Helen Ford

Helen Ford (born Helen Isabel Barnett;^[1] June 6, 1894, Troy, New York–January 19, 1982, Glendale, California) was an American actress.

Ford's father was a manufacturer in Troy, and she was considered a musical prodigy as a child. She studied voice and piano at a conservatory of music in Troy.^[2]

Ford appeared in a production of The Heart of Annie Wood in New York in 1918 and in Sometime shortly thereafter.^[2] In 1920, she had the role of Toinette in Always You, Oscar Hammerstein's first musical.^[3] She was a stage actress in musicals in the 1920s. A "Rodgers, Hart, and Fields' favorite",^[4] she starred in three of their Broadway productions: Dearest Enemy (1925), Peggy-Ann (1926) and Chee-Chee (1928).^[5]^[6] She also starred in the touring production of Dearest Enemy.^[7]

She went on to appear in films and television programs, including The Raid.

In 1926, Ford was involved in a court case in District Court in New York City. The trial related to her appearance at the Knickerbocker Theater "clad only in a barrel".^[8] The trial focused on whether her husband, George Ford, had committed perjury when he told a grand jury that the barrel did not contain champagne.^[8]

On August 9, 1918, she married George Ford, who produced touring Shakespearean festivals.^[2]

She died of a stroke on January 19, 1982. She was cremated and her ashes interred in the crypt below the chapel at Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.^[9]

References[]

^ Hischak, Thomas S. (2003). Enter the Players: New York Stage Actors in the Twentieth Century. Scarecrow Press. p. 112. ISBN 9780810847613. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b ^c Nolan, Frederick (1995). Lorenz Hart: A Poet on Broadway. Oxford University Press. p. 37. ISBN 9780195102895. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
^ Hischak, Thomas S. (2008). The Oxford Companion to the American Musical. p. 258. ISBN 9780195335330. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
^ "American Classics - Peggy-Ann". American Classics. Archived from the original on January 27, 2012. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
^ Helen Ford at the Internet Broadway Database
^ John Kenrick. "Ford, Helen". musicals101.com. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
^ Taaffe, Agnes (October 22, 1926). "Helen Ford, Charles Purcell, Met Stars; Marie Gale, Shubert". The Minneapolis Star. Minnesota, Minneapolis. p. 28. Retrieved 9 January 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b Diamond, Emanuel (May 30, 1926). "More Reporters in Trouble". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. New York, Brooklyn. p. E 3. Retrieved 9 January 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Wilson, Scott (2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company. p. 251. ISBN 9780786479924.