Harrison Ford Biography

Harrison Ford was born in Chicago, Illinois. His mother, Dorothy Ford was a Russian Jew, while his father, Christopher Ford was Irish and Roman Catholic and an advertising executive, producer of TV commercials, and sometime radio actor.

In 1960 he completed his graduation from Maine Township High School in Park Ridge, Illinois. He attended Ripon College in Wisconsin, where he took a drama class in first year.

He married with his college sweetheart Mary Marquardt, and did a season of summer stock in Williams Bay, Wisconsin before heading out to Hollywood in 1964 with his new wife.

Ford became fascinated with acting. He signed a contract with a Columbia Pictures under Columbia's New Talent program, the studio's attempt to make movie stars out of good-looking, unknown young actors and actresses.

In the late 1960's he acted as a bellboy in Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round, he played secondary roles, typically a cowboy, in several films and in such TV series as Gunsmoke, The Virginian, and Ironside.

Harrison was getting discouraged with his roles and his difficulty in providing for his young family, he abandoned acting and taught himself carpentry via books borrowed from the local library.

Harriosn Ford joined to Lucas and starred as Han Solo in the first three Star Wars films and in Raiders of the Lost Ark as Indiana Jones and he became most popular action hero. He also acted in two further movies, and as Jack Ryan in Tom Clancy's Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. He has also starred in Blade Runner, Witness, The Fugitive, and the remake of Sabrina, among others.

In 2001 Ford was listed as the richest actor in the Guinness Book of Records. His reported salary for the 2002 movie K-19: The Widowmaker was over $25,000,000. Despite being arguably the most successful actor of his generation, he has received only one Oscar nomination, for Best Actor for Witness. However, in 2000, he received the Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute.

Harrison Ford's other romance-action films includes Proof of Life (2000) (the Russell Crowe role), the summer-blockbuster The Perfect Storm (2000) (the George Clooney role), and finally, another summer-blockbuster, the war-epic The Patriot (2000) (the Mel Gibson role).

Ford has been married twice. In 1979 he devorced with Mary Marquadt. They had two children Benjamin and Willard. He married again, to Melissa Mathison, in 1983, divorcing in 2003, and had with her another two children, a son, Malcom, and a daughter, Georgia. He is engaged to actress Calista Flockhart.

Ford is a private pilot of both planes and helicopters, and owns an 800 acre ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Harrison Ford had clauses inserted in his movie contracts which permitted him to bring his family with him for location shootings.

He is the current Chairman of the Experimental Aircraft Association's Young Eagle program, taking over after Chuck Yeager retired. Ford also gives of his time and money for environmental causes. He sits on the Board of Directors of Conservation International.