Ruth Ford

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Ruth Ford with the costume designer Pierre Balmain , photographer Carl van Vechten , 1947

Ruth Elizabeth Ford (born July 7, 1911 in Brookhaven , Mississippi , † August 12, 2009 in New York City , New York ) was an American actress . Her brother was the American poet, artist and filmmaker Charles Henri Ford , who has been described as " America's most prominent surrealist ".

Life

Ruth Ford studied at the University of Mississippi, where she made friends with the writer and later Nobel Prize winner for literature, William Faulkner . In the mid-30s she moved to New York, became a model for Harper's Bazaar , Mademoiselle and Vogue and an actress, including Orson Welles ' Mercury Theater. In 1938 she went to Hollywood and made her film debut in Too Much Johnson . Three years later she played her first leading role in Secrets of the Lone Wolf . In 1942 she was seen next to Marlene Dietrich in Miss Mama .

Ford, who mainly worked in B-films , appeared almost exclusively in television productions and in the theater from the late 1940s onwards. Faulkner wrote the role of Temple Drake for her in his only play Requiem for a Nun, which premiered on Broadway in 1959 . She played in more than a dozen Broadway productions, including the 1962 premiere of Tennessee Williams ' The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore . In 1985 she was in the film Der nackte Wahnsinn for the last time in front of the camera.

From the 1960s until the end of her life, Ruth Ford hosted a famous salon in her apartment in New York's Dakota Building , to which she regularly invited personalities such as William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee , Truman Capote , Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein . She was first married to the actor Peter van Eyck and from 1952 until his death in 1965 with Zachary Scott . With van Eyck she had a daughter, Shelly, who was later adopted by Scott.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Commons : Ruth Ford  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b entry at filmreference.com
personal data
SURNAME Ford, Ruth
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ford, Ruth Elizabeth (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-american actress
DATE OF BIRTH July 7, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Brookhaven , Mississippi , United States
DATE OF DEATH August 12, 2009
Place of death New York City , New York , United States