Trivia

On May 1, 2006, he had a gala 90th birthday celebration at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. There was a showing of a newly-restored print of Gilda (1946) and his son, Peter Ford, hosted the event. Over 700 tickets went on sale and were quickly sold out.

Is a direct descendant of the eighth President of the United States, Martin Van Buren.

Credited with being one of the fastest "guns" in Hollywood westerns; able to draw and fire in 0.4 seconds, he was faster than James Arness (Matt Dillon of Gunsmoke (1955)) and John Wayne. However, Peter Breck (Nick Barkley of The Big Valley (1965)) has been credited by Wild Western Magazine as being able to draw and fire in .16 seconds.

In 1967 Naval Reserve Officer Lt. Cmdr. Ford (then aged 51) volunteered to serve for three months as a liaison officer attached to a Marine unit, with the Marine rank of full colonel, in Vietnam, and on several occasions endured enemy shelling.

He was a close friend of William Holden.

After having been a member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary for a year, he joined the Marine Corps during WWII in December of 1942, and subsequently met first wife, tap-dancing extraordinaire Eleanor Powell, at a war-bond cavalcade. They married in 1943.

Served in Vietnam as a reserve military officer.

Awarded the French Legion of Honor Medal (Legion d'Honneur), and appointed to the rank of Knight of the Legion of Honor in 1992, by the French Government for service in World War II. Created to honor extraordinary contributions to the Republic of France, the Legion of Honor is France's highest distinction.

He played Jonathan Kent in the 1978 film Superman (1978). In Superman Returns (2006), a photograph of him can be seen in Clark Kent's old home. The film was released two months and two days prior to Ford's death.

Went on a jungle mission with a Special Forces team during the Vietnam War.

Took up hang gliding at the age of 64.

Voted the #1 box-office attraction for 1958 by the National Association of Theatre Owners.

Retired from acting in 1991, at age 75, following heart and circulatory problems.

Related to Sir John A. Macdonald, first Prime Minister of Canada.

Had been scheduled to make his first public appearance in 15 years at a 90th birthday tribute gala in his honor hosted by the American Cinematheque at Grauman's Eqyptian Theatre in Hollywood on 1 May 2006, but was unable to attend. He had suffered a series of minor strokes since his retirement, and was consequently very frail.

He has appeared in five films with Rita Hayworth: Affair in Trinidad (1952), The Lady in Question (1940), The Loves of Carmen (1948), The Money Trap (1965) and Gilda (1946).

He had intended to portray Hondo Lane in Hondo (1953), but backed out when John Farrow was chosen to direct. Ford and Farrow did not got along while making Plunder of the Sun (1953), causing Ford to lose interest in the role. The role was subsequently portrayed by John Wayne.

He was replaced by Robert Mitchum in African Skies (1992) after being hospitalized with blood clots in his legs.

Parents were Newton and Hannah Ford. His father did not block his movie star aspirations but insisted that he learn a trade first. He listened and became an expert on plumbing, wiring and air-conditioning. He also worked as a roofer and installer of plate-glass windows.

Inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in 1978.

Often during his career he insisted on being shot looking to camera left--he had been kicked in the right side of his jaw by a horse and insisted the left side of his face was his only filmable side.

His first screen test at 20th Century Fox did not turn out well. He was given a second chance by Columbia a year later, however, and was signed.

In support of President Lyndon B. Johnson's escalation of the Vietnam War, Ford traveled with a combat camera crew from the demilitarized zone south to the Mekong Delta.

Before becoming an actor he worked in a Santa Monica (CA) bar as a barkeep for $5 a week.

Received a special tribute as part of the Annual Memorial tribute at The 79th Annual Academy Awards (2007).

He was accused of racism after refusing to sit next to Gail Fisher at the Logie Awards in March 1973. He was upset by sentiments expressed by the Australian media and politicians against President Richard Nixon and the Vietnam War and even refused to shake hands with then Labor Senator and Minister for Media Doug McClelland at the Logies ceremony. The biography "Glenn Ford: A Life", written by his son, Peter Ford, states,"Before the end of the trip Prime Minister [Gough] Whitlam was quoted as saying: 'Someone should have put a bucket over Glenn Ford's head.' My father challenged Whitlam to it himself--if he dared." US ambassador Walter Rice felt obliged to offer a formal apology to the nation of Australia.

