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Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American actor. He is best known for his performances as the tough, wisecracking space pilot Han Solo in the Star Wars film series, and the adventurous, tenacious archaeologist/action hero Indiana Jones of Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Temple Of Doom, and The Last Crusade. Ford has also been the star of many high-grossing hit Hollywood blockbusters such as Air Force One and The Fugitive, which have distanced him from his famous Star Wars and Indiana Jones roles. At one point Ford had roles in the top five box-office hits of all time. Five of his films have been inducted into the National Film Registry.
Early lifeFord was born on Monday, July 13, 1942, at 11:41 AM CST in Chicago, Illinois at Swedish Covenant Hospital to Dorothy Nidelman (born Dora Nidelman on October 17, 1917, in New Jersey), a former radio actress, and Christopher Ford (born John William Ford on November 20, 1906 in New York; died February 10, 1999), an advertising executive and a former actor. Ford's maternal grandparents, Harry Nidelman and Anna Lifschutz, were Jewish immigrants. When asked in which religion he was raised Ford jokingly responded, "Democrat."[2] Ford has also said that he feels "Irish as a person but I feel Jewish as an actor.".[3] He was active in the Boy Scouts of America where he achieved its second highest rank, Life Scout and worked at a Scout Camp as a Reptile Study merit badge counselor. Because of this, he and director Steven Spielberg later decided that the character of young Indiana Jones would be depicted as a Life Scout in the film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. They also jokingly reversed Ford's knowledge of reptiles into Jones' fear of snakes and spiders. In 1960, Ford graduated from Maine East High School in Park Ridge, Illinois, where he claims he was picked on by bullies and ignored by girls and also voted "Boy Least Likely to Succeed". He was the first student voice heard on the high school radio station, WMTH-FM where he was also their first sportscaster during his senior year 1959-1960. The radio room still bears his graffiti. He attended Ripon College in Wisconsin, where he was a member of the Sigma Nu Fraternity. He took a drama class in his junior year, chiefly as a way to meet women. Ford, a self-described "late bloomer", became fascinated with acting. Toward the end of his college freshman year, he was a member of a folk band called The Brothers Gross, in which he played gutbucket. He, however, did not graduate from Ripon. Early Work
Ford dropped the "J" from his name and worked for Universal Studios playing minor roles in many television series throughout the late 1960s and early 70s including Ironside, Kung Fu and Gunsmoke. Ford was offered the role of Mike Stivic in Norman Lear's All in the Family but he turned down the part because of expressions of bigotry uttered by the leading character Archie Bunker.[citation needed] Not happy with the acting jobs being offered to him, Ford became a self-taught professional carpenter to better support his then-wife and two small sons. Some of Ford's carpentry work remains in the Hollywood Hills area. While working as a carpenter, he became a stagehand for the popular rock band, The Doors, including operating one of the four cameras for their taped concert at the Hollywood Bowl in 1968.[citation needed] He turned to acting again when George Lucas, who had hired him to build cabinets in his home, cast him in a pivotal supporting role for his film American Graffiti (1973). After director Francis Ford Coppola's film The Godfather was a success, he hired Ford to do expansions of his office and Harrison was given a part in his next film, The Conversation (1974), and a small part in 1976 in Apocalypse Now but which did not appear in theatres until 1979. Star WarsImage:Hansolo.jpg Harrison Ford as "Han Solo" in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back Harrison Ford's work as a carpenter would land the actor his biggest role to date. In 1975, director George Lucas used him to read lines for actors being cast for parts in his upcoming space opera, Star Wars. At the reading, Steven Spielberg noticed that Ford was well suited for the part of Han Solo and convinced Lucas to give Harrison the role that would eventually shoot him to fame. The 6'1" Ford went on to star as Han Solo in the next two Star Wars sequels, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, as well as in The Star Wars Holiday Special. He wanted George Lucas to write in the death of the iconic Han Solo character at the beginning of the third act of Return of the Jedi, saying that it would lend more dramatic weight to the film, but Lucas refused.