April 20, 2009

 

Steven Ford – actor, motivational speaker, and son of President Gerald R. Ford – addressed the Hauenstein Center’s Peter Cook Leadership Fellows.

Mr. Ford is the son of former first couple Gerald and Betty Ford. He spent part of his young adulthood in the White House before heading west to become a cattle rancher, and then to Utah State University and California Polytechnic State University to study range management, animal science, and equine studies.

Mr. Ford is a screen actor who has appeared in more than 30 films, including “Escape from New York” (1981), “When Harry Met Sally” (1989), “Heat” (1995), “Starship Troopers” (1997), “Armageddon” (1998), “Black Hawk Down” (2001), and most recently, “Transformers” (2007). Throughout his 30-year acting career, he has also made guest appearances on numerous television shows, including “Happy Days,” “The Young and the Restless,” “Murder She Wrote,” “JAG,” “Baywatch,” “Walker, Texas Ranger,” and “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.”

Like his mother, Betty, Ford struggled with alcoholism in his life. And, like his mother, he made the best of it by turning his life around, raising money for charitable organizations, and giving speeches and motivational talks to student groups in the United States and abroad.