Wallace Ford

Wallace Ford (12 February 1898 – 11 June 1966) was an English-born naturalized American stage and screen actor. Usually playing wise-cracking characters, he combined a tough but friendly-faced demeanor with a small but powerful, stocky physique.

Born Samuel Jones Grundy in Bolton, Lancashire, England, he spent his childhood in a Dr. Barnardo's home. At an early age he was adopted by a farmer from Manitoba, Canada, where he was ill treated. About age eleven, Ford ran away and did odd jobs, later becoming an usher in a theatre.

Following his discharge from the Army after WWI, he became a vaudeville actor in a stock company before performing on Broadway.

He started on a film career when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer gave him a part in the film Possessed (1931) and went on to appear in over 200 films, including 13 directed by John Ford.