The John Ford Stock Company is the name given to the large collection of actors used repeatedly in the films of American director John Ford

John Ford

John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...

. Most famous among these was John Wayne

John Wayne

Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...

, who appeared in twenty-four films and three television episodes for the director. Other members of the "stock company" include:

Jack Pennick

Jack Pennick

Jack Pennick was an American film actor. After working as a gold miner as a young man, he appeared in over 140 films between 1926 and 1962. Pennick was a leading member of the informal John Ford Stock Company, appearing in dozens of the director's films...

 - 41 films, 1 TV episode

Francis Ford

Francis Ford (actor)

Francis Ford was a prolific film actor, writer, and director. He was the older brother of film director John Ford. He also appeared in many of John Ford's movies, including Young Mr. Lincoln and The Quiet Man.He starred in the 1912 two-reeler The Deserter by Thomas H. Ince and acted in over 400...

 (the director's brother) - 32 films

Harry Carey, Sr.

Harry Carey

Harry Carey was an American actor and one of silent film's earliest superstars. He was the father of Harry Carey Jr., who was also a prominent actor.-Early life and career:...

 - 27 films

John Wayne

John Wayne

Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...

 - 24 films, 3 TV episodes

Ward Bond

Ward Bond

Wardell Edwin "Ward" Bond was an American film actor whose rugged appearance and easygoing charm were featured in over 200 movies and the television series Wagon Train.-Early life:...

 - 24 films, 2 TV episodes

Harry Tenbrook

Harry Tenbrook

Harry Tenbrook born Henry Olaf Hansen, was a Norwegian-born American film actor. He appeared in some 332 films between 1911 and 1960. A favorite of John Ford, Tenbrook was a prominent member of the John Ford Stock Company...

 - 26 films

J. Farrell MacDonald

J. Farrell MacDonald

Joseph Farrell MacDonald was an American character actor and director. He played supporting roles and occasional leads. MacDonald, who was sometimes billed as "John Farrell Macdonald", "J.F...

 - 25 films

Vester Pegg

Vester Pegg

Vester Pegg was an American actor of the silent era. He appeared in 140 films between 1912 and 1941.He was born in Appleton City, Missouri and died in Los Angeles, California.-Selected filmography:...

 - 23 films

Mae Marsh

Mae Marsh

Mae Marsh was an American film actress with a career spanning over 50 years.-Early life:...

 - 17 films, 1 TV episode

Frank Baker - 17 films

Duke Lee - 16 films

Joe Harris - 14 films

Danny Borzage - 13 films

Hoot Gibson

Hoot Gibson

Hoot Gibson was an American rodeo champion and a pioneer cowboy film actor, director and producer.-Early life and career:...

 - 13 films

Willis Bouchey

Willis Bouchey

Willis Ben Bouchey was an American character actor who appeared in almost 150 films and television shows. He was born in Vernon, Michigan, but reared by his mother and stepfather in Washington State....

 - 9 films, 3 TV episodes

John Carradine

John Carradine

John Carradine was an American actor, best known for his roles in horror films and Westerns as well as Shakespearean theater. A member of Cecil B DeMille's stock company and later John Ford's company, he was one of the most prolific character actors in Hollywood history...

 - 11 films, 1 TV episode

Ken Curtis

Ken Curtis

Ken Curtis was an American singer and actor best known for his role as Festus Haggen on the long-running CBS western television series Gunsmoke.-Early years:...

 - 11 films, 1 TV episode

William Henry

William Henry (actor)

William Albert Henry was an American actor working in Hollywood movies. He started as a child actor, then was a hero in B-movies , and ended his career as a character actor. He also appeared in various roles on episodes of many TV series. He was a member of the John Ford Stock Company and...

 - 11 films, 1 TV episode

Victor McLaglen

Victor McLaglen

Victor Andrew de Bier Everleigh McLaglen was an English boxer and World War I veteran who became a successful film actor.Towards the end of his life he was naturalised as a U.S. citizen.-Early life:...

 - 12 films

George O'Brien - 12 films

Molly Malone

Molly Malone (actor)

Molly Malone was an American actress of the silent era. She appeared in 86 films between 1916 and 1929. Her father Lewis Malone, a metallurgist for mining companies. Her mother was Violet St...

 - 11 films

Harry Carey Jr. - 9 films, 1 TV episode

Sam Harris - 10 films

Robert Homans

Robert Homans

Robert Edward Homans was an American film actor. He appeared in some 400 films between 1917 and 1946.He was born in Malden, Massachusetts and died in Los Angeles, California from a heart attack.-Selected filmography:...

 - 10 films

Cliff Lyons

Cliff Lyons (actor)

Clifford William Lyons was an American motion picture stuntman, second-unit director, and actor, primarily of Westerns, particularly the films of John Ford and John Wayne.Lyons, the son of Garrett Thomas Lyons and Wilhamena Johnson Lyons, was raised on a South Dakota farm,...

