Considered the master of the Western, Maine-born John Ford went on to win 6 Oscars and direct such notable movies as "Stagecoach", the critically acclaimed "The Searchers" and worked with such stars as Henry Fonda and John Wayne.
John Feeney, Sr. was a red haired Irishman who sailed to America in 1872 landing in Boston and then walking up to Portland, Maine. Six years later he married Barbara Curran and they began their family of nine children, [two died in infancy], with John Feeney, Jr. being born on February 1, 1895. The future director's father owned a saloon, replete with sawdust-covered floors, a honky-tonk piano that never stopped playing and plenty of liquid refreshments.
John's eldest sister, Maime, was already married and widowed by the age of 16, and returned home to care for her younger siblings. Francis Feeney, born in 1883, quit school at 15, joined the Army but when discovered he was underage was shipped back home. Francis had to get married after his girlfriend became pregnant, and to support his new wife he found employment in his father's saloon. But Francis had longings for the stage and upon arriving in New York in 1900 the handsome and outgoing teen found work as an actor and assumed the stage name of Francis Ford.
Unaware of his older brother's new lifestyle, John barely remembered him. At the age of eight he had a case of diphtheria and was bedridden while his sister Maime nursed him back to health and spent hours reading Mark Twain novels aloud to the boy. When he returned to school his bedside education stood him in good stead. Upon entering high school in 1910 he was a robust and healthy boy who took an interest in football and earned three letters during his career along with Honorable Mention for the all-state team. He also went by the name of Jack during this time period. Fortunately for the future director, his English teacher recognized his talent for composition and the principal of Portland High School urged the youth to leave Maine, sensing the boy's natural ambition lay far beyond the northernmost New England state.
Shortly before Feeney's graduation, his cinema-loving mother went to the movies and thought she recognized her son onscreen. "In the spring of 1914, at his father's urging, Francis Ford made a triumphant return to Portland. Dressed in a cashmere coat and a wide-brimmed fedora, he drove up from Boston in a gleaming Stutz Bearcat with big fenders and hand brake on the running board. He talked about a place just outside Los Angeles called Hollywood, and the wide-open new industry that was booming there." From the book, "˜Pappy: The Life of John Ford' by Dan Ford.
Francis Ford was directing and acting in western films, called shorts. His younger brother learned all about filmmaking from stunts, cameras, writing, cues, budgets, smoke explosives and also acting. He shared a room off Hollywood Boulevard with a rodeo cowboy named Hoot Gibson, a bit player at Universal. In March 1915 Carl Laemmle moved Universal to the San Fernando Valley and named it Universal City. The location remains the same to this day. It had a backlot with "streets" representing New York, a western town, and Chinatown. The Francis Ford Serial Company was where John did his wooden acting bits but also where he showed promise as a director. A natural leader, he was an assistant director at the age of 20, in charge of large and unruly groups of cowboys who were previously employed in Wild West shows.
Throughout World War I he worked on two-reel [20-minute] serials as his job was considered doing work in an essential industry due to the propaganda value and he was given a deferment. While his brother was his first teacher, it was the silent star Harry Carey and their 23-film partnership that would eventually launch John into the big time.
On July 3, 1920 John married Mary McBride Smith, a direct descendant of Sir Thomas More and daughter of a wealthy Wall Street speculator. In April of 1921 son Patrick, named after John's eldest brother, was born. Six months later he became so caught up in the Irish Revolution that he sailed to Galway, Ireland where he stayed for two weeks. He got in touch with his roots and met relatives, but the British picked him up and returned him to England. That wasn't the last time he went to Ireland; after he became successful as a renowned film director he returned many times, always feeling like one of the people, never above anyone.
In the middle of December 1922 his daughter Barbara [named after his mother] was born. By 1923 Ford's income was $45,000 per year. He devoted himself to his career more than he did his family. His 29th birthday was celebrated on the set of "The Iron Horse" a silent western filmed in Nevada that opened in the new Egyptian Theatre owned by Sid Grauman, the man known for its more famous movie house: Grauman's Chinese Theatre. The making of silent films continued with "3 Bad Men" about a trio of outlaws set against the backdrop of the Dakota land rush of 1877, being considered an epic-scale western.
