Leo Ford

{{Infobox person

|name = Leo Ford

|image = Leo Ford.jpg

|caption =

|birth_name = Leo John Hilgeford

|birth_date = {{birth date|1957|7|05}}

|birth_place = Dayton, Ohio, U.S.

|death_date = {{Death date and age|1991|7|17|1957|3|05}}

|death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.

|partner = Divine, Craig Markle

|alma_mater =

|television =

|awards =

|occupation = {{hlist|Pornographic actor|model}}

|yearsactive =

|parents =

|children =

}}

Leo Ford (born Leo John Hilgeford; July 5, 1957 – July 17, 1991) was an American pornographic actor who appeared in gay pornographic films and bisexual pornographic movies and magazines in the 1980s.Autopornography: a memoir of life in the lust lane (1997), Scott O'Hara, Routledge, {{ISBN|0-7890-0144-6}}, {{ISBN|978-0-7890-0144-3}}.Acts of intervention: performance, gay culture, and AIDS: Unnatural acts : theorizing the performative (1998), David Román, Indiana University Press, {{ISBN|0-253-21168-9}}, {{ISBN|978-0-253-21168-2}}.{{cite book|last=Escoffier|first=Jeffrey|title=Bigger Than Life|url=https://archive.org/details/biggerthanlifehi00esco|url-access=limited|publisher=Running Press|location=Philadelphia|year=2009|isbn=978-0-7867-2010-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/biggerthanlifehi00esco/page/n173 165]}} He was born in Dayton, Ohio.

Career

In 1989, Ford was crowned King of the Beaux Arts Ball in New York City. His Queen was Melissa Slade.[http://www.beauxartssociety.org/19356.html Beaux Arts Society] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102192849/http://beauxartssociety.org/19356.html |date=2014-01-02 }}

Ford paired with David Alan Reis aka "Lance" in Leo & Lance and Blonds Do It Best, Leo and Lance directed by William Higgins; Blonds Do It Best directed by Richard Morgan. In his starring role for the film Games, directed by Steve Scott, Ford played a medal-winning swimmer in the Gay Games competition, with Al Parker playing a photographer assigned to take professional portraits of the athlete. In a scene that foreshadowed what happened to Ford in real life, his character had a severe motorcycle accident that left him hospitalized and in a coma.

Personal life

Ford had a short-lived relationship with cult actor Divine.Not simply Divine: beneath the make-up, above the heels and behind the scenes with a cult superstar (1994), Bernard Jay, Simon and Schuster, {{ISBN|0-671-88467-0}}, {{ISBN|978-0-671-88467-3}}. The two travelled together and he made appearances at clubs in which Divine was contracted to perform. In late 1985, Ford began a relationship with Craig Markle. Ford and Markle lived together in Los Angeles and Hawaii, where they raised tropical birds and ran a tour and recreation business called "Pacific Paradise Tours".{{cite web | url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0285747/trivia/ | title=Leo Ford - Trivia | website=IMDb }}