Wallace Ford (born Samuel Grundy Jones; 12 February 1898 – 11 June 1966) was an English–American vaudevillian, stage performer and screen actor. Usually playing wise-cracking characters, he combined a tough but friendly-faced demeanor with a small but powerful, stocky physique.
Early life
Ford was born Samuel Grundy Jones in Bolton, Lancashire, England, into a working-class family of limited means who left him in the care of an aunt and uncle. At the age of three, his uncle and aunt left him with Barnardo's orphanage because they were unable to maintain him and their own children. When he was seven, he and other children from similar backgrounds were shipped to Canada to new foster families as a part of the British Empire's ongoing programme to populate the territory.
Jones was adopted by a family in Manitoba. He was ill-treated and became a serial runaway, being resettled several times with different families by the Canadian authorities. According to his own account, at the age of 11 he ran away for the last time and joined a vaudeville traveling troupe touring Canada called the Winnipeg Kiddies, from which he acquired his initial training as a performer.
In 1914, 16-year-old Jones and another youth named Wallace Ford decided to head south to the United States to seek their fortunes, riding a freight train illicitly. During the trip, Ford was killed beneath the wheels of a train. Later, Jones adopted as his stage name the name of his dead traveling companion.
Acting career
thumb|Ford (left) and [[Broderick Crawford in the original Broadway production of Of Mice and Men (1938)]]
Following his service as a trooper in the army at Fort Riley, Kansas, with the United States Cavalry during World War I, Ford became a successful Broadway performer through the Roaring Twenties, appearing in multiple productions, including the lead role in the Broadway smash hit Abie's Irish Rose.
In motion pictures, Ford made his credited debut with Possessed in 1931, appearing with Clark Gable and Joan Crawford, and the next year he was given the lead in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Freaks, directed by Tod Browning. Ford went on to have an extensive career over 30 years, appearing in more than 150 films, with lead roles in the 1930s and '40s in Hollywood B movies such as The Rogues' Tavern (1936), Murder by Invitation (1941), and Roar of the Press (1941) and supporting roles in larger feature films such as The Lost Patrol (1934), The Informer (1935), Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Spellbound (1945), and Dead Reckoning (1947).
In 1938, Ford returned to the Broadway stage to play the role of George in the original production of Of Mice and Men.
Broadway credits
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Date
! Title
! Role
! Notes
|-
| 29 August – September 1921
| The Poppy God
| Higgins
| Hudson Theatre, New York
|-
| 6 March–?, 1922
| Broken Branches
| Arthur Weldon
| 39th Street Theatre, New York
|-
| 22 October – November 1923
| Nobody's Business
| Oliver Pratt
| Klaw Theatre, New York
|-
| 14 January – February 1924
| Gypsy Jim
| Tom Blake
| 49th Street Theatre, New York
|-
| 31 March – May 1924
| Nancy Ann
| Dan Dennis
| 49th Street Theatre, New York
|-
| 1 September 1924 – June 1925
| Pigs
| Thomas Atkins Jr.
| Little Theatre, New York
|-
| 14 January – March 1929
| Gypsy
| Mac
| Klaw Theatre, New York
|-
| 14 October – November 1929
| The Nut Farm
| Willie Barton
| Klaw Theatre, New York
|-
| 23 November 1937 – May 1938
| Of Mice and Men
| George
| Music Box Theatre, New York
|-
| 26 December 1939 – 6 January 1940
| Kindred
| Dermot O'Regan (Prologue)
| Maxine Elliott Theatre, New York
|}
Filmography
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! class="unsortable" | Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 1929
| Married in Hollywood
| Mitzi's Fan
| Uncredited
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1931
| Possessed
| Al Manning
|
|-
| X Marks the Spot
| Ted Lloyd
|
|-
| '
| Jason H. Barton
|
|-
| Exiled to Shanghai
| Ted Young
|
|-
| 1939
| Back Door to Heaven
| Frankie Rogers
|
|-
| rowspan="4" | 1941
| '
| Casey
|