How tall was John Ford

Tall Sam said on 15/Mar/18
What do you think on a page for Andy, Rob?

Tall Sam said on 12/Mar/18
How about a page for Andy Devine, a seasoned old Hollywood character actor who had major roles in lot's of Ford's ensembles?

w/ Lon Chaney Jr.: Click Here
w/ Tyrone Power: Click Here
w/ the rest of the Stagecoach cast: Click Here
near Clark Gable & Carole Lombard: Click Here
near Franchot Tone & Loretta Young: Click Here
w/ James Cagney: Click Here
offensively dressed as a Native American woman near Richard Widmark & James Stewart: Click Here
One thing for sure, he doesn't pull of the 6'1" he's often listed at online. You could argue that he look a smidge under six foot a lot, maybe at times close to the six foot mark.
Here's a height-related anecdote about him meeting a pre-fame John Wayne by trying to boost himself on Wayne's shoulders since he was trying to fit in with a line of extras 6'4" or over: Click Here

Sam said on 12/Dec/14
Both had a reputation as being dictorial directors w/ a long sadistic streak, Huston maybe less so, but Lang even more so than Ford I'd gather. Lang was almost gray-listed from work according to his bio for being so unpleasant to work with as a director.

Huston one time reached across to Humphrey Bogart and twisted Bogie's nose until when blood came squirting out which caused Huston to laughed hysterically apparently. Another time, Huston smashed a series of vases in his living room and cajooled an inebriated Bogart to dance barefoot on them until his feet wear soaked with blood. And Bogart was his friend!

Rampage(-_-_-)Clover said on 11/Dec/14
@Sam: where do Fritz Lang and John Huston come in to all this?

Bruno said on 10/Dec/14
Well said Sam, Probably one of his biggest regrets was not serving even though been a well known actor he would have been given low risk duties.

Sam said on 8/Dec/14
It doesn't diminish Ford's accomplishments that he was miserable, rude, boozy and a bit of sadist, a lot of the great directors were like that, his reputation no less infamous than say Fritz Lang or John Huston. Wayne was a very personable, professional kind of guy that befriended even left-wingers despite being a right-wing reactionary kind of guy and a bit spineless on his political views and military service. Still, the view of Wayne as some fascist monster is unfair. One thign is he was friendly and gave opportunities to co-stars known to be gay or bi like Rock Hudson or Montgomery Clift.

Gonzalo said on 20/Nov/14
In these pics he looks close in height to Clark Gable. They are more reliable than the other pic with Thomas Mitchell and john Wayne.

Click Here
Click Here

Rampage(-_-_-)Clover said on 14/Nov/14
Looks barely 5ft10 next to Gable.

Sam said on 21/Oct/14
Back to height, here's Ford with an all-star line-up of Thomas Mitchell, 6'0.5" listed Robert Montgomery, 6'0.5" listed Clark Gable (looking taller than Montgomery I'd note) and 6'3.75" listed John Wayne...he's slouching more so (and is older) than the other guys, but this goes to show anything more than six foot is too much for Ford IMO.
Mitchell, who I think did not exceed 5'10", actually looks taller than Ford but, in addition to Ford's slouch, is closer to the camera.
Click Here

Rampage(-_-_-)Clover said on 17/Oct/14
If you listened to some of the interviews that he did in the early 70s (e.g. Playboy circa 1971) you'll get a fuller picture of who he was a individual. Some of the things that come out of his mouth are quite disturbing.I really don't want to drag it any further than that.

He was still a great actor, though.

Sam said on 14/Oct/14
That's a rather harsh appraisal of Wayne if you ask me, yeah, he said some reprehensible things but so did my grandfather who was of that generation, it's not an excuse for his views but he was a man of his time. Somewhat amusing that Ford liked to wave his liberal political views in front of his generally conservative stars (with the exception of left-winger Fonda) to see their indignation. Also on They Were Expendable, he credited his cast and crew with their military status in the credits (few more decorated than the brave lead Robert Montgomery) but made sure it was noticeable in it's absence the lack of service credited to Wayne.

