Fan of the Golden Age of Hollywood? Then make sure to check out TCM’s newest season of The Plot Thickens, its podcast dedicated to in-depth explorations of Hollywood history. This season is all about director John Ford, winner of six Academy Awards and considered one of Hollywood’s first auteurs. To tell the story of the man behind classics like Stagecoach, The Grapes of Wrath, and The Quiet Man, TCM producers turned to the DeGolyer Library and its Ron Davis Oral History Collection.
Ronald L. Davis (1933-2022) was a history professor at SMU and director of the Southern Methodist University Oral History Program. In 1972, he began interviewing people involved in the performing arts—actors, directors, dancers, and even vaudeville and burlesque performers. The collection, with more than 500 interviews, contains interviews with major stars, including Gregory Peck, James Earl Jones, and Lucille Ball.
Because of Ford’s significant impact on film history, he’s a frequent topic of discussion, and the team at TCM combed through numerous interviews from the collection while researching and producing the series. Audio excerpts from the collection have been made public for the first time in the series.
Check out The Plot Thickens: Decoding John Ford, and click here to explore the Ron Davis Oral History Collection online.