Ward Bond

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Ward Bond
Publicity image of Bond for Wagon Train, c. 1957
Born
Wardell Edwin Bond

(1903-04-09)April 9, 1903
Benkelman, Nebraska, U.S.
DiedNovember 5, 1960(1960-11-05) (aged 57)
Dallas, Texas, U.S.
EducationEast High School
Colorado School of Mines
Alma materUniversity of Southern California
OccupationActor
Years active1929–1960
Political partyRepublican
Spouses
Doris Sellers Childs
​
​
(m. 1936; div. 1944)​
Mary Louise May
​
(m. 1954)​

Wardell Edwin Bond (April 9, 1903 – November 5, 1960)

television series Wagon Train from 1957 to 1960. Among his best-remembered roles are Bert the cop in Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life (1946) and Captain Clayton in John Ford's The Searchers
(1956). As a character actor, Bond frequently played cowboys, cops and soldiers.

Early life

Bond was born in

East High School.[2]

Bond attended the

national-championship team in 1928. He graduated from USC in 1931 with a bachelor of science degree in engineering.[2]

Bond and John Wayne, who had played tackle for USC in 1926 before an injury ended his career, became lifelong friends and colleagues. Bond, Wayne and the entire USC team were hired to appear in Salute (1929), a football film starring George O'Brien and directed by John Ford. During filming, Bond and Wayne befriended Ford, who would later direct them in several films.

Film career

The Searchers
(1956)

Bond made his screen debut in

The Searchers, Drums Along the Mohawk, The Quiet Man, They Were Expendable and Fort Apache for Ford, with whom he made 25 films, and It Happened One Night, It's a Wonderful Life and Riding High
for Capra.

Among his other well-known films were

Rio Bravo (1959), and Raoul Walsh's 1930 widescreen wagon train epic The Big Trail
, which also featured John Wayne, in his first leading role.

Bond later starred in the popular series Wagon Train from 1957 until his death. Wagon Train was inspired by the 1950 film Wagon Master, in which Bond also appeared. Wagon Master was influenced by the earlier The Big Trail. For Wagon Train, Bond was assigned the lead role of the crusty but compassionate Major Seth Adams, the trail master.

Bond asked that Terry Wilson be given the role of assistant trail boss Bill Hawks and that Frank McGrath play the cook, Charlie B. Wooster.[citation needed] Wilson and McGrath stayed with the series for the entire run from 1957 to 1965, first on NBC and then on ABC. After Bond's death in 1960, the trail master role passed to John McIntire in 1961.

During the 1940s, Bond was a member of the conservative group called the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, whose major platform was opposition to communists in the film industry.[2]

With John Wayne in The Searchers (1956)

On the American Film Institute's "100 Years... 100 Movies" list—both the original and the tenth anniversary edition— Bond appears in the casts more often than any other actor, albeit always in a supporting role: It Happened One Night (1934), Bringing Up Baby (1938), Gone with the Wind (1939), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), The Maltese Falcon (1941), It's a Wonderful Life (1946), and The Searchers (1956).

Bond appeared in 13 films that were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture:[3] Arrowsmith (1931/32), Lady for a Day (1933), It Happened One Night (1934) Dead End (1937), You Can't Take It with You (1938), Gone with the Wind (1939), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), The Long Voyage Home (1940), The Maltese Falcon (1941), Sergeant York (1941), It's a Wonderful Life (1946), The Quiet Man (1952), and Mister Roberts (1955).

Bond starred in 23 films with John Wayne:

Personal life

Bond married Doris Sellers Childs in 1936, but they divorced in 1944.

In 1954, he married Mary Louise Meyers, and they remained together until his death in November 1960.

Death

Bond suffered a massive heart attack while at a hotel in Dallas with his wife. He was pronounced dead at a hospital on November 5, 1960, at the age of 57. His close friend John Wayne delivered the eulogy at his funeral. Bond's will bequeathed to Wayne the shotgun with which Wayne had once accidentally shot Bond on a hunting trip.[4]

Johnny Horton was killed in an accident the same day as Ward Bond died. However, Horton was not going to see Ward regarding a new Wagon Train season. Robert Horton was the actor in Wagon Train. Bond was in Dallas to attend a football game at the Cotton Bowl.[5]

Legacy

For his contribution to the television industry, Bond has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6933 Hollywood Boulevard. It was dedicated on February 8, 1960.[6] In 2001, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.[7]

Credits

Filmography

Lobby card for Wild Boys of the Road (1933)
Jean Rogers, John Wayne, and Bond in Conflict (1936)
Bond (r.) with Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Barton MacLane and Peter Lorre in The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Bond in A Guy Named Joe (1943)
John Wayne and Bond in Tall in the Saddle (1944)
Ben Johnson, Harry Carey Jr. and Bond in John Ford's Wagon Master (1950)
Lobby card for The Quiet Man (1952)
Publicity image of Robert Horton and Bond for Wagon Train, c. 1957

Television

  • The Silver Theatre – episode – My Brother's Keeper (1950)
  • The Bigelow Theatre – episode – His Brother's Keeper – Unknown (1951)
  • The Gulf Playhouse
     – episode – You Can Look it Up – Unknown (1952)
  • Schlitz Playhouse – episodes – Apple of His Eye, and Moment of Vengeance – Various (1952–1956)
  • The Ford Television Theatre
     – episode – Gun Job – Hank Fetterman (1953)
  • General Electric Theater – episodes – Winners Never Lose, and A Turkey for the President (1953–1958))
  • The Ford Television Theatre
     – episode – Segment – Lt. Pannetti (1954)
  • Suspense
     – episode – The Hunted – Bill Meeker (1954)
  • Rookie of the Year
     – Buck Goodhue, Alias Buck Garrison (1955)
  • Cavalcade of America – episode – The Marine Who Was Two Hundred Years Old – Sgt. Lou Diamond (1955)
  • Climax!
     – episode – The Mojave Kid – Sheriff (1955)
  • The Christophers – episodes – Washington as a Young Man, and Bring Out their Greatness – Various (1955–1958)
  • Schlitz Playhouse – episode – Plague Ship – Captain Parker (1956)
  • Star Stage – episode – The Marshal and the Mob – Patterson (1956)
  • Cavalcade of America – episode – Once a Hero – Harvey Kendall (1958)
  • Wagon Train – 133 episodes – Major Seth Adams (1957–1961, his death) (final appearance)
  • The Steve Allen Plymouth Show
     – episode – NBC Fall Preview – Himself (1957)
  • The Steve Allen Plymouth Show
     – episode – Episode #3.16 – Himself (1958)

Radio

Notes

Citations

  1. ^ "Ward Bond's Boyhood Home". Nebraska State Historical Society. December 12, 2006. Archived from the original on June 13, 2006. Retrieved October 5, 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. ^
    ISBN 9781476628561
    .
  3. ^ "Actors and how many best picture nominees they've been in". The Sophomore Critic. February 18, 2007. Retrieved June 12, 2007.
  4. ^ "Benkelman's Ward Bond". McCook Gazette. May 2, 2011. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
  5. ^ "The Legendary Tillman Franks". Virginia Franks. Archived from the original on September 6, 2011. Retrieved October 4, 2011.
  6. ^ "Ward Bond". Hollywood Walk of Fame. Archived from the original on September 29, 2017. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
  7. ^ "Great Western Performers". National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. Archived from the original on September 12, 2017. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
  8. Newspapers.com. Open access icon

Bibliography

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ward Bond.
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