CTV News reports, “Modeling agency founder Eileen Ford, who shaped a generation’s standards of  beauty as she built an empire and launched the careers of Candice Bergen, Lauren  Hutton, Jane Fonda and countless others, has died.

(AP/Marty Lederhandler)

She was 92 and died Wednesday, according to Arielle Baran, a spokeswoman for  Derris & Co., which handles public relations for Ford. In a statement, the  Ford agency called her “an industry icon and pioneer. … We are incredibly  proud and grateful for her revolutionary spirit and the values she instilled in  Ford Models.”

Ford was known for her steely manner and eye for talent. She demanded  professionalism from her models, putting them on strict diets and firing those  with a taste for late-night revelry. Her discipline pushed Ford Model Agency to  the top, making multimillionaires of both Ford and her late husband, Jerry, who  handled the company’s business affairs.

“I think our success came from Eileen’s energy and her bluntness and, to some  extent, her comfort with confrontation,” Jerry Ford told USA Today in 1997. “A  fortune teller once told her if she wasn’t an agent, she should be, because all  the stars pointed that way. She’s always loved to tell people what to do.”

The typical Ford woman was tall, thin, often blond, with wide-set eyes and a  long neck. Eileen Ford was known to tell hopefuls shorter than 5 foot 7 to give  up their dreams.

The Ford look changed remarkably little over the years, and set a standard  for the industry. Height and a willowy build remain paramount, though Ford was  disdainful of the “waif” look — typified by British model Kate Moss — popular  in the early 1990s.

Ford maintained that a model’s charisma was as important as her looks, and  prided herself on being able to detect successful personalities.”

Source: CTV News/The Associated Press