John Ford

1. John Ford – An American Film Director/Producer John Martin Feeney, better known by his stage name John Ford, was a film director and naval commander from the United States. He won six Academy Awards, including a record-setting four for Best Director. Ford made more than 140 films over the course of his 50-year career and is largely considered as one of the most important and influential filmmakers of his generation. After graduating from college, Ford pursued a career in movies. He followed in the footsteps of his multi-talented older brother Francis Ford, who had left home years previously and worked in vaudeville before becoming a movie actor, and was twelve years his senior. For filmmakers, Francis appeared in hundreds of silent films. Ford began his career as an assistant, handyman, stuntman, and sometimes actor in his brother's films, frequently doubling for his brother. Ford was one of Hollywood's busiest directors throughout his career, but he was especially prolific in his early years—he directed ten films in1917, eight in1918, and fifteen in 1919— and he directed a total of 62 shorts and features between 1917 and1928, despite the fact that he was not given a screen credit in most of his early films.

2. Over the course of his career, Ford directed about thirty-six pictures three years for Universal before moving to the William Fox studio in 1920. Just Pals was his debut film for them (1920). Cameo Kirby, featuring film idol John Gilbert and one of the few surviving Ford silents, was his first directing credit under the name "John Ford," rather than "Jack Ford," as he had previously been credited.