- During the Depression, Ford--at the time a very wealthy man--was accosted outside his office by a former Universal actor who was destitute and needed $200 for an operation for his wife. As the man related his misfortunes, Ford appeared to become enraged and then, to the horror of onlookers, he launched himself at the man, knocked him to the floor. However, as the shaken old man left the building, Frank Baker saw Ford's business manager Fred Totman meet him at the door, where he handed the man a check for $1,000 and instructed Ford's chauffeur to drive him home. There, an ambulance was waiting to take the man's wife to the hospital where a specialist, flown in from San Francisco at Ford's expense, performed the operation. Some time later, Ford purchased a house for the couple and pensioned them for life.
- Embarrassed Jean-Luc Godard, then a young journalist for "Cahiers du Cinéma", during an interview. When Godard asked the famous question, "What brought you to Hollywood?" Ford replied, "a train".
- A young would-be director once came to him for advice, and Ford pointed out two landscape photographs in his office. One had the horizon at the top of the picture, and the other had it at the bottom. Ford said, "When you know why the horizon goes at the top of the frame or the bottom of a frame, then you're a director," and threw the kid out of his office. The would-be director was Steven Spielberg.
- There was a group of actors, known informally as the John Ford Stock Company (John Wayne, Harry Carey, John Carradine, Henry Fonda, etc.) that turned up regularly in Ford's films. They knew how to work with Ford and each other, which suited Ford's directing style: "I tell the actors what I want and they give it to me, usually on the first take.".
- Ford was disgusted by John Wayne's refusal to enlist in 1941. When Ford filmed They Were Expendable (1945) after World War II he included every actor's former military rank and branch (Ford himself was a Navy officer and combat photographer). Of course, there were no credentials behind Wayne's name, which the actor took as a real slap.
- John Wayne usually called him by the nickname "Coach" or "Pappy" in private, but several times publicly, including during Wayne's acceptance speech for the 1970 Oscar for Best Actor, Wayne called him "Admiral John Ford", in reference to his rank at retirement from the U.S. Naval Reserves.
- He was an infamously prickly personality, having constantly mocked John Wayne as a "big idiot" and having punched an unsuspecting Henry Fonda during the shooting of Mister Roberts (1955).
- He was the godfather for all of John Wayne's children.
- May be the most influential director of sound films on other directors. Many of the greatest directors of all time point directly to him as their favorite or one of their favorite filmmakers: Orson Welles, Akira Kurosawa, Sergio Leone (and his own star, Clint Eastwood), Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Bernardo Bertolucci and many members of the French New Wave or their disciples, from Jean-Luc Godard to François Truffaut.
- He had a flair for languages, which took some people by surprise. Jean Renoir (a close friend), reported in his autobiography that Ford usually spoke to him in French whenever they met in Hollywood, while Henry Brandon--born Heinrich von Kleinbach in Berlin, Germany--and Jane Chang, a Chinese-American actress, separately told Ford's biographer Joseph McBride that he had directed them in German and Chinese, respectively. When making films in Ireland, the land of his forefathers, he would often demonstrate his fluent Gaelic.
- John Wayne gave the eulogy at his funeral.
- Prior to making The Searchers (1956), Ford entered the hospital for the removal of cataracts. While recuperating after the surgery, he became impatient with the bandages covering his eyes and tore them off earlier than his doctors told him to. The result of that rash action was that Ford suffered a total loss of sight in one eye, which is how he came to wear his famous eye patch.
- Was the first director to receive back-to-back Best Director Oscars (1941 and 1942).
- Was voted the 3rd Greatest Director of All Time by "Entertainment Weekly", right after Orson Welles, who himself considered Ford to be the best director of all time.
- Was the idol of and primary influence on Akira Kurosawa, who was delighted when they met and found out that Ford had seen and enjoyed his films.
- His filmmaking experience proved valuable to the U.S. Navy during World War II. He photographed the attack on Omaha Beach on D-Day for the OSS.
