Paul Ford 1901 - 1976

Paul Ford, Actor, Dead; Colonel in ‘Bilko’ By C. GERALD FRASER APRIL 14, 1976 Paul Ford, who began acting professionally at 40 and then. became widely known for two roles as colonels—Colonel Ha11 in Phil Silvers's “Sgt. Bilko” show on television and Colonel Purdy in “The Teahouse of the August Moon” on Broadway and in the movie, died Monday in Nassau Hospital in Mineola, L. I. He was 74 years old. Mr. Ford retired about two years ago in January, he was admitted to the United Presbyterian Nursing Home, in Woodbury, L. I. He was taken to Nassau Hospital in “very grave condition” about five and a half hours before his death at 8:30 P.M. An official at the hospital said Mr. Ford's body would be turned over to the medical examiner for determination of the cause of death. The mournful face of Mr. Ford was seen by millions when he played the part of the long‐suffering colonel to Phil Silvers's brash Sergeant Bilko during the show's five‐year run on television. Started on Radio Although Mr. Ford's career sprouted on Broadway, it took root in radio in the early 1940's. Doing politicians, neighbors, sheriffs, and lawyers as well as a few running parts in soap operas, he earned $22.50 for each 15‐minute show. And sometimes he did as many as 10 to 15 shows a week. He came to Broadway in 1944 in “Decision.” He also played in “Flaming Road,” “Command Decision” and “The Brass Ring.” But his success in “The Teahouse of the August Moon” was the beginning of his career's upswing. Playing what was described as “the agitated adjutant” in “Teahouse,” a story of American occupation forces on Okinawa, Mr. Ford gave a performance described by Brooks Atkinson, ‐drama critic for The New York Times, as a “plain, cornfed portrait of the incredulous colonel who cannot believe what he sees . . . immensely funny and immensely winning.” He was the only member of the cast to do the comedy on the stage, in the movies and on television. In ‘Thurber Carnival’ Later he worked in “WhoopUp,” “The Music Man,” “A Thurber Carnival,” ‘Three Men on a Horse,” and “Never Too. Late.” His association with the James Thurber play inspired several critics to liken his appearance to a dog in Thurber's cartoons in The New Yorker. A New Yorker writer said that “Mr. Ford does indeed have the mournful mien, complete with dangling dewlaps, of a Bassett, and his voice sounds appropriately forlorn.” His performance in “Never Too Late” as a middle‐aged father‐to‐be earned him a Tony Award nomination. In 1967 Mr. Ford was cited by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures as the best supporting actor for his role in “The Comedians.” His other movies include “All the King's Men,” “Advise and Consent,” “It's a Mad, Mad, Mad Mad World” and “The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming.” Mr. Ford was a character actor who said: “I owe my success to my pot belly. If I lose this belly I'll have to learn how to act.” Actually, he had learned to act, and under trying circumstances. Married, with five children under 12 and moving from one inconsequential job to another, he, like millions of other Americans, was weathering the Depression. “I got on the puppet project of the W.P.A.,” Mr. Ford once said, “and helped write and put on shows for the Federal Theater. We did puppet shows at the World's Fair in 1939 and 1940, and 1 served as narrator, a kind of Hoosier cornball in beard.” He was born in Baltimore and was named Paul Ford Weaver. (Later as an aspiring actor, he failed an audition as Paul Weaver, reapplied as Paul Ford, passed, and used that name.) As a youngster, he moved to Philadelphia and his stepmother, whom he described as “a prima donna in a burlesque show,” took him to burlesque shows that had no stripteasers. “A kind of poor man's musical comedy,” he said. Mr. Ford told interviewers that he liked making films in Hollywood, where the money was better if he wasn't away too long from Manhattan and the Broadway stage, where the satisfaction was greater. “Working in a picture is blind acting. The director is the boss land you do as he says and never know until you see the picture if you've given a good or bad performance,” he said. Long runs on the stage, he added, never bored him. Each performance in the theater is ‘like playing a game. If I felt that I hadn't reached the audience on Wednesday evening, on Thursday evening I would play it a little differently. The thrill of acting in the theater is the personal contact with those sitting out there in front.” Mr. Ford dropped out of Dartmouth College after one year in 1921 because of financial difficulties. He is survived by his wife, Nell Weaver, of Greenwich Village; two daughters, Jean Priest of Garden City, L.I., and Lois Goehrig of Merrick, L.1. and two sons, Donald Weaver of Scarsdale, N.Y., and Paul Weaver Jr., of Paris.