A movie star with an affinity for taking flight, Hollywood star Harrison Ford turns 80. With new films and projects, age doesn't seem to be slowing him down.
Harrison Ford turns 80Image: Sicily1/IPA/picture alliance
Advertisement
Celebrating Harrison Ford's best films
A touch of gray, a few wrinkles — at 80, Harrison Ford is still a heartthrob in front of the camera. Age hasn't mattered as he's taken on numerous new roles.
Image: Getty Images/R. Kim
Ford's first role with George Lucas
In the story of four teenagers at the cusp of adulthood, Harrison Ford played Bob Falfa in "American Graffiti" in 1973. He's a country boy in a Chevy who challenges protagonist John Milner to a car race that ends in a crash. It was Ford's cinematic debut and Lucas's first successful film. Four years later, the two embarked on a film that would change cinematic history forever.
Image: Imago/Cinema Publishers Collection
Big break with 'Star Wars'
In the original "Star Wars" trilogy, Ford played Han Solo, captain of the ultra-fast spaceship "Millennium Falcon." He makes his way through the galaxy as a smuggler until approached by Jedi Knight Obi Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker to assist them in the fight against the evil empire. Ford made movie history with George Lucas in the space saga, with Wookie Chewbacca at his side.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo
Bit part in a legendary film
Now known as a leading man, Ford played a small role in Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece about the Vietnam War, 'Apocalypse Now' (1979). As Colonel Lucas, he sent a group of soldiers to hunt down and eliminate Colonel Kurtz, who has clearly lost the plot. "This mission does not exist. It will never have existed," he told them in the movie that brought the Vietnam War to the public.
Image: Imago/EntertainmentPictures
Defining role: 'Indiana Jones'
After exploring outer space, Ford came back to earth in the "Indiana Jones" series. In his everyday life, Dr. Jones is an archaeology professor. But when he travels, he swaps tweed for a hat and leather vest as he makes his way through jungles and deserts in search of cultural treasures.
Image: Imago/AD
Ridley Scott's flop turned classic
As special policeman Rick Deckard in Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner" (1982), Ford fought his way through dystopia on the hunt for replicants - bio-engineered androids. As the title character, Ford is to eliminate the androids from the earth - which proves difficult after he falls in love with one. A box office flop, the film later became a cult classic. A follow-up is set to debut in October 2017.
Image: mago/AGD
An Amish 'Witness'
On a trip to the city in "Witness" (1985), Amish boy Samuel bears witness to a policeman being killed by a colleague. Detective John Book takes the boy's report and then makes the decision to put him under his protection. Together, Ford hides with the boy and his mother in their Amish community, which has neither electricity nor telephones. The murderer, however, tracks them to the town.
Image: picture-alliance/United Archives/Impress
The tribulations of the rain forest
In 'Mosquito Coast' (1986), family man Allie Fox (Ford) makes the decision to move away from modern life and take his wife and four children to the Honduran rain forest, where he tries to build his own utopia. Life in the wilderness is more difficult than expected - there are guerrillas, missionaries and people who don't have their best interests at heart. Fox begins to disconnect from his family.
Image: Imago/ZUMA Press
On Hitchckock's trail
In Roman Polanski's "Frantic" (1988), American Dr. Walker travels to Paris with this wife, who promptly disappears without a trace. Walker begins the search for her through the city, fighting his way through the bureaucracy, unhelpful police and shady districts - until he realizes he's now caught up in something much bigger. Using Ford, Polanski created great suspense in "Frantic."
Image: imago/AD
Unforgettable thriller
Innocent of his wife's murder, Dr. Kimble is wrongly sentenced to death in "The Fugitive" (1993). So he escapes and attempts to uncover the real killer. On the run, he is hunted by Gerard, a cop played by Tommy Lee Jones - who won an Oscar for his performance. The cat and mouse thriller was highly praised by critics.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Warner
A presidential Ford
In "Air Force One" (1997), Kazakh terrorists take over the presidential plane with US President James Marshall (Ford) on board and demand freedom for some of their compatriots. The action film that takes place at 30,000 feet follows Ford in his attempts to wrest control of the plane back from the terrorists. German director Wolfgang Petersen garnered praise, as did Ford and co-star Gary Oldman.
Even though he played numerous other roles between 1981 and 2008, Harrison Ford returned to his role as the adventure-loving archaeologist Indiana Jones four times. All of the films were created by George Lucas, with Steven Spielberg as director - a well-oiled team.
