Film Legend Glenn Ford Dies at 90, Tom Cruise Axed by Studio

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• JIM LEHRER:

  Finally tonight, Hollywood stars, then and now. And to Jeffrey Brown.

• JEFFREY BROWN:

  For more than 50 years and through 85 films, actor Glenn Ford helped define the strong, thoughtful Hollywood leading man. From westerns to war movies, romances to the Riviera, he was among the last stars of a bygone era.

  Born in Quebec in 1916, Ford grew up in California and made his first film in 1939. A year later, he signed with Columbia Pictures, lead by Harry Cohn, a titan of the once-mighty studio system. After wartime service in the Marines, Ford co-starred opposite Rita Hayworth in the film noir classic "Gilda," a story of corruption, power and frustrated romance in post-war Argentina that opened with Ford's memorable voice-over.

• GLENN FORD, Actor:

  To me, a dollar was a dollar in any language. It was my first night in the Argentine, and I didn't know much about the local citizens. But I knew about American sailors, and I knew I'd better get out of there.

• JEFFREY BROWN:

  The '50s brought other memorable films, including "The Big Heat" in 1953, and in 1955, "The Blackboard Jungle." Ford would go on to star in dozens more films, including a turn as Superman's adoptive father in the 1978 feature film.

  Glenn Ford died Wednesday in Beverly Hills. He had been unwell for some time. He was 90 years old.

  And joining us now is Howard Rodman, professor and chair of screenwriting at the University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television.

  Professor Rodman, why don't you start by telling us about Glenn Ford the actor? What stands out about his roles and what he brought to them?

  HOWARD RODMAN, USC School of Cinema-Television: Glenn Ford had the kind of career, I think, that Hollywood actors and movie stars today can only envy. He made 100-odd films. And in the course of making that many films, you really perfect your craft.

  What Glenn Ford as a leading man brought to his films, for the most part, was a certain sense of a guy who has a very core decency, and who does what he does very well, and is put in an almost untenable situation. And he's got something he's got to step up to and does.

  I think particularly of his character Dave Bannion in "The Big Heat," who is an honest cop in a city full of corruption. I certainly think of Richard Dadier, the high school teacher that he plays in Richard Brooks' "Blackboard Jungle."

  Again and again, he played a decent guy, a quiet guy, a competent guy. And somebody pushes him a little bit too hard and then is unprepared for what they get back from him.