Harrison Ford (silent film actor)
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Harrison Ford (born March 16, 1884 in Kansas City , Missouri , † December 2, 1957 in Woodland Hills , Los Angeles , California ) was an American actor on the stage and for silent films .
Life
Very little is known of Ford's childhood and youth; apparently he began working as an actor at a very young age. His engagement in the ensemble of Robert Edeson , with whom he was seen on Broadway in the play Strongheart in 1905, is assured . He soon took over from his employer in the role of the romantic lead actor in the plays listed. In 1911 he was under contract with William H. Crane and played a. a. in US Minister Bedloe . Two years later, Ford performed in New York City at the Holbrook Blinn Repertory Theater , then at the Harlem Opera House . Other stations in his ensemble activity were Baltimore, Los Angeles and Syracuse. In 1915 he was so well known that a first film offer was made, a version of his stage success Excuse Me . 1916 followed by William DeMille directed by Anton the Terrible .
Soon Ford decided to continue his film career intensively and limited his engagements on the stage. He received a contract with Paramount , where he was used in around twenty films until 1921. He has been successfully built as a partner to well-known actresses such as Fannie Ward (in two films), Constance Talmadge (in five films), and Vivian Martin (in seven films). The mostly light fabrics often came from Broadway models. The collaboration with Talmadge was so successful that another twelve romantic comedies were shot with the Ford / Talmadge team by 1922. He also shot romantic comedies with her sister Norma . Ford had now acquired a reputation as a good-looking, talented and reliable actor whose popularity numerous female stars took advantage of the audience and was asked by the production companies that had signed him on the side of Gloria Swanson and Clara Bow on Corinne Griffith and Bessie Love to Bebe Daniels and Alma Rubens . He shot several times with Marie Prevost , Phyllis Haver and Marion Davies . Ford starred in thirty-five films between 1920 and 1925.
In one of the few interviews published in 1913, Ford spoke about the scary aspects of his job when he told the Syracuse Post Standard about his career and his audience assessment. Because of his rare public appearances and his scandal-free, very private life away from the studios, he was called the "Hermit of Hollywood". In 1926, however, at the height of his career, Ford complained about being defined as a handsome, adaptable, and also a little goofy hero. In 1923, an appearance against the previous image as a lover and gallant of women had steered his career in a new direction: The Nervous Wreck let him appear in a comic role as a fearful hypochondriac, which led to numerous well-paid offers for farces and comedy. Eleven such works were published in 1926 and 1927. His role system was described as "clumsy, boyish clumsiness with more than just a trace of softening". In the following year another seven films appeared with Ford in a leading role; then the arrival of the sound film ended his film career abruptly. Since he had a trained voice as a stage actor, the motivation for this remained unclear.
Ford returned to the theater stages; he played at the Pasadena Community Playhouse, with Henry Duff's Ensemble and worked in the UK. In 1940, after a tour for the United Service Organizations , he also directed (for the repertory "Little Theater of the Verdugos" in Glendale , California ). However, his name was more and more forgotten; very little is known about the period after 1940 - he was probably retired - until a 1951 car accident in which he was seriously injured brought him back into the headlines. Ford was never able to recover from the damage suffered and lived in the "Motion Picture Country Home" until his death in 1957.
Ford was married to actress Beatrice Prentice (1884–1977) since March 29, 1909 .
Trivia
Ford has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame , which is often confused with Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942, Star Wars , Indiana Jones etc.). There are no known relationships between the two actors.
Many of the films with Ford have been lost .
Filmography
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literature
- Eve Golden: Golden Images. 41 Essays on Silent Film Stars. McFarland, Jefferson, New York 2001, ISBN 0786408340 , pp. 32-36 google-books .
Web links
- Harrison Ford in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Harrison Ford in the Internet Broadway Database (English)
- Harrison Ford in the database of Find a Grave (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ William Curtis Nunn: Marguerite Clarke, America's Darling of Broadway and the Silent Screen. Texas Christian University Press, Fort Worth 1981, ISBN 0-912646-69-1 , p. 183.
- ↑ When you become a star your troubles begin. The star is the cause of a picture's failure, if it fails, and if it's a success, the star is bound to that sort of role from then on ... So much is made to depend upon the individual performance of the star that spontaneity is almost impossible. Interview with Ford, quoted from Eve Golden: Golden Images. 41 Essays on Silent Film Stars. McFarland, Jefferson, New York 2001, ISBN 0786408340 , p. 35.
- ↑ by William K. Everson : American Silent Film Da Capo Press, New York 2009, ISBN 978-0-7867-5094-8 , p. 163.
- ^ Uptown Social Work Benefits , The New York Times , February 1, 1925 issue, pg. X9.
- ↑ Ford Genealogy Family Tree ( Memento of the original from March 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Series of articles on the Hollywood Stars, Los Angeles Times, February 15, 2010
- ↑ Harrison Ford at Midnight Palace
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ford, Harrison |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American actor on stage and for silent films |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 16, 1884 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Kansas City , Missouri |
| DATE OF DEATH | 2nd December 1957 |
| Place of death | Woodland Hills , Los Angeles , California |