{{Infobox actor
| name = Harrison Ford
| image = Harrison Ford IJ4.jpg
| imagesize = 201px
| caption = Harrison Ford on the set of ''
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull''
| birthdate = | location =
Chicago, Illinois,
United States
| notable role =
Han Solo in the ''
Star Wars original trilogy''
Indiana Jones in ''
Raiders of the Lost Ark'', ''
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom'' and ''
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade''
Jack Ryan in ''
Patriot Games'' and ''
Clear and Present Danger''
Rick Deckard in ''
Blade Runner''
John Book in ''
Witness''
Dr. Richard Kimble in ''
The Fugitive''
President James Marshall in ''
Air Force One''
| goldenglobeawards =
Cecil B. DeMille Award2002 Lifetime Achievement
| awards =
Saturn Award for Best Actor (film)1981 ''
Raiders of the Lost Ark''
AFI Life Achievement Award2000 Lifetime Achievement
| spouse = Mary Marquardt (
1964-
1979)
Melissa Mathison (
1983-
2004)
}}
Harrison Ford (born
July 13,
1942) is an
Academy Award nominated
American actor. He is best known for his performances as the tough, wisecracking space pilot
Han Solo in the ''
Star Wars'' film series, the adventurous
archaeologist/
action hero, Dr. Henry "Indiana" Jones Junior in the
Indiana Jones film series, and an undercover detective in the 1980's movie Witness.
Ford has also been the star of many high-grossing hits
Hollywood blockbusters such as ''
Air Force One'' and ''
The Fugitive'', which have distanced him from his famous
Star Wars and
Indiana Jones roles. At one point Ford had roles in the top five box-office hits of all time, though his role in
1982's ''
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (as Elliot's school principal) was deleted from the final cut of the film. Five of his films have been inducted into the
National Film Registry.
As of
May 2007, the combined domestic box office grosses of Ford's films total approximately
US$3.10 billion,
[Box Office Mojo - People Index ] with worldwide grosses approaching the US$6 billion mark, making Ford the number-three all-time domestic box-office star behind
Eddie Murphy and
Tom Hanks.
He was ranked #1 in
Empire magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list.
Early life
Ford was born on Monday,
July 13,
1942, at 11:41 AM
Central Time in
Chicago, Illinois at Swedish Covenant Hospital to Dorothy Nidelman (born
Dora Nidelman on
October 17,
1917, in
New Jersey; died
February 10,
2004), a former radio actress, and Christopher Ford (born
John William Ford on
November 20,
1906 in
New York; died
February 10,
1999), an advertising executive and a former actor. Ford's paternal grandparents were of
Irish and
German descent, and his maternal grandparents, Harry Nidelman and Anna Lifschutz, were
Jewish immigrants from
Russia. When asked in which religion he was raised Ford jokingly responded, "
Democrat."
[Jewish news weekly of Northern California: Celebrity Jews by nate bloom ] Ford has also said that he feels "Irish as a person but I feel Jewish as an actor."
[Ten American showbiz celebrities of Russian descent ]
He was active in the
Boy Scouts of America where he achieved its second highest rank, Life Scout and worked at a Scout Camp as a Reptile Study merit badge counselor. Because of this, he and director
Steven Spielberg later decided that the character of young
Indiana Jones would be depicted as a Life Scout in the film ''
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade''. They also jokingly reversed Ford's knowledge of reptiles into Jones' fear of snakes.
In 1960, Ford graduated from
Maine East High School in
Park Ridge,
Illinois, where he claims he was picked on by bullies and ignored by girls and also voted "Boy Least Likely to Succeed". He was the first student voice heard on the high school radio station,
WMTH-FM where he was also their first sportscaster during his senior year 1959-1960. The radio room still bears his graffiti. He attended
Ripon College in
Wisconsin, where he was a member of the
Sigma Nu Fraternity. He took a drama class in his junior year, chiefly as a way to meet women. Ford, a self-described "late bloomer", became fascinated with acting. Toward the end of his college freshman year, he was a member of a folk band called
The Brothers Gross, in which he played
gutbucket. He, however, did not graduate from Ripon.
