Rick Ford(I)
- Actor
F. Richards Ford, IV, "Rick" was born and raised in Greenwich, CT. The acting bug bit him early when he played his first role as The Scarecrow in a second grade production of The Wizard of Oz (1939) at the Greenwich Country Day School. He was offered the part based on his pleasant singing voice and the fact that he didn't mine wearing the itchy burlap costume. He went on to attend Westminster School in Simsbury, CT (1973) but after one year, he realized "There's no place like home." so he returned to Greenwich to finish his high school education at The Brunswick School (1975). He studied acting at Ithaca College and London earning a BFA degree (1979). He moved to The Big Apple upon graduation to pursue a Broadway career where he studied acting at the famed Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. After spending eight years pounding the city pavement without a Broadway credit, he migrated to the west coast in (1987) to break into sitcoms and film. He thought he had landed his "big break" weeks after his arrival when he was hired as the star in The Tattoo Chase (1989) but the film fell flat never getting a theatrical release. After twelve years of kicking around Los Angeles taking odd jobs between acting assignments, he decided to move back to New York to reignite his passion for the New York stage and earn a MA degree in Media and Film from New York University (2001). He found himself in Charlottesville, VA soon after graduation having fallen hard for a girl he had met twenty years prior on a blind date while escorting her to a debutante ball at The Waldorf Astoria, Page Newcombe Fiery. They married in 2002. Working as a carpenter in Charlottesville almost ended his life in (2003) when he fell off a roof crashing onto a stone wall nearly snapping his neck. After he had recuperated from the accident and with the encouragement of friends and family, he applied and was accepted for a fellowship at the University of Delaware to study classical acting at The Professional Theatre Training Program earning his MFA degree in (2007). He continues to act and is the author of The Invisible Yankee, The untold story of the New York Yankees' forgotten mascot.