- Named the most influential filmmaker of all time by "Moviemaker" magazine.
- Because his friends and colleagues John Wayne, James Stewart and Ward Bond were very conservative Republicans, many assumed that Ford was as well. According to his friends, family, and co-workers, nothing could be further from the truth, as he was an activist liberal Democrat. His favorite Presidents were Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy. Ford once went up to the right-wing Victor McLaglen and Wayne on a film set and said, "You know, all of you guys should stop complaining. You made your money under Roosevelt." Wayne, who hated Roosevelt, said nothing and changed the subject. His respect for Ford meant that politics were rarely discussed.
- His favorite actress was Maureen O'Hara and his favorite actor was John Wayne.
- Enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserves in 1934, commissioned as a lieutenant commander. He served on reserve and active status until 1951, retiring as a Captain with the honorary rank of Rear Admiral. While on active duty during World War II he worked with the Office of Strategic Services, predecessor to the CIA. While he produced a number of documentaries and training films for the OSS, perhaps one of his more notable achievements was a one-hour compilation of films which had been produced by order of Gen. (and future President) Dwight D. Eisenhower, showing liberated concentration camps. The film, Nazi Concentration and Prison Camps (1945), was entered as evidence at the Nuremberg War Crime Trials.
- Had a great dislike of foul language and would often assault anyone who spoke that way in front of a woman.
- Directed ten different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Victor McLaglen, Thomas Mitchell, Edna May Oliver, Jane Darwell, Henry Fonda, Donald Crisp, Sara Allgood, Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly and Jack Lemmon. McLaglen, Mitchell, Darwell, Crisp and Lemmon won Oscars.
- Funded the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
- Among Ford's favorite of his films are The Sun Shines Bright (1953), Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) and Wagon Master (1950).
- He often used members of his family (including his two brothers, Francis Ford and Edward O'Fearna) in his films, but only in subordinate roles. Patrick Ford recalled, "My conversations with him, as his only son--that I know of--were always 'Yessir', until one day I said 'no sir', and then I was no longer around. Our family life was pretty much that of a ship master and his crew, or a wagon master and his people. He gave the orders, and we carried them out.".
- In June 2012 the 1st John Ford Ireland Film Symposium (organized by the Irish Film & Television Academy [IFTA)] was held in Dublin, Ireland, celebrating the work of John Ford. The festival is set to become an annual event.
- During the Battle of Midway in 1942, he was wounded in the arm by shrapnel while filming the Japanese attack from the power plant of Sand Island on Midway.
- He has directed eleven films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant": The Iron Horse (1924), The Informer (1935), Stagecoach (1939), Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), My Darling Clementine (1946), The Quiet Man (1952), The Searchers (1956), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) and How the West Was Won (1962).
- Often cast his older brother Francis Ford in very small and uncredited parts in his films. He had followed Francis out to Hollywood. Francis was a silent-era director-actor who helped John establish a career. Allegedly, the employment of Francis was for sadistic purposes, since John seemed to enjoy giving him small, unimportant parts and yelling at him in front of the cast and crew.
- Was considered to direct The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957).
- His apparently madcap affair with Katharine Hepburn, when both were married, inspired his friend Dudley Nichols to write the script for Bringing Up Baby (1938). When (after Hepburn broke off her relationship with Ford) she began her lifelong affair with Spencer Tracy, Ford was allegedly incensed and, after the two had had a fruitful collaboration early on in their careers, he neither spoke with or worked with Tracy for about 20 years.
- In 1973 he received a Presidential Medal of Freedom from Richard Nixon.
- He was famously untidy and his office was often littered with papers and books.
- Was the youngest of 13 children of John Augustine Feeney and Barbara Curran.
- Known primarily for directing some of the greatest westerns ever made. However, of his five Best Director Oscar nominations, only one (Stagecoach (1939)) was a western. It was also the only Best Director Oscar he ever lost.