 - 9 films, 1 TV episode

Robert Parrish

Robert Parrish

Robert R. Parrish was an American actor, film editor, film director, and writer. He received an Academy Award for Film Editing for the 1947 film, Body and Soul....

 - 10 films

Chuck Roberson

Chuck Roberson

Charles Hugh "Chuck" Roberson was an American cowboy, actor, and stuntman. He was nicknamed "Bad Chuck" by director John Ford, for whom he worked many times, to distinguish him from "Good Chuck," stuntman Chuck Hayward. Roberson was reportedly the rowdier of the two, thus the nicknames.Roberson...

 - 9 films, 1 TV episode

Russell Simpson

Russell Simpson (actor)

Russell McCaskill Simpson was an American character actor.Born in San Francisco, California, Simpson is best known for his work in the films of John Ford and, in particular, for his portrayal of Pa Joad in The Grapes of Wrath in 1940.Simpson reportedly prospected for gold in Alaska in his youth,...

 - 10 films

William Steele

William Steele (actor)

William Anton Gittinger , best known as William Steele, was an American actor of small roles in Westerns, particularly those of John Ford....

 - 10 films

Patrick Wayne

Patrick Wayne

Patrick John Morrison, better known by his stage name Patrick Wayne , is an American actor, the second son of movie star John Wayne and his first wife, Josephine Alicia Saenz. He made over 40 films in his career, including nine with his father...

 - 8 films, 2 TV episodes

Henry Fonda

Henry Fonda

Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...

 - 9 films

Ed Jones - 9 films

John Qualen

John Qualen

John Qualen was a Canadian-American character actor of Norwegian heritage who specialized in Scandinavian roles....

 - 9 films

Mickey Simpson

Mickey Simpson

Mickey Simpson was an American supporting actor of burly roles, probably most familiar as Sarge, the racist diner, who beats up Rock Hudson near the end of Giant.-Career:...

 - 9 films

Pat Somerset - 9 films

Hank Worden

Hank Worden

Hank Worden was an American cowboy-turned-character-actor who appeared in many Westerns.-Biography:...

 - 8 films, 1 TV episode

Anna Lee

Anna Lee

Anna Lee, MBE was an English actress.-Career:Lee studied at the Royal Albert Hall, then debuted with a bit part in the film His Lordship...

 - 8 films, 1 TV episode

Ruth Clifford

Ruth Clifford

Ruth Clifford was an American actress of leading roles in silent films, whose career lasted from silent days into the television era.-Biography:A native of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, she attended St...

 - 8 films

Mary Gordon

Mary Gordon (actor)

Mary Gordon was a Scottish actress, long in the United States, who specialized in housekeepers and mothers, most notably the landlady Mrs. Hudson in the Sherlock Holmes series of movies of the Thirties and Forties...

 - 8 films

James Flavin

James Flavin

James William Flavin, Jr. was an American character actor whose career lasted nearly half a century.-Life and career:...

 - 8 films

Ben Hall

Ben Hall (actor)

Benjamin Joseph Hall was an American actor who started performing as a boy and worked for three and a half decades, mainly in small parts....

 - 8 films

Chuck Hayward

Chuck Hayward

Charles B. Hayward was an American motion picture stuntman and actor. He was associated particularly with the films of John Wayne...

 (as actor) - 7 films, 1 TV episode

Harry Strang - 8 films

Carleton Young

Carleton Young

Carleton Scott Young was an American character actor born in New York City, New York and known for his deep voice.-Private life:...

 - 6 films, 2 TV episodes

Brandon Hurst

Brandon Hurst

Brandon Hurst was an English stage and film actor. He studied linguistics in his youth and began playing in theatre in 1880s. He was nearly fifty years old when he acted in his first film Via Wireless as Edward Pnickney in year 1915 and continued acting in the 129 other films until his death 1947...

 - 7 films

Fred Libby - 7 films

Jane Darwell - 7 films

Steve Pendleton

Steve Pendleton

Steve Pendleton was an American film actor. He appeared in over 150 films between 1923 and 1960. He died in Pasadena, California, aged 76.-Selected filmography:* Manslaughter * Seas Beneath...

 - 7 films

Charles Seel - 5 films, 2 TV episodes

Charles Trowbridge

Charles Trowbridge

Charles Trowbridge was an American film actor. He appeared in 233 films between 1915 and 1958.He was born in Veracruz, Mexico and died in Los Angeles, California.-Selected filmography:*Tycoon...

 - 7 films

Jack Woods - 7 films

Frank Albertson

Frank Albertson

Frank Albertson was an American character actor who made his debut in a minor part in Hollywood at age 13....

