A Darn Good Actor: Glenn Ford

It’s painfully easy to miss an actor like Glenn Ford if you’re not paying attention. Cinema history of the immediate pre and post World War Two period is dotted with names like Cary Grant, Fred Astaire and Humphrey Bogart. The purpose of this on-going section is to (hopefully) acknowledge the performers who don’t get the popular recognition of the the A-list Hollywood superstars. These are the character actors, and the utility performers who put in amazing performances, but their names aren’t as well known as their top of the line counterparts.

Glenn Ford’s acting career spanned more than fifty years, from his debut in a Depression era drama Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence in 1939 through a number of roles in smaller films in the 1990’s. Ford was a popular face on movie screens throughout the post World War Two period, beginning at the conclusion of his war service with 1946’s iconic film noir, Gilda and lasted until 1963 with films like The Courtship of Eddie’s Father and An Experiment in Terror. 

As an actor, Glenn Ford seemed to be created especially for the film noir movement, which sprung from the forced return to normalcy upon the return of the servicemen from the War. In the years following this important period in history, there has been much scholarly work written about the sense of wounded masculinity which permeated during this era. It is the societal conflict created by the returning servicemen from overseas into a changed society where in their absence women have been thrust into a sudden sense of empowerment, which is at the root of film noir.

In Gilda, Ford stars opposite Rita Hayworth in what ultimately turned out to be her star-making role. Coming in 1946, the film takes place in this pivotal period of transition following the end of the war. Much of the scholarship written about the film emphasizes Johnny’s (Ford) vulnerability against the strong and vivacious Gilda (Hayworth). In his essay “Resistance through Charisma: Rita Hayworth and Gilda,” Richard Dyer writes, “...He is softly lit (his weakly sensual mouth in particular highlighted), his hair brilliantined (thus rendered an interesting visual surface) and he is fastidiously dressed” (94). This role stands out as a complete reversal from the work Ford had done in the years before the War, which had primarily been been westerns. The argument being presented is that Johnny, formerly tough, hardened leading man was softened (the words overtly feminized is used), emasculating him against the empowered femme fatale Gilda.

Other film’s worthy of checking out featuring Glenn Ford are Blackboard Jungle (1955), The Big Heat (1953), and 3:10 to Yuma. Ford was an incredibly versatile, though understated actor, who was very much a product of his time. Ford's performances shine a light of understanding onto the complicated social climate surrounding the end of the Second World War. If you haven’t seen some of these film, this writer would highly recommend checking them out.