FORD, HARRIET FRENCH

(1863-1949)

   The playwright was born in Seymour, Connecticut, and began as an actress, working with such luminaries as Sol Smith Russell, Robert Mantell, and Clara Morris. After winning a British poetry competition, she turned to writing in earnest with a play for actress Sarah Cowell LeMoyne, who attained stardom in Ford's first work to reach the stage, The Greatest Thing in the World (1900). A Gentleman of France (1900) pleased the gallery gods with its swashbuckling action performed by the popular Kyrle Bellew and Eleanor Robson. She later collaborated with Robson on a mystery drama, In the Next Room (1923). She enjoyed working with collaborators, notably newspaperman J. M. Patterson on The Fourth Estate (1909) and Harvey O'Higgins on comedy-thrillers like The Argyle Case (1912), Polygamy (1914), and The Dummy (1914). Earning considerable respect in the profession, she was often consulted for play doctoring. Sweet Seventeen (1924) was her last professionally produced play on Broadway, after which she wrote numerous one-acts for amateur production.