Those are just a few of the juicy revelations in a biography with the remarkably understated title “Glenn Ford: A Life,” written by his son Peter Ford and released last May. He developed a drinking problem so severe that it nearly killed him and left him unable to walk for a decade before he died in 2006 at age 90.Īnd he taped the most famous taper in history: he installed a secret telephone recording system in his Beverly Hills mansion that recorded intimate conversations with his many Hollywood lovers (143 at last count) and some big-time politicians, including President Richard Nixon. He had a one-night stand with Marilyn Monroe, a 6-month fling with Judy Garland, and a 40-year, on-and-off affair with Rita Hayworth.Īfter a 16-year marriage to dancing star Eleanor Powell, he married three more times while he chased a series of younger and younger women, gold-diggers who plundered his hard earned fortune and then left him. Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth starred in the 1946 noir classic Gilda.