One of the last leading men from the classic era, Glenn Ford, died today. I absolutely adored him. I'd put on a par with Jimmy Stewart or Gregory Peck. He starred in some amazing film noirs (Gilda, The Big Heat), westerns (3:10 to Yuma, which is getting remade; The Violent Men, The Sheepman with Shirley Maclaine), dramas (The Blackboard Jungle), and comedies (The Courtship of Eddie's Father, with Ron Howard!) And he was Christopher Reeve's adoptive dad in the first Superman film.

A picspam for any classic film buffs who wander this way.


GILDA: One of the most sizzling, sexy film noirs all the time. Not just the heat between Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth, but the very strong implication he was her husband's lover before her! Must-see film.



THE BIG HEAT: One of the most violent film noirs of the '50s. Ford is a man on a mission after a bomb meant for him kills his wife instead. With Gloria Grahame, my absolutely favorite noir bad girl, as a gangster's moll who helps him.


THE SHEEPMAN. Very funny Western with Shirley Maclaine and Leslie Nielsen as the bad guy (who plays it completely straight, waay before his Police Squad/Naked Gun years!)


3:10 to Yuma: Ford is an outlaw in the custody of lawman Van Heflin, who's trying to make that 3:10 train to Yuma to bring him to trial. If they remake this with Christian Bale and Russell Crowe, I'm going to be a very happy girl.


SUPERMAN