25 Facts About John Ford

1. John Ford was listed as the fifth most influential director of all time by MovieMaker.

2. John Ford claimed he didn't vote for either Goldwater or Johnson in 1964, but he supported Richard Nixon in 1968 and became a supporter of the Vietnam War.

3. John Ford was the first recipient of the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award in 1973.

4. John Ford was the first director to win consecutive Best Director awards, in 1940 and 1941.

5. John Ford was as good as his word—for precisely seven days.

6. John Ford is famous for his exciting tracking shots, such as the Apache chase sequence in Stagecoach or the attack on the Comanche camp in The Searchers.

7. John Ford brought out Wayne's tenderness as well as his toughness, especially in Stagecoach.

8. John Ford was highly intelligent, erudite, sensitive and sentimental, but to protect himself in the cutthroat atmosphere of Hollywood he cultivated the image of a "tough, two-fisted, hard-drinking Irish sonofabitch".

9. John Ford bought a brand new Rolls-Royce in the 1930s, but never rode in it because his wife, Mary, would not let him smoke in it.

10. John Ford died on 31 August 1973 at Palm Desert and his funeral was held on 5 September at Hollywood's Church of the Blessed Sacrament.

11. John Ford 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.

12. John Ford made his first forays into television in 1955, directing two half-hour dramas for network TV.

13. John Ford prepared the project but worked only one day before being taken ill, supposedly with shingles, and Elia Kazan replaced him.

14. John Ford directed sixteen features and several documentaries in the decade between 1946 and 1956.

15. John Ford created a part for the recovering Ward Bond, who needed money.

16. John Ford eventually rose to become a top adviser to OSS head William Joseph Donovan.

17. John Ford was commissioned as a commander in the United States Navy Reserve.

18. John Ford was named Best Director by the New York Film Critics, and this was one of the few awards of his career that he collected in person.

19. John Ford is credited with playing a major role in shaping Wayne's screen image.

20. John Ford confirmed his position in the top rank of American directors with the Murnau-influenced Irish Republican Army drama The Informer, starring Victor McLaglen.

21. John Ford directed Fox's first all-talking dramatic featurette Napoleon's Barber, a 3-reeler which is lost.

22. John Ford directed around thirty-six films over three years for Universal before moving to the William Fox studio in 1920; his first film for them was Just Pals.

23. John Ford began his career in film after moving to California in July 1914.

24. John Ford married Mary McBride Smith on July 3, 1920, and they had two children.

25. John Ford earned the nickname "Bull" because of the way he would lower his helmet and charge the line.