Actress Ruth Ford died 12 August 2009. Born 7 July 1911 in Hazelhurst, Mississippi (though she claimed to have been born four years later), she moved to New York City in the mid-1930s to be a model, and then moved into radio acting, motion pictures, and then found her greatest success on the stage (she starred in William Faulkner’s only play, Requiem for a Nun, based on his early novel, Sanctuary).
Her first film role, Too Much Johnson, came in 1938. Her film and television career came mostly in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. Most of her film roles were in B movies, but she did make several genre films, including her last film role: Too Scared to Scream (1985). She also appeared in The Woman Who Came Back (1945) and The Hidden Hand (1942).
In addition to her professional life, she was known as a salonniere: her apartment in Manhattan’s famed Dakota was a gathering place for writers, artists, and musicians. Her gatherings resulted in, among others, the collaboration that produced West Side Story.
Ford was married twice: first to actor Peter van Eyck in 1940 (the marriage ended soon after in divorce), and then to actor Zachary Scott in 1952 (that marriage ended with his death in 1965). She is survived by her daughter, granddaughter, and two great-grandchildren.