Ruth Ford (actress)
Ruth Ford | |
---|---|
![]() Pierre Balmain and Ruth Ford, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1947 | |
Born |
Brookhaven, Mississippi, US | July 7, 1911
Died |
August 12, 2009 98) New York City, New York, US | (aged
Occupation | Model, actress |
Years active | 1938–85 |
Spouse(s) |
Peter van Eyck 1940–19?? (divorced) Zachary Scott 1952–1965 (his death) |
Ruth Ford (July 7, 1911, Brookhaven, Mississippi[1] – August 12, 2009, New York City) was an American model and stage and film actress. Her brother was the bohemian surrealist Charles Henri Ford. Their parents managed the Tennessee Hotel in Clarksville, Tennessee.
Life and career
As a model she posed for Harper's, Town and Country and Mademoiselle.
She married actor Peter Van Eyck in the 1940s, but the marriage was unsuccessful. Van Eyck was the father of her daughter, Shelley, who was born in 1941. Prior to Ford's trip west to Hollywood she was a member of Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre, and appeared in his film Too Much Johnson (1938), which was considered lost until the rediscovery of footage in 2013.[2] Welles' assistance helped her to land contracts with Columbia Pictures and Warner Bros. studios.
She starred in the 1976 Broadway play Poor Murderer.
Ford married film star Zachary Scott and they remained together until Scott's death in 1965. Scott adopted Shelley, who took the name Shelley Scott. Zachary Scott reportedly died penniless except for a $100,000 insurance policy he left for his widow. Later, in the 1970s, she was involved in a relationship with a much younger man, the writer Dotson Rader.[3]
Posthumous
In May 2010 it was reported, originally in The Wall Street Journal, that Ford's estate had been worth $8.4 million, almost all of it in the value of two apartments she owned in the famous apartment building The Dakota in Manhattan, where she died at the age of 98 in 2009. One of the apartments had belonged to her brother Charles, who predeceased her. She bequeathed the apartments to her cook/butler, Indra Tamang, a Nepalese-American whom Charles Henri Ford had brought to New York. Ford's daughter and grandchildren were reportedly disinherited.[4]
Partial filmography
- Chloe, Love Is Calling You (1934) - Minor Role (uncredited)
- Too Much Johnson (1938) - Mrs. Billings
- Roaring Frontiers (1941) - Reba Bailey
- Secrets of the Lone Wolf (1941) - Helene de Leon
- The Man Who Returned to Life (1942) - Beth Beebe
- The Lady Is Willing (1942) - Myrtle Glossamer
- Lady Gangster (1942) - Lucy Fenton
- Murder in the Big House (1942) - Mrs. Irene Gordon
- In This Our Life (1942) - Mother of Accident Victim (uncredited)
- The Devil's Trail (1942) - Ella
- Escape from Crime (1942) - Myrt
- Secret Enemies (1942) - Miss Page (uncredited)
- Across the Pacific (1942) - Secretary (uncredited)
- The Hidden Hand (1942) - Estelle Channing
- The Gorilla Man (1943) - Janet Devon
- Truck Busters (1943) - Pearl
- Air Force (1943) - Nurse (uncredited)
- Murder on the Waterfront (1943) - Lana Shane
- Adventure in Iraq (1943) - Tess Torrence
- Princess O'Rourke (1943) - Clare Stillwell (uncredited)
- Wilson (1944) - Margaret Wilson
- The Keys of the Kingdom (1944) - Sister Clotilde
- Circumstantial Evidence (1945) - Mrs. Simms
- The Woman Who Came Back (1945) - Ruth Gibson
- Strange Impersonation (1946) - Jane Karaski #1
- Dragonwyck (1946) - Cornelia Van Borden (uncredited)
- Act One (1963) - Beatrice Kaufman
- The Tree (1969) - Mrs. Gagnon
- 7254 (1971) - Mother
- Play It As It Lays (1972) - Carlotta
- The Eyes of the Amaryllis (1982) - Geneva Read
- Too Scared to Scream (1985) - Irma (final film role)
References
- ↑ Hevesi, Dennis (2009-08-14). "Ruth Ford, Film and Stage Actress, Dies at 98". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-08-14.
- ↑ Kehr, Dave (2013-08-07), "Early Film by Orson Welles Is Rediscovered", New York Times
- ↑ https://people.com/archive/ruth-ford-dotson-rader-a-december-mistress-muse-to-may-vol-3-no-11/
- ↑ Ruth Ford -- disposition of estate Archived 2011-07-23 at the Wayback Machine.