Matinee Classics - Harrison Ford Biography & Filmography

Harrison Ford ACTOR

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HARRISON FORD BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Harrison Ford was born on July 13th, 1942 in Chicago, Illinois, to parents, Dorothy and Christopher Ford. He attended high school at Main Township High School in Park Ridge, Illinois. He then went on to study at Ripon college in Wisconsin but dropped out early and decided to pursue a career in acting.

His experience began working summer stock and it was just a matter of time before he relocated to Los Angeles, California in search of work doing radio voice over jobs. He was not hired for any voice over projects but, he did get a couple small television roles on such series as, "Gunsmoke", "Love, American Style" and "Kung Fu". Hollywood began to take notice of him and Universal signed him to a contract. He began with a number of small talking roles on "Ironside" (1967) and "The Virginian" (1962).

Acting was not heading in the direction he had hoped for, therefore he actually left the profession briefly and took up a career in carpentry. When he did decide to return to acting he was finally being offered more substantial roles in such films as, "American Graffiti" (1973) starring Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss, Mackenzie Phillips and Bo Hopkins, "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981) and "Witness" (1985) co-starring Kelly McGillis and Danny Glover for which he earned his first Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations.

Some of his more successful film roles have been in, "Blade Runner" (1982) along with Daryl Hannah and Edward James Olmos, "Presumed Innocent" (1990) also starring Brian Dennehy, Bonnie Bedelia, Paul Winfield, Greta Scaccahi and Raul Julia, "Regarding Henry" (1991) co-starring Annette Bening, "Patriot Games" (1992) co-starring Anne Archer and James Earl Jones, 'The Fugitive" (1993) starring with Tommy Lee Jones and Sela Ward, for which he earned another Golden Globe nomination and "Air Force One" (1997) starring alongside Glenn Close, Dean