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Dorothy Ford was born on April 4, 1922, and grew up in San Francisco, Santa Barbara, California, and Tucson, Arizona. During her school years, she participated in several pageants and pursued modeling after graduating. Standing 6'2" with measurements of 38-26-38½, she was naturally suited for photographic work.
Her first job came in San Francisco when Billy Rose cast her in his "Aquacade" alongside Johnny Weissmuller. She was also an Earl Carroll showgirl, appearing in various revues such as "Something to Shout About" and "Star Spangled Glamour." Ford attracted casting agents' attention and made her screen debut as a model in Lady in the Dark (1944). MGM signed her in 1943, casting her in musicals like Thousands Cheer (1943) with Red Skelton and Broadway Rhythm (1944). That year, she also appeared in Two Girls and a Sailor (1944), Meet the People (1944), Bathing Beauty (1944), and The Thin Man Goes Home (1944). She appeared in The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) as part of an onscreen performing act and in King Vidor's An American Romance (1944) before leaving MGM in 1945.
Dorothy studied at the Actors' Lab, the West Coast counterpart to New York City's Group Theater. She earned a more substantial role in her Universal Pictures debut with Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Here Come the Co-eds (1945), which allowed her to showcase her acting. Portraying the captain of a women's basketball team playing as ringers in a college game, she displayed bold confidence mixed with a shy charm, stealing every scene. She briefly returned to modeling in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, participating in South America's first post-war fashion show, where she met Gen. Mark W. Clark, who remarked, "this is the first girl I've ever seen who could go bear hunting armed with a switch."
In 1946, she returned to MGM and appeared in Love Laughs at Andy Hardy (1946), playing a co-ed without a date who is unexpectedly paired with Mickey Rooney. The height difference between Ford and the 5'2" Rooney provided comedic moments at the homecoming dance, the film's highlight. This was her first major role that played off her height; she wore four-inch heels, and studio publicity stills listed her height as 6'6". By then, she was often called a "Glamazon" in press releases. She advised tall women, "if nature has made you tall, then be good and tall." In the 1940s, when actresses between 5'8" and 5'10" like Maureen O'Hara, Ingrid Bergman, Alexis Smith, Angela Lansbury, and Marie Windsor were considered formidable, Ford—at 6'2" and 145 pounds—was regarded as one of Hollywood's most striking women.
Ford appeared in a New York stage production of "The Big People," which positively featured her height. In 1948, she returned to Hollywood in the unique independently made anthology film On Our Merry Way (1948). In 1949, she was cast in John Ford's 3 Godfathers (1948) as John Wayne’s potential love interest. That same year, she married James Sterling in Las Vegas, but just over a month later, she obtained an annulment in Ventura, California, citing that both were intoxicated at the time. Her Superior Court suit stated they never lived together after the ceremony and that she only learned she was married two days later. Sterling did not contest the annulment.
As the 1950s began, Ford’s career slowed. Her most notable role that decade was in the Abbott & Costello fantasy-comedy Jack and the Beanstalk (1952). Costello apparently valued Ford’s sense of humor, including her in an episode of The Abbott and Costello Show (1952). She made various television appearances throughout the 1950s, including on "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" and "The Red Skelton Show." In April 1952, at age 30, she married Thomas B. Chambers, an automobile sales manager and tennis star. In 1953, she became pregnant but was hospitalized after losing the baby. She and Chambers divorced the following year.
After appearing in The Bowery Boys’ Feudin' Fools (1952), Ford’s film career began to wane, though she had roles in notable films. John Wayne cast her in a small part in The High and the Mighty (1954) as a glamour girl connected to 'Phil Harris,' and Billy Wilder featured her in the opening segment of The Seven Year Itch (1955). She appeared in several lower-budget films over the next few years before leaving movies in 1962. Ford stayed involved in the industry by joining MGM as a technician in the studio’s film lab in 1965. She was married to actor Mike Ragan (born Hollis Alan Bane) for 30 years; they retired to Marina Del Rey, California, where he passed away in 1995. Dorothy Ford died in Canoga Park, California, on October 15, 2010, at the age of 88.
