July 13, 2012. Copyright 2012, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Actor who portrayed big screen adventurer Indiana Jones, Harrison Ford is 70
By Susan Shepherd

LONDON, July 13, Graphic News:  Harrison Ford, master carpenter turned movie star, brought us the screen equivalent of a Boys' Own hero, straight off the pages of the adventure comic which so captivated British schoolboys a hundred years ago. With his trademark Fedora, bullwhip and fearless sense of derring-do, Ford's "Indy" -- the handsome archaeologist with a leather jacket and a wry sense of humour -- was an immediate box office hit in 1981, when the first of the hugely successful Indiana Jones franchise, Raiders of the Lost Ark, was released. The character was the creation of filmmakers George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, who initially disagreed over the casting of Ford in the lead role that was to cement his status as one of the most bankable Hollywood stars of his generation. Lucas felt Chicago-born Ford, who had performed poorly at school and moved to California in his early 20s to try to make his way in the film industry, was too closely associated with the role of space warrior Han Solo in Lucas's ongoing Star Wars series, which had launched to phenomenal popular acclaim in 1977. Ironically, Lucas had been doubtful about Ford's suitability for Solo, too. The actor had been called in merely to feed lines to others, during audition sessions. By the time that process was concluding, and no suitable Solo had been found, Lucas was persuaded by the persistent Ford that he should line up alongside Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher. Lucas capitulated in similar vein over the Jones role when his first choice, Tom Selleck, could not proceed.

Ford's superstardom, as a result of his collaborations with Lucas, belies the false start his career had to endure. Unwilling simply to take any work that came his way, Ford, who nowadays has a private pilot's licence and maintains a ranch in Wyoming, had married his High School sweetheart and, by the late 60s, had two young sons to provide for. Managing only bit parts in TV series such as Ironside and The Virginian, Ford all but abandoned acting and learned the craft of carpentry for a regular income. It was through this trade that he first met Lucas -- while building cabinets at his home -- and the director revived Ford's fortunes by offering him a supporting role in the coming-of-age classic, American Graffiti (1973). Ford went on to work with high-profile directors including Ridley Scott in the cult sci-fi movie Blade Runner (1982), and Peter Weir, in Witness (1985), a tense and beautiful tale set in an Amish community where Ford famously showcased his carpenter's skills in a barn raising scene. He went on to play fictional intelligence officer-turned-politician Jack Ryan in Patriot Games (1992) and its sequels, while his "rom-com" credentials were established opposite Melanie Griffith in the 1988 hit, Working Girl. Ford met his second wife, screenwriter Melissa Mathison, during the making of Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 blockbuster, Apocalypse Now, in which Ford had a minor role. The couple, who divorced -- Mathison being awarded some $85 million, one of the highest-ever settlements -- after nearly 20 years together, have a son and daughter. In 2010, Ford married his girlfriend of eight years, "Ally McBeal" actress Calista Flockhart, who is 22 years his junior. He is adopted father to Flockhart's son, Liam.
/ENDS