Image: Imago/AD
Han Solo returns
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" (2015) brought the Star Wars series to the 21st century as it fast forwards to 30 years following the destruction of the Death Star by the rebels. Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Han Solo (Ford) formed a new resistance to evil. Of course, the original protagonists that were integrated in the new film were aged accordingly.
Image: Disney/Lucasfilm
12 images1 | 12
Whether playing Han Solo in "Star Wars," Rick Deckard in "Blade Runner" or "Indiana Jones," Harrison Ford has made a name for himself as one of Hollywood's most successful actors. Of course he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and too many awards to count, including an Oscar nomination.
A late starter in the film industry, Ford trained and worked as a carpenter until he was 30. A husband and father of two, he then started supplementing his income with appearances on television. Those minor roles included bit parts in westerns like "Gunsmoke" and "The Virginian."
Advertisement
Action hero with a crooked grin
Things changed when director George Lucas cast him in a side part in his low-budget production, "American Graffiti," in 1973. The small role was enough to impress Lucas, who brought him on board for his next project: At 35, Ford made his debut as space smuggler Han Solo in the original "Star Wars" in 1977.
That wouldn't remain his only adventure role. Lucas cast the friendly actor with the crooked smile in his "Indiana Jones" films, where Ford travels the world as an archaeologist with a whip and a leather hat, rescuing valuable cultural treasures from the Nazis and other bad guys. Three "Indiana Jones" films were released between 1981 and 1989, with several more following between 1992 and 2008.
Already a Hollywood name, Ford caught the attention of star director Ridley Scott, who picked him for his dark science fiction film "Blade Runner" (1982) — a movie that was underestimated at first, but later became a cult hit.
Harrison Ford starred in the 1982 cult sci-fi classic, "Blade Runner" Image: picture alliance/Mary Evans Picture Library
Ford ages with his roles
Now with a considerable resume under his belt, Ford continues to make movies. In April 2022, just a few months before his 80th birthday, the Hollywood star agreed to his first major TV series role. For the streaming service Apple TV, he will star in the comedy series "Shrinking" alongside Jason Segel.
Director Steven Spielberg, along with George Lucasas producer, have also come up with something sure to please Ford's fans: Professor Dr. Henry Walton, aka "Indiana" Jones will return to the big screen in 2023, complete with a whip and leather hat.
His co-star Mads Mikkelsen recently attested to Harrison Ford's impressive physical fitness: "Harrison is a monster, a very nice monster," Mikkelsen said in an interview with "Hollywood Reporter" in April. On the first day of shooting, a night shoot, they worked until five in the morning, he said. "And then he got on his mountain bike and biked 50 kilometers (31 miles)."
It's yet another time Ford has returned to one of his old roles. In 2015, he returned to "Star Wars" as an older Han Solo. In "Blade Runner 2049," released in 2017, he once again portrayed ex-police officer Rick Deckard alongside Ryan Gosling.
Dream team: Director Steven Spielberg, producer George Lucas and actor Harrison Ford teamed up for four "Indiana Jones" films Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Hollywood star without major scandals
Ford is known for keeping his private life more or less under wraps — although he went through one of Hollywood's most expensive divorces. After 20 years of marriage with his first wife Melissa Mathison, he paid out $72 million in alimony in 2004.
But that's a drop in the pond for Ford, who, according to the 2009 Forbes list, was once Hollywood's best-earning actor with a yearly income of around $57 million.
Now Ford is married to actress Calista Flockhart, who made a name for herself as "Ally McBeal." He has five children and two grandchildren and lives on a ranch in Wyoming.
Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart have been married since 2010Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Passion for planes
Ford's hobby is flying. He collects old airplanes and flies them regularly. But his airborne passion has not been without incident.
In 2015, Ford crashed on a golf course near Los Angeles. He survived, but was severely injured. In February 2017, he landed on a taxiway instead of a runway and came close to a jet airliner. Again in 2020 he had a close call at the Los Angeles Hawthorne Airport when he crossed a runway where another aircraft was landing. He almost lost his pilot's license.
The plane Harrison Ford crash-landed on a golf course in Los Angeles in 2015Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/D. Dovarganes
For years, Ford has been committed to environmental protection, including the struggle against the pollution of the Hudson River. He has advocated for rainforest protection in Indonesia and is on the board of Conservation International, an NGO committed to preserving biodiversity. He also traveled to the World Climate Conference in Madrid in 2019, where he called for action against the climate crisis.
Ford was honored for his environmental commitment by having two living creatures named after him: a Californian spider, the Calponia harrisonfordi, and a Central American ant, the Pheidole harrisonfordi.
This profile was updated for Harrison Ford's 80th birthday.
