If Harrison Ford had listened to the
advice of studio heads early in his career, he would have remained a carpenter
and never gone on to star in some of Hollywood's biggest films and become
one of the industry's most bankable stars. Born July 13, 1942 in Chicago
and raised in a middle-class suburb, he led an average childhood. An introverted
loner, he was popular with girls but was picked on by school bullies.
Ford quietly endured their everyday tortures until he one day lost his
cool and beat the tar out of the gang leader responsible for his being
repeatedly thrown off an embankment. He had no special affinity for films
and usually only went to see them on dates because they were inexpensive
and dark. Following high school graduation, Ford studied English and philosophy
at Ripon College in Wisconsin. An admittedly lousy student, he began acting
while in college and then worked briefly in summer stock. He was expelled
from the school three days before graduation because he did not complete
his required thesis.
In the mid-60s Ford and his first wife (his college
sweetheart) moved to Hollywood, where he signed as a contract player with
Columbia and then Universal. After debuting onscreen in a bit as a bellboy
in Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round (1966), he played secondary roles, typically
as a cowboy, in several films of the late '60s and in such TV series as
Gunsmoke, The Virginian, and Ironside. Discouraged with both the roles
he was getting and his difficulty in providing for his young family, he
abandoned acting and taught himself carpentry via library books borrowed
from the local library. Using his recently purchased run-down Hollywood
home for practice, Ford proved himself a talented woodworker and, after
successfully completing his first contract to build an out-building for
Sergio Mendez, found himself in demand with other Hollywood residents
(it was also during this time that Ford acquired his famous scar, the
result of a minor car accident).
Meanwhile, Ford's luck as an actor began to change when a casting-director
friend for whom he was doing some construction helped him get a part in
George Lucas's American Graffiti (1973). The film which became an unexpected
blockbuster and greatly increased Ford's familiarity. Many audience members,
particularly women, responded to his turn as the gruffly macho Bob Falfa,
the kind of subtly charismatic portrayal that would later become Ford's
trademark.
However, Ford's career remained stagnant until Lucas cast him as space-pilot
Han Solo in the mega-hit Star Wars (1977), after which he became a minor
star. He spent the remainder of the 1970s trapped in mostly forgettable
films (such as the comedy-western The Frisco Kid with Gene Wilder), although
he did manage to land the small role of Colonel G. Lucas in Francis Ford
Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979).
The early 1980s elevated Ford to major stardom with the combined impact
of The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and his portrayal of action-adventure
hero Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which proved to
be an enormous hit. He went on to play 'Indy' twice more, in 1984's Indiana
Jones and the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989).
Ford moved beyond popular acclaim with his role as a big-city police detective
who finds himself masquerading as an Amish farmer to protect a young murder
witness in Witness (1984). Ford received a Best Actor Oscar nomination
for his work, as well as the praise of critics who had previously ignored
his acting ability.
Having appeared in several of the biggest money-makers of all time, Ford
was able to pick and choose his roles in the '80s and '90s. Following
the success of Witness, Ford re-teamed with the film's director, Peter
Weir, to make a film adaptation of Paul Theroux's novel The Mosquito Coast.
The film met with mixed critical results, and audiences largely stayed
away, unused to the idea of their hero playing a markedly flawed and somewhat
insane character. Undeterred, Ford went on to choose projects that brought
him further departure from the action films responsible for his reputation.
In 1988 he worked with two of the industry's most celebrated directors,
Roman Polanski and Mike Nichols. With Polanski he made Frantic, a dark
psychological thriller that fared poorly with critics and audiences alike.
He had greater success with Nichols, his director in Working Girl, a saucy
comedy in which he co-starred with Melanie Griffith and Sigourney Weaver.
The film was a hit, and displayed Ford's largely unexploited comic talent.
Ford began the 1990s with Alan J. Pakula's courtroom thriller Presumed
Innocent, which he followed with another Mike Nichols outing, Regarding
Henry (1991). The film was an unmitigated flop among critics and audiences
alike, a disappointment Ford allayed the following year when he signed
an unprecedented $50 million contract to play CIA agent Jack Ryan in a
series of five films based on the novels of Tom Clancy. The first two
films of the series, Patriot Games (1992) and Clear and Present Danger
(1994) met with an overwhelming success mirrored by that of Ford's turn
as Dr. Richard Kimball in The Fugitive (1993). Ford's next effort, Sydney
Pollack's 1995 remake of Sabrina, did not meet similar success, and this
bad luck continued with The Devil's Own (which reunited him with Pakula),
despite Ford's seemingly fault-proof pairing with Brad Pitt. However,
his other 1997 effort, Wolfgang Petersen's Air Force One, more than made
up for the critical and commercial shortcomings of his past two films,
proving that Ford, even at 55 years of age, was still a bonafide, butt-kicking
action hero.
Ford, who does not like doing interviews and maintains a strict privacy
regarding his personal life, makes a home with his second wife, screenwriter
Melissa Mathison, whose credits include E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982).
