Constance Ford

Constance Ford in 1941 photo by Philippe Halsman used by Elizabeth Arden to advertise Victory Red lipstick.

Constance Ford (July 1, 1923 – February 26, 1993) was an American actress and model.

She was born in The Bronx, New York City. She is best known for her long-running role as Ada Hobson on the daytime soap opera Another World.

Initially working as a model, her face became famous in the Elizabeth Arden 1941 advertising campaign for Victory Red lipstick, which featured a Philippe Halsman photo showing her face against the American flag. She had some success as an actress on Broadway from 1949.

Constance Ford began her television career in 1950, performing in live television dramas on Studio One, Armstrong Circle Theater, Goodyear Television Playhouse, and other acclaimed series. She starred in a Perry Mason episode "The Case of the Deadly Double" originally aired March 1, 1958. She did a movie turn as Sandra Dee's mother in A Summer Place (1959).

Besides The Edge of Night and Another World, Ford also played key characters on two other soap operas, portraying the lead character, Lynn Sherwood, on Woman with a Past, as well as Rose Peabody on Search for Tomorrow.

Ford's assertive style made her a favorite of TV casting directors, and she was often featured in episodes of The Kraft Television Theater, State Trooper, Bat Masterson, Have Gun Will Travel, Rawhide, Tombstone Territory (episode "Silver Killers"), Gunsmoke, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Target: The Corruptors!, and The Twilight Zone. She also appeared on the NBC interview program Here's Hollywood.

Ford appeared on Another World from 1967 to 1992, playing the strong-willed mother of Rachel (Robin Strasser; Victoria Wyndham). When she left the show in 1992 due to declining health, her character was said to be out of town visiting her other daughter Nancy. When Ford died in New York, New York the following year from cancer, aged 69, the character of Ada also died off-screen.

At the time Ford left the program, she was the longest-running performer on Another World. After her death, Victoria Wyndham became the longest-running performer on the show, and remained so until the program left the air.

External links

• Constance Ford at the Internet Movie Database
• Constance Ford at the Internet Broadway Database
• Her 1941 advertising image at Halsman retrospective at The Smithsonian NPG