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Ward Bond

Famous Actor

	Ward Bond, Wagonmaster	Terry Wilson, "Hawks", Ward Bond, "Major Adams", Frank McGrath, "Wooster".

(Printed in the Benkelman, NE Post, written by C. L. “Pat” Ketler, Installment 223rd of “Down Through The Years”, February 26, 1953)

Ward Bond

Many fine boys and girls have gone out from Dundy county schools since the county was chartered, some of them to seek their future in different states and in various avocations, while many of them have remained right here at home to carry on from the place that their homesteader forebears handed them the responsibility after they had reached the end of the trail to keep up the battle to make this little empire of ours what it is today and what it promises to be for the future.

Among those who have left Dundy county to enter different fields of the professions, business, agriculture and so forth, (and many of them have had remarkable success) I think that one Dundy county lad entered a field and gained success in a line all by himself so far as Dundy county is concerned and that lad is Ward Bond, motion picture actor, who has gone far in his chosen profession.

Ward is strictly a Dundy county product, being a son of pioneers. His paternal grandparents were Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Bond, who came here from Illinois as homesteaders in the early '80's and lived here during the remaining years of their lives. They had eleven children, three of whom still survive, they being Mrs. H. J. Borchert and Mrs. "Vic" Ham, both of Benkelman, and Mrs. Lela Johnston of San Francisco, Calif. John Bond, second child in the family, was the father of Ward Bond.

His maternal grandparents were Mr. and Mrs. W. V. Hundley, who likewise came to Dundy county as homesteaders about the middle '80's. They came here from Franklin, Nebraska, although their native state was in the east. They lived here for many years, finally moving to California, which was their home until they died. They had five children, two girls and three boys. Julia lives at Lake Wales, Florida; Mabel, (Ward's mother), lives in Oakland, California, and the three sons, Sam, Harry and Clarence, live in Oregon.

John and Mabel Bond were married in 1902 in Benkelman. At that time John was farming and later bought the city dray line which he continued to operate until they, and their two children, Ward and Berniece, moved to Denver in 1918.

Ward was born April 9th, 1903, just one year from the day of the marriage of his parents, and received his grade school education here.

It was in Denver that Ward completed his high school education in 1922, and with his family moved to Tacoma, Washington, for a year; then to Los Angeles for a year; then to Klamath Falls, Oregon, for a year, and finally located at Oakland, California, where they bought a home and Mabel and Berniece still live there, John having preceded them in death a few years ago.

After completing his high school education, Ward worked at whatever he could find to do for seven years and then entered the University of Southern California with a view of becoming a building architect and it was during these years that his path led him to the moving picture field. During the time that he was in the university he played left tackle on the USC football team and one of his school mates, John Wayne, was also on the team and he and Ward became very close friends from the beginning. During their years in football, both Ward and Wayne were picked as stars in a football picture, "Salute." John Ford, who directed the picture, and who had a great liking for both boys, termed Ward his "good luck charm" throughout all the years and since Ward has been cast in the production of many of the pictures Ford has directed. Ford tried to get Ward to quit school to continue in pictures then but Ward consistently refused, still clinging to the idea that he wanted to be an architect and general building engineer, in which he finally earned his degree.

But notwithstanding his early resolve, Ward did continue in moving pictures and has had prominent if not always playing leading roles in many of them since.

Ward financed his own education at U. S. C. by playing football and doing small parts in moving picture productions. And at the end of his college work he got into the moving picture field in earnest, appearing in such outstanding pictures as "Gone With the Wind," "Grapes of Wrath," "Tobacco Road," "Gentleman Jim," "Unconquered," "Ft. Apache," "Joan of Arc," and many, many others.

These pictures were largely produced before Ward's accident and the years he spent in a cast and braces in the hospital. However, he did appear in various pictures before his complete recovery where the part did not involve too much foot activity. One of the outstanding pictures in Ward's memory was "Joan of Arc," which was directed by Victor Fleming, likewise a very close friend of Wards, who passed away very suddenly two weeks later from a heart attack and Ward feels that overexertion in directing that picture brought about his heart condition and death.

Since his complete recovery, Ward has had a part in various top-run pictures, among that number being "The Quiet Man," "Thunderbirds" and "Hellgate."

At present he is in Mexico City with Gary Cooper filming “Blowing Wild,” starring Barbara Stanwyck. The location lasts for six weeks.

Ward had a new experience in televising this past summer when he was invited to Washington, D. C., to introduce Senator Robert Taft at a large Republican gathering at the time that Mr. Taft was an active candidate for the presidency. Ward sat at a table with Senator Taft and questioned him as to his views on different subjects.

In addition to his work on the movie lots, Ward likewise gives additional time to radio work, television, stage plays for charity and as a master of ceremonies. A few years ago he carried a leading role in "What Price Glory," which involved various stars and the play was presented in San Francisco, Oakland and other coast cities, the proceeds of which went to veterans. John Wayne, Pat O'Brien and other favorites of the stage and screen were also cast in the same production. This stage production was likewise directed by John Ford.

