Glenn Ford

OUR family wants to thank Susan King for "A Timeless '3:10 to Yuma' " [Aug. 26]. "Yuma" is my favorite western that my father, Glenn Ford, made and a classic in the genre. I've always felt that it could stand up to all the western films released in that decade [the '50s], including "High Noon" and "The Searchers."

THANK you, Susan King, for an insightful and an accurate description of "3:10 to Yuma" and the skills of all involved ["A Timeless '3:10 to Yuma,' " Aug. 26]. She refers to Glenn Ford as an underrated actor. How true. He was also the most versatile of his generation. Westerns, dramas, comedies or as a leading man, you completely believed every character he played. Her column triggered in me memories of a film I saw 50 years ago in a smoke-filled cinema in Cairo, Egypt.

The American Cinematheque will pay tribute to actor Glenn Ford on his 90th birthday Monday with a screening of his 1946 film "Gilda" at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. Ford is planning to attend in what organizers say will be his first public appearance in 15 years. During a career that spanned more than five decades, Ford starred in scores of films, among them "Blackboard Jungle," "The Teahouse of the August Moon," "Cowboy," "The Rounders" and "The Courtship of Eddie's Father."

Glenn Ford was saluted in Hollywood on his 90th birthday with praise from his fellow actors and a screening of his 1946 film "Gilda." But the actor, who also starred in such films as "Blackboard Jungle" and "The Courtship of Eddie's Father," was unable to attend the event Monday night as organizers had hoped. Because of his fragile health, caused by strokes, he has been confined to his Beverly Hills home and uses a wheelchair.

Glenn Ford, the rangy, laconic actor who in a long and prolific career in films and television portrayed characters from gallant leading men to saddle tramps, died Wednesday. He was 90. Ford, a top box-office draw in the 1950s whose career spanned more than five decades and more than 100 films, was found dead at his Beverly Hills home by Fire Department paramedics just before 4 p.m.

He never won an Academy Award -- in fact, he was never nominated. He never earned the big bucks that stars of his stature enjoyed. Yet for 52 years, Glenn Ford remained an in-demand actor whose name above the title could attract movie ticket buyers. Ford might be called the anti-star. He didn't hang out with the gang in Hollywood watering holes. He never quarreled with directors or studio bosses. His name was never sullied by scandal. He did his acting job and went on to the next one.

Movie remakes are usually a shadow of the original. But the gritty western "3:10 to Yuma" (Lionsgate, $30), arriving today on DVD, is an exception to that rule. Based on an early story by Elmore Leonard, the sagebrush drama was beautifully adapted for film in 1957 with Van Heflin as a cattle rancher who agrees to escort a notorious gunman (Glenn Ford) to Yuma so the bandit can be put on a prison train. The new version -- directed by James Mangold ("Walk the Line"), a longtime admirer of the original -- is respectful to the 1957 film but makes it more palatable for contemporary audiences.