Ford began his career in film after moving to California in July 1914. He followed in the footsteps of his multi-talented older brother Francis Ford, twelve years his senior, who had left home years earlier and had worked in
vaudeville before becoming a movie actor. Francis played in hundreds of silent pictures for filmmakers such as
Thomas Edison,
Georges Méliès and
Thomas Ince, eventually progressing to become a prominent
Hollywood actor-writer-director with his own production company (101 Bison) at
Universal. Francis gave his younger brother his first acting role in
The Mysterious Rose (November 1914). Despite an often combative relationship, within three years Jack had progressed to become Francis' chief assistant and often worked as his cameraman. The print was restored in New Zealand by the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences before being returned to America, where it was given a "Re-Premiere" at the
Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills on August 31, 2010, featuring a newly commissioned score by Michael Mortilla. Throughout his career, Ford was one of the busiest directors in Hollywood, but he was extraordinarily productive in his first few years as a director—he made ten films in 1917, eight in 1918 and fifteen in 1919—and he directed a total of 62 shorts and features between 1917 and 1928, although he was not given a screen credit in most of his earliest films. There is some uncertainty about the identity of Ford's first film as director—film writer Ephraim Katz notes that Ford might have directed the four-part film
Lucille the Waitress as early as 1914—but most sources cite his directorial début as the silent two-reeler
The Tornado, released in March 1917. According to Ford's own story, he was given the job by Universal boss
Carl Laemmle who supposedly said, "Give Jack Ford the job—he yells good".
The Tornado was quickly followed by a string of two-reeler and three-reeler "quickies"—
The Trail of Hate,
The Scrapper,
The Soul Herder and ''
Cheyenne's Pal; these were made over the space of a few months and each typically shot in just two or three days; all are now presumed lost. The Soul Herder'' is also notable as the beginning of Ford's four-year, 25-film association with veteran writer-actor
Harry Carey, who (with Ford's brother Francis) was a strong early influence on the young director, as well as being one of the major influences on the screen persona of Ford's protege
John Wayne. and it has since been restored and digitized. Similarly,
The Scarlet Drop, his 1918 film once thought lost, was rediscovered in a warehouse in
Santiago, Chile. Ford directed around 36 films over three years for Universal before moving to the
William Fox studio in 1920; his first film for them was
Just Pals (1920). His 1923 feature
Cameo Kirby, starring screen idol
John Gilbert—another of the few surviving Ford silents—marked his first directing credit under the name "John Ford", rather than "Jack Ford", as he had previously been credited. Ford's first major success as a director was the historical drama
The Iron Horse (1924), an epic account of the building of the
First transcontinental railroad. It was a large, long and difficult production, filmed on location in the
Sierra Nevada. The logistics were enormous—two entire towns were constructed, there were 5000 extras, 100 cooks, 2000 rail layers, a cavalry regiment, 800 Native Americans, 1300 bison, 2000 horses, 10,000 cattle and 50,000 properties, including the original stagecoach used by
Horace Greeley,
Wild Bill Hickok's
derringer pistol and replicas of the "
Jupiter" and "
119" locomotives that met at
Promontory Summit when the two ends of the line were joined on May 10, 1869. Despite the pressure to halt the production, studio boss
William Fox finally backed Ford and allowed him to finish the picture and his gamble paid off handsomely—
The Iron Horse became one of the top-grossing films of the decade, taking over US$2 million worldwide, against a budget of $280,000. ''Napoleon's Barber
was followed by his final two silent features Riley the Cop (1928) and Strong Boy'' (1929), starring
Victor McLaglen; which were both released with synchronised music scores and sound effects, the latter is now lost (although Tag Gallagher's book records that the only surviving copy of
Strong Boy, a 35 mm nitrate print, was rumored to be held in a private collection in Australia. with additional footage shot at another of Ford's favorite filming locations, the
Iverson Movie Ranch in
Chatsworth, Calif., where he had filmed much of
Wee Willie Winkie two years earlier. Ford skillfully blended Iverson and Monument Valley to create the movie's iconic images of the American West. John Wayne had good reason to be grateful for Ford's support;
Stagecoach provided the actor with the career breakthrough that elevated him to international stardom. Over 35 years Wayne appeared in 24 of Ford's films and three television episodes. Ford is credited with playing a major role in shaping Wayne's screen image. Cast member Louise Platt, in a letter recounting the experience of the film's production, quoted Ford saying of Wayne's future in film: "He'll be the biggest star ever because he is the perfect 'everyman.'"
