Phil Ford, 85; Entertainer, Half of Popular Show-Biz Couple With Mimi Hines

Phil Ford, 85, a comedian who with singer Mimi Hines created one of the more successful husband-and-wife teams in show business, died Wednesday at his home in Las Vegas. The cause of death was not reported.

Ford and Hines first performed in Las Vegas after a breakthrough appearance in 1958 on “The Tonight Show,” hosted by Jack Parr. The duo toured as a nightclub act and appeared in “Funny Girl” on Broadway; Hines played Fanny Brice after Barbra Streisand left the play in 1965, and Ford had a supporting role in the cast. They also appeared in the 1965 movie comedy “Saturday Night Bath in Apple Valley.”

Born in San Francisco, Ford began performing dance numbers in vaudeville at 12. He served in the Army during World War II and saw combat duty in Europe. He met Hines while he was playing a club date in Alaska in 1952, and they married two years later but divorced in 1972. However, they reunited professionally several times.

“We had an awful lot of fun together,” Hines told the Las Vegas Review-Journal this week. “He lit up the stage like sunshine. He had a lot of charisma, a lot of sparkle.”