Gonzalo said on 14/Oct/14
Rampage, a lot of actors who work with Wayne spoke marvellous things about him. And I am talking about very intelligent left wing people such as Lauren Bacall or Katharine Hepburn.
Also, César Romero said it was a horrible experience working with Ford; however, working with Wayne was fantastic

Arch Stanton said on 14/Oct/14
Well, the lovely Maureen o Hara liked Wayne at least :-)

Gonzalo said on 14/Oct/14
In a book I have about him it is said that he was 1´82. Probably a wrong translation of 6 feet. He looked around that height
One of the greatest directors ever; my favorite along with Howard Hawks and Billy Wilder. In the list Editor Rob has I would erase Wagonmaster and Rio Grande. Good films but far from the other 8 mentioned.

Arch Stanton said on 13/Oct/14
Rubbish, John Wayne aside, actors like Barry Fitzgerand and Victor MacLagen and the fact that it was actually shot in Ireland made it feel far more realistic and Irish than it would have had in a Hollywood studio with fake Irish accents (think Devil's Own)...

Sam said on 13/Oct/14
At least he wore his persona on his sleeve, everyone knew you were going to get chewed out working for Ford, and had a generous side to him, as long as you weren't his brother or pretty much any actor. Wayne was totally deferential to Ford at all times, he called him "Coach", so probably thought about him in the same terms as his hardass football coaches when younger, Ford called Wayne "big idiot". Henry Fonda drew a line on working w/ Ford anymore after getting gut punched by him during filming Mister Roberts. There's a good claim for Ford to be the most influential sound film director, since his influence trickles down to almost all the slightly younger greats like Welles, Kurosawa, Scorsese, Spielberg and on and on.

James said on 12/Oct/14
There was nothing authentic about films like "The Quiet Man".

Sam said on 11/Oct/14
Yeah, good point on those 3 regional specific ones... I would throw The Informer, The Lost Patrol, The Long Voyage Home and They Were Expendable among his non-Western films that are amazing & sensitive works. Its hard to reconcile the huge heart of his films with the deeply miserable, mean, cranky guy everyone (and I mean everyone) says he was off screen in his bio. His amazing Westerns are of course the centerpiece of his filmography.

Arch Stanton said on 11/Oct/14
6ft 1 and 1/4 inch was probably a genuine shoe measurement.

Arch Stanton said on 11/Oct/14
What I loved in particular about The Grapes of Wrath, How Green was My Valley, and The Quiet Man was the incredible sensitivity to local culture and hardship which ropes the viewer into the lives of the people. For an American director to evoke that sort of thing like he with Wales in How Green and Ireland in Quiet Man which felt authentic at that time when Hollywood was largely still very much studio oriented with a very rigid formula was very special.

Arch Stanton said on 11/Oct/14
Nice one Rob! Yeah The Grapes of Wrath, How Green was My Valley, and The Quiet Man and westerns like The Searchers, Stagecoach and The Alamo are definitely among his best. I do think though that Fort Apache, Yellow Ribbon and Rio Grande and among his more overrated ones though even if very good generally of course. The Searchers is a great film and one of the best westerns ever made, but I never rated it higher than something like Shane or Rio Bravo admittedly.

Sam said on 10/Oct/14
Good 10 films you picked there Rob. It's hard to pick his best, but I see The Grapes of Wrath & The Searchers.

Sam said on 10/Oct/14
Yes!!!! Thanks, yeah and I think this is more accurate than the taller claim. He could look solidly 4 inches under Wayne & was clearly under 184-186 cm guys like Wallace Beery, Clark Gable & Fonda.

Rampage(-_-_-)Clover said on 10/Oct/14
Rob, could 184cm be closer and the 6ft1¼ passport height be in shoes?