“GLENN FORD:A LIFE”

 

Peter Ford will appear Saturday at the American Cinematheque's Egyptian Theatre to talk about his famous dad, sign copies of his new biography, "Glenn Ford: A Life," and screen two of the actor's film noirs: 1947's "Framed" and 1949's "Mr. Soft Touch."

Ford admitted he is a bit concerned how his father's fan base will react to the autobiography. The book, though not a "Daddy Dearest," paints a less-than-flattering picture of the legendary actor. Ford discusses with great admiration his father's film career that included such classics as 1955's "Blackboard Jungle," 1946's "Gilda," the second of his five films with Rita Hayworth, and Fritz Lang's seminal 1953 film noir "The Big Heat."

But he also doesn't pull any punches about his father's chronic womanizing — Hayworth, Joan Crawford, Hope Lange, Geraldine Brooks, Maria Schell, Judy Garland and Brigitte Bardot were among his lovers — his drinking and his distant, often strained relationship with Peter.

Perhaps one of the most shocking revelations is that Ford and Hayworth became lovers during 1948's "The Loves of Carmen," and in fact, Hayworth became pregnant with Ford's child and had an abortion at a hospital in France. "Nobody knows that," he said. "I have his diaries."

"The image of my dad is that he is like Jimmy Stewart, an Everyman. He was that on film. He wasn't that in private life," said Ford, whose mother was Ford's first wife, tap-dancing legend Eleanor Powell, whom he describes as a "saint." Powell was married to the actor for 16 turbulent years. He began the book the year before his father died.

"We worked on it together," Ford said. After his father's death he also was able to quote from Glenn Ford's extensive diaries, which he began writing in 1934, plus many audio tapes he made.