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IMDbPro

Wallace Ford(1898-1966)

  • Actor
  • Soundtrack
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Wallace Ford
Trailer for this drama starring Sidney Poitier
Play trailer2:01
A Patch of Blue (1965)
6 Videos
99+ Photos
A stocky, friendly-faced character actor, Ford was born Samuel Jones in England, where the brutality of his childhood rivaled anything that Charles Dickens ever dreamed up. He lived for a while in an orphanage after being separated from his parents. While still young, he was sent to a Toronto branch of the orphanage. There, he began a cycle that involved living in 17 foster homes, the longest being with a farm family that treated him like a slave. At age 11 he ran away and joined a vaudeville troupe called the Winnipeg Kiddies, with whom he stayed until 1914. He then joined a friend named Wallace Ford, and the two 'hoboed" their way into the United States. After the friend was crushed to death by a railroad car, he took the name Wallace Ford in his friend's memory and found work in theatrical troupes and repertory companies. On Broadway he acted in "Abraham Lincoln," "Abie's Irish Rose," and "Bad Girl." He left Broadway in 1932 to appear with Joan Crawford in Possessed (1931); he also landed the lead in MGM's notorious Freaks (1932), although his fellow actors proved more memorable. He also co-starred as Walter Huston's amoral brother in one of the studio's few full-blown gangster melodramas, The Beast of the City (1932), starring Jean Harlow in arguably her most hard-bitten role. In all he appeared in over 200 films, including five directed by John Ford (The Last Hurrah (1958), The Whole Town's Talking (1935), They Were Expendable (1945), The Lost Patrol (1934), and The Informer (1935)). He also appeared with Henry Fonda in the TV series "The Deputy," which ran from 1959 to 1960. Ford died of a heart attack soon after his last memorable role as "Old Pa" in the hit Sidney Poitier drama A Patch of Blue (1965).
BornFebruary 12, 1898
DiedJune 11, 1966(68)
BornFebruary 12, 1898
DiedJune 11, 1966(68)
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
  • Awards

Photos209

Shelley Winters, John Garfield, and Wallace Ford in He Ran All the Way (1951)
Wallace Ford in He Ran All the Way (1951)
Shelley Winters, John Garfield, and Wallace Ford in He Ran All the Way (1951)
John Garfield and Wallace Ford in He Ran All the Way (1951)
John Garfield and Wallace Ford in He Ran All the Way (1951)
John Garfield and Wallace Ford in He Ran All the Way (1951)
Wallace Ford in He Ran All the Way (1951)
Wallace Ford and Robert Hyatt in He Ran All the Way (1951)
Shelley Winters and Wallace Ford in He Ran All the Way (1951)
Clancy Cooper and Wallace Ford in He Ran All the Way (1951)
Shelley Winters, John Garfield, Wallace Ford, Robert Hyatt, and Selena Royle in He Ran All the Way (1951)
Wallace Ford and Selena Royle in He Ran All the Way (1951)

Known for

Olga Baclanova, Harry Earles, and Henry Victor in Freaks (1932)
Freaks
7.8
  • Phroso
  • 1932
A Patch of Blue (1965)
A Patch of Blue
8.0
  • Ole Pa
  • 1965
James Stewart, Peggy Dow, Charles Drake, Josephine Hull, and Cecil Kellaway in Harvey (1950)
Harvey
7.9
  • Ellis Logfren, The Taxi Driver
  • 1950
Joseph Cotten, Macdonald Carey, and Teresa Wright in Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Shadow of a Doubt
7.8
  • Fred Saunders
  • 1943

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actor

  • A Patch of Blue (1965)
    A Patch of Blue
  • Ron Howard, Frances Bavier, and Andy Griffith in The Andy Griffith Show (1960)
    The Andy Griffith Show
  • Vacation Playhouse (1963)
    Vacation Playhouse
  • Jon Provost, Tommy Rettig, Lassie the Dog, and Lassie in Lassie (1954)
    Lassie
  • "The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters" Kurt Russell, Jean Engstrom 1963 MGM
    The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters
  • The Magical World of Disney (1954)
    The Magical World of Disney
  • The Great Adventure (1963)
    The Great Adventure
  • Fred Astaire in Alcoa Premiere (1961)
    Alcoa Premiere
  • Wide Country (1962)
    Wide Country
  • The Dick Powell Theatre (1961)
    The Dick Powell Theatre
  • Barbara Stanwyck in The Barbara Stanwyck Show (1960)
    The Barbara Stanwyck Show
  • Peter Loves Mary (1960)
    Peter Loves Mary
  • Tess of the Storm Country (1960)
    Tess of the Storm Country
  • Klondike (1960)
    Klondike
  • Henry Fonda in The Deputy (1959)
    The Deputy

Soundtrack

  • Elia Kazan, Jack Carson, Betty Field, Priscilla Lane, and Richard Whorf in Blues in the Night (1941)
    Blues in the Night
  • Louis Hayward and Irene Hervey in Absolute Quiet (1936)
    Absolute Quiet
  • Boris Karloff, Reginald Denny, Wallace Ford, J.M. Kerrigan, and Victor McLaglen in The Lost Patrol (1934)
    The Lost Patrol
    • (uncredited)
  • Warren William and Loretta Young in Employees' Entrance (1933)
    Employees' Entrance
    • (uncredited)
  • Jean Harlow and Wallace Ford in The Beast of the City (1932)
    The Beast of the City
    • (uncredited)
  • Clark Gable and Joan Crawford in Possessed (1931)
    Possessed
    • (uncredited)

Videos6

Official Trailer
Trailer 2:15
Official Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 1:37
Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 2:01
Official Trailer
Warner Archive Trailer
Trailer 1:09
Warner Archive Trailer
A Patch of Blue
Trailer 2:01
A Patch of Blue
Harvey
Trailer 1:56
Harvey

Personal details

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    • February 12, 1898
    • Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, UK
    • June 11, 1966
    • Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA(heart attack)
    • November 22, 1922 - February 9, 1966 (her death, 1 child)
  • Other works
    Stage: Appeared (as "Higgins"; Broadway debut) in "The Poppy God" on Broadway. Melodrama. Written by Leon Gordon (also director), LeRoy Clemens and Thomas Grant Springer. Hudson Theatre: 29 Aug 1921-Sep 1921 (closing date unknown/16 performances). Cast: Frank Allworth (as "Hick Lewis"), Robert Brister, King Calder (as "Exley"), J. Malcolm Dunn (as "Maj. Hawley"), Victor Goddard, Ruby Gordon, Marion Grey, Edna Hibbard (as "Suie Ming"), Glenn Hopkins, Judson Langill, George MacQuarrie (as "Wo Ling Wo"), Doris Marquette, Harry Mestayer (as "Gin Long"), James Millward, Ralph Morgan (as "Stanley Bennett"), Robert Peel, George Pembroke (as "Tubby"), Harold Seton, Nick Stark, Donald Strebig, H. Conway Wingfield. Produced by the Selwyns.
  • Publicity listings
    • 3 Articles
    • 1 Pictorial

Did you know

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  • Trivia
    In 1936 he sought out his widowed natural mother. After a long search, he found her living in an automobile trailer near Manchester, England. She had become the wife of a blind match seller.
  • Quotes
    [when asked by a writer to compose his own epitaph] At last I get top billing!

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