Early work
In 1964, Ford moved to
Los Angeles,
California, where he signed a contract with
Columbia Pictures for $150 a week in the studio's New Talent program, playing bit roles in films. His first known speaking-part on film was an uncredited role as a bellhop in ''
Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round'' (1966). There is little record of his non-speaking roles (or "extra" work) in film, save for a brief foreground appearance on a train in The Great Escape (1963). His speaking roles continued next with ''
Luv'' (1967) though he was again uncredited. In his next film he was credited as "Harrison J. Ford" in the 1967
western, ''
A Time For Killing'', but the "J" didn't stand for anything because he does not have a middle name. It was added to avoid confusion with the silent film actor named
Harrison Ford, who appeared in more than 80 films between 1915 and 1932, and who died in 1957. Ford later said that he was unaware of the existence of the earlier Harrison Ford (who is no relation) until he stumbled across a star with his own name on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Ford soon dropped the "J" from his name and worked for
Universal Studios playing minor roles in many television series throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s including ''
Gunsmoke'', ''
Ironside'', ''
The Virginian'', ''
The F.B.I.'', ''
Love American Style'' and ''
Kung Fu''. Ford was offered the role of
Mike Stivic in
Norman Lear's ''
All in the Family'' but he turned down the part because of expressions of bigotry uttered by the leading character
Archie Bunker.Then, he played in the western ''
Journey to Shiloh'' (1968) and had an uncredited role in
Michelangelo Antonioni's 1970 film ''
Zabriskie Point'' as an airport worker. Not happy with the acting jobs being offered to him, Ford became a self-taught professional
carpenter to better support his then-wife and two small sons. Some of Ford's carpentry work remains in the
Hollywood Hills area. While working as a carpenter, he became a stagehand for the popular rock band, ''
The Doors'', including operating one of the four cameras for their taped concert at the Hollywood Bowl in 1968.He also built a sun deck for
Sally Kellerman and a recording studio for
Sergio Mendes.
He turned to acting again when
George Lucas, who had hired him to build cabinets in his home, cast him in a pivotal supporting role for his film ''
American Graffiti'' (1973). The relation he forged with Lucas was to have a profound effect on Ford's career. After director
Francis Ford Coppola's film ''
The Godfather'' was a success, he hired Ford to do expansions of his office and Harrison was given a small role in his next two films, ''
The Conversation'' (1974) ''
Apocalypse Now'' (1979) which was filmed in 1976 but did not release until 1979.
Other films
Ford made many movies in the wake of ''
Star Wars''. There was ''
Heroes'' (1977), ''
Force 10 from Navarone'' (1978) and ''
Hanover Street'' (1979). Ford also co-starred alongside
Gene Wilder in the buddy-western ''
The Frisco Kid'' (1979), playing a bank robber with a heart of gold. Ford then starred in
1981 as
Indiana Jones in
Steven Spielberg's blockbuster historical action-yarn, ''
Raiders of the Lost Ark'' , and its two hugely successful sequels to date, ''
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom'' (
1984) and ''
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'' (
1989), which turned Ford himself into a blockbuster phenomenon. Unlike many other actors of the same or similar genre, Ford's authenticity as a daring action hero was supported by his willingness to perform many of his own stunts for the Indiana Jones trilogy. During this time, Ford also starred in a number of dramatic-action films:
Peter Weir's ''
Witness'' (1985) and ''
The Mosquito Coast'' (1986) and
Roman Polanski's ''
Frantic'' (1988). He also starred in
Mike Nichols' romantic drama ''
Working Girl'' (1988) and as
Rick Deckard in
Ridley Scott's now
cult sci-fi classic, ''
Blade Runner'' (1982).
The 1990s brought Ford the role of
Jack Ryan in
Tom Clancy's ''
Patriot Games'' and ''
Clear and Present Danger'', as well as leading roles in
Alan Pakula's ''
Presumed Innocent'' (1990) and ''
The Devil's Own'' (1997),
Mike Nichols' ''
Regarding Henry'' (1991),
Andrew Davis' ''
The Fugitive'' (1993),
Sydney Pollack's
remake of ''
Sabrina'' (1995) and
Wolfgang Petersen's ''
Air Force One'' (1997). During production of ''The Fugitive'', he reprised his role as Indiana Jones in an episode of the television series ''
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles''. While often playing the hero in action films, Ford has also played straight dramatic roles in several films, including an adulterous husband with a terrible secret in both ''
Presumed Innocent'' (1990) and ''
What Lies Beneath'' (2000), and a recovering amnesiac in ''
Regarding Henry'' (1991).
Many of Ford's major film roles came to him by default or unusual circumstances: he won the role of Han Solo while reading lines for other actors, was cast as Indiana Jones because
Tom Selleck was not available, and took the role of Jack Ryan due to
Alec Baldwin's fee demands (Baldwin had previously played the role in ''
The Hunt for Red October'').
