John Ford Memorial - Portland, ME
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neoc1
N 43° 39.275 W 070° 15.440
19T E 398611 N 4834277
A monument honoring the famous Irish-American film director and Portland native John Ford is located at 2 Pleasant Street in the Gorham Corner section of Portland, ME.
Waymark Code: WMHTKT
Location: Maine, United States
Date Posted: 08/13/2013
Views: 26
John Ford was born as John Martin Feeney on February 2, 1894 in the Irish area of Portland, ME known as Gorham Corner. His father, John Augustine, was born in Spiddal, County Galway, Ireland and his mother, Barbara Curran, was born in Kilronan the Aran Island of Inishmore
He graduated Portland High School in 1914 and moved to California where he acted and worked in film production. He gain his greatest fame as a director and won a record six Oscars as a director between 1935 and 1952. Most famous for his westerns he also paid tribute to his Irish heritage with such films as: The Informer, The Quiet Man, The Shamrock Handicap, Hangman's House, and The Plough and the Stars. John Ford has a large following in Ireland. There is an annual John Ford Ireland Film Symposium. This year (2013) it was held in Dublin from June 6 to June 9.
A life-size bronze statue of John Ford by sculptor George M. Kelly has the director sitting in a directors chair perched high up on a cairn of rocks. He is wearing a shirt, trousers, boots and a broad brimmed hat. His right leg is crossed over his left leg and he is holding a pipe in his right hand.
The statue is surrounded by a circle of granite blocks with several inscriptions. The on the side of the circle is the dedication:
THE GIFT OF THIS STATUE TO THE CITIZENS OF PORTLAND MAINE, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND THE FORD DESCENDANTS BY MRS LINDA NOE LANE OF MONROE, LOUISIANA IS IN GRATEFUL MEMORY OF HER FRIENDSHIP AND RESPECT FOR MARY AND JOHN FORD. DEDICATED JULY 12, 1998.
Other inscriptions, on top of the circle are:
BORN JOHN MARTIN FEENEY 2-1-1894
DIED JOHN FORD 8-31-1973
JOHN FORD, DIRECTOR
“I MAKE WESTERNS”
NATANINEZ "TALL SOLDIER"
THE NAVAJO NATION
REAR ADMIRAL, U.S. NAVY
MARRIED MARY MCBRIDE SMITH OF NORTH CAROLINA 7-3-1920
FROM LAURINBURG, NC
PORTLAND HIGH SCHOOL
CLASS OF 1914
Surrounding the statue are tablets for each of the six films for which he won an Oscar:
The Informer (1935)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
How Green Was My Valley (1941)
The Battle of Midway (1942)
December 7th (Documentary 1943)
The Quiet Man (1952)