- Was Chief of the original Keystone Kops.
- He was actually quite handsome in real life, but in the Keystone Kops and Mack Sennett shorts that he appeared in, he would disguise his true appearance with glasses and a goatee, as well as fake eyebrows.
- Harold Lloyd called Sterling "the funniest man in movies".
- As a boy he ran away from home to join John Robinson's circus.
- Would travel yearly to England to buy clothes.
- Was an accomplished photographer, painter, sculptor and cartoonist.
- Began his career as a circus clown.
- Was considered one of America's leading artistic photographers by critics on both sides of the Atlantic.
- Raised German Shepherds, Scotties, and Persian cats.
- Was called "the best dressed man in Hollywood".
- Co-founded, with Fred J. Balshofer, the Sterling Film Co. in 1914.
- Early in his career with Sennett, he often appeared as comic Dutch or German characters, replete with top hat, frock coat, goatee and wire-framed glasses.
- Off screen pseudonym: Albert Williams
- Performed on Mississippi River show boats.
- Owned a villa in Nice, France.
- During his time with the circus he was known as "Keno, the Boy Clown".
- In early publicity material for the 1926 Paramount Picture "Mantrap" Ford Sterling is listed in the cast. He eventually did not appear in the movie.
- Variety, August 16, 1939: Ford Sterling's left leg amputated as a result of infection.
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