Paul Ford
Biography
Paul Ford was an American character actor who specialized in playing pompous authority figures whose incompetence was milked for laughs. Born in Baltimore, he spent a year at Dartmouth College and worked as a salesman before finding his way into entertainment through a Works Progress Administration puppet theater project, and he made his professional stage debut Off-Broadway in 1939. He built a career as a Broadway character actor before becoming an overnight success at 54 as Colonel John T. Hall on The Phil Silvers Show from 1955 to 1959. His signature part was Mayor George Shinn in The Music Man on Broadway in 1957 and in the 1962 film, and he also appeared in The Matchmaker (1958) and The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! (1966). He was nominated for three Emmys and a Tony, and the National Board of Review cited him for The Comedians (1967).
74years old at death
- Born Baltimore
- Died Mineola
- Star sign: ScorpioThe sign runs October 23 to November 21
- Also credited as Paul Ford Weaver
Movie Career
- Films
- 11
- Career span
- 23 years1949 to 1972
First and latest
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First role
Ford worked on the WPA puppet project, helping write and stage Federal Theater shows. He was narrator for puppet shows at the New York World's Fair in 1939 to 1940, playing a bearded "Hoosier" cornball.
Big break
At 54, Ford landed the role of Colonel John T. Hall, the U.S. Army's incompetent commanding officer, playing opposite comedian Phil Silvers on the military comedy The Phil Silvers Show, and it made him an overnight success.
Getting ready for a role
Paul Ford built a reputation as a Broadway stage character actor during the 1940s and early 1950s, but he was notorious for forgetting his lines. That flaw forced him and those around him to improvise, most notably on The Phil Silvers Show in the late 1950s.
A change of course
After working briefly as a gas station attendant, Ford turned to acting for a better career. In 1939 he landed his first professional role, in an Off-Broadway production in New York City.
Paul Ford movies on Netflix
Best known for
The films on Netflix they are best known for, with the part played in each.
- The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!1966 Comedy, Waras Fendall Hawkins
IMDb rating 7.011K votes
Most often with
Daniel Mann directed two of these films. Will Geer appears in three of them, more than any other actor. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.
Films together
Will Geer's page
Henry Fonda's page
Glenn Ford's page
Burgess Meredith's page
Eddie Albert's page
Ned Glass's page
Daniel MannDirector, 2 films, 1956 to 1962
All films by Daniel Mann
Online
Official profiles and reference pages.