One success after another followed Ward during the years following the time that he had definitely decided to make the stage his life work, until, one night, misfortune overcame him. He was walking across the street following attendance at a play when he was run down by a motorist. One of his legs was almost completely severed. And then for five years he was in a cast and brace. His doctors, and all doctors called in consultation, said positively that the leg would have to be amputated but throughout it all, Ward defiantly resisted and in the end won out. While in an overnight stop in Benkelman some three years ago to visit old friends while enroute to South Dakota to hunt pheasants with a friend, Ward was still finding it necessary to walk with the aid of a cane, but he was getting around with surprising agility and he was in the same friendly, humorous mood as Dundy county people had known him in his early boyhood days in Benkelman.

Sometimes Dundy county people wonder why Ward's birthplace is not given as Benkelman instead of Denver by those in charge of the publicity used in his pictures. But it is understandable when one considers the difference in population between Benkelman and Denver and the effect of the drawing power an actor has in appearances in his home town. After all, the box office is what counts with the moving picture industry and sentiment is not allowed to enter in.

I have read many complimentary notices concerning Ward Bond written by picture critics since Ward began his swing upward but I think one of the finest is from the pen of a writer for the North American Newspaper Alliance under the date of September 1, 1952, which was printed under the title of "Ward Bond Lauds Fans" and under the picture in which he was shown playing the priest in the Republic picture, "The Quiet Man," were the words, "He Lived to Walk Again."

I have no way of reproducing the picture, but here is the story that went with it:

"In such turbulent times as these it is heartening to find in Hollywood — any place, for that matter — a man with such unswerving faith and courage as Ward Bond.

"Five years ago, all fans will remember, Bond was critically injured in an automobile run-down. His left leg was almost severed below the knee.

"Doctors insisted on amputating to save his life but, in his few conscious moments, Ward refused his permission.

"In the months of bitter uphill battle that followed, the famous screen heavy was cheered and consoled by hundreds of encouraging messages from fans all over the country. Many sent medals, relics and religious tokens of various types.

"Bond recovered, ever so slowly, and gradually regained partial use of the leg.

"Bond has now completely recovered and the gloomy sawbones who shook their heads over him five years ago can see him in a brand new Republic picture, "The Quiet Man." Playing the role of a priest in this Ireland back-grounded movie, Bond gives an exhibition of running across the countryside and leaping fences that would do credit to an Olympic athlete.

"I owe it to all those swell people who wrote such nice letters and gave me their prayers," said Ward. "When the doctors kept dropping around and told me it was no use, I just kept on thinking about those nice people and gritted my teeth in determination against any amputation."

While the picture business has been mighty kind to him and provides a lucrative income, still Ward regrets that he didn't take up the study of medicine and surgery while in school. He perhaps never would have thought of this save for the fact that during his long stay in the hospital he saw the great good that the people of that profession do since he watched many operations which brought relief from suffering as well as the encouragement their words hold for the patients. He holds that while it is nice to entertain and bring relaxation to people through the medium of the screen, yet it is nothing in comparison to the amount of actual good the people of the medical profession do in the cause of humanity.

Ward's hobby is hunting, fishing and boating and with John Wayne recently purchased a farm 35 miles west of Bakersfield, Calif. They built a club house there and formed a "duck club" and they get a lot of pleasure in having a few friends join them in hunting ducks, fishing, and playing cards in the evenings. They keep a care-taker the year around and are gradually improving their hobby spot. Part of the farm is covered by a lake and cotton is planted on the rest of it. Ward loves to go out and work on the farm during his idle moments.

In order to get some details which I lacked for this story, I wrote Ward's mother some time ago, and in replying, she said in part: "I was over to see Ward many times during the years that he was confined to the hospital following his accident and I was so pleased that he had so many wonderful friends. Seems that every person who knows him likes him, and it was amazing the number of telegrams, letters, phone calls, flowers and gifts he received during that time, many of them offering him money or to do anything they could for him during the long dreary months spent in the hospital. The good Lord surely must have been seeing over him in this narrow escape from death. We are indeed proud of Ward. He hasn't a drop of selfish blood in his veins and believe me, he has taken good care of us both now and during the many years that his father had been an invalid and unable to work. And in addition to his parents, he was always doing something nice for his sister Berniece."

And then Mrs. Bond's childhood day memories returned to her as she wrote: "What a rough time the homesteaders had when we were kids at home! And yet those were the happiest days of our lives. I shall never forget how we would drive many miles to dances held at various homes such as the Ray Neighbor's, Bill Peugh's, etc., and of how we would dance until sunup in sod houses without a thought of getting weary. How I so often wish that I could shove the calendar back to those happy, happy days. There is not too much pleasure in the anticipation of growing old and in traveling down the other side of the hill but nevertheless we should always try to enjoy life and the beauties of nature. Declining years cannot rob us altogether of these pleasures."

* * * * *

Printed in TV Guide, Colorado Edition, date unknown

Gone was the big, gruff, warmhearted guy with the laugh that rocked the room — the man of whom they used to say, "He always had time for his friends." No longer would that booming on-stage voice hold steady the weekly Western trek of the wagon train. No more of the off-the-set carousing, the grand insults which were really terms of endearment), the gentleness masquerading beneath a tough exterior. Ward Bond, the wagon master, was dead.

