Known for:	It's a Wonderful Life, The Searchers, The Maltese Falcon
Birth name:	Wardell E. Bond
Birthday:	9 April 1903, Benkelman, Nebraska, USA
Height:	6' 1" (1.85 m)

A popular urban myth holds that on the day he died, Bond was scheduled to meet singer Johnny Horton in Dallas to sign a contract to appear on Wagon Train. Horton died in an auto accident, hit by a drunk driver, at 1:30 a.m. and Bond died in Dallas at noon the same day. However, Bond as the star of the series had no say in casting. Many sources quote 1905, and/or Denver, Colorado, USA regarding birth Entered films in 1928 while attending the University of Southern California. Family rumor is that Bond was a roommate at USC with John Wayne, who convinced him to go into acting. They were apparently best friends; one of their favorite activities in their youth was to go to bars, get drunk, and start fights. On a hunting trip, he was accidentally shot by John Wayne. Bond left Wayne the shotgun in his will. In The Wings of Eagles, Bond played his friend, director John Ford, under the character name John Dodge (the name itself was a play on American automobile names. Ford was a real-life friend of the film's subject character). The set dressing, wardrobe, and Oscars in the scene are all actually Ford's. Often played a policeman or soldier. The muppet "Bert" on Sesame Street was rumored to be named after Bond's character (Bert the cop) in It's a Wonderful Life. Bond appears in the most films (seven) of the American Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest American Movies: It Happened One Night, Bringing Up Baby, Gone with the Wind, The Grapes of Wrath , The Maltese Falcon, It's a Wonderful Life and The Searchers. Was an epileptic, a closely guarded secret not made public until many years after his death. Inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 2001. Although John Ford mocked many actors mercilessly (including John Wayne), Bond probably was on the receiving end of the worst verbal punishment from the director (who counted Bond among his favorite actors). At Bond's funeral, Ford walked up to Andy Devine and said, "Now YOU'RE the biggest asshole I know." Although his career was cut short by his premature death in 1960 at the age of 57, he was one of the most prolific of Hollywood's actors over a period of 30 years. He regularly appeared in 10 to 20 films per year, with the record year for him being 1935, when he acted in 30 movies. Worked with director John Ford on twenty-six films. Few, if any, actors, have appeared in so many films for a single director. On his way to John Wayne's wedding he was hit by a car, but performed his duty as best man on crutches. Due to his heavy involvement with blacklisting suspected Communists, liberal directors sought to finish Bond's acting career by keeping him unemployed. For some years he could only find work in the movies of his friend John Wayne or other right-wing stars. Then in 1957, at the age of fifty-four, he made an enormous comeback as Major Seth Adams in Wagon Train, and was finally a star in his own right.

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