Ford, Harrison

born July 13, 1942, Chicago, Ill., U.S.

U.S. film actor.

He played minor roles on screen and television before achieving stardom in George Lucas's hit Star Wars (1977) and its sequels, The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983). He also starred in the adventure film Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and its sequels (1984, 1989). He graduated to dramatic roles in Blade Runner (1982), Witness (1985), The Fugitive (1993), and Clear and Present Danger (1994). His rugged good looks and wry charm made him, by some measures, the most popular actor of his time.

* * *

▪ 1998

      In 1997 moviegoers were able to trace the path to stardom of versatile American actor Harrison Ford, whose brand-new blockbusters were screened alongside rereleased versions of the films that had begun his rise to fame two decades earlier. The Star Wars trilogy—Star Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and Return of the Jedi (1983)—was reprised in early 1997 with Ford portraying maverick freedom-fighter Han Solo in the wildly popular space fantasies. In the spring he played a good-hearted American policeman at odds with a boarder (who unbeknownst to Ford is a member of the Irish Republican Army) in The Devil's Own. By July he was starring as the president of the United States in the action-thriller Air Force One, one of the summer's box-office smash hits. No stranger to popular success, he had appeared in 6 of the 30 highest-grossing films of all-time. Ford, a sturdy leading man, infused his characters with a stoicism and wry charm that recalled the likes of film star Gary Cooper. In May his rugged good looks won him inclusion in People magazine's cover story of the 50 most beautiful people in the world.

      Ford was born on July 13, 1942, in Chicago and was raised in the city's suburbs. After attending Ripon (Wis.) College, he took minor acting roles in movies and television for Columbia and Universal studios but soon fell back on a sideline career in carpentry. His film career began in earnest with a bit part in the successful American Graffiti (1973), the first major work of director George Lucas. The movie was produced by Francis Ford Coppola, who later directed Ford in The Conversation (1974) and Apocalypse Now (1979). Ford struck pay dirt with Lucas's Star Wars, which became the highest-grossing motion picture ever. He followed with a series of small films but was unable to find true stardom until the 1980s.

      His fame was cemented in two Star Wars sequels and, in another trilogy, as adventurer-archaeologist Indiana Jones. Produced by Lucas and directed by Steven Spielberg, Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and its two sequels (1984, 1989) featured Ford as a swashbuckling 1930s action hero whose larger-than-life qualities were tempered with a charming vulnerability. He expanded his repertoire in the science-fiction classic Blade Runner (1982), the drama The Mosquito Coast (1986), the thriller Frantic (1988), and the comedy Working Girl (1988). His performance in Witness (1985)—as an urban homicide detective hiding out in an Amish community—earned him an Academy Award nomination for best actor.

      In the 1990s Ford accepted dramatic leading roles in Presumed Innocent (1990) and Regarding Henry (1991) and returned to romantic comedy with Sabrina (1995), but his fame rested with action-adventure movies. He portrayed CIA agent Jack Ryan in two popular films adapted from Tom Clancy novels—Patriot Games (1992) and Clear and Present Danger (1994). In The Fugitive (1993) he was the beleaguered Dr. Richard Kimble, on the lam after having been wrongly convicted of murdering his wife.

TOM MICHAEL

* * *

▪ American actor

born July 13, 1942, Chicago, Ill.

 

 American actor, perhaps best known for playing charismatic rogues in the Star Wars and Indiana Jones film franchises.

      Ford was born in Chicago and was raised in the city's suburbs. After attending Ripon College in Wisconsin, he took minor acting roles in movies and television for Columbia and Universal studios but soon fell back on a sideline career in carpentry. His film career began in earnest with a bit part in the successful American Graffiti (1973), the first major work of director George Lucas (Lucas, George). The movie was produced by Francis Ford Coppola (Coppola, Francis Ford), who later directed Ford in The Conversation (1974) and Apocalypse Now (1979).

 Ford achieved real success as the opportunistic Han Solo in Lucas's Star Wars (1977). The space-fantasy film became one of the highest-grossing motion pictures of all time. Ford's fame was cemented with the Star Wars sequels The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983) and with the Indiana Jones series, in which he starred as an adventurer-archaeologist. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and its sequels Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) were produced by Lucas and directed by Steven Spielberg. They featured Ford as a swashbuckling 1930s action hero whose larger-than-life qualities were tempered with a charming vulnerability. He expanded his repertoire in the science-fiction classic Blade Runner (1982), the drama The Mosquito Coast (1986), the thriller Frantic (1988), and the comedy Working Girl (1988). His performance in Witness (1985)—as an urban homicide detective hiding out in an Amish community—earned him an Academy Award nomination for best actor.

      In the 1990s Ford accepted dramatic leading roles in Presumed Innocent (1990) and Regarding Henry (1991) and returned to romantic comedy with Sabrina (1995), but his fame rested with action-adventure movies. He portrayed CIA agent Jack Ryan in two popular films adapted from Tom Clancy novels—Patriot Games (1992) and Clear and Present Danger (1994). In The Fugitive (1993), a film based on the 1960s television show, he portrayed the wrongly convicted Dr. Richard Kimble.

      Subsequent films did not reach the blockbuster level of his previous works, but Ford enjoyed success with the summer hit Air Force One (1997) and the supernatural thriller What Lies Beneath (2000). Along with Lucas and Spielberg, Ford revived the dormant Indiana Jones franchise with a fourth installment, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008).

* * *