Gwyllyn Samuel Newton "Glenn" Ford (May 1, 1916 - August 30, 2006) was an acclaimed Canadian-born actor from Hollywood's Golden Era with a career that spanned seven decades. Ford was a versatile actor best known for playing either cowboys or ordinary men in unusual circumstances.

The son of a Canadian railroad executive, his family moved to Santa Monica, California, when he was eight years old. His acting career began with plays at high school, followed by acting in West Coast, a traveling theater company. In 1939 he took a screen test for Columbia Pictures, which won him a contract, although he debuted in 20th-Century-Fox's Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence (1939). His rise to stardom was interrupted by military service during WWII. After the war he jump-started his career with Gilda (1946). His career during the 1940s and 1950s showed that his talents were extensive, playing film noir in Big Heat, The (1953), westerns like 3:10 to Yuma (1957) and comedies like Gazebo, The (1959) or Teahouse of the August Moon, The (1956). He has usually been cast as a calm and collected everyday-hero, showing courage under pressure as in Blackboard Jungle (1955). Since the 1970s he has mainly done supporting roles in mini-series.

Legendary actor Glenn Ford was discovered in 1939 by Tom Moore, a talent scout for 20th Century Fox and then subsequently signed a contract with Columbia Pictures the same year. Ford's contract with Columbia marked a significant departure in that studio's successful business model. Its boss, Harry Cohn (I) had spent decades observing other studios' -- most notably Warner Brothers -- troubles with their contract stars and had built his poverty row studio around their loan outs. Basically, major studios would use Columbia as a penalty box for unruly behavior -- usually salary demands or work refusals. The cunning Cohn usually assigned these stars his little studio could not normally afford into pictures directed by his best director, Frank Capra and the studio's status rose immensely as the 1930s progressed. Cohn understandably had long resisted developing his own stable of contract stars (he'd first hired German émigré 'Peter Lorre' in 1934 but didn't know what to do with him) had relented in the late 1930s, first adding 'Rosiland Russell' then signing Ford and fellow newcomer William Holden (I). Cohn reasoned that the two prospects could be used interchangeably, should one become troublesome. Although often competing for the same parts, the two actors became good friends. Their careers would roughly parallel each other through the 1940s, until Holden became a superstar through his remarkable association with director Billy Wilder in the 1950s. He made his official debut in Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence (1939) and continued working in various small roles throughout the 1940s until his movie career was interrupted to join the Marines in World War II. During his service, he helped build safe houses in France for those hiding from the Nazis. Ford continued his military career in the Naval Reserve well into the Vietnam War, becoming one of the few actors to achieve flag-rank. In 1943, he married legendary tap dancer, Eleanor Powell (I) and had one son, Peter Ford (I). Like many actors returning to Hollywood after the war (including James Stewart (I) and Holden, who had already acquired a serious alcohol problem) he found it initially difficult to regain his career momentum. He was able to resume his movie career with the help of Bette Davis who gave him his first post-war break in the 1946 movie Stolen Life, A (1946). However, it was not until his acclaimed performance in the 1946 classic film noir, Gilda (1946) with Rita Hayworth that he became a major star and one of the the most popular actors of his time. He scored big with the film noir classic, Big Heat, The (1953) and The Blackboard Jungle (1955). He continued to make many notable films during his prestigious 50 year movie career, but he is best known for his fine westerns such as 3:10 to Yuma (1957), Rounders, The (1965), and pulled a hugely entertaining turn in Sheepman, The (1958) and many more fine films. In the 1970s, Ford made his television debut in the controversial Brotherhood of the Bell and appeared in two fondly-remembered television series: Cade's County and The Family Holvak. During the 1980s and 1990s, Ford limited his appearance to documentaries and occasional films, including a nice cameo in Superman (1978). Glenn Ford is remembered fondly by his fans for his more than 100 excellent films and his charismatic silver screen presence.