With the advent of sound, the way movies were filmed changed dramatically. When the camera was rolling everyone had to be quiet; before they were able to talk and go noisily about their business. The cameras were loud and had to be padded. Sound film ran at 24 frames per second rather than the 16 of silent. Dialogue coaches and screenwriters were also in demand.
"The Informer" [1935] was made about a Communist IRA man who betrays his friend during the Sinn Fein revolt, and was a genuine breakthrough for Ford as a director. He convinced Merian C. Cooper, production chief at RKO Studios, to let him film Liam O'Flaherty's novel of the same title. It brought a Best Director Oscar to John Ford, screenwriter Dudley Nichols deservedly won, as did actor Victor McLaglen. Ford also received the first New York Film Critics Award for Best Director.
"Between October 1938 and November 1939 he made four films - "˜Stagecoach', "˜Young Mr. Lincoln', "˜Drums Along the Mohawk' and "˜The Grapes of Wrath' - that together stand as the greatest collective achievement in the history of the cinema. With them, John established himself as the premier director of American motion pictures." From the book "˜Pappy: The Life of John Ford' by Dan Ford.
John Ford and John Wayne also forged a working relationship that lasted for decades. It was Ford who first cast the gangly ex-football player as Ringo Kid in "Stagecoach" due to Wayne's ability to ride a horse, not his then nascent acting skills.
"The Grapes of Wrath" [1940], adapted from the novel by American writer John Steinbeck, and his stirring portrait of a Welsh coal-mining family in "How Green Was My Valley" [1941], won him the Academy Award for best director two years in a row.
From 1942 to 1955 Ford served as chief of the Field Photographic Branch of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), making documentaries of military action. After World War II ended, Ford directed "They Were Expendable," a motion picture about the war. He then did his famed "Cavalry trilogy" consisting of "Fort Apache," "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon," and "RÃo Grande."
In 1952 he won his fourth Best Director Oscar for "The Quiet Man." Based on a short story by Maurice Walsh, it was rewritten extensively by the novelist Richard Llewellyn who had penned "How Green Was My Valley."
Working once again in his beloved Monument Valley, Ford filmed "The Searchers," in 1955, during broiling daytime temperatures of 115 degrees. Critics often hail the tale of a man searching for the Comanches that killed his brother and kidnapped his niece as a Western classic.
John Ford spoke of retirement after "The Searchers" yet he continued directing into the 19'60s, contributing the Civil War sequence for MGM's Western epic "How the West Was Won." While in London, England shooting the movie "Young Cassidy," he had a severe case of pneumonia and returned to California, ending up sharing the directing credit with Jack Cardiff.
His last feature film was entitled "Seven Women" which was made just after his 70th birthday. It was a work he later regretted having made. During his 50-year career in Hollywood he had directed over 120 films. In his personal life, he celebrated his 50th wedding anniversary - something very few people in the film industry were able to do.
John Ford became the first filmmaker honored with the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award in March 1973. The director had lapsed into retirement as two years before he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. During the spring and summer months he spent his time bedridden in his Palm Desert home, his rosary and bottles of Guinness Stout were his companions. On August 31, 1973 John Ford passed away.