 - 6 films

Mimi Doyle - 6 films

Earle Foxe

Earle Foxe

Earle Foxe was an American actor.-Background:Foxe was born Earl Aldrich Fox in Oxford, Ohio, to Charles Aldrich Fox, originally of Flint, Michigan, and Eva May Herron. His older half sister was Ethel May Fox, a music teacher, born in Michigan to Charles Aldrich Fox and Katie Eldridge. Always very...

 - 6 films

Si Jenks - 6 films

Robert Lowery

Robert Lowery (actor)

Robert Lowery was an American motion picture, television, and stage actor who appeared in over seventy films.-Early life:...

 - 6 films

James A. Marcus

James A. Marcus

James A. Marcus was an American actor. He appeared in 109 films between 1915 and 1937.He was born in New York, New York and died in Hollywood, California from a heart attack...

 - 6 films

Paul McVey - 6 films

Lionel Pape - 6 films

Arthur Shields

Arthur Shields

Arthur Shields was an Irish stage and film actor.Born into an Irish Protestant family in Portobello, Dublin, he started acting in the Abbey Theatre when still a young man. He was the younger brother of Oscar-winning actor Barry Fitzgerald. An Irish nationalist, he fought in the Easter Rising of...

 - 6 films

Charles Tannen

Charles Tannen

Charles David Tannen was an American actor. He appeared in over 200 movies, including Jesse James and The Return of Frank James and some TV-series, such as The Rifleman. His father, Julius Tannen and his brother, William Tannen were both actors. -References:...

 - 6 films

Harry Tyler - 5 films, 1 TV episode

Tom Tyler

Tom Tyler

Tom Tyler was an American actor in silent and sound motion pictures, best known for his portrayal of superhero Captain Marvel in the acclaimed 1941 movie serial The Adventures of Captain Marvel.-Biography:...

 - 6 films

Jack Walters - 6 films


Scores of actors appeared repeatedly for Ford up to five times. Among the best known of these are Chief John Big Tree

Chief John Big Tree

Chief John Big Tree , born Isaac Johnny John, was a member of the Seneca Nation and an actor who appeared in 59 films between 1915 and 1950....

 (5), Berton Churchill

Berton Churchill

Berton Churchill was a Canadian actor.Born in Toronto, Ontario. As a young man interested in the theater, he appeared in stock companies as early as 1903 and later headed to New York City where he began an acting career that soon put him on the Broadway stage...

 (5), Donald Crisp

Donald Crisp

Donald Crisp was an English film actor. He was also an early motion picture producer, director and screenwriter...

 (5), Andy Devine

Andy Devine

Andrew Vabre "Andy" Devine was an American character actor and comic cowboy sidekick known for his distinctive raspy voice.-Early life:...

 (5), Stepin Fetchit

Stepin Fetchit

Stepin Fetchit was the stage name of American comedian and film actor Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry....

 (5), Shug Fisher

Shug Fisher

Shug Fisher , born George Clinton Fisher, Jr., was an American character actor, singer, songwriter, musician and comedian. During a 50-year career, he appeared in many Western films, often as a member of The Sons of the Pioneers in Roy Rogers serials...

 (5), Barry Fitzgerald

Barry Fitzgerald

Barry Fitzgerald was an Irish stage, film and television actor.-Life:He was born William Joseph Shields in Walworth Road, Portobello, Dublin, Ireland. He is the older brother of Irish actor Arthur Shields. He went to Skerry's College, Dublin, before going on to work in the civil service, while...

 (5), Wallace Ford

Wallace Ford

Wallace Ford was an English film and television actor who, with his friendly appearance and stocky build later in life, appeared in a number of film westerns and B-movies....

 (5), Ben Johnson

Ben Johnson (actor)

Ben "Son" Johnson, Jr. was an American motion picture actor who was mainly cast in Westerns. He was also a rodeo cowboy, stuntman, and rancher.-Personal life:...

 (5), Joe Sawyer

Joe Sawyer

Joe Sawyer was a Canadian film actor. He appeared in over 200 films between 1930 and 1962.He was born in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, and died in Ashland, Oregon from liver cancer....

 (5), James Stewart

James Stewart (actor)

James Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...

 (5), O.Z. Whitehead

O.Z. Whitehead

Oothout Zabriskie Whitehead was born in New York City and attended Harvard University. Called "O.Z." or "Zebby", he was a stage star and a prominent character actor who also authored several volumes of biographical sketches of early members of the Bahá'í Faith especially in the West after he...

 (5), Maureen O'Hara

Maureen O'Hara

Maureen O'Hara is an Irish film actress and singer. The famously red-headed O'Hara has been noted for playing fiercely passionate heroines with a highly sensible attitude. She often worked with director John Ford and longtime friend John Wayne...

