Francis Ford (August 14, 1881 - September 5, 1953) a prolific film actor, writer, and director. He was the older brother of film director John Ford. He also appeared in many of John Ford's movies, including Young Mr. Lincoln and The Quiet Man .
He starred in the 1912 two-reeler The Deserter by Thomas H. Ince and acted in over 400 films. He made his directoral debut alongside fellow Hollywood director Thomas H. Ince the same year with the Western dramatic short The Post Telegrapher, starring Ann Little and popular child actress Mildred Harris. Among his most memorable roles is that of the demented old man in The Ox-Bow Incident (1943).
Francis Ford was born Francis Feeney in Portland, Maine. He was the son of John A. Feeney, who was born in the village of Spiddal, County Galway, Ireland, on June 15, 1854. By 1878 John had moved to Portland, Maine and opened a grocery store, at 42 Center Street, that posed as a front for a saloon. John opened four others in following years. His saloons became gathering places where John would greet new immigrants, help them settle, find jobs, and register them as citizens and voters.
Francis's younger brother, John M. Feeney, was a successful fullback and defensive tackle on a Portland High state championship football team. He earned the nickname "Bull" because he would lower his leather helmet like a bull and charge through the line. Later Bull followed his older brother Francis to Hollywood, changed his name to John Ford and directed the classic Irish film, The Quiet Man among others (The Grapes of Wrath, Stagecoach, etc.).
Francis's son, Philip Ford, would also become a film director and actor.
Francis Gilbertson Justice Ford (born 14 December 1866 in Paddington, London; died 7 February 1940 in Burwash, East Sussex, England) was a cricketer.
He played first-class cricket for Middlesex County Cricket Club, Cambridge and the Marylebone Cricket Club between 1886 and 1899 as a useful left-handed batsman and slow left-arm orthodox bowler. He also played five Test matches for England on their tour to Australia in 1894-95.
Ford, who was nicknamed "Stork" on account of his height, was part of a large cricketing family, with his father W.A. , two brothers A.F.J., L.G.B.J. and W.J., a nephew N.M., great-nephew John Barclay and uncle G.J.Ford all playing first-class cricket.
Francis J.W. Ford was born in Boston on December 23, 1882 and died on May 26, 1975 at the age of 93. Ford was a U.S. District Court Judge in Boston from 1933 to 1972, after serving briefly as senior judge during his final year of service. (NY Times, 5-28-1975.)
The sculptor Kahlil Gibran was commissioned to create a bronze bas relief of Ford in 1977, which was placed in the John W. McCormack Post Office and Courthouse in Boston. A dedication was held on November 7, 1977. (Memorial program; 11/7/77).
Elder brother of the director John Ford (I) and himself a screen director (and John's erstwhile mentor) until the advent of sound. He had also acted in his own films and those of other directors, but turned to acting exclusively circa 1929. As actor, he would provide convincing portrayals of men of authority - men sometimes ruthless if not downright unsavory. (See him as the Republican judge in his brother John's Informer, The (1935).) But he also had an ample feel for light comedy. (See him in John's Quiet Man, The (1952), as the village elder who - almost in the manner of slapstick - rouses himself from his very deathbed to witness the film's donnybrook dénouement.)