[4] Other filmsImage:Indiana.jpeg Harrison Ford as "Indiana Jones" in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom In 1979, Ford co-starred alongside Gene Wilder in the buddy-western The Frisco Kid, playing a bank robber with a heart of gold. Ford then starred in 1981 as Indiana Jones in Steven Spielberg's blockbuster historical action-yarn, Raiders of the Lost Ark , and its two hugely successful sequels to date, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), which turned Ford himself into a blockbuster phenomenon. Unlike many other actors of the same or similar genre, Ford's authenticity as a daring action hero was supported by his willingness to perform many of his own stunts for the Indiana Jones trilogy. During this time, Ford also starred in a number of dramatic-action films: Peter Weir's Witness (1985) and The Mosquito Coast (1986) and Roman Polanski' s Frantic (1988). He also starred in Mike Nichols' romantic drama Working Girl (1988) and Ridley Scott's now cult classic, Blade Runner (1982). The 1990s brought Ford the role of Jack Ryan in Tom Clancy's Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger, as well as leading roles in Alan Pakula's Presumed Innocent (1990) and The Devil's Own (1997), Mike Nichols' Regarding Henry (1991), Andrew Davis's The Fugitive (1993), Sydney Pollack's remake of Sabrina (1995), and Wolfgang Petersen's Air Force One (1997). During production of The Fugitive, he reprised his role as Indiana Jones in an episode of the television series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. While often playing the hero in action films, Ford has also played straight dramatic roles in several films, including an adulterous husband with a terrible secret in both Presumed Innocent (1990) and What Lies Beneath (2000), and a recovering amnesiac in Regarding Henry (1991). Many of Ford's major film roles came to him by default or unusual circumstances: he won the role of Han Solo while reading lines for other actors, was cast as Indiana Jones because Tom Selleck was not available, and took the role of Jack Ryan due to Alec Baldwin's fee demands (Baldwin had previously played the role in The Hunt for Red October). SalaryThe 2001 edition of the Guinness Book of Records listed Ford as the richest actor alive: his reported salary for the 2002 flop K-19: The Widowmaker was $25 million. The 27 movies that he has starred in have grossed a combined box office of more than $3.3 billion. However, since then he has been overtaken by Tom Hanks as the biggest movie star, and Mel Gibson is now the world's richest living actor. AwardsDespite being one of the most financially successful actors of his generation, Ford has received just one Oscar nomination, that of Best Actor for Witness. In 2000, he received the Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute. On June 2, 2003, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in front of the Kodak Theatre at 6801 Hollywood Blvd. Recent workFord's star power has waned in recent years, the result of appearing in numerous critically derided and commercially disappointing movies, including Six Days Seven Nights (1998), Random Hearts (1999), K-19: The Widowmaker (2002), Hollywood Homicide (2003) and Firewall (2006).[citation needed] Even 2000's What Lies Beneath, which featured an unusually dark performance from Ford, was widely criticised as predictable and formulaic. Budgeted at over $90,000,000, What Lies Beneath was released on July 21, 2000 and was met with mixed reviews. It received an average of 45% on RottenTomatoes. However, it opened at the top of the box office, grossing $29,702,959. It continued strongly through the summer, and ended up grossing $155,464,351 in the United States and $291,420,351 worldwide. In 2004, Ford declined a chance to star in the thriller Syriana, later commenting that "I didn't feel strongly enough about the truth of the material and I think I made a mistake." The role eventually went to George Clooney, who won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his work.[5] Ford also turned down leading roles in the critically acclaimed films Traffic and A History of Violence as well as The Patriot. Also in 2004, Ford appeared in the straight-to-video Water to Wine as a favor to his son Malcolm. Ford was credited as "Jethro the Bus Driver," and his line, "What up, biotch?" has become an Internet phenomenon.[citation needed]. Current and upcoming projectsHe is currently scheduled to star in a fourth Indiana Jones movie with a story by George Lucas, screenplay by David Koepp, and direction by Steven Spielberg. The movie is in an advanced stage of pre-production, and is currently scheduled to be filmed in June 2007 for a May 22, 2008 release.[6] Another new project is the movie Manhunt, directed by Sebastian Cordero and due to be released in 2007. It tells the story of Lt. Col. Everton Conger, who led the hunt for Abraham Lincoln's assassin. Ford has also finished recording narration for the upcoming feature documentary film about the Dalai Lama entitled Dalai Lama Renaissance. Ford is also currently being considered for the part of General Mattis in the upcoming film "No True Glory", a film based upon the true life stories and actions of U.S. Marines in Fallujah in November of 2004. The Film is scheduled for release in early 2008. Personal lifeFord is one of Hollywood's most notoriously private actors, zealously guarding his private life. Outside of film promotion, he rarely appears in the press, preferring to keep to himself at his Jackson Hole, Wyoming home. Ford despises the Internet for facilitating the spread of malicious gossip about him.