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
  1. 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.
  2. Nolan, Frederick (1995). Lorenz Hart: A Poet on Broadway. Oxford University Press. p. 37. ISBN 9780195102895. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
  3. The Oxford Companion to the American Musical. p. 258. ISBN 9780195335330. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
  4. "American Classics - Peggy-Ann". American Classics. Archived from the original on January 27, 2012. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  5. Helen Ford at the Internet Broadway Database
  6. John Kenrick. "Ford, Helen". musicals101.com. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. Wilson, Scott (2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company. p. 251. ISBN 9780786479924.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)


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