Peter Ford (actor)

Peter Newton Ford (born February 5, 1945) is a retired American actor, singer and former President and Co-Founder of Blackoak Development Company.

Early life

Peter Ford was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Canadian-American actor Glenn Ford and American actress-dancer Eleanor Powell. As a child Peter's interest in rock and roll music inadvertently contributed to "Rock Around the Clock" being chosen as the title track for Blackboard Jungle. Peter graduated from Chadwick High School in Palos Verdes, California in 1962, received an Associates of Arts degree from Santa Monica College in 1966 and graduated, cum laude, from the University of Southern California in 1968 with a B.A. degree in English. While attending the University of Southern California, Peter would meet his future wife, Lynda Gundersen. Peter was accepted to the University of Southern California School of Law, but chose instead to work as an actor and singer.^[1]

Career

Musical career

Originally under contract to Capitol Records,^[2] Peter was mentored by Nat “King” Cole. Later, recording for Philips Records the release of his singles, "Don't Keep It To Yourself"/“Blue Ribbons” which were noted in Billboard's Pop Spotlight's Top 60,^[3] resulting in the song's appearance on many teen music television shows of the era, including American Bandstand,^[4] Hullabaloo and Ninth Street West.

He eventually formed his own group, The Creations,^[5] who appeared in various local clubs, as well as the Whiskey a Go-Go in San Francisco and the El Cortez Club in Las Vegas.

Acting

Peter also worked on nearly two dozen-film projects as an actor and dialogue director. The first was Gilda where director Charles Vidor used Peter’s photo to represent Johnny Farrell (Glenn’s role in the film) as a child.^[6] Peter’s first speaking role was in The Gazebo in 1959 co-starring Debbie Reynolds.^[7] He also appeared in Pocketful of Miracles, Dear Heart, Advance to the Rear, Fate is the Hunter and The Rounders.^[8][9]

In the early 1970s Peter began working at Fox and was cast as a series regular and dialogue director for Cade's County playing forensic lap deputy Pete Odom.^[10][11] After Cade's County ended Peter joined the Photo Unit of Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department as a Reserve Deputy where he would rise to the rank of Lieutenant before he retiring in 1996.

Building

In the mid-1970s Peter and his wife Lynda began remodeling and selling homes.

Peter’s first major home building commission was for producer Walter Coblenz, producer of All the President’s Men and The Onion Field. He took a partner into his company and formed Blackoak Development Company. Peter went on to build and remodel homes for many clients involved in the film and television industry: producer Steve Tisch, actress Mary Kay Place, producer Jerry Belson, super agent Jeff Berg, producer Don Simpson, writers Chuck Shyer and Nancy Meyers, actress Jo Beth Williams, health guru Richard Simmons, actress Sally Kellerman and Blake Edwards and Julie Andrews.^[12]

In 1989 Peter took over the building company and operated it as a sole proprietorship until his retirement from building in 1996. Blackoak/Ford was a respected custom residential construction firm. His work has been published in architectural magazines throughout the world, most notably the Schnabel House, designed by architect Frank Gehry, was noted by Architectural Digest as "one of the greatest houses of the 20th century".^[13]

Personal life

Family

Peter Ford married Lynda Gunderson (b. 1946) in 1970.

Peter and Lynda have three children Aubrey Newton Ford (b. 1977), Ryan Welsie Ford (b. 1984) and Eleanor Powell Ford (b. 1988).

Hobbies and interests

Peter is a student and collector of Native American culture^[14] and is interested in genealogical research, with membership in the Society of Mayflower Descendants, Society of Colonial Wars, Society of the Sons of the Revolution, The Baronial Order of the Magna Charta, the Order of the Crusades (with 11 Crusaders in his direct line), the Crown of Charlemagne (Charlemagne is Peter's 38th Great Grandfather) and The Order of Founders and Patriots of America.

He also collects movie memorabilia from Hollywood's Golden Age, and maintains The Glenn Ford and Eleanor Powell Library and Archives and as a writer, he has published numerous articles. Peter’s various interests led him to KIEV-AM 870 radio, where for nearly three years in the late 1990s he hosted a weekly nighttime political talk show in Los Angeles, The Peter Ford Show.^[15][16]

He is also the author of Glenn Ford: A Life, a biography of his father published by the University of Wisconsin Press.^[17]

Peter and his wife Lynda currently reside in Bigfork, Montana.^[18]

References