John Ford

John Ford (1894 - 1973)DirectorPoetMystical Artist“My names John Ford. I make Westerns”John Ford was one of the most remarkable artists produced by the cinematic arts and his list of admirer colleagues is a who’s who of great directors, not only American, but British, Italian, French, German and even Japanese. And yet this towering talent, this mystical poet of film, was one of the most enigmatic, troubled, brooding men of his profession and even today remains as elusive as a person as he was brilliant an artist.Born John Martin Feeney to devout Irish Catholic immigrants in Maine, Feeney had developed a love not only for the sea (he remained a lifelong naval officer and sailor) but for art, literature and the beauty of nature, all of which he buried below a crusty façade of bullish aggression and machismo. Following his elder brother Francis (who changed their name from Feeney to Ford) to Hollywood in 1914, he apprenticed as a gofer, stuntman and occasional actor in his brothers highly