John Ford began his career in Hollywood during the early silent era, eventually becoming one of the most influential directors both at home and abroad. During his long career, he won a record 4 Academy Awards for Best Director and became the director most often credited with defining the Western genre, bringing it out of the ranks of "b" movie fare to become a mainstay Hollywood genre.

He was born on February 1, 1895 in Cape Elizabeth, Maine as John Martin Feeney to a large Irish family. His Irish roots would, in fact, not only be a point of pride with Ford but would become part of his work as a director, as seen in films like The Informer (1935), How Green Was My Valley and The Quiet Man (1952).

His older brother, Francis, was the first to head to Hollywood and also the one to first change his last name to Ford. Ford himself would follow in 1914, changing his name and appearing in his brother's movies. He also began taking on a number of behind the scenes jobs (from assistant director to stuntman) while continuing to work as an actor, even appearing as an unnamed Klansman in D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915). He then went on to direct short films before making his first feature length film, The Tornado in 1917. From there, Ford would go on to direct 60 silent films between 1917 and 1928.

In the 1930s, his value quickly rose as he continued to craft films that were known for being both critical and commercial successes (it also helped that he typically was able to deliver films within budget). Interestingly, he would spend most of the decade away from the Western, the genre for which he would become most associated with, focusing instead on comedies, action-adventures and dramas. He would win his first Best Director Oscar for the 1935 drama The Informer before returning to the Western genre with the iconic 1939 film Stagecoach starring John Wayne. He then went on to direct The Grapes of Wrath (1940), winning his second Best Director Academy Award, before making How Green Was My Valley, his last studio film until 1945.

Following How Green, Ford joined the war effort and served in the United States Navy--he was a commander and head of the photographic unit for the Office of Strategic Services. In this capacity, he directed a number of documentaries for the Navy including The Battle of Midway (1942)--in which Ford was present for the battle and was wounded by shrapnel--and December 7th (1943) which focused on the Pearl Harbor attack of 1941.

Following the war, Ford returned to Hollywood where he would go on to direct such classics as The Quiet Man (winning his fourth and final Best Director Oscar), Mogambo (1953), The Searchers (1956) and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962).