FILMOGRAPHY:
The Tornado, [1917] as Jack Ford
The Scrapper, [1917] as Jack Ford
Cheyenne's Pal, [1917] as Jack Ford
The Soul Herder, [1917] as Jack Ford
Straight Shooting, [1917] as Jack Ford
The Secret Man, [1917] as Jack Ford
A Marked Man, [1917] as Jack Ford
Bucking Broadway, [1917] as Jack Ford
The Phantom Riders, [1918] as Jack Ford
Three Mounted Men, [1918] as Jack Ford
W Woman's Fool, [1918] as Jack Ford
Hell Bent, [1918] as Jack Ford
The Scarlet Drop, [1918] as Jack Ford
Thieves' Gold, [1918] as Jack Ford
Wild Women, [1918] as Jack Ford
Roped, [1919] as Jack Ford
The Gun Packer, [1919] as Jack Ford
Gun Law, [1919] as Jack Ford
By Indian Post, [1919] as Jack Ford
A Fight for Love, [1919] as Jack Ford
The Fighting Brothers, [1919] as Jack Ford
Rustlers, [1919] as Jack Ford
Marked Men, [1919] as Jack Ford
A Gun Fightin' Gentleman, [1919] as Jack Ford
Rider of the Law, [1919] as Jack Ford
Ace of the Saddle, [1919] as Jack Ford
The Outcasts of Poker Flat, [1919] as Jack Ford
Riders of Vengeance, [1919] as Jack Ford
Bare Fists, [1919] as Jack Ford
Hitchin' Posts, [1920] as Jack Ford
Just Pals, [1920] as Jack Ford
The Girl in Number 29, [1920] as Jack Ford
The Prince of Avenue A, [1920] as Jack Ford
Desperate Trails, [1921] as Jack Ford
Jackie, [1921] as Jack Ford
Sure Fire, [1921] as Jack Ford
Action, [1921] as Jack Ford
The Freeze-Out, [1921] as Jack Ford
The Big Punch, [1921] as Jack Ford
The Wallop, [1921] as Jack Ford
The Village Blacksmith, [1922] as Jack Ford
Little Miss Smiles, [1922] as Jack Ford
North of Hudson Bay, [1923] as Jack Ford
Cameo Kirby, [1923] as Jack Ford
Three Jumps Ahead, [1923] as Jack Ford
The Face on the Bar-Room Floor, [1923] as Jack Ford
Hearts of Oak, [1924] from 1924 on he goes by the name of John Ford
The Iron Horse, [1924]
Thank You, [1925]
The Fighting Heart, [1925]
Kentucky Pride, [1925]
Lightnin', [1925]
3 Bad Men, [1926]
The Shamrock Handicap, [1926]
Upstream, [1927]
Napoleon's Barber, [1928] [first Ford film made with sound]
Four Sons, [1928]
The Black Watch, [1929]
Strong Boy, [1929]
Up the River, [1930]
Born Reckless, [1930]
Men Without Women, [1930]
The Brat, [1931]
Arrowsmith, [1931]
Seas Beneath, [1931]
Flesh, [1932]
Airmail, [1932]
Doctor Bull, [1933]
Pilgrimage, [1933]
Judge Priest, [1934]
The World Moves On, [1934]
The Lost Patrol, [1934]
Steamboat 'Round the Bend, [1935]
The Informer, [1935] won Best Director Academy Award
The Whole Town's Talking, [1935]
The Plough and the Stars, [1936]
Mary of Scotland, [1936]
The Prisoner of Shark Island, [1936]
The Hurricane, [1937]
Wee Willie Winkie, [1937]
Submarine Patrol, [1938]
Four Men and a Prayer, [1938]
Drums Along the Mohawk, [1939]
Stagecoach, [1939]
Young Mr. Lincoln, [1939]
The Long Voyage Home, [1940]
The Grapes of Wrath, [1940] won Best Director Academy Award
How Green Was My Valley, [1941] won Best Director Academy Award
Tobacco Road, [1941]
Torpedo Squadron, [1942]
The Battle of Midway, [1942] won Best Documentary Academy Award
December 7th, [1943] won Best Documentary Academy Award
We Sail at Midnight, [1943]
They Were Expendable, [1945]
My Darling Clementine, [1946]
The Fugitive, [1947]
3 Godfathers, [1948]
Fort Apache, [1948]
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, [1949]
When Willie Comes Marching Home, [1950]
Rio Grande, [1950]
Wagonmaster, [1950]
What Price Glory, [1952]
The Quiet Man, [1952] won Best Director Academy Award
Mogambo, [1953]
The Sun Shines Bright, [1953]
Mister Roberts, [1955]
The Long Gray Line, [1955]
The Searchers, [1956]
The Rising of the Moon, [1957]
The Wings of Eagles, [1957]
Gideon's Day, [1958]
The Last Hurrah, [1958]
The Horse Soldiers, [1959]
Sergeant Rutledge, [1960]
Two Rode Together, [1961]
How the West Was Won, [1962] [segment "The Civil War"]
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, [1962]
Donovan's Reef, [1963]
Cheyenne Autumn, [1964]
7 Women, [1966]