 (5), Grant Withers

Grant Withers

Grant Withers was an American film actor. With early beginnings in the silent era, Withers moved into talkies establishing himself with a list of headlined features as a young and handsome male lead...

 (5), Charley Grapewin (4), Donald Meek

Donald Meek

Donald Meek was a Scottish-born American character actor. He first worked as a stage actor and later became a film actor, starring in several movies including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Little Miss Broadway, and State Fair. Before becoming an actor, he fought in the Spanish-American War and...

 (4), Woody Strode

Woody Strode

Woodrow Wilson Woolwine "Woody" Strode was a decathlete and football star who went on to become a pioneering black American film actor. He was nominated for a Golden Globe award for best supporting actor for his role in Spartacus in 1960...

 (4), Vera Miles

Vera Miles

Vera Miles is an American film actress who gained popularity for starring in films such as The Searchers, The Wrong Man, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Psycho and Psycho II.-Early life:...

 (4), Slim Summerville

Slim Summerville

Slim Summerville was an American film actor, best known as a comedy performer.-Life and career:Born George Joseph Summerville in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Summerville began his career as a "Keystone Kop" in 1912...

 (4), Mildred Natwick

Mildred Natwick

Mildred Natwick was an American stage and film actress.- Early life :A native of Baltimore, Maryland, she was born to Joseph and Mildred Marion Dawes Natwick. She graduated from the Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore...

 (4), Olive Carey

Olive Carey

Olive Carey was an American film and television actress.Born as Olive Fuller Golden in New York City, she appeared in more than fifty films, mostly westerns, including Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, often playing tough tom-boy parts. In 1920, she wed actor Harry Carey, Sr., with whom she remained...

 (3), Pedro Armendáriz

Pedro Armendáriz

Pedro Armendáriz was a Mexican actor of the cinema of Mexico and Hollywood.-Early life:Born Pedro Gregorio Armendáriz Hastings in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico to Pedro Armendáriz García-Conde and Adela Hastings . He was also the cousin of actress Gloria Marín...

 (3), Dan Dailey

Dan Dailey

Daniel James Dailey Jr. was an American dancer and actor.-Early life and career:Born in New York City on December 14, 1915, to James J. and Helen Dailey, both born in New York City. He appeared in a minstrel show when very young, and appeared in vaudeville before his Broadway debut in 1937 in...

 (3), Paul Fix

Paul Fix

Paul Fix was an American film and television character actor, best known for his work in westerns. Fix appeared in more than a hundred movies and dozens of television shows over a 56-year career spanning from 1925 to 1981...

 (3), Preston Foster

Preston Foster

Preston Foster was an American stage and film actor, and singer. Foster entered films in 1929 after appearing as a Broadway stage actor. He was appearing in Broadway plays as late as October 1931 when he acted in a play titled Two Seconds starring Edward J. Pawley...

 (3), Jeffrey Hunter

Jeffrey Hunter

Jeffrey Hunter was an American film and television actor. His most famous roles are as Jesus in the film King of Kings, as Martin Pawley in The Searchers, and as Capt...

 (3), Mike Mazurki

Mike Mazurki

Mike Mazurki was an Austrian-born American actor and professional wrestler who appeared in over 100 movies. His towering 6' 5" presence and intimidating face usually got him roles playing tough guys, thugs, strong men, and gangsters.Mazurki was born as Mikhail Mazurkevych in Tarnopol, Galicia,...

 (3), Thomas Mitchell

Thomas Mitchell (actor)

Thomas Mitchell was an American actor, playwright and screenwriter. Among his most famous roles in a long career are those of Gerald O'Hara, the father of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, the drunken Doc Boone in John Ford's Stagecoach, and Uncle Billy in It's a Wonderful Life...

 (3), Denver Pyle

Denver Pyle

Denver Dell Pyle was an American film and television actor. He is best remembered for playing Uncle Jesse in The Dukes of Hazzard .-Early life:...

 (3), Will Rogers

Will Rogers

William "Will" Penn Adair Rogers was an American cowboy, comedian, humorist, social commentator, vaudeville performer, film actor, and one of the world's best-known celebrities in the 1920s and 1930s....

 (3), C. Aubrey Smith (3), Spencer Tracy

Spencer Tracy

Spencer Bonaventure Tracy was an American theatrical and film actor, who appeared in 75 films from 1930 to 1967. Tracy was one of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, ranking among the top ten box office draws for almost every year from 1938 to 1951...

 (3), and Richard Widmark

Richard Widmark

Richard Weedt Widmark was an American film, stage and television actor.He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as the villainous Tommy Udo in his debut film, Kiss of Death...

(3).

Membership in the John Ford Stock Company did not necessitate membership in Ford's social circle, and indeed many of the actors in the Stock Company never encountered Ford outside of work situations.