bucking Broadway’ was the last film he made in the year 1917.

After directing thirty six films in three years, he moved to the William Fox studio, where he directed the first film for them, ‘Just Pals’ in 1920. Three years later, he received his first directing credit for another silent, ‘Cameo Kirby’, which depicted his name as ‘John Ford’ rather than ‘Jack Ford’.

He tasted superlative success with the film, ‘The Iron Horse’, which released in 1924. It was one of his first films in the ‘Western’ category. Thereafter, Ford began to experiment with more Westerns during this period including, ‘3 Bad Men’.

In 1928, he directed ‘Mother Machree’ and the drama-film, ‘Napoleon’s Barber’. His last silent movie, ‘Hangman’s House’ was also directed this year, along with another movie, ‘Riley the Cop’.

In 1935, he directed ‘The Informer’, which went on to earn $950,000 at the box-office. The movie was a critical and commercial hit and was nominates for a total of six Academy Awards, out of which it won four. ‘The Informer’ became such a big hit that the movie was also adapted for the radio.

‘Drums Along the Mohawk’, released in 1939 and was nominated for two Academy Awards and was a major box-office success. In the first year of its release, it collected a whopping, US$ 1 million.

Released in 1939, ‘Stagecoach’ is largely considered Ford’s magnum opus. This was one of the first sound-Western films of his time and the movie became such a grand success that it earned $1,103,757 at the box-office. It won a total of three important awards and earned 5 Academy Award nominations.