LOS ANGELES, Aug 31: Actor Glenn Ford, a handsome and quiet character actor who made his mark in big films like ‘Gilda’ and ‘The Big Heat’, died on Wednesday in his Beverly Hills home. He was 90.

The Beverly Hills Police Department said in a statement that paramedics were called to Ford’s home in the afternoon and found the actor dead.

The Canadian-born actor, who starred in five movies with Rita Hayworth, never quite attained the superstar status he sought, but nevertheless won the hearts of moviegoers.

His career began in 1939 and was highlighted by starring roles in director Fritz Lang’s “The Big Heat” in 1953, in which he played a cop out to avenge his wife’s murder; Richard Brooks’ “The Blackboard Jungle” in 1955, in which he played a teacher; and “The Teahouse of the August Moon” in 1956.

After his first movie, “Heaven With a Barbed Wire Fence,” Ford made a number of low-budget dramas before joining the Marine Corps in 1942.

After returning from World War Two, he starred in his first big budget film, the romance ‘Gilda’, with Hayworth in 1946. The movie was a hit and Bette Davis confirmed his leading-man status by picking him to star with her in ‘A Stolen Life’.—Reuters