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Ward Bond
built 657 days ago
Sadly, Ward Bond didn't live long enough to enjoy all 8 seasons of WAGON TRAIN. In 1960, Bond traveled to Dallas to attend a football game and died of a heart attack in his hotel shower. He was just 57.
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The week that Ward Bond died TV Guide was to feature an article about this Wagon Train episode. Bond got his mentor John Ford to direct this episode of Wagon Train which concerned an alcoholic doctor played by Carleton Young traveling on the Wagon Train.
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Serving as Executive Officer aboard USS Thunderfish, Lieutenant Commander Duke Gifford (Wayne), assumes command of the boat when the skipper (Ward Bond) is killed. A scene where the crew solves a complex torpedo performance-design problem is based on fact, as are many others. The scene where Commander Perry (Bond) is killed in a surface action is a combination of two incidents involving Commander Howard W. Gilmore, captain of USS Growler. Mortally wounded on the bridge, Gilmore gave the order "Take her down", sacrificing himself to save his ship and crew, for which he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. The ramming/sinking of the armed freighter depicted in the scene occurred on an earlier patrol prior to Gilmore's death.
In the 1940s, Bond was an intensely active member of the right-wing group called the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, whose major platform was opposition to communists in the film industry. Prior to his death, Bond campaigned for the Republican presidential nominee Richard M. Nixon. Bond died three days before Democrat John F. Kennedy narrowly defeated Nixon.
James Cagney generates much of the energy in this 1950 noir; as Ralph Cotter, a wild hoodlum, he kills his hesitant companion during a jailbreak and then blackmails a corrupt police inspector (Ward Bond) while staging ever riskier holdups. Cagney is intense as usual, and Bond is admirably restrained in contrast, but the film is disorganized, episodic, and often psychologically unconvincing. Gordon Douglas's direction is almost incoherent compared to Raoul Walsh's in White Heat (1949), which features Cagney in a similar role; the compositions and camera movements, while momentarily effective, have little relationship to each other, and the film reads a bit like an orchestra playing without a conductor. With Barbara Payton, Luther Adler, and Helena Carter.
Ward Bond DVD cover picture Ward Bond movies DVDs filmography available to buy at CDUniverse are listed below. Information on films includes: other actor and actress, star cast and crew information, reviews, director, photo of cover art, product pics and more.
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