Helen Ford
Helen Ford (born Helen Isabel Barnett; June 6, 1894 –January 19, 1982) was an American actress. A native of Troy, New York, she trained as a singer and pianist at a music conservatory in her native city. She began her career as a musical theatre actress in 1918 and was active in Broadway musicals from that point into the 1930s. She was a frequent collaborator with Rodgers and Hart; creating the title roles in Peggy-Ann (1926) and Chee-Chee (1928) as well as starring in Dearest Enemy (1925). In her later career she worked in television and film.
Biography
[edit]Helen Ford was born Helen Isabel Barnett[1] in Troy, New York on June 6, 1894.[2] Her father was a manufacturer in Troy, and she was considered a musical prodigy as a child. She studied voice and piano at a conservatory of music in her native city.[3] She first appeared in a production of The Heart of Annie Wood in New York in 1918.[3] The following year she joined the Broadway cast of Rudolf Friml's Sometime at the Casino Theatre in the role of Enid Vaughn.[2] On August 9, 1918, she married George Ford, who produced touring Shakespearean festivals.[3]
Ford was a stage actress in Broadway musicals of the 1920s and 1930s.[4] In 1920 she portrayed Natalie Blythe in Hugo Felix's musical The Sweetheart Shop at the Knickerbocker Theatre.[5] That same year she had the role of Toinette Fontaine in Always You, Oscar Hammerstein's first musical.[6] In 1922 she performed the roles of Marjorie Leeds in William Merrigan Daly's For Goodness Sake at the Lyric Theatre,[7] and Mary Thompson in Albert Von Tilzer's The Gingham Girl at the Earl Carroll Theatre.[8] In 1923 she starred in the title role of Harry Ruby and Bert Kalmar's Helen of Troy, New York at first the Selwyn Theatre and later Times Square Theater.[9] This was followed by another Ruby and Kalmar musical, No Other Girl (1924), in which she appeared as Hope Franklin at the Morosco Theatre.[10]
A "Rodgers, Hart, and Fields' favorite",[11] Ford starred in three of their Broadway productions: Dearest Enemy (1925, as Betsy Burke), Peggy-Ann (1926, as Peggy-Ann) and Chee-Chee (1928, as Chee-Chee).[4] She also starred in the touring production of Dearest Enemy.[12] In 1926, Ford was involved in a court case in District Court in New York City. The trial related to her appearance at the Knickerbocker Theater "clad only in a barrel".[13] The trial focused on whether her husband, George Ford, had committed perjury when he told a grand jury that the barrel did not contain champagne.[13]
In 1933-1934 Ford played the role of Adele in the Broadway musical Champagne, Sec; a production which began at the Morosco Theatre and then transferred to the Shubert Theatre before ending its run at the 44th Street Theatre.[14] She returned to Broadway as Freelove Clark in Frederick Loewe's 1938 musical Great Lady which had a short run at the Majestic Theatre.[15] She went on to appear in films and television programs, including The Raid.[16]
She died of a stroke on January 19, 1982. She was cremated and her ashes interred in the crypt below the chapel at Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.[17]
Filmography
[edit]| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1948 | Apartment for Peggy | Della | Uncredited |
| 1951 | The Model and the Marriage Broker | Emmy Swasey | |
| 1952 | Secret People | Scarf Woman | |
| Sound Off | Mrs. Rafferty | Uncredited | |
| 1954 | The Raid | Delphine Coates | |
| 1957 | The Curse of Frankenstein | Ellen | Uncredited |
| Hell Drivers | Woman at Dance | ||
| The Naked Truth | Dinner Guest | ||
| 1958 | A Night to Remember | Steerage Passenger | |
| 1960 | Village of the Damned | Villager | |
| 1966 | The Ghost Goes Gear | An Old Lady | |
| 1967 | Carry On Doctor | Nurse | |
| 1971 | A Clockwork Orange | Old Lady at Duke of York | Scene deleted |
| 1975 | Confessions of a Pop Performer | Old Lady with Ear Trumpet | (final film role) |
References
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ^ Hischak 2003, p. 112.
- ^ a b Benjamin & Rosenblatt 2006, p. 263.
- ^ a b c Nolan 1995, p. 37.
- ^ a b Benjamin & Rosenblatt 2006, p. 263-264.
- ^ Dietz 2019, p. 24.
- ^ Hischak 2008, p. 258.
- ^ Dietz 2019, p. 100.
- ^ Dietz 2019, p. 116.
- ^ Dietz 2019, pp. 165–166.
- ^ Dietz 2019, p. 208.
- ^ "American Classics - Peggy-Ann". American Classics. Archived from the original on January 27, 2012. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
- ^ Taaffe, Agnes (October 22, 1926). "Helen Ford, Charles Purcell, Met Stars; Marie Gale, Shubert". The Minneapolis Star. Minnesota, Minneapolis. p. 28. Retrieved 9 January 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b Diamond, Emanuel (May 30, 1926). "More Reporters in Trouble". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. New York, Brooklyn. p. E 3. Retrieved 9 January 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Dietz 2018, pp. 288–289.
- ^ Dietz 2018, pp. 527–528.
- ^ Lentz 2015, p. 46.
- ^ Wilson 2016, p. 251.
Bibliography
[edit]- Benjamin, Ruth; Rosenblatt, Arthur (2006). "Helen Ford". Who sang what on Broadway, 1866-1996: Volume I, The Singers A-L. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9780786415069.
- Dietz, Dan (2019). The Complete Book of 1920s Broadway Musicals. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 9781442245280.
- Dietz, Dan (2018). The Complete Book of 1930s Broadway Musicals. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 9781538102770.
- Hischak, Thomas S. (2003). Enter the Players: New York Stage Actors in the Twentieth Century. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810847613.
- Hischak, Thomas S. (2008). The Oxford Companion to the American Musical. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195335330.
- Lentz, Robert J. (2015). Lee Marvin: His Films and Career. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9781476604053.
- Nolan, Frederick (1995). Lorenz Hart: A Poet on Broadway. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195102895.
- Wilson, Scott (2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company. ISBN 9780786479924.
External links
[edit]
- Helen Ford at IMDb
- Helen Ford at the Internet Broadway Database
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