Harrison Ford was born on July 13, 1942 in Chicago. When he was growing up he was an active boy scout and earned the rank of Life Scout, which is the second-highest one. In high school he did the first student broadcast on the school’s radio station and also was a sportscaster. In 1960 he graduated and in college he took drama and became interested in acting. He moved to L.A. in 1964 to try to get a job doing voice-overs, but didn’t manage to get it. He signed up for a contract with Columbia Pictures earning $150 a week and he made very small appearances in movies. He also did some TV shows for Universal. Since his career wasn’t really taking off he decided to become a carpenter and became stagehand for The Doors and built a recording studio for Sérgio Mendes.
He eventually was hired to build cabinets at the home of George Lucas, who gave him a supporting role in American Graffiti. Francis Ford Coppola hired him to expand his office and also gave him roles in The Conversation and Apocalypse Now. His big breakthrough came when he was cast as Han Solo in Star Wars and since then he has appeared in a lot of movies including the Indiana Jones series, Blade Runner, Presumed Innocent, Patriot Games and The Fugitive.
I think most can predict who the favorites will be and my choice won’t be a surprise. It’s Indiana Jones.
What’s your favorite Harrison Ford role?
Indiana 🙂
Obviously 🙂
Indy is tops of course but i also love Deckard from Blade Runner. One of his most underrated though is Ally Fox from The Mosquito Coast. Ford was excellent in that film.
Agree with you on this one. When anybody says Harrison Ford is not the best actor, I always recommend “Mosquito Coast” and “Witness”.
Victor, also don’t know about Witness….have to start checking out more of his movies I guess….
Have not seen The Mosquito Coast. What kind of film is that?
It’s a serious drama directed by Peter Weir and Paul Schrader writes the screenplay about an inventor who takes his family to live in a remote village in central america. The character that Ford plays is obsessional and starts to believe that he’s a kind of god-like figure to the villagers. It’s really good man. You should check it out. It also has Helen Mirren and River Phoenix in it.
Raiders of the Lost Ark, Blade Runner, and Star Wars are my favorite movies with him.
Those are the ones I expected to be named most and rightly so!
I didn’t see the character in the photo, but if you can find it “Hanover Street” is a sweet film.
I can’t remember if that’s one I couldn’t find a picture for (there were 2 or 3 I think)
The only reason I know about and have watched that film is a professor of mine at university was the producer.
It’s gotta be Indiana Jones.
My favorite as well Eric.
I’m gonna be the mighty salmon swimming against the current and place a vote for his comedic role in MORNING GLORY. (yes, I love Indy and Han, but if you haven’t seen him in Morning Glory, that is a MUST) haha 🙂
That’s an unexpected choice T! I have to say that I have seen the movie and thought he was funny in it.
Beyond the obvious ones, I loved him in What Lies Beneath. Such a great film!
I remember seeing that while on holiday in the U.S. and liking it quite a bit…
Love Ford in Raiders and Blade Runner (even if I don’t love those films). Very interesting about his abckground as a carpenter and how that lead to roles in movies!
Yeah, I heard about it, but never read up on it to find out if that was true, surprised it was 🙂
Hi, Nostra and company:
Harrison Ford has a Jimmy Stewart, every man thing about him. With a superb ability to do a LOT with a little.
He’ll always be the bellhop James Coburn calls for a message in ‘Dead Heat on A Merry-go-Round’. The quiet, ominous enforcer in ‘The Conversation’ and the clumsy Intelligence Colonel, Lucas in ‘Apocalypse Now’ to me.
And yes, he was great in ‘The Mosquito Coast’ and ‘Witness’.
True, he has done many different type of roles. Nice to hear some different movies mentioned by you 🙂
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