Actor. He is best remembered for his portrayal of the level-headed Detective Roebuck on the sitcom "Arrest and Trial". Born Fred Apking, while attending the University of Washington on an athletics scholarship, he was discovered by director Michael Curtiz who happened to be attending a game he was partaking in. Impressed by his dark good looks, stealth, and coordination, he took notice of his potential and arranged for him to begin a career in the film industry beginning with him being under his supervision with a supporting role in "Trouble Along the Way" (1953). From there, he would go on to flourish as a recognizable supporting character actor appearing in over 90 features; often typecast as playboys, dashing lovers, white-collared workers, chauffeurs, waiters, doctors, policemen, mailmen, reporters, retail clerks, soldiers, sailors, cowboys, sheriffs, clergymen, aristocrats, eccentrics, neighbors, landlords, businessmen, and, in his later years, patriarchs. He appeared in such feature films as "The Big Heat" (1953), "Broken Lance" (1954), "Mister Roberts" (1955), "Rebel in Town" (1956), "Tomahawk Trail" (1957), "Onionhead" (1958), "Tokyo After Dark" (1959), "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" (1962), "The Nutty Professor" (1963), "Youngblood Hawke" (1964), "The Great Race" (1965), "Seconds" (1966), "Tobruk" (1967), "Sam Whiskey" (1968), "The Last Movie" (1971), "The Mack" (1973), "Challenge to Be Free" (1975), "Gus" (1976), "Damien: Omen II" (1978), "Escape from Alcatraz" (1979), "48 Hrs." (1982), and "National Lampoon's Vacation" (1983). During the advent of television, he became an even more familiar face appearing in numerous guest spots on such syndicated sitcoms as "Passport to Danger," "General Electric Theatre," "Annie Oakley," "December Bride," "Highway Patrol," "Jane Wyman Presents the Fireside Theatre," "Wagon Train," "Death Valley Days," "The Gray Ghost," "Have Gun - Will Travel," "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "The Ann Sothern Show," "The Old Testament Scriptures," "Hennesey," "The Rifelman," "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.," "I Spy," "Batman," "Hondo," "Mod Squad," "Alias Smith and Jones," "McMillian & Wife," "McCloud," "The Rockford Files," "Columbo," "Baretta," "Charlie's Angels," "Quincy, M.E.," "The Six Million Dollar Man," "Switch," "Kojak," "Voyagers," "Simon & Simon," "Walking Tall," and "Murder, She Wrote". During his career, he was a member of the Screen Actors Guild, was a member of the Motion Picture and Television Fund, had been an active parishioner of the Catholic church, was a member of the Hollywood Republican Committee, had been one of the founding members of the Canyon Theatre Guild, was the official stand-in for actor Chuck Connors, presided as a chairman for his local charters of the American Red Cross and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, served in the United States Army during World War II, had been the celebrity spokesman for Deer Park Water, and he was a theatrical instructor for the Pasadena Playhouse. Upon his 1986 retirement, Ford, who never married nor had any children, spent the final years of his life being a regular attendee at autograph conventions and was a generous benefactor for several libraries and state parks, until his death from the complications of undisclosed causes.