Ward Bond was born on April 9, 1903 in Benkelman, Nebraska.
On November 5, 1960 Ward Bond passed away in Dallas, Texas from
a heart attack.
Bond regularly appeared in 10 to 20 films per year, with the
record year for him being 1935, when he acted in 30 movies.
Attending the University of Southern California, where he got
work as an extra through a football teammate John Wayne. Who
would become both his best friend and one of cinema's biggest
stars. On a hunting trip, Bond was accidentally shot by John
Wayne and Bond left Wayne the shotgun in his will.
Director John Ford promoted Bond from extra to supporting player
in the film SALUTE (1929), John and Ward became life long friends.
Bond worked with director John Ford on twenty-six films. Few,
if any, actors, have appeared in so many films for a single
director.
The American Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest American
Movies, Bond appears in the most films (seven)... IT
HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, BRINGING
UP BABY, GONE
WITH THE WIND, THE
GRAPES OF WRATH, THE
MALTESES FALCON, IT'S
A WONDERFUL LIFE, and THE
SEARCHERS.
In the 1950s Bond made many enemies, as a rabid anti-communist
in Hollywood.
Ward Bond was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers
of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 2001.
In the mid 1950s Ward Bond gained his greatest fame as the star
of TV's "WAGON TRAIN.
Among Bond's most memorable roles are John L. Sullivan in GENTLEMAN
JIM, Det. Tom Polhaus in THE
MALTESE FALCON, and as the Rev. Capt. Samuel Johnson Clayton
THE SEACHERS.
Ward Bond's other notable credits include...
ALIAS JESSE JAMES (1959)
RIO BRAVO (1959)
PILLARS OF THE SKY (1956)
MISTER
ROBERTS (1955)
HELLGATE (1952)
MY DARLING CLEMENTINE (1946)
TALL IN THE SADDLE (1944)
THE MALTESE
FALCON (1941)
SERGEANT YORK (1941)
RETURN OF THE CISCO KID (1939)
BRINGING
UP BABY (1938)
SECOND WIFE (1936)
PRIDE OF THE MARINES (1936)
GIRL IN DANGER (1934)
SALUTE (1929)
Ward Bond in SERGEANT YORK (1941)