Stagecoach marked the beginning of the most consistently successful phase of Ford's career—in just two years between 1939 and 1941 he created a string of classics films that won numerous Academy Awards. Ford's next film, the biopic
Young Mr Lincoln (1939) starring
Henry Fonda, was less successful than
Stagecoach, attracting little critical attention and winning no awards. It was not a major box-office hit although it had a respectable domestic first-year gross of $750,000, but Ford scholar Tag Gallagher describes it as "a deeper, more multi-leveled work than
Stagecoach...(which) seems in retrospect one of the finest prewar pictures". Ford's third movie in a year and his third consecutive film with Fonda, it grossed $1.1 million in the US in its first year and won two Academy Awards—Ford's second 'Best Director' Oscar, and 'Best Supporting Actress' for
Jane Darwell's tour-de-force portrayal of Ma Joad. Ford's last feature before America entered World War II was his screen adaptation of
How Green Was My Valley (1941), starring
Walter Pidgeon,
Maureen O'Hara and
Roddy McDowall in his career-making role as Huw. The script was written by
Philip Dunne from the best-selling novel by
Richard Llewellyn. It was originally planned as a four-hour epic to rival
Gone with the Wind—the screen rights alone cost Fox $300,000—and was to have been filmed on location in Wales, but this was abandoned due to the heavy German bombing of Britain. A search of Southern California locations resulted in the set for the village being built on the grounds of the Crags Country Club (later the Fox ranch, now the core of Malibu Creek State Park). Another reported factor was the nervousness of Fox executives about the pro-union tone of the story.
William Wyler was originally engaged to direct, but he left the project when Fox decided to film it in California; Ford was hired in his place and production was postponed for several months until he became available. Producer
Darryl F. Zanuck had a strong influence over the movie and made several key decisions, including the idea of having the character of Huw narrate the film in voice-over (then a novel concept), and the decision that Huw's character should not age (
Tyrone Power was originally slated to play the adult Huw). Ford was also present on
Omaha Beach on
D-Day. He crossed the
English Channel on the , which 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
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 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, D.C." Thirty years later, historian
Stephen E. Ambrose reported that the
Eisenhower Center had been unable to find the film. A film partially matching Ford's description was unearthed by the U.S. National Archives in 2014. Other researchers assert that Ford did not personally land on Omaha Beach on D-Day (arriving rather a day or two later) and that
John Ford's D-Day footage is by and large a "tall tale." Ford eventually rose to become a top adviser to OSS head
William Joseph Donovan. According to records released in 2008, Ford was cited by his superiors for bravery, taking a position to film one mission that was "an obvious and clear target". He survived "continuous attack and was wounded" while he continued filming, one commendation in his file states. In 1945, Ford executed affidavits testifying to the integrity of
films taken to document conditions at Nazi concentration camps. His last wartime film was
They Were Expendable (MGM, 1945), an account of America's
disastrous defeat in the Philippines, told from the viewpoint of a
PT boat squadron and its commander. Ford created a part for the recovering
Ward Bond, who needed money. Although he was seen throughout the movie, he never walked until they put in a part where he was shot in the leg. For the rest of the picture, he was able to use a crutch on the final march. Ford repeatedly declared that he disliked the film and had never watched it, complaining that he had been forced to make it, although it was strongly championed by filmmaker
Lindsay Anderson. Released several months after the end of the war, it was among the year's top 20 box-office draws, although Tag Gallagher notes that many critics have incorrectly claimed that it lost money.