The end came with sense-numbing suddenness. It happened in Dallas, Tex., where Bond had gone to appear between halves of a football game —as a favor to an old friend, Bob Thompson of the Dallas Cowboys, a professional football team. Bond collapsed in the shower, fell heavily against the door, and before an ambulance crew could dislodge his huge frame, he was dead of a heart attack.

His death meant many things to many men. Bond was a man of strong opinions and he was not afraid to speak them. He fought with every man he met — especially if he liked him — and it was part of the price of his friendship to come through these encounters unscathed. There were a few who did not understand this. And it was their loss.

There were others, some 30,000,000 strong, who knew him only as Major Seth Adams of Wagon Train. To them, he seemed almost larger than life, a kind of combined father-image and friend whose warm qualities were heightened by the intimacy of television. And they felt a strange sense of personal loss.

Then there were still others who needed no television image to engender such feelings. Among them were director John Ford and actor John (Duke) Wayne. The friendship between these three men spanned more than 30 years and constituted one of the most exuberant in Hollywood annals.

Ford was on a movie location in Brackettville, Tex. When the word came through, he dropped everything in mid-scene, and hopped a private plane to Dallas to be with the widow. Besieged by the press, it was four days before "the old man" could muster a comment. When he did it was brief.

He said: "Ward will always be with us wherever actors gather for talk or stunt men get together for a card game. They'll remember. He was a great character — and a great guy."

Wayne heard the news by phone in Hollywood — from Terry Wilson, Bond's co-worker in Wagon Train and Wayne's old stuntman and double.

"Hold on," said Wilson without ceremony. "Ward just dropped dead."

The two men spent half an hour blubbering like idiots. On Sunday, when the question of Wagon Train's future came up, the Duke was still distraught enough to make a promise which circumstances would not allow him to carry out.

"I want to tell you guys," he said, "I'll make three of those things for nothing." And he would have, too, except he was scheduled to leave last weekend for a movie location in Africa.

The funeral came quickly — Monday morning, just two days later because "that's how Ward always wanted it. Quick." Ford was still in Texas. A white-faced Wayne read a short eulogy to about 300 people including Bond's co-star, Bob Horton. Then the mourners passed by the open casket. It was all over in 17 minutes. Then into the black Cadillacs and away. On the way back, the hearse passed them on the freeway. It drew from Wayne his first smile in two days. "That's Bond for you," he said. "A hard man to bury."

A day and a half later Wayne was ready to say something about his friend. "Ward was either for you or against you," he said. "Never neutral. He looked just great the day before he left for Texas. Told me I oughta slow down. Replace him? That's ridiculous. Wagon Train can maybe. But I can't."

For his old friends, the main problem was staving off memories. The time they put a burro in Bond's bed or a bear on his chest. The benders they had been on. And the pranks they had played. And the cussing they had done. For Wayne these memories ran deep, back to the time when they had played on the USC football team, and Ford had made actors out of both of them in an early movie called 'Salute.'

And the reminiscing never stopped. "I never saw him give a bad performance, declared Frank McGrath, who has known them all for 30 years. "Who would have guts enough to think they could take over that part?"

"He lived the wagon master," Wilson said. "That's what killed him. Oh, he had a lot of bark 'til you cornered the old . . . well, then you'd find he had a heart bigger'n this room."

They remembered other things, too. How Bond had never wanted to be a star, and how, when television finally made him one, he couldn't get used to the idea. The time he nearly lost his leg in a senseless auto accident which hospitalized him for over a year. And the courage he showed when he broke a bone in his hip one day, did 12 pages of dialogue on a Victor Mature picture the next — because Mature had to leave for Europe. The fun he used to have on the boat, a 40-foot power job, and the way he used to con them into coming over to the house to do "a few odd jobs" which usually took the rest of the day.

On Monday the entire Wagon Train cast and crew was off to go to the funeral. On Tuesday things were unusually quiet on the set. Nobody talked much. A technician said, "Well, most of us can't quite believe he's not coming back. Somehow it just don't seem possible."

Up in the front office and over at the agency there was a good deal of talk, and the columnists were speculating about what would happen to Wagon Train now. Who would replace the wagon master? The agency people pow-wowed Monday afternoon and decided to let the matter pass for the moment at least. Terry Wilson would take over the Wagon Train at least for the present, stepping into the stories originally set for Bond. Horton would remain unchanged.

At Revue, producer Howard Christie was explaining that as of last week there were 16 Wagon Trains completed. Eight of them with Bond, the rest with Horton, Wilson and McGrath, which would mean that Bond would make his last appearance sometime in February. When he bows out there will be no explanation.

"It would be foolish to try and tell the public what it surely must already know. No, he will just disappear, that's all. After that? We'll try various combinations, then let people tell us. "No, I don't think we'll promote anybody to wagon master. Bond was the kind of man you simply don't replace."

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