Ford, John, English dramatist

Ford, John, 1586–c.1640, English dramatist, b. Devonshire. He went to London to study law but was never called to the bar. The early part of his playwriting career was taken up with collaborations, primarily with Dekker. His three major tragedies, 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, The Broken Heart, and Love's Sacrifice, and a historical play, Perkin Warbeck appeared between 1627 and 1634. Ford was the most important playwright during the reign of Charles I. His plays are characterized by a sympathetic treatment of thwarted love, and they stress the conflict between the power of human passion and the laws of conscience and society. They are intense, melancholy, and violent, often revealing his interest in abnormal psychology and taboo subjects—'Tis Pity She's a Whore deals with incest.

Bibliography

See biography by D. K. Anderson (1972); studies by M. Stavig (1968), F. Ali (1974), and D. Anderson (1986).

Ford, John, American film director

Ford, John, 1895–1973, American film director, b. Cape Elizabeth, Maine, as John Martin Feeney. Ford began directing in 1917 after an apprenticeship with his brother Francis. Over the next 50 years, he brought a painterly eye, an appreciation of his actors' strengths, and a deep love of Americana to over 200 feature films. Although Ford set films in other parts of the country or world, including several in Ireland, he returned to the Western repeatedly throughout his career. These films merge a beautiful pictorial style, using the buttes and mesas almost as architectural features, with stories that frequently deal with the nature of military command. Among his films are The Iron Horse (1924), The Informer (1935), Stagecoach (1939), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), Fort Apache (1947), The Quiet Man (1952), The Searchers (1957), and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). Ford won six Academy Awards. During World War II he served in the U.S. navy and made the acclaimed documentary June 7th (1944).

Bibliography

See biographies by A. Sinclair (1979), S. Eyman (1999), and J. McBride (2001); studies by P. Bogdanovich (1968), J. McBride and M. Wilmington (1974), and T. Gallagher (1986).

Ford, John

orig. Sean Aloysius O'Feeney or O'Fearna

(born Feb. 1, 1895, Cape Elizabeth, Maine, U.S.—died Aug. 31, 1973, Palm Desert, Calif.) U.S. film director. In 1914 Ford went to Hollywood to join his brother, who was there acting in films. Ford became a director of westerns, achieving success with The Iron Horse (1924). His distinctive style united action with colourful characterization and reflected his sense of American identity. He is best remembered for such westerns as Stagecoach (1939), My Darling Clementine (1946), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), many of which starred John Wayne. He also directed such historical dramas as Mary of Scotland (1936) and Young Mr. Lincoln (1939). He received Academy Awards for The Informer (1935), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), and The Quiet Man (1952), and also for his wartime documentaries The Battle of Midway (1942) and December 7th (1943).

Ford, John

(baptized April 17, 1586, Ilsington, Devon, Eng.—died 1639?) British dramatist. Early in his career he studied law and wrote collaboratively with several other playwrights, but little more is known of his life, and the dating of many of his works is uncertain. His revenge tragedies are characterized by scenes of austere beauty, insight into human passions, and poetic diction of a high order. His reputation rests on the first four plays he wrote alone, only one of which can be dated with certainty: The Broken Heart; The Lover's Melancholy (1628); Perkin Warbeck; and 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, an eloquently sympathetic story of incestuous lovers that is his best-known work.

Ford, John (b. Sean Aloysius O'Feeney or O'Fearna) (1895–1973) film director; born in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. He left Maine for Hollywood in 1913 and worked as a set laborer and propman. He began directing in 1917, and was to turn out over 125 features, making his debut with a western, The Tornado. Over the years, he developed his own little stock company, which featured John Wayne, Ward Bond, James Stewart, Henry Fonda, and many others. Adept at all genres, he frequently explored his Irish roots, but achieved his greatest renown for poetic visions of the American West—its rugged heroes, pioneering families, and sense of male camaraderie. He won Academy Awards four times for directing features—The Informer (1935), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), and The Quiet Man (1952)—and two others for World War II documentaries. He received the first American Film Institute Life Achievement Award in 1973.