Glenn Ford passed away yesterday at age 90. Some of you younger folks might not know much about him, so please go read his obituary.
Mr. Ford was a fine actor and is on my personal list of 'Top 10 Cowboy & Western Actors of All Time'. Click on his name for a history and filmography.
This is personal for me. When I was a kid of about 10 to 12, I went to school with his son Peter for a couple of years. They lived about three blocks from me and I used to go over to his house in the afternoons. Pete's Mom, Eleanor Powell, would sometimes take us for ice cream. One of the world's best-ever dancers, she was a very sweet lady who could cuss like a sailor.
We played kinda rough. One time we had a dirt clod fight and I hit Pete in the head with one with a rock in it and opened his head up a little. He almost got me back some time later: I was crouched behind a low wall on his back porch and Pete was up on the roof of a shed across the yard. I had a BB gun and he had a bow and arrow. We traded shots for a while. At one point I looked up to see an arrow coming straight at right between my eyes! I ducked. I took a little better aim and shot at him again. He was in some foliage, but I think I got him in the arm. He never said.
I can trace a bad habit right to Glenn Ford's house: I smoked my first cigarette out by his swimming pool.
I got two things directly from Mr. Ford, and I still have both of them. He gave me a Pancho Villa peso and some good advice: never apologize when you have nothing to be sorry for.
I haven't seen those folks in fifty years, but I remember.
Adios, Godspeed, and Semper Fi, Mr. Ford.
Peter Ford has a website in honor of both his parents. Definitely worth a look.
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