The Fugitive (1947), again starring Fonda, was the first project of Argosy Pictures. It was a loose adaptation of
Graham Greene's
The Power and the Glory, which Ford had originally intended to make at Fox before the war, with
Thomas Mitchell as the priest. Filmed on location in Mexico, it was photographed by distinguished Mexican cinematographer
Gabriel Figueroa (who later worked with
Luis Buñuel). The supporting cast included
Dolores del Río,
J. Carrol Naish,
Ward Bond,
Leo Carrillo and
Mel Ferrer (making his screen début) and a cast of mainly Mexican extras. Ford reportedly considered this his best film but it fared relatively poorly compared to its predecessor, grossing only $750,000 in its first year. It also caused a rift between Ford and scriptwriter Dudley Nichols that brought about the end of their highly successful collaboration. Greene himself had a particular dislike of this adaptation of his work. The recurrent theme of sacrifice can also be found in
The Outcasts of Poker Flat,
Three Godfathers,
The Wallop,
Desperate Trails,
Hearts of Oak,
Bad Men,
Men without Women. In 1949, Ford briefly returned to Fox to direct
Pinky. He prepared the project but worked only one day before being taken ill, supposedly with
shingles, and
Elia Kazan replaced him (although Tag Gallagher suggests that Ford's illness was a pretext for leaving the film, which Ford disliked).
Rio Grande (Republic, 1950), the third part of the 'Cavalry Trilogy', co-starred John Wayne and
Maureen O'Hara, with Wayne's son
Patrick Wayne making his screen debut (he appeared in several subsequent Ford pictures including
The Searchers). It was made at the insistence of
Republic Pictures, who demanded a profitable Western as the condition of backing Ford's next project,
The Quiet Man. A testament to Ford's legendary efficiency,
Rio Grande was shot in just 32 days, with only 352 takes from 335 camera setups, and it was a solid success, grossing $2.25 million in its first year. Republic's anxiety was erased by the resounding success of
The Quiet Man (Republic, 1952), a pet project which Ford had wanted to make since the 1930s (and almost did so in 1937 with an independent cooperative called Renowned Artists Company). It became his biggest grossing picture to date, taking nearly $4 million in the US alone in its first year and ranking in the top 10 box office films of its year. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won Ford his fourth Oscar for Best Director, as well a second Best Cinematography Oscar for
Winton Hoch. It was followed by
What Price Glory? (1952), a World War I drama, the first of two films Ford made with
James Cagney (
Mister Roberts was the other) which also did good business at the box office ($2 million).
The Sun Shines Bright (1953), Ford's first entry in the
Cannes Film Festival, was a western comedy-drama with
Charles Winninger reviving the
Judge Priest role made famous by Will Rogers in the 1930s. Ford later referred to it as one of his favorites, but it was poorly received, and was drastically cut (from 90 mins to 65 mins) by Republic soon after its release, with some excised scenes now presumed lost. It fared poorly at the box office and its failure contributed to the subsequent collapse of Argosy Pictures. Ford's next film was the romance-adventure
Mogambo (MGM, 1953), a loose remake of the celebrated 1932 film
Red Dust. Filmed on location in Africa, it was photographed by British cinematographer
Freddie Young and starred Ford's old friend
Clark Gable, with
Ava Gardner,
Grace Kelly (who replaced an ailing
Gene Tierney) and
Donald Sinden. Although the production was difficult (exacerbated by the irritating presence of Gardner's then husband
Frank Sinatra),
Mogambo became one of the biggest commercial hits of Ford's career, with the highest domestic first-year gross of any of his films ($5.2 million); it also revitalized Gable's waning career and earned Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominations for Gardner and Kelly (who was rumored to have had a brief affair with Gable during the making of the film). In 1955, Ford made the lesser-known
West Point drama
The Long Gray Line for Columbia Pictures, the first of two Ford films to feature
