Harrison Ford Biography all about Harrison

Harrison Ford Biography

Fast Facts

Harrison Ford was chosen by Empire Magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#15) 1995

He is listed as one of 50 people barred from entering Tibet. Disney clashed with Chinese officials over the film Kundun(1997) which Ford's second wife wrote.

He is a private pilot, single engine fixed wing and helicopter. Owns a Bonanza, Gulfstream IV, DeHavland Beaver and Bell 407 helicopter. He destroyed his first 407 during simulated "engine out" practice. He regularly flies himself between New York City and Wyoming homes. He has a loft in Tribeca, NYC.

Has a scar on his chin which he got trying to "buckle up" while already driving and lost control of the car

Listed in the 2001 Guiness Book of Records as the richest male actor.

Harrison Ford Biography

"We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance"

Harrison Ford

Harrison Ford came into his success a bit later in life than most actors. The Indiana Jones adventurer grew up in the Chicago area, where his dad was an advertising executive, producing TV commercials and sometime radio actor.

He wasn't particularly academically inclined, actually quite a lackluster student at Maine Township High school and later he dropped out of conservative Ripon College in Wisconsin. It wasn't a waste however, since it was while attending Ripon he discovered his love for acting and after dropping out, he carried on with acting in a season of summer stock in Williams Bay, Wisconsin.

n 1964 Harrison headed to Hollywood with his high school sweetheart and new wife, Mary Marquedt to try and make a name for himself. He signed a contract with Colombia, however the stubborn, opinionated actor was fired after only 18 months. He went to Universal and signed on with them right away.

While playing in some forgettable films with both studios, Harrison paid his bills and supported his family with self-taught carpentry work. The important event that next took place in his career was his first collaboration with director with George Lucas in the surprise commercial success 'American Graffiti"....this led to his appearance in 1977 as renegade starship captain Han Solo in Lucas’s intergalactic adventure movie, Star Wars.

The film was the first ever to gross $10 million in its first weekend, and with $300 million in its first year of distribution, it became by far the largest box-office smash in history up until that time. By the time its sequel, The Empire Strikes Back was released in 1980, Ford had expanded his acting range in several other films, including a smaller role in Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now. Return of the Jedi (1983) completed the trilogy of wildly successful Star Wars films, showcasing Ford’s appeal both as an action star and romantic lead.

In 1981 Harrison Ford teamed up with George Lucas again on a Lucas/Spielburg creation...an action adventure with an archeology professor as the unlikely swashbuckling hero who seems to be able to get out of any situation with his sense of humor intact, a lovely lady swinging by his side and the bad guy was wishing he had taken up a different line of work.

Raiders of the Lost Ark was followed by 1984's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and 1989's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.... These action films showed one aspect of Harrison's talent, but films he has done since have demonstrated his ability to play different characters...in 1985, he gave one of his best-received performances—earning an Academy Award nomination—in Witness, as a police detective who must protect an Amish boy who has witnessed a brutal murder.

He departed even further from type, with equal success, in 1988’s corporate romance, Working Girl, also featuring Melanie Griffith, Sigourney Weaver, and Alec Baldwin. Other action, romantic and thrillers he has done include Presumed Innocent(1990), Sabrina(1995), Patriot Games(1992), Clear and Present Danger(1994), The Fugitive(1993), Random Hearts(1999) and more recently What Lies Beneath with Michelle Pfeiffer(2000).

In 2003 Harrison starred in Hollywood Homicide alongside Josh Hartnett, which was also an action flick. What's shall we see next from this successful actor? Reportedly a fourth Indiana Jones movie will be released in 2004, which is something all Harrison Ford fans will be flocking the theatres to see!

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I would like to acknowledge A&E's Biography website for the information gathered above.