Harrison Ford

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Steven Spielberg and George Lucas are among the Hollywood VIPs talking about the Indiana Jones and Star Wars actor. A megastar who guarantees big box office dollars.

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Harrison Ford
born: 13-07-1942
birth place: Chicago, Illinois, USA

From a struggling actor who turned to carpentry to one of the biggest movie stars on the planet, Harrison Ford’s journey from rags to riches embodies the American dream as much as the characters he is known for: struggling, rough-round-the-edges, rascalish grafters who get the job done through grit and determination.

Ford’s persistence during almost a decade of flailing round the edges of stardom has paid off and, if box-office takings are any measure, he is now probably the most successful actor of all time. Four films in the top ten grossing films, eight in the top 50, and over $6 billion in world-wide takings have ensured Ford is as bankable as he is watchable.

Ford was born in Chicago, to parents Christopher, an Irish-Catholic advertising executive and former actor, and Dorothy, a Russian-Jewish home-maker. He has one brother, Terence. Ford spent an un-noteworthy childhood in suburban Des Plaines and later Park Ridge in Chicago’s north. He became active in the Boy Scouts attaining their second-highest rank, Life Scout, and worked as a Reptile Study merit badge counsellor at Scout Camps. Bullied at school, no good at sports, and never rising above a C- average, Ford’s schooling at Maine Township High School was only marked by an interest in radio broadcasting where he was the first voice heard on the school radio station.

University at Ripon College in Wisconsin was not much better. Ford disliked the rigid structure and began to show signs of depression, sleeping for days and finding himself unable to face classes. While he did not get a degree, two important things happened: he met Mary Marquardt, who he would marry after leaving college in 1964, and he had his first taste of the theatre acting in productions in his final year. Told by acting-mates he would get acting work in California, Ford and Mary saddled up his old Volkswagen and headed west.

In California Ford worked and studied at the Laguna Playhouse and in 1965 signed a $150-a-week contract with a young talent development scheme run by the studio Columbia. The contract saw him only in minor roles - his screen debut was a one-line appearance playing a hotel porter in the James Coburn caper Dead Heat On A Merry-Go-Round. Despite having no middle name Ford was credited as Harrison J Ford to distinguish him from the silent movie actor of a few generations back. Moving from Columbia to Universal after a few years Ford’s roles did not increase and he became despondent. He and Mary had two children, Benjamin and Willard, and bills had to be paid. By chance, Ford turned to carpentry to supplement his income. It would be the best career move he would ever make.

Ford began by promising to make a pair of tables for a friend and despite having no experience as a carpenter, he later got a job building a recording studio for the Brazilian composer Sergio Mendes. Learning from books, Ford did a good job and was recommended to other Hollywood types as “Carpenter to the Stars”, building a deck for Sally Kellerman and working as a stagehand for the rock group The Doors. He continued acting while wood-working on the side and pressures eased. In 1972 Ford scored a minor role in American Graffiti, a coming of age film staring newcomers Ron Howard and Richard Dreyfuss and directed by fledgling director George Lucas. The film was a huge hit and Ford went on to another small role in the acclaimed thriller The Conversation, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Slightly more substantial roles came in Judgement: The Court Martial of Lieutenant William Calley, the film Dynasty, and the TV series The Possessed.

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