Constance Ford

Constance Ford
Constance Ford in 1956.
Born	Constance Ford (1923-07-23)July 23, 1923 The Bronx, New York City, U.S.
Died	February 26, 1993(1993-02-26) (aged 69) New York, New York, U.S.
Years active	1938-1993

Constance Ford (July 1, 1923 – February 26, 1993) was an American actress and model. She is best known for her long-running role as Ada Hobson on the daytime soap opera Another World.

Born in The Bronx, Ford initially worked as a model, and her face became famous in the Elizabeth Arden 1941 advertising campaign for Victory Red lipstick, which featured a Philippe Halsman photo showing her face against the American flag. She had some success as an actress on Broadway from 1949, appearing in such productions as the musical Say Darling and Nobody Loves an Albatross. She also played Miss Forsythe in the first production of Death of a Salesman.

She began her television career in 1950, performing in live television dramas on Studio One, Armstrong Circle Theatre, Goodyear Television Playhouse, and other acclaimed series. As a Warner Brothers contract player, she had her most famous role as Sandra Dee's heartless mother in A Summer Place (1959) where her abused husband Richard Egan had a memorable scene telling her off for her outdated prejudices and Ford arranges for Dee to be tested for her virginity. Another shocking scene had Ford slapping Dee so hard that she fell into a Christmas tree which toppled over on her. In Rome Adventure (1962) she played Daisy Bronson, owner of a bookstore in Rome, opposite Suzanne Pleshette and Troy Donahue, being kinder to him than she had been in "A Summer Place". In House of Women, she played an aggressive but ultimately sympathetic female prisoner who gets into a catfight with prison matron Jeanne Cooper. She played the tough-as-nails nurse alongside Joan Crawford in The Caretakers (1963). She also had a memorable walk-on playing a flirtatious but bored society matron who makes a play for Warren Beatty in All Fall Down.