Tyrone Power, who had originally been slated to star as the adult Huw in
How Green Was My Valley back in 1941. Later in 1955, Ford was hired by Warner Bros to direct the Naval comedy
Mister Roberts, starring
Henry Fonda,
Jack Lemmon,
William Powell, and
James Cagney, but there was conflict between Ford and Fonda, who had been playing the lead role on Broadway for the past seven years and had misgivings about Ford's direction. During a three-way meeting with producer
Leland Hayward to try and iron out the problems, Ford became enraged and punched Fonda on the jaw, knocking him across the room, an action that created a lasting rift between them. After the incident Ford became increasingly morose, drinking heavily and eventually retreating to his yacht, the
Araner, and refusing to eat or see anyone. Production was shut down for five days and Ford sobered up, but soon after he suffered a ruptured gallbladder, necessitating emergency surgery, and he was replaced by
Mervyn LeRoy. Ford also made his first forays into television in 1955, directing two half-hour dramas for network TV. In the summer of 1955 he made
Rookie of the Year (Hal Roach Studios) for the TV series
Studio Directors Playhouse; scripted by Frank S. Nugent, it featured Ford regulars John and Pat Wayne, Vera Miles and Ward Bond, with Ford himself appearing in the introduction. In November he made
The Bamboo Cross (Lewman Ltd-Revue, 1955) for the
Fireside Theater series; it starred
Jane Wyman with an Asian-American cast and Stock Company veterans Frank Baker and Pat O'Malley in minor roles. '' (1956) Ford returned to the big screen with
The Searchers (Warner Bros, 1956), the only Western he made between 1950 and 1959, which is now widely regarded as not only one of his best films, but also by many as one of the greatest westerns, and one of the best performances of John Wayne's career. Set in 1868 Texas but shot on location in Monument Valley Utah-Arizona, it tells of the embittered Civil War veteran Ethan Edwards who spends years tracking down his niece, kidnapped by
Comanches as a young girl. The supporting cast included
Jeffrey Hunter,
Ward Bond,
Vera Miles and rising star
Natalie Wood. It was Hunter's first film for Ford. It was very successful upon its first release and became one of the top 20 films of the year, grossing $4.45 million, although it received no
Academy Award nominations. However, its reputation has grown greatly over the intervening years—it was named the
Greatest Western of all time by the
American Film Institute in 2008 and also placed 12th on the institute's 2007 list of the Top 100 greatest movies of all time.
The Searchers has exerted a wide influence on film and popular culture—it has inspired (and been directly quoted by) many filmmakers including
David Lean and
George Lucas, Wayne's character's catchphrase "That'll be the day" inspired Texans Buddy Holly and his drummer Jerry Allison to pen their famous hit song of the same name, and the British pop group
The Searchers also took their name from the film.
The Searchers was accompanied by one of the first "making of" documentaries, a four-part promotional program created for the "Behind the Camera" segment of the weekly
Warner Bros. Presents TV show, (the studio's first foray into TV) which aired on the
ABC network in 1955–56. Presented by
Gig Young, the four segments included interviews with
Jeffrey Hunter and
Natalie Wood and behind-the-scenes footage shot during the making of the film.
The Wings of Eagles (MGM, 1957) was a fictionalized biography of Ford's old friend, aviator-turned-scriptwriter
Frank "Spig" Wead, who had scripted several of Ford's early sound films. It starred
John Wayne and
Maureen O'Hara, with
Ward Bond as John Dodge (a character based on Ford himself). It was followed by one of Ford's least known films,
The Growler Story, a 29-minute dramatized documentary about the USS
Growler. Made for the US Navy and filmed by the Pacific Fleet Command Combat Camera Group, it featured Ward Bond and Ken Curtis alongside real Navy personnel and their families. Ford's next two films stand somewhat apart from the rest of his films in terms of production, and he notably took no salary for either job.
