- Born
- Nickname
- Harry
- Height6′ 1″ (1.85 m)
- Harrison Ford was born on July 13, 1942 in Chicago, Illinois, to Dorothy (Nidelman), a radio actress, and Christopher Ford (born John William Ford), an actor turned advertising executive. His father was of Irish and German ancestry, while his maternal grandparents were Jewish emigrants from Minsk, Belarus. Harrison was a lackluster student at Maine Township High School East in Park Ridge Illinois (no athletic star, never above a C average). After dropping out of Ripon College in Wisconsin, where he did some acting and later summer stock, he signed a Hollywood contract with Columbia and later Universal. His roles in movies and television (Ironside (1967), The Virginian (1962)) remained secondary and, discouraged, he turned to a career in professional carpentry. He came back big four years later, however, as Bob Falfa in American Graffiti (1973). Four years after that, he hit colossal with the role of Han Solo in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977). Another four years and Ford was Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).
Four years later and he received Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for his role as John Book in Witness (1985). All he managed four years after that was his third starring success as Indiana Jones; in fact, many of his earlier successful roles led to sequels as did his more recent portrayal of Jack Ryan in Patriot Games (1992). Another Golden Globe nomination came his way for the part of Dr. Richard Kimble in The Fugitive (1993). He is clearly a well-established Hollywood superstar. He also maintains an 800-acre ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Ford is a private pilot of both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, and owns an 800-acre (3.2 km2) ranch in Jackson, Wyoming, approximately half of which he has donated as a nature reserve. On several occasions, Ford has personally provided emergency helicopter services at the request of local authorities, in one instance rescuing a hiker overcome by dehydration. Ford began flight training in the 1960s at Wild Rose Idlewild Airport in Wild Rose, Wisconsin, flying in a Piper PA-22 Tri-Pacer, but at $15 an hour, he could not afford to continue the training. In the mid-1990s, he bought a used Gulfstream II and asked one of his pilots, Terry Bender, to give him flying lessons. They started flying a Cessna 182 out of Jackson, Wyoming, later switching to Teterboro, New Jersey, flying a Cessna 206, the aircraft he soloed in. Ford is an honorary board member of the humanitarian aviation organization Wings of Hope.
On March 5, 2015, Ford's plane, believed to be a Ryan PT-22 Recruit, made an emergency landing on the Penmar Golf Course in Venice, California. Ford had radioed in to report that the plane had suffered engine failure. He was taken to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, where he was reported to be in fair to moderate condition. Ford suffered a broken pelvis and broken ankle during the accident, as well as other injuries.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Ed Stephan and Pedro Borges
- SpousesCalista Flockhart(June 15, 2010 - present) (1 child)Melissa Mathison(March 14, 1983 - January 6, 2004) (divorced, 2 children)Mary Marquardt(June 18, 1964 - October 3, 1979) (divorced, 2 children)
- ChildrenWillard Ford
- ParentsDorothy Ford (Nidelman)Christopher Ford
- RelativesTerence Ford(Sibling)
- Frequently plays characters who use their intelligence rather than physical strength
- Known to take a lot of hits and endure a lot of pain in his action films
- Quiet but charming personality
- Deep, soft, soothing voice
- Best known for his iconic roles as Han Solo and Indiana Jones
- He recommended River Phoenix for the role of the young Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). Ford and Phoenix had previously played father and son in The Mosquito Coast (1986).
- He scared director Steven Spielberg and the crew during Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) when, without warning, he ran out across the rope bridge used in the film's climax to test its safety. Spielberg later quipped "What can I say? Harrison really IS Indiana Jones.".
- Both his Indiana Jones jacket and fedora hat are on display at the Smithsonian Institution.
- On 31 July 2000, he piloted his helicopter to rescue dehydrated 20-year-old hiker Sarah George from Table Mountain near his ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
- Of the famous "friendship circle" of Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola, he is the only actor to have worked with all three.
- It's a little-known fact, but I wanted Han Solo to die at the end of Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983). I thought it would give more weight and resonance. But George Lucas wasn't sympathetic. He didn't want me killed by those teddy bear guys.
- [to theater owners in Las Vegas] I'll make you a deal. I'll try to keep making films that put people in your theatre seats and you try to keep their shoes from sticking to the floor.
- [on being a leading man] I'm like a fireman. When I go out on a call, I want to put out a big fire, I don't want to put out a fire in a dumpster.
- I used to shake my head, as in "No, I just look like him." But that's not fair. So I said to those little old ladies at Trenton Airport, "Yes, I am Harrison Ford." And they still didn't believe it was me.
- [on playing Indiana Jones again in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)] No one wants to see a hero have to pick up his cane to hit someone, but I'm still quite fit enough to fake it.
- Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) - $25,000,000
- 1923 (2022) - $1,000,000 /episode
- Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015) - $25,000,000 + 0.5% of gross
- The Expendables 3 (2014) - $6,900,000
- Cowboys & Aliens (2011) - $10,000,000
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