They live quietly with their two children Malcolm and Georgia (Ford's
other children, two sons from his first marriage, are grown and have chosen
careers outside of show business) in New York City and on an 800-acre
ranch near Jackson Hole, Wyoming. A devoted husband and father, Ford has
a clause in his movie contracts permitting him to bring his family with
him for location shooting. ~ All Movie Guide
Filmography
Walk Among the Tombstones, A (2003)
.... Matthew Scudder
Hollywood Homicide (2003) .... Joe Gavilan
K-19: The Widowmaker (2002) .... Alexei Vostrikov
... aka K*19: The Widowmaker (2002) (USA: poster title)
Derailed: Anatomy of a Train Wreck (2001) (V) .... Himself
Directors: Wolfgang Petersen, The (2001) (V) .... Himself
E! Rank: 25 Toughest Stars (2001) (TV) .... Himself/#19
Concert for New York City (2001) (TV) .... Himself
AFI's 100 Years, 100 Thrills: America's Most Heart-Pounding Movies (2001)
(TV) .... Host
Lost Worlds: Life in the Balance (2001) (voice) .... Narrator
What Lies Beneath (2000) .... Dr. Norman Spencer
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: A Look Inside (1999) (TV) .... Himself
People Profiles: Harrison Ford (1999) (TV) .... Himself
Stars of Star Wars: Interviews with the Cast, The (1999) (V) .... Himself
Unauthorized Star Wars Story, The (1999) (V) .... Himself
Jane Goodall: Reason for Hope (1999) (TV) .... Narrator
Random Hearts (1999) .... Sergeant William 'Dutch' Van Den Broeck
From Star Wars to Star Wars: The Story of Industrial Light & Magic
(1999) (TV) .... Himself
Harrison Ford, the Reluctant Hero (1998) (TV) .... Himself
Six Days Seven Nights (1998) .... Quinn Harris
... aka 6 Days 7 Nights (1998)
"Celebrity Profile" (1997) TV Series .... Himself
Directors: Sydney Pollack, The (1997) (V) .... Himself
Air Force One (1997) .... President James 'Jim' Marshall
... aka AFO (1997)
Devil's Own, The (1997) .... Tom O'Meara
American Film Institute Salute to Steven Spielberg, The (1995) (TV) ....
Himself
Univers de Jacques Demy, L' (1995) .... Himself
... aka Universe of Jacques Demy, The (1995)
... aka World of Jacques Demy, The (1995)
Sabrina (1995) .... Linus Larrabee
... aka Sabrina (1995) (Germany)
Cent et une nuits de Simon Cinéma, Les (1995) .... Harrison Ford
à Hollywood
... aka Cent et une nuits, Les (1995) (France: short title)
... aka Hundred and One Nights of Simon Cinema, A (1995)
... aka Hundred and One Nights, A (1995)
Century of Cinema, A (1994) .... Himself
Mustang: The Hidden Kingdom (1994) (TV) (voice) .... Narrator
Clear and Present Danger (1994) .... Jack Ryan
Jimmy Hollywood (1994) (uncredited) .... Himself
George Lucas: Heroes, Myths and Magic (1993) .... Himself
Fugitive, The (1993) .... Dr. Richard Kimble
Envers du décor: Portrait de Pierre Guffroy, L' (1992)
... aka Behind the Scenes: A Portrait of Pierre Guffroy (1992)
Secret World of Spying, The (1992) (TV) .... Jack Ryan
Patriot Games (1992) .... Jack Ryan
Regarding Henry (1991) .... Henry Turner
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991)
Presumed Innocent (1990) .... Rusty Sabich
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) .... Dr. Henry 'Indiana' Jones
Jr.
Working Girl (1988) .... Jack Trainer, Partner with Dewey Stone
Frantic (1988) .... Dr. Richard Walker
Mosquito Coast, The (1986) .... Allie Fox
Witness (1985) .... John Book
Making of 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom', The (1984) (TV) (uncredited)
.... Himself
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) .... Indiana Jones
From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga (1983) (V) .... Himself
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) .... Han Solo
... aka Return of the Jedi (1983) (USA: short title)
... aka Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi (1997) (USA: video box title)
Blade Runner (1982) .... Rick Deckard
Great Movie Stunts: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) (TV) .... Host
Making of 'Raiders of the Lost Ark', The (1981) (TV) .... Himself
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) .... Dr. Indiana Jones
... aka Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) (USA: video
title)
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) .... Han Solo
... aka Empire Strikes Back, The (1980) (USA: short title)
... aka Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back (1997) (USA: video box title)
Hanover Street (1979) .... David Halloran
Frisco Kid, The (1979) .... Tommy Lillard
... aka No Knife (1979)
Apocalypse Now (1979) .... Colonel G. Lucas
... aka Apocalypse Now Redux (2001) (International: longer version English
title)
More American Graffiti (1979) (uncredited) .... Officer Bob Falfa
... aka Purple Haze (1979)
Star Wars Holiday Special, The (1978) (TV) .... Han Solo
Force 10 from Navarone (1978) .... Lieutenant Colonel Mike Barnsby
Heroes (1977) .... Ken Boyd
Making of 'Star Wars', The (1977) (V) .... Himself
Star Wars (1977) .... Han Solo
... aka Star Wars IV: A New Hope (1997) (USA: video box title)
... aka Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1981) (USA: new title)
Possessed, The (1977) (TV) .... Paul Winjam
Dynasty (1976/I) (TV) .... Mark Blackwood
... aka Americans, The (1976) (TV) (USA)
... aka James A. Michener's Dynasty (1976) (TV)
Judgement: The Court Martial of Lieutenant William Calley (1975) (TV)
.... Frank Crowder
Conversation, The (1974) .... Martin Stett
American Graffiti (1973) .... Bob Falfa
Intruders, The (1970) (TV) .... Carl
Getting Straight (1970) .... Jake
Zabriskie Point (1970) (uncredited) .... Airport worker
Journey to Shiloh (1968) .... Willie Bill Rearden
Time for Killing, A (1967) (as Harrison J. Ford) .... Lt. Shaffer, USA
... aka Long Ride Home, The (1967) (UK)
Luv (1967) (uncredited) .... Hippy
Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round (1966) (uncredited) .... Bell Hop
