Wallace Ford
| Wallace Ford | |
|---|---|
Wallace Ford in Central Park (1932)
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| Born |
Samuel Jones Grundy 12 February 1898 Bolton, Lancashire, England |
| Died | 11 June 1966 (aged 68) Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Other names | Wally Ford |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1918–1965 |
| Spouse(s) | Martha Haworth (m. 1922–66) |
| Children | Patricia (1927-2005) |
Wallace Ford (12 February 1898 – 11 June 1966) was an American stage, film, and television actor of English origin. Usually playing wise-cracking characters, he combined a tough but friendly demeanor with a small but powerful build.
He was born Samuel Jones Grundy in Bolton, Lancashire, England, into a working-class family of limited means; at the age of three, he was placed by his uncle and aunt, in whose care he had been, into a Dr. Barnardo's orphanage home, as they were unable to maintain his upkeep along with their own several children. When he was seven, he and other children from similar backgrounds were shipped to Canada to be found new homes with farming foster families as a part of the British Empire's on-going programme to populate the territory. Samuel was adopted by a family in Manitoba. He was ill-treated, however, 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, where he acquired his initial training as a performer.
In 1914, 16-year-old Samuel and another youth named Wallace Ford decided to head south to the United States to seek their fortune, riding a freight train illicitly. During the trip, Ford was killed beneath the wheels of a train. Later, Samuel adopted as his stage name the name of his dead traveling companion.
Following military service as a trooper at Fort Riley, Kansas, with the United States Army Cavalry during World War I, he became a vaudeville stage actor in an American stock company. In 1919, he performed in an adaptation of Booth Tarkington's Seventeen, which played to full houses in Chicago for several months, before transferring to a successful run on Broadway in New York City. 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.
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