Harrison Ford: A Life In Pictures

Harrison Ford was born on July 13th, 1942 in Chicago, Illinois to Christopher Ford and Dorothy Ford. He mentions not being very interested in acting until his senior year at Ripon College in Wisconsin. It was then were he took drama classes in order to overcome his shyness at the time. Ford described himself a somewhat of a "late bloomer" when it came to the "acting bug”...

In 1964, Ford moved to California to apply for a job doing radio voice-overs. Even though he didn't get the job, he ended up signing a $150-a-week contract for Columbia pictures to play minor roles in films. Many guest appearances and background roles later, Ford landed his first leading role in 'American Graffiti' in 1973, almost 9 years later. What can we say? Success takes patience…

Thankfully, George Lucas and Harrison Ford had built a relationship during their time in American Graffiti. Due to a mutual agreement, Ford was able to star in almost all of his films including 'The Conversation' (1974) and 'Apocalypse Now' (1979) throughout the 70’s.

Towards the end of the 70's, the Star Wars era rolled around. Initially, he was hired to read lines to the actors auditioning for the parts in Star Wars, but eventually he was able to convince Lucas to give him the role of "Han Solo". Ford went on to star in both sequels throughout the 80's which lead him to establishing himself as a professional actor in Hollywood.

Harrison's next big motion picture was the adventure film 'Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark, 'which was directed by his old friend George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. Unlike 'Star Wars,' Ford became the face of the "Indiana Jones" film series and took over Hollywood overnight! He starred in all installments of the franchise.

Some of his other film work includes 'Blade Runner' (1981), Tom Clany's 'Patriot Games' (1992) and 'Sabrina' (1995). As mentioned before, most roles Ford has had over the years were due to unusual circumstances. A great example was the role of 'Indiana Jones' was originally intended for Tom Selleck, but he wasn't available at the time... Could you have imagined Tom playing "Indiana" instead of Ford?

During the course of the late 90's and early 2000's, Ford went through a series of mediocre films, before taking on his classic role of "Indiana Jones" in 'Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' in 2008. The movie was a commercial success and ended up being the highest grossing movie of 2008. Ford expressed his thoughts about another sequel saying that he would be glad to do it, but that it would take 20 years to digest.

'Blade Runner' was also rebooted in 2017, but this time around, Harrison played more of a supporting role in this motion picture. Of course, due to nostalgic reasons, the movie was an instant success with critics, but wasn't able to "break even" grossing around 250 million and not the estimated 400.

Harrison Ford has been actively involved in a variety of significant projects over the past few years, showcasing his enduring talent and versatility.

In 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny' (2023), Ford reprises his iconic role, blending nostalgia with fresh adventures. On TV, Ford stars in 'Shrinking' (2023) on Apple TV+ as "Dr. Paul Rhodes," a therapist dealing with personal loss, showcasing his humor and nuance.

Privately, Ford has had his ups and downs over the years, but he tends to keep most of his private life to himself being considered one of Hollywood's most private actors. He has been married a grand total of 3 times, to Mary Marquardt, Melissa Mathison and currently to Calista Flockhart since 2010. Ford also has 5 kids, most of them stemming from his first two marriages.