Ford is best known for his film roles as cowboys and as an ordinary man in unusual circumstances. His acting career began on stage, and his first large movie part was in 1939 film Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence.

In 1942, Ford's film career was interrupted when he volunteered for duty in World War II with the U.S. Marine Corps. His interest in the military continued as, during both the Korean War and the Vietnam War, Ford took the time to make goodwill visits to the American troops.

Following military service, Ford's breakthrough role was in 1946, starring alongside Rita Hayworth in Gilda. He went on to be a leading man opposite Rita Hayworth in five films, and starred with other acting greats such as Bette Davis, Gloria Grahame, Ingrid Thulin.

Ford's movie-acting career flourished in the 1950s and 60s, and continued into the early 1990s, with increasing television roles. His major roles in thrillers and dramas and action films include A Stolen Life, The Big Heat, Framed, Blackboard Jungle, Interrupted Melody, Experiment in Terror, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Ransom!, Superman and Westerns such as The Fastest Gun Alive, 3:10 to Yuma and Cimarron.

Ford has been married (and divorced) four times to Eleanor Powell, Jeanne Baus, Kathryn Hays and Cynthia Hayward. With Eleanor Powell, he is the father of actor Peter Ford.

After being nominated in 1957 and 1958, in 1962 Glenn Ford won a Golden Globe Award as best actor for his performance in Frank Capra's Pocketful of Miracles. For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Glenn Ford has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6933 Hollywood Blvd. In 1978, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In 1992 he was awarded the Legion d'Honneur medal for his action in the Second World War.

As of 2005, Ford was living in quiet retirement in Beverly Hills with his son's family. Peter Ford is currently working with Christopher Nickens on a biography of his father.