The Rising of the Moon (Warner Bros, 1957) was a three-part 'omnibus' movie shot on location in Ireland and based on Irish short stories. It was made by Four Province Productions, a company established by Irish tycoon
Lord Killanin, who had recently become Chair of the
International Olympic Committee, and to whom Ford was distantly related. Killanin was also the actual (but uncredited) producer of
The Quiet Man. The film failed to recoup its costs, earning less than half ($100,000) its negative cost of just over $256,000 and it stirred up some controversy in Ireland. Both of Ford's 1958 films were made for
Columbia Pictures and both were significant departures from Ford's norm. ''
Gideon's Day (titled Gideon of Scotland Yard'' in the US) was adapted from the novel by British writer
John Creasey. It is Ford's only police genre film, and one of the few Ford films set in the present day of the 1950s. It was shot in England with a British cast headed by
Jack Hawkins, whom Ford (unusually) lauded as "the finest dramatic actor with whom I have worked". It was poorly promoted by Columbia, who only distributed it in B&W, although it was shot in color.
Two Rode Together (Ford Productions-Columbia, 1961) co-starred
James Stewart and
Richard Widmark, with
Shirley Jones and Stock Company regulars
Andy Devine,
Henry Brandon, Harry Carey Jr, Anna Lee, Woody Strode, Mae Marsh and Frank Baker, with an early screen appearance by
Linda Cristal, who went on to star in the Western TV series
The High Chaparral. It was a fair commercial success, grossing $1.6m in its first year.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (Ford Productions-Paramount, 1962) is frequently cited as the last great film of Ford's career. Starring John Wayne and
James Stewart, the supporting cast features
leading lady Vera Miles,
Edmond O'Brien as a loquacious newspaper publisher,
Andy Devine as the inept marshal Appleyard,
Denver Pyle,
John Carradine, and
Lee Marvin in a major role as the brutal Valance, with
Lee Van Cleef and
Strother Martin as his henchmen. It is also notable as the film in which Wayne most often used his trademark phrase "Pilgrim" (his nickname for James Stewart's character). The picture was very successful, grossing over $3 million in its first year, although the lead casting stretched credibility—the characters played by Stewart (then 53) and Wayne (then 54) could be assumed to be in their early 20s given the circumstances, and Ford reportedly considered casting a younger actor in Stewart's role but feared it would highlight Wayne's age. Though it is often claimed that budget constraints necessitated shooting most of the film on soundstages on the Paramount lot, studio accounting records show that this was part of the film's original artistic concept, according to Ford biographer Joseph McBride. According to
Lee Marvin in a filmed interview, Ford had fought hard to shoot the film in
black-and-white to accentuate his use of shadows. Still, it was one of Ford's most expensive films at US$3.2 million. After completing
Liberty Valance, Ford was hired to direct the Civil War section of MGM's epic
How The West Was Won, the first non-documentary film to use the
Cinerama wide-screen process. Ford's segment featured
George Peppard, with
Andy Devine,
Russ Tamblyn,
Harry Morgan as
Ulysses S. Grant, and John Wayne as
William Tecumseh Sherman. Wayne had already played Sherman in a 1960 episode of the television series
Wagon Train that Ford directed in support of series star
Ward Bond, "
The Coulter Craven Story", for which he brought in most of his stock company. Also in 1962, Ford directed his fourth and last TV production,
Flashing Spikes, a baseball story made for the
Alcoa Premiere series and starring James Stewart,
Jack Warden,
Patrick Wayne and
Tige Andrews, with Harry Carey Jr. and a lengthy surprise appearance by John Wayne, billed in the credits as "Michael Morris", as he also had been for the
Wagon Train episode directed by Ford. ''
Donovan's Reef'' (Paramount, 1963) was Ford's last film with John Wayne. Filmed on location on the Hawaiian island of
Kauai (doubling for a fictional island in
French Polynesia), it was a
morality play disguised as an action-comedy, which subtly but sharply engaged with issues of racial bigotry, corporate connivance, greed and American beliefs of societal superiority. The supporting cast included
Lee Marvin,
Elizabeth Allen,
Jack Warden,
Dorothy Lamour, and
Cesar Romero. It was also Ford's last commercial success, grossing $3.3 million against a budget of $2.6 million.