Salary
The 2001 edition of the ''
Guinness Book of Records'' listed Ford as the richest actor alive: his reported salary for the
2002 flop ''
K-19: The Widowmaker'' was $25 million. The 27 movies that he has starred in have grossed a combined box office of more than $3.3 billion. However, since then he has been overtaken by
Eddie Murphy and
Tom Hanks as the biggest movie star, and
Mel Gibson is now the world's richest living actor.
Recent work
Ford's star power has waned in recent years, the result of appearing in numerous critically derided and commercially disappointing movies, including ''
Six Days Seven Nights'' (1998), ''
Random Hearts'' (1999), ''
K-19: The Widowmaker'' (2002), ''
Hollywood Homicide'' (2003) and ''
Firewall'' (2006). Even 2000's ''
What Lies Beneath'', which featured an unusually dark performance from Ford, was widely criticized as predictable and formulaic. Budgeted at more than
$90,000,000, ''What Lies Beneath'' was released on
July 21,
2000 and was met with mixed reviews. It received an average of 45% on RottenTomatoes. However, it opened at the top of the box office, grossing $29,702,959. It continued strongly through the summer, and ended up grossing $155,464,351 in the United States and $291,420,351 worldwide.
In 2004, Ford declined a chance to star in the thriller ''
Syriana'', later commenting that "I didn't feel strongly enough about the truth of the material and I think I made a mistake." The role eventually went to
George Clooney, who won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his work.
[Starpulse News Blog: Harrison Ford Regrets Passing on 'Syriana' ] Ford also turned down leading roles in the critically acclaimed films ''
Traffic'' and ''
A History of Violence'' as well as ''
The Patriot''.
Also in 2004, Ford appeared in the straight-to-video ''
Water to Wine'' as a favor to his son Malcolm. Ford was credited as "Jethro the Bus Driver," and his line, "What up, biotch?" has become an
Internet phenomenon..
Personal life
Ford is one of Hollywood's most notoriously private actors, zealously guarding his personal life. Outside of film promotion, he rarely appears in the press, preferring to keep to himself at his
Jackson,
Wyoming home. Ford despises the
Internet for facilitating the spread of malicious gossip about him.
[contactmusic.com: Ford: 'I hate the internet' .]
Marriages and children
Ford has been married twice. He married Mary Marquardt in
1964, and they divorced in
1979. He had two sons with her, Benjamin (born in
1967) and Willard (born in
1969). He married again, to
Melissa Mathison, screenwriter of ''
The Black Stallion'', ''
Kundun'', and ''
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial'', on
March 14,
1983. They had two children: a son, Malcolm (born on
March 10,
1987), and a daughter, Georgia (born on
June 30,
1990). Mathison filed for legal separation on
August 23,
2001, and their subsequent divorce in
January 2004 has become one of the most expensive in Hollywood history, as she was awarded a share of Ford's residual paychecks. Ford has since been dating actress
Calista Flockhart.
Aircraft
Harrison Ford began flight training in the 1960s at Wild Rose Airport in Wild Rose, Wisconsin flying in a TriPacer, but at $15 an hour he was unable to continue the training. His interest returned in the mid-1990s when he bought a used
Gulfstream II and asked one of his pilots, Terry Bender, to give him flying lessons. They started out flying a
Cessna 182 out of
Jackson, Wyoming. He later switched to
Teterboro, New Jersey flying a
Cessna 206, the aircraft he soloed in.
On
October 23,
1999 Harrison Ford was involved in the crash of a
Bell 206-L4
helicopter (N36R). The
NTSB accident report states that Ford was piloting the aircraft over the Lake Piru riverbed near
Santa Clarita, California on a routine training flight. While making his second attempt at an autorotation with powered recovery Ford allowed the aircraft's altitude to drop to 150-200 feet before beginning power up. As a result the aircraft was unable to recover power before hitting the ground. The aircraft landed hard and began skidding forward in the loose gravel before one of its skids struck a partially embedded log and flipped onto its side. Neither Ford nor the instructor pilot suffered any injuries though the helicopter was seriously damaged. When asked about the incident by fellow pilot
James Lipton in an interview on the TV show ''
Inside the Actor's Studio'' Ford replied "I broke it."
[National Transportation Safety Board: NTSB Identification: LAX00LA024 ]
Ford owns various aircraft:
De Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver (N28S)
Aviat Husky A-1B
Cessna Citation CJ3
Beech Bonanza B36T3
Cessna 208B Grand Caravan
1929 Waco Taperwing
Bell 407
Previous aircraft:
Gulfstream II
Gulfstream IVSP
Pilatus PC-12
Ford keeps his aircraft at the
Santa Monica Airport, though the
Bell 407 is often kept and flown in
Jackson,
Wyoming, and has been used by the actor in two mountain rescues during the actor's assigned duty time assisting the Teton County Search and Rescue. On one of the rescues Ford recovered a hiker who had become lost and disoriented. She boarded Ford's Bell 407 and promptly vomited into one of the rescuers' caps (she says it was not Ford's cap), unaware of who the pilot was until much later, saying, "I can't believe I threw up in Harrison Ford's helicopter!"
