Harrison Ford

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[ webmaster ] [ 2005-05-27 12:00:56 ]

Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American actor who, between 1977 and 1983, appeared in what were then four of the top ten highest-grossing movies ever.

In most of his roles, Ford plays a tough, wise-cracking action hero, and is especially well known for his repeated performances of the characters of Han Solo of the Star Wars films, and Indiana Jones of Raiders of the Lost Ark and its sequels.

Biography

Ford was born in Chicago, Illinois. His mother, Dorothy Ford was a Russian Jew, while his father, Christopher Ford, was Irish and Roman Catholic (and a former actor). He graduated from Maine Township High School in Park Ridge, Illinois in 1960 where he reportedly was picked on by bullies and ignored by girls. He attended Ripon College in Wisconsin, where he took a drama class in his junior year chiefly as a way to meet women, he once said. Ford, a self-described "late bloomer," became fascinated with acting. While in college, towards the end of his freshman year, he was a member of a folk band called The Brothers Gross. He played the gutbucket (an upside down washbucket rigged with a broomstick and a single bass string).

He married his college sweetheart, Mary Marquardt, in 1964. Ford (and his new wife) moved to Los Angeles, California, and he contracted with Columbia Pictures for $150 a week in the studio's New Talent program where he had bit parts in three films. He then went to Universal Studios and did minor television roles. Not happy with the acting jobs being offered to him, Ford became a self-taught professional carpenter to better support his wife and two small sons before his break through role in American Graffiti. Coincidentally it was his work as a carpenter that would land Ford his biggest role. George Lucas hired Ford in 1975 to build some cabinets for his house and used him to read lines for actors being cast for parts in Star Wars. It was Steven Spielberg who first noticed that Ford was perfect for the part of Han Solo.

Ford went on to star as Han Solo in the first three Star Wars films. He starred as Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark and two further movies, and as Jack Ryan in Tom Clancy's Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. He has also starred in Blade Runner, Witness, The Fugitive (1993), and the remake of Sabrina, among others.

Ford's major film roles have all come to him by default - Han Solo due to him reading in for other actors, Indiana Jones due to Tom Selleck not being available and Jack Ryan due to Alec Baldwin's fee demands. While he's done some of his most revered work in the science-fiction category, with Star Wars and cult classic Blade Runner, he has mentioned the latter as being one of his least favorite roles and has yet to return to the genre.

The Guinness Book of Records (2001) listed Ford as the richest actor alive. His reported salary for the 2002 movie K-19: The Widowmaker was over $25,000,000. The 27 movies he made had grossed a combined box office of over $3.3 billion. Despite being arguably the most successful actor of his generation, he has received only one Oscar nomination, for Best Actor for Witness. However, in 2000, he received the Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute.

Ford assisted musician Jimmy Buffett by recording whip cracks (a skill learned for Raiders of the Lost Ark) used in the song "Desperation Samba (Halloween in Tijuana)."

Ford was credited as "Harrison J. Ford" for a small role in a 1967 Western A Time for Killing, but the "J" didn't stand for anything; Ford does not have a middle name. He was credited as such to avoid confusion with another actor named Harrison Ford, a silent-film actor who died in 1957. The first Ford has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in front of famed eatery Musso & Frank. The modern-day Harrison Ford received a star on Hollywood Boulevard on June 2, 2003.

Ford has been married twice. He married Mary Marquadt in 1964, and divorced in 1979, and had two children with her, Benjamin and Willard. He married again, to Melissa Mathison, in 1983, divorcing in 2003, and had with her another two children, a son, Malcom, and a daughter, Georgia. He is engaged to actress Calista Flockhart.

Ford is a private pilot of both planes and helicopters, and owns an 800 acre (3.2 km²) ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. On several occasions he has personally provided emergency helicopter services at the behest of local authorities. In one instance, he rescued a hiker overcome by dehydration. He is the current Chairman of the Experimental Aircraft Association's Young Eagle program, taking over after Chuck Yeager retired. Ford also gives of his time and money for environmental causes. He sits on the Board of Directors of Conservation International.

Though he dislikes public speaking and can be cantankerous and gruff in interviews, he once appeared before a U.S. Senate subcommittee on behalf of the people of Tibet. His goal was to prevent China from gaining Most Favored Nation status, because of the Chinese occupation of Tibet.

Salary history

K-19: The Widowmaker (2002) - $25,000,000 + 20% of the Gross
What Lies Beneath (2000) - $20,000,000
Random Hearts (1999) - $20,000,000
Six Days Seven Nights (1998) - $20,000,000
Air Force One (1997) - $22,000,000
The Devil's Own (1997) - $20,000,000
Presumed Innocent (1990) - $12,500,000
American Graffiti (1973) - $500/week

Filmography

2006 Indiana Jones 4 (Indiana Jones) (Announced)
2006 Godspeed (Pre-Production)
2005 The Wrong Element (Filming )
2004 Water To Wine Jethro (as Jethro the Bus Driver)
2003 Hollywood Homicide (Joe Gavilan)
2002 K-19: The Widowmaker (Alexei Vostrikov)
2000 What Lies Beneath (Dr. Norman Spencer)
1999 Random Hearts (Sergeant William "Dutch" Van Den Broeck)
1998 Six Days Seven Nights (Quinn Harris)
1997 Air Force One (President James Marshall)
1997 The Devil's Own (Tom O'Meara)
1995 Sabrina (Linus Larrabee)
1995 Les Cent et une nuits (Himself)
1994 Jimmy Hollywood (Himself)
1994 Clear and Present Danger (Jack Ryan)
1994 A Century of Cinema (Himself)
1994 Mustang: The Hidden Kingdom (TV) (Narrator)
1993 The Fugitive (Dr. Richard Kimble)
1992 Commercial Entertainment Product (Himself) (uncredited)
1992 Earth and the American Dream (Narrator)
1992 Patriot Games (Jack Ryan)
1992 L'Envers du décor: Portrait de Pierre Guffroy
1991 Regarding Henry (Henry Turner)
1990 Presumed Innocent (Rusty Sabich)
1989 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Indiana Jones)
1988 Working Girl (Jack Trainer)
1988 Frantic (Dr. Richard Walker)
1986 The Mosquito Coast (Allie Fox)
1985 Witness Detective (Captain John Book)
1984 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Indiana Jones)
1983 Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (Han Solo)
1982 Blade Runner (Rick Deckard)
1981 Raiders of the Lost Ark (Indiana Jones)
1980 Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (Han Solo)
1979 More American Graffiti (Officer Bob Falfa) (uncredited)
1979 The Frisco Kid (Tommy Lillard)
1979 Apocalypse Now (Colonel Lucas)
1979 Hanover Street (David Halloran)
1978 The Star Wars Holiday Special (TV) (Han Solo)
1978 Force 10 from Navarone (Lieutenant Colonel Mike Barnsby)
1977 Heroes (Ken Boyd)
1977 Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (Han Solo)
1977 The Possessed (TV) (Paul Winjam)
1976 Dynasty (TV) (Mark Blackwood)
1975 Judgement: The Court Martial of Lt William Calley (TV) (Frank Crowder)
1974 The Conversation (Martin Stett)
1973 American Graffiti (Bob Falfa)
1970 The Intruders (TV) (Carl)
1970 Getting Straight (Jake)
1970 Zabriskie Point (Airport worker) (uncredited)
1968 Journey to Shiloh (Willie Bill Rearden)
1967 A Time for Killing (Lieutenant Shaffer)
1967 Luv Hippy (uncredited)
1966 Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round (Bellhop)

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