Glenn Ford : still playing himself

"People laugh when I say I'm not an actor, but I'm not, I play myself." said Glenn Ford, one of Hollywood's most famous stars, who died on Wednesday night. "When I'm on camera, I have to do things pretty much the way I do things in everyday life. It gives the audience someone real to identify with."

That realness and the conviction which it lent to his performances carried Glenn Ford to the top of his profession. Born in Quebec, the son of a railway executive, he took up stage acting with the touring company West Coast after his family moved to Santa Monica, and he made his movie début alongside Jean Rogers in 1939's Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence. His career was interrupted when he volunteered to serve with the US Marine Corps in World War II, helping to build safe houses in France for refugees fleeing the Nazis. In 1946 he returned to Hollywood in style with the romance A Stolen Life, in which Bette Davis played his twin loves, and with Gilda, in which he gave a powerhouse performance opposite Rita Hayworth. He became an A-list leading man in the thrillers and films noirs of the Forties and Fifties, also finding time for serious dramas like Blackboard Jungle, in which an idealistic teacher is drawn into the aggressive mindset of his unruly class. Despite all this, he is probably best remembered for his westerns, with the likes of The Rounders and Cowboy making him one of the biggest names in the genre. Famously, he could draw and shoot a gun faster than any of his peers. Featured in the Western Performers Hall of Fame, he retains a loyal following to this day.

Ford always referred to the western as "a man's world" and throughout his life he devoted himself to that ethic. He was a reserve officer in the US Navy, eventually rising to the rank of Captain, and he volunteered for service in Vietnam. There and in Korea he was also a popular goodwill visitor to stationed troops. He married four times, to the actresses Eleanor Powell, Kathryn Hays and Cynthia Hayward and to Jeanne Baus, though all four marriages ended in divorce. His son, by Powell, is the actor Peter Ford.

Glenn Ford's last major role was as Clark Kent's adoptive father in the 1978 Superman film. Thereafter persistent health problems made working difficult for him, though he continued to take on minor roles in films and to appear in mini series until his retirement in 1991. Last May he celebrated his 90th birthday. He is believed to have died of a stroke at his home in California.