[7] One of his favorite pastimes has been to honor those who love his work; Ford loved to sign autographs for any of his past works, but refused to sign anything from new and recent works until they generated enough revenue to justify his standing as a great actor. Marriages and childrenFord has been married twice. He married Mary Marquardt in 1964, and divorced her in 1979. He had two sons with her, Benjamin (born in 1967) and Willard (born in 1969). He married again, to Melissa Mathison, screenwriter of The Black Stallion, Kundun, and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, on March 14, 1983. They had two children: a son, Malcolm (born on March 10, 1987), and a daughter, Georgia (born on June 30, 1990). Mathison filed for legal separation on August 23, 2001, and their subsequent divorce in January 2004 has become one of the most expensive in Hollywood history. Ford has since been dating actress Calista Flockhart. In 2001, Ford became embroiled in a bitter paternity lawsuit regarding Washington DC area radio talk show host John Auville. DNA testing eventually revealed that Ford is not Auville's biological father. Aircraft pilotFord is a private pilot of both planes and helicopters, and owns an 800-acre (3.2-km²) ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, approximately half of which he has donated as a nature reserve. On several occasions, Ford has personally provided emergency helicopter services at the behest of local authorities, in one instance rescuing a hiker overcome by dehydration. The hiker was asked by local reporters what it felt like to be rescued by "Indiana Jones", referring to Ford's famous role. The hiker then replied that he wasn't saved by Indy, but rather by "Han Solo".[citation needed] He is the current Chairman of the Experimental Aircraft Association's Young Eagles program, taking over after Chuck Yeager retired. Environmental causesFord sits on the board of directors of Conservation International. Ford is an Honorary Chairman of the Indianapolis Prize, the world's leading award for animal conservation. AircraftHarrison Ford began flight training in the 1960s at Wild Rose Airport in Wild Rose, Wisconsin flying in a TriPacer, but at $15 an hour he was unable to continue the training. His interest returned in the mid-1990s when he bought a used Gulfstream II and asked one of his pilots, Terry Bender, to give him flying lessons. They started out flying a Cessna 182 out of Jackson, Wyoming. He later switched to Teterboro, New Jersey flying a Cessna 206, the aircraft he soloed in. On October 23, 1999 Harrison Ford was involved in the crash of a Bell 206-L4 helicopter (N36R). The NTSB accident report states that Ford was piloting the aircraft over the Lake Piru riverbed near Santa Clarita, California on a routine training flight. While making his second attempt at an autorotation with powered recovery Ford allowed the aircraft's altitude to drop to 150-200 feet before beginning power up. As a result the aircraft was unable to recover power before hitting the ground. The aircraft landed hard and began skidding forward in the loose gravel before one of its skids struck a partially embedded log and flipped onto its side. Neither Ford nor the instructor pilot suffered any injuries though the helicopter was seriously damaged. When asked about the incident by fellow pilot James Lipton in an interview on the TV show Inside the Actor's Studio Ford replied "I broke it."[8] Ford is the owner of the following aircraft:
Previous aircraft: Ford keeps his aircraft at the Santa Monica Airport, though the Bell 407 is often kept and flown in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and has been used by the actor in two mountain rescues during the actor's assigned duty time assisting the Teton County Search and Rescue. On one of the rescues Ford recovered a hiker who had become lost and disoriented. She boarded Ford's Bell 407 and promptly vomited into one of the rescuers' caps (she says it was not Ford's cap), unaware of who the pilot was until much later. In March 2004 Harrison Ford officially became Chairman of the Young Eagles program of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA). Ford was asked to take the position by Greg Anderson, Senior Vice President of the EAA at the time, to replace General Charles "Chuck" Yeager who was vacating the post that he had held for many years. Ford at first was hesitant, but later accepted the offer and has made appearances with the Young Eagles at the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh gathering at Oshkosh, Wisconsin for two years. In July 2005 at the gathering in Oshkosh Ford agreed to accept the position for another two years. Ford has flown over 200 children as part of the Young Eagles program, usually in his De Havilland Beaver, which can seat the actor and five children. Ford is involved with the EAA chapter in Driggs, Idaho, just over the mountains from Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Harrison Ford flies his De Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver (N28S) more than any of his other aircraft, and though he dislikes showing favoritism, he has repeatably stated that he likes this aircraft and the sound of its Pratt & Whitney 985 radial engine. He uses it regularly for impromptu fly-ins at remote airports, and bush strips, as well as gatherings with other Beaver owners and pilots. Ford first encountered the Beaver while filming Six Days Seven Nights, and soon purchased one. Kenmore Air in Kenmore, Washington restored Ford's yellow and green DHC-2 (N28S), a junked former U.S. military Beaver, with updated avionics and an upgraded engine. Trivia
Filmography
Salary history
References
See also
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