John Ford
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- | {{Template}}'''John Ford''' ([[baptism|baptised]] [[April 17]], [[1586]] – c.[[1640]]?) was an English [[Literature_in_English#Jacobean_literature|Jacobean]] and [[Literature_in_English#Caroline_and_Cromwellian_literature|Caroline]] playwright and poet born in [[Ilsington, Devon|Ilsington]] in [[Devon]] in 1586. | + | {{Template}} |
+ | :''[[John Ford (disambiguation)]]'' | ||
+ | '''John Ford''' ([[February 1]] [[1894]] – [[August 31]] [[1973]]) was an [[United States|American]] [[film director]] of [[Ireland|Irish]] heritage famous for both his [[western (genre)|westerns]] such as ''[[Stagecoach (film)|Stagecoach]]'' and ''[[The Searchers (film)|The Searchers]]'' and adaptations of such 20th-century American novels as ''[[The Grapes of Wrath (film)|The Grapes of Wrath]]''. His four [[Academy Award for Directing|Best Director]] [[Academy Award]]s (1935, 1940, 1941, 1952) is a record, although only one of those films, ''[[How Green Was My Valley (film)|How Green Was My Valley]]'', won Best Picture. | ||
- | Ford left home to study in [[London]], although more specific details are unclear—a sixteen-year-old John Ford of Devon was admitted to [[Exeter College, Oxford]] on [[March 26]], [[1601]], but this was when the dramatist had not yet reached his sixteenth birthday. He joined an institution that was a prestigious [[law school]] but also a centre of literary and dramatic activity—the [[Middle Temple]]. A prominent junior member in 1601 was the playwright [[John Marston]]. (It is unknown whether Ford ever actually studied law while a resident of the Middle Temple, or whether he was strictly a gentleman boarder, which was a common arrangement at the time.) | + | His style of film-making has been influential, leading colleagues such as [[Ingmar Bergman]] and [[Orson Welles]] to name him as one of the greatest directors of all time. In particular, Ford is a pioneer of [[location shooting]] and the [[long shot]] which frames his characters against a vast, harsh and rugged natural terrain. Ford has further influenced directors as diverse as [[Akira Kurosawa]], [[Martin Scorsese]], [[Steven Spielberg]], [[George Lucas]], [[Sam Peckinpah]], [[Peter Bogdanovich]], [[Sergio Leone]], [[Clint Eastwood]], [[Wim Wenders]], [[David Lean]], [[Orson Welles]], [[Ingmar Bergman]], [[John Milius]], [[François Truffaut]], and [[Jean-Luc Godard]]. |
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- | It was not until [[1606]] that Ford wrote his first works for [[publication]]. In the spring of that year he was expelled from Middle Temple, due to his financial problems, and ''Fame's Memorial'' and ''Honour Triumphant'' soon followed. Both works are clear bids for [[patronage]]: ''Fame's Memorial'' is an [[elegy]] of 1169 lines on the recently-deceased [[Charles Blount, 1st Earl of Devonshire]], while ''Honour Triumphant'' is a prose pamphlet, a verbal fantasia written in connection with the jousts planned for the summer 1606 visit of King [[Christian IV of Denmark]]. It is unknown whether either of these brought any financial remuneration to Ford; yet by June [[1608]] he had enough money to be readmitted to the Middle Temple. | + | |
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- | Prior to the start of his career as a playwright, Ford wrote other non-dramatic literary works—the long religious poem ''Christ's Bloody Sweat'' ([[1613]]), and two prose essays published as pamphlets, ''The Golden Mean'' (1613) and ''A Line of Life'' ([[1620]]). After 1620 he began active dramatic writing, first as a collaborator with more experienced playwrights—primarily [[Thomas Dekker]], but also [[John Webster]] and [[William Rowley]]—and by the later 1620s as a solo artist. | + | |
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- | Ford is best known for the tragedy ''[['Tis Pity She's a Whore]]'' (1633), a family drama with a plot line of [[incest]]. The play's title has often been changed in new productions, sometimes being referred to as simply ''Giovanni and Annabella''—the play's leading, incestuous brother-and-sister characters; in a nineteenth-century work it is coyly called ''The Brother and Sister.'' Shocking as the play is, it is still widely regarded as a classic piece of English drama. | + | |
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- | He was a major playwright during the reign of [[Charles I of England|Charles I]]. His plays deal with conflicts between individual passion and [[conscience]] and the [[laws]] and [[morals]] of [[society]] at large; Ford had a strong interest in abnormal psychology that is expressed through his dramas. | + | |
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Revision as of 17:17, 27 December 2008
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John Ford (February 1 1894 – August 31 1973) was an American film director of Irish heritage famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach and The Searchers and adaptations of such 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath. His four Best Director Academy Awards (1935, 1940, 1941, 1952) is a record, although only one of those films, How Green Was My Valley, won Best Picture.
His style of film-making has been influential, leading colleagues such as Ingmar Bergman and Orson Welles to name him as one of the greatest directors of all time. In particular, Ford is a pioneer of location shooting and the long shot which frames his characters against a vast, harsh and rugged natural terrain. Ford has further influenced directors as diverse as Akira Kurosawa, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Sam Peckinpah, Peter Bogdanovich, Sergio Leone, Clint Eastwood, Wim Wenders, David Lean, Orson Welles, Ingmar Bergman, John Milius, François Truffaut, and Jean-Luc Godard.