Born in Kansas City, Missouri, the son of Anna and Walter, Ford began his acting career on the stage.

He went on to appear in productions of William C. deMille's Strongheart; Glorious Betsy by Rida Johnson Young (the production lasted only 24 performances but the play was later adapted for an Oscar-nominated film of the same name); Bayard Veiller's The Fight (which quickly closed); Edgar Wallace's The Switchboard; Edward Locke's The Bubble; and Edgar Selwyn's Rolling Stones.

He returned to acting in the theatre, and also directed productions at the Little Theater of the Verdugos in Glendale, California.

During World War II, he toured with the United Service Organizations (USO).

He never recovered from the severe injuries he received, and spent the rest of his life at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California, and died there on December 2, 1957, at the age of 73.