Glenn Ford: A Life

9. "Glory Days"

9 “Glory Days” A fter a three-film absence, my father returned to his old “home” at Columbia Pictures to make another western. And Jubal turned out to be a fine film, a large-scale color and widescreen production shot on location in the rugged and spectacular landscape in and around Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The director and cowriter was Delmer Daves, a very talented and highly educated (Stanford Law School grad) Hollywood veteran whose previous work included Broken Arrow with Jimmy Stewart, Dark Passage with Bogie and Bacall, Destination Tokyo with Cary Grant, and countless scripts dating back to the early talkies. Daves and my father made three pictures together—all westerns—and all three were among those my father considered among his most satisfying films. Unlike most Hollywood directors, Daves actually had firsthand knowledge of the West and of Native Americans from his childhood experiences living in the wilderness areas and among the Hopi and Navajo. “Adult” westerns were thriving in post–World War II America, and they were no longer only about stagecoach robberies or Indian battles. The best of them dealt with the human condition in all its complexity. Jubal was a parable of adultery and betrayal. My father played Jubal Troop, a drifter taken in by a benevolent rancher, played by Ernest Borgnine. The rancher’s wife is a restless cheater who sets her 164 165 sights on Jubal and seeks revenge when he spurns her. Several subplots involving pacifist sheepherders, a love interest, played by Felicia Farr in her first film, and a jealous former lover of the rancher’s wife, played by the ever-brooding Rod Steiger, made this an unusually intricate and emotionally charged story. The company was housed at the famous Wort Hotel in downtown Jackson Hole. The hotel’s Silver Dollar Bar (which was named quite literally , since the bar contained in its design over two thousand vintage silver dollars) was a popular hangout for the movie crew as well as the tourists and locals who congregated there. There was plenty of drinking and revelry at the bar and quite a lot of action at the hotel’s illegal casino. Walleyed character actor Jack Elam, who specialized in playing sniveling bad guys, became addicted to the gaming and is said to have lost his entire salary at the tables—he probably wasn’t the only one. Ernie Borgnine shared some memories about making Jubal with my father: Oh, that was a beautiful location, gorgeous. And we had a ball on that one, we really did. It was a very dramatic serious picture, but we were all having a ball. Delmer Daves was one of the finest directors I ever worked with in my life. I’ll never forget, we were just starting the picture. Delmer, Glenn, and I were walking down the road leading up to this ranch house. And Glenn kept shaking his head. Delmer said, “What’s the matter? Why do you keep shaking your head?” And Glenn said, “I’m frightened, I tell you.” Delmer says, “Why? What the hell are you frightened about?” And Glenn said, “Can you guess?” He’s very upset now. “I’m frightened . . . of him!” And he points his finger at me. I said, “What? What the hell are you frightened about me?” And finally he said, “Well, Jesus, you just won the Academy Award and everything else.” And I said, “What? You, a guy with all your credits—you can’t be serious. Afraid to work with me?” But it was a put-on. He was just putting me on! Glenn’s fondest memories of Jubal had to do with the young actress who played his love interest. “Felicia was just lovely,” he recalled. “Very pretty and smart. I was very fond of her. There was something between us, but let’s just leave it at that. She married a great guy [ Jack Lemmon], and I know they were very happy together.” My dad described an incident with another costar, Rod Steiger, that he found rather revealing. Rod had been a devotee of the Method, a type of acting taught by Lee Strasberg and practiced by Marlon Brando, James Dean, and others. Glenn recalled: One day we were set up ready to shoot, and Steiger wasn’t in his place ready to shoot the scene. We figured he was still in his dressing room, but we heard what we...