1. Wardell Edwin Bond was an American character actor who appeared in more than 200 films and starred in the NBC television series Wagon Train from 1957 to 1960.
12 Facts About Ward Bond
1. 2.
Ward Bond attended the Colorado School of Mines and then attended the University of Southern California and played football on the same team with future USC coach Jess Hill.
3.
Ward Bond graduated from USC in 1931 with a bachelor of science degree in engineering.
4.
Ward Bond made his screen debut in Salute and thereafter was a busy character actor, playing over 200 supporting roles.
5.
Ward Bond appeared in 31 films released in 1935 and 23 in 1939.
6.
For Wagon Train, Ward Bond was assigned the lead role of the crusty but compassionate Major Seth Adams, the trail master.
7.
Ward Bond was frequently typecast in extremes, as either a friendly lawman or a brutal henchman.
8.
Ward Bond had a longtime working relationship with directors John Ford and Frank Capra, performing in such films as The Searchers, Drums Along the Mohawk, The Quiet Man, They Were Expendable, and Fort Apache for Ford, with whom he made 25 films, and It Happened One Night, It's a Wonderful Life, and Riding High for Capra.
9.
Ward Bond married Doris Sellers Childs in 1936, but they divorced in 1944.
10.
On November 5,1960, Ward Bond suffered a massive heart attack while at a hotel in Dallas with his wife.
11.
Ward Bond was pronounced dead at a Dallas hospital at the age of 57.
12.
Ward Bond's will bequeathed to Wayne the shotgun with which Wayne had once accidentally shot Ward Bond on a hunting trip.