He has appeared in five films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Gilda (1946), The Big Heat (1953), Blackboard Jungle (1955), 3:10 to Yuma (1957) and Superman (1978).

Like his close friend Ronald Reagan, started as a Democrat but gradually switched to becoming a conservative Republican.

In 1942 he joined the American Marines for 3 1/2 years then transferred to the navy as a captain , a rank he held for the rest of his life.

According to a biography of Sam Peckinpah, Ford was considered for Robert Ryan's role in The Wild Bunch (1969).

He learned to ride when he was 11 and worked as a stable boy for 4 years with Will Rogers.

Proposed to his third wife, Cynthia Ford (nee Cynthia Howard), at Windsor Castle in England in August 1977.

He never appeared in a film nominated for Best Picture Academy Award. (Although, reportedly Ford did film a part in JFK (1991), which was nominated for the category, but his scene was deleted and remains unreleased).

Joined the Marine Corps on the outbreak of WWII and felt ashamed to tell the recruiting sergeant that he was an actor so told him that he collected stamps so was listed as a stamp collector.

Quit smoking cigarettes in 1958.

Grandfather of Aubrey Newton Ford (b. 1977), Ryan Welsie Ford (b. 1984), and Eleanor Powell Ford (b. 1988), whose parents are Ford's son, Peter Ford (b. 5 February 1945), and his wife, Lynda Gundersen.

His mother's side of the family came from England.

His ancestry included English, Scottish, Irish, and Dutch. He had some family roots in the English town of Horwich, near Bolton, Lancashire.

Actively campaigned for Adlai Stevenson in the 1956 presidential election, and attended the Democratic National Convention that year.

Mentioned in The Bank Job (1962).

Was engaged to actress Evelyn Ankers, but she broke the engagement when she met Richard Denning while Ford was on location in 1942.

In 1967 he was called to active duty as Naval Reserve Commander to produce a documentary in Vietnam about the Marine Corps.

His few attempts at playing villains were not generally well-received. Critic David Thomson complained "3:10 to Yuma (1957)" suffered because of Ford's "inability to be nasty".

His first film part for 20th Century Fox was in "Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence (1939)." On seeing the finished film he packed his bags and returned to New York. He was in a play with Tallulah Bankhead when he was asked to sign with Columbia. He stayed with Columbia for about 20 years..

Member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Actors Branch).

In 1938 he was John Beal's understudy in the West Coast stage production of "Soliloquy".

In 1951 RKO Radio Pictures planned to make a film-noir, to be entitled "The Sins of Sarah Ferry." The story was to be about a Binghamton, NY, courthouse clerk who finds himself falling in love with a beautiful liar who is accused of armed robbery as well as a hit-and-run charge involving a death. The cast was to have included Laraine Day, Fred MacMurray, Yvonne De Carlo, Hugh Beaumont, Glenn Ford, Howard Duff, and Evelyn Keyes, with the studio wanting to shoot on location in Binghamton and neighboring Johnson City. The project never materialized because the plot was considered too much of a generic step-up of Double Indemnity (1944), plus the studio never received a reply via phone or standard mail, from the Binghamton Courthouse, or from the- Mayor Donald Kramer, granting permission to film on location in the area, and to negotiate a fair range of payment. Based on that neglect, the studio canceled the project and moved on.

Would secretly record his sexual conquests on audio tape. He would also document his encounters and one such documentation was written on the back of a painting he gifted to Marilyn Monroe after a one night stand. The painting was featured in Season 13, episode 2 of "Pawn No Evil (2016)".

Has a CENOTAPH (A monument to someone buried elsewhere) at Cimetière de Woodend, Portneuf, Capitale-Nationale Region, Quebec, Canada. Plot 43. Which rests beside his parents.

Said his worst roll was Dave the Dude in "Pocketful of Miracles (1961).