Glenn Ford: A Life

Foreword by Patrick McGilligan

ix Foreword Books by the children of movie stars digging into the lives of their celebrity parents occupy a small but valuable niche in the field of film literature. As a biographer myself I prize the books I collect on my shelves that go behind closed doors to offer an alternative glimpse of Hollywood legends. Such books are rarely dull, and the best of the genre are revelatory, peeling away layers and crevices behind the mask. A few of these books shake our basic idea of the star we thought we had known. Christina Crawford’s memoir of growing up with a she-monster and Maria Riva’s description of her similarly driven mother permanently altered our knowledge and understanding of Joan Crawford and Marlene Dietrich, respectively. Peter Ford’s book about his father is bound to reshape the standard impression of Glenn Ford. Until now, Ford, whose heyday was the 1940s and 1950s, has escaped the scrutiny of any substantial book, and his son’s biography of him makes clear why. Ford was a tireless promoter of himself, a master at crafting an appealing persona. Off-screen, however, he was a self-absorbed personality who thrived on the perks of stardom, a difficult father, and rarely the hero he played on-screen. Glenn Ford: A Life is three books in one. His son’s memoir is modestly woven into the life story of his celebrity parents—the actor born Gwyllyn Samuel Newton Ford and the “Queen of Tap Dancing,” actress Eleanor Powell. Peter Ford also takes readers behind the scenes of Ford’s 100-plus screen appearances—a daunting list to cover. The author adds privy interviews and information to the background of the best Glenn Ford films, including classic comedies, film noir, westerns, and “message” pictures. The worst are also covered, and the book helps explain Ford’s work ethic and indiscriminate career choices. The star himself takes center stage throughout. To say that Glenn Ford was one of a kind doesn’t begin to state the case. His persona was powerful. He usually played warm, decent, idealistic fellows with backbones of steel. His acting was never less than professional and often superlative. Yet without a script he could be a cold and steely person. He was in constant pursuit of his own self-interest. This can’t have been an easy book to write. Glenn Ford: A Life gives the famous performer and the complicated man his honest, sometimes painfully honest, due. P McG x Glenn Ford ...