Cinematical

Over the course of his 50 year career, Glenn Ford -- best known to modern audiences as Jonathan Kent in 1978's Superman -- appeared in nearly 100 films, most of them in the 1950s and 60s, during which he was almost ubiquitous in Hollywood. A big post-war box office draw, Ford was also deceptively talented, turning in equally solid, very different performances in films as wide-ranging as 3:10 to Yuma, Gilda, and Fritz Lang's The Big Heat. His work in Yuma, in particular, is a fitting legacy for Ford: He often appeared in westerns, but was rarely asked to display the terrifying charisma he employs in that film as Ben Wade, an outlaw who spends 90% of the film simply waiting for a train. It's a brilliant, nuanced performance from a man whose roles didn't always allow him so much room to work.

In addition to a Hollywood mainstay, Ford was also a military man, serving three years during World War II (his first film after the war was Gilda -- not bad for a guy who just returned from combat) and returning to the U.S. Naval Reserve during the Viet Nam War.

Ford was found dead in his home yesterday afternoon; he was 90 years old.