Cheyenne Autumn (Warner Bros, 1964) was Ford's epic farewell to the West, which he publicly declared to be an elegy to the Native American. It was his last Western, his longest film and the most expensive movie of his career ($4.2 million), but it failed to recoup its costs at the box office and lost about $1 million on its first release. The all-star cast was headed by
Richard Widmark, with
Carroll Baker,
Karl Malden,
Dolores del Río,
Ricardo Montalbán,
Gilbert Roland,
Sal Mineo,
James Stewart as Wyatt Earp,
Arthur Kennedy as Doc Holliday,
Edward G. Robinson,
Patrick Wayne,
Elizabeth Allen,
Mike Mazurki and many of Ford's faithful Stock Company, including
John Carradine,
Ken Curtis,
Willis Bouchey,
James Flavin, Danny Borzage,
Harry Carey Jr.,
Chuck Hayward,
Ben Johnson,
Mae Marsh and
Denver Pyle. William Clothier was nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar and Gilbert Roland was nominated for a
Golden Globe award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Cheyenne elder
Dull Knife. In 1965 Ford began work on
Young Cassidy (MGM), a biographical drama based upon the life of Irish playwright
Seán O'Casey, but he fell ill early in the production and was replaced by
Jack Cardiff. Ford's last completed feature film was
7 Women (MGM, 1966), a drama set in about 1935, about missionary women in China trying to protect themselves from the advances of a barbaric Mongolian warlord.
Anne Bancroft took over the lead role from
Patricia Neal, who suffered a near-fatal stroke two days into shooting. The supporting cast included
Margaret Leighton,
Flora Robson,
Sue Lyon,
Mildred Dunnock,
Anna Lee,
Eddie Albert,
Mike Mazurki and
Woody Strode, with music by
Elmer Bernstein. Unfortunately, it was a commercial flop, grossing only about half of its $2.3 million budget. Unusual for Ford, it was shot in continuity for the sake of the performances and he, therefore, exposed about four times as much film as he usually shot. Anna Lee recalled that Ford was "absolutely charming" to everyone and that the only major blow-up came when Flora Robson complained that the sign on her dressing room door did not include her title ("Dame") and as a result, Robson was "absolutely shredded" by Ford in front of the cast and crew. Ford's next project,
The Miracle of Merriford, was scrapped by MGM less than a week before shooting was to have begun. His last completed work was
Chesty: A Tribute to a Legend, a documentary on the most decorated U.S. Marine, General
Lewis B. Puller, with narration by John Wayne, which was made in 1970 but not released until 1976, three years after Ford's death. Ford's health deteriorated rapidly in the early 1970s; he suffered a broken hip in 1970 which put him in a wheelchair. He had to move from his Bel Air home to a single-level house in
Palm Desert, California, near
Eisenhower Medical Center, where he was being treated for stomach cancer. The Screen Directors Guild staged a tribute to Ford in October 1972, and in March 1973 the
American Film Institute honored him with its first Lifetime Achievement Award at a ceremony which was telecast nationwide, with President
Richard Nixon promoting Ford to full Admiral and presenting him with the
Presidential Medal of Freedom. According to Ford's longtime partner and friend,
John Wayne, Ford could have continued to direct movies. He told
Roger Ebert in 1976: Up until the very last years of his life ... Pappy could have directed another picture, and a damned good one. But they said Pappy was too old. Hell, he was never too old. In Hollywood these days, they don't stand behind a fella. They'd rather make a goddamned legend out of him and be done with him.Ford died on August 31, 1973, at Palm Desert and his funeral was held on September 5 at Hollywood's Church of the Blessed Sacrament. He was interred in
Holy Cross Cemetery in
Culver City, California. ==Personality and directing style==