In
March 2004 Harrison Ford officially became Chairman of the
Young Eagles program of the
Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA). Ford was asked to take the position by Greg Anderson, Senior Vice President of the EAA at the time, to replace General Charles "Chuck" Yeager who was vacating the post that he had held for many years. Ford at first was hesitant, but later accepted the offer and has made appearances with the
Young Eagles at the
EAA AirVenture Oshkosh gathering at
Oshkosh, Wisconsin for two years. In
July 2005 at the gathering in Oshkosh Ford agreed to accept the position for another two years. Ford has flown over 200 children as part of the
Young Eagles program, usually in his De Havilland Beaver, which can seat the actor and five children. Ford is involved with the EAA chapter in
Driggs, Idaho, just over the mountains from
Jackson,
Wyoming.
Harrison Ford flies his
De Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver (N28S) more than any of his other aircraft, and though he dislikes showing favoritism, he has repeatably stated that he likes this aircraft and the sound of its Pratt & Whitney 985 radial engine. He uses it regularly for impromptu fly-ins at remote airports, and bush strips, as well as gatherings with other Beaver owners and pilots. Ford first encountered the Beaver while filming ''
Six Days Seven Nights'', and soon purchased one.
Kenmore Air in
Kenmore, Washington restored Ford's yellow and green DHC-2 (N28S), a junked former U.S. military Beaver, with updated
avionics and an upgraded engine.
Trivia
In 1993, the arachnologist Norman Platnick named a new species of spider ''Calponia harrisonfordi'', and in 2002, the entomologist Edward O. Wilson named a new ant species ''Pheidole harrisonfordi'' (in recognition of Harrison's work as Vice Chairman of Conservation International).[Ourplanet.com Profile: Harrison Ford, internationally renowned actor and conservationist ]
Ford cut his chin in a car accident hitting a telephone pole in Northern California when he was 22. The scar is visible in his films. Spielberg offers an explanation for it in ''Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'', in which he depicts a young Indiana Jones (played by River Phoenix) cutting his chin attempting to crack a whip to ward off a lion. In ''Working Girl'' (1988), Ford's character explains that it happened when he passed out and hit his chin on the toilet when a college girlfriend was piercing his ear.
Prior to the release of ''Star Wars'', Shel Dorf (founder of Comic Con) had a chance encounter with Ford at the production offices and did an interview with him for the comic book adzine then known as ''The Buyer's Guide for Comics Fandom'' (now ''Comics Buyer's Guide''). In it Ford derisively spoke of his "so-called career" as an actor.
Ford's character in ''Apocalypse Now'' is named Colonel G. Lucas in reference to ''Star Wars''' director George Lucas. The script was originally to be directed by Lucas. And the central character of the movie, Captain Benjamin Willard, got his name after Harrison's children, Benjamin and Willard.
Ford has assisted musician Jimmy Buffett by recording whip cracks (a skill learned during ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'') used in the Buffett song "Desperation Samba (Halloween in Tijuana)".
Awards and nominations
Academy Award
Nominated: Best Actor, ''Witness'' (1985)
BAFTA Award
Nominated: Best Actor, ''Witness'' (1985)
Golden Globe Award
Nominated: Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, ''Witness'' (1986)
Nominated: Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, ''The Mosquito Coast'' (1987)
Nominated: Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, ''The Fugitive'' (1994)
Nominated: Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical/Comedy, ''Sabrina'' (1996)
Won: Cecil B. DeMille Award (2002)
Salary history
''Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round'' (1966) - $150
''Luv'' (1967) - $150/week
''A Time For Killing'' (1967) - $150/week
''American Graffiti'' (1973) - $500/week
''Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope'' (1977) - $650,000 + royalties
''Presumed Innocent'' (1990) - $12,500,000
''Patriot Games'' (1992) - $9,000,000
''The Devil's Own'' (1997) - $20,000,000
''Air Force One'' (1997) - $22,000,000
''Six Days Seven Nights'' (1998) - $20,000,000
''Random Hearts'' (1999) - $20,000,000
''What Lies Beneath'' (2000) - $20,000,000
''K-19: The Widowmaker'' (2002) - $25,000,000 + 20% of the Gross
References