- Quote from Pat O'Brien: "John Ford, the old master, is the orderly type. Working for him is like being part of a ballet. He hardly ever moves the camera, but composes his shots like a master painter, a Rembrandt or Degas. The actor becomes part of the scene. Ford lets the action swirl past his lens. But the reality of his seamen, miners, dust-bowlers, horse soldiers, or western heroes, when he is at his best, is a literature that the screen rarely gets. Working for him one feels a special pride. Lewis Milestone is a bouncing camera mover. For him the seeing eye is all. He stands the camera on its head, rolls it, rushes it, brings it in on the run. The actors are part of the scenery, and they must fight to survive, come alive while he catches them on the run. Neither men are static directors. They don't care for too much talk in their script, or stage business over meaningless chatter.".
- Named Ronald Colman as the best actor he directed.
- In December 2011 Clint Eastwood received the first John Ford Award from John Ford Ireland Film Symposium.
- Has referred to Northern Irish director Brian Desmond Hurst as his "cousin".
- He liked to watch Henry Fonda dance in scenes from his movies, particularly in Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) and My Darling Clementine (1946).
- The character John Dodge in Ford's movie The Wings of Eagles (1957) is a spoof of Ford.
- There were occasional rumors about his sexuality. In her 2004 autobiography "'Tis Herself", Maureen O'Hara recalled seeing Ford kissing a famous male actor (whom she did not name) in his office at Columbia Studios.
- While John Ford is the director's "Hollywood" name, and his American birth name is John Feeney, his Irish name was Sean Aloysius O'Fearna. Allegedly his parents referred to him as "Sean".
- Three of Ford's films--Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), Stagecoach (1939) and My Darling Clementine (1946)--are in the Criterion Collection.
- Whenever he filmed a scene that dealt with violence, he liked to do it as quickly as possible because he did not like violence.
- President Richard Nixon and California Gov. Ronald Reagan were present at the dinner at which Ford received the first American Film Institute dinner Lifetime Achievement Award. Nixon presented Ford with the Presidential Medal of Freedom and declared that, as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, he was promoting Rear Admiral John Ford to full Admiral for the remainder of the night (it was 10:37 pm on the night of 3/31/73 when Nixon began speaking). After the President's remarks, Ford responded with his own speech: "Thank you, sir. As [former POW] Captain Jeremiah Denton said--I hope I get through with this; I am about ready to bust out in crying--as Captain Denton said as he set foot for the first time in many years on continental American soil, 'I am stunned and bewildered at this reception.' He ended with 'God bless America.' I quote his words with feeling. There are some people in this world who don't think that we movie folks have any religion, but a glance around this distinguished audience is living refutation of that nonsense. In a recent telephone conversation with the President, he said, 'What is your reaction to the prisoners coming home?' I said, 'Frankly, sir, I broke down and blubbered and cried like a baby. Then I reached for my rosary and said a few decades of the beads, and I uttered a short fervent prayer, not an original prayer, but one spoken in millions of American homes today. It is a simple prayer, simply, God bless Richard Nixon'.".
- Supporting members of Ford's "Stock Company" include Ward Bond, Ken Curtis, Jane Darwell, Francis Ford, Ben Johnson, Victor McLaglen, Mae Marsh, Mildred Natwick, John Qualen, Woody Strode, Tom Tyler and Patrick Wayne.
- Known for needling his actors, he believed to be the one who starting calling novice actor John Agar "Mr. Temple," due to Agar's then recent marriage to Shirley Temple.
- Has won more directing Oscars than any other director: four, for The Informer (1935), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941) and The Quiet Man (1952). He also won an Oscar for Best Documentary, Short Subject for The Battle of Midway (1942) and an Oscar for Best Documentary for December 7th (1943).
- Shot several Westerns in Monument Valley using the Navajo Indians as extras. After making The Searchers he was made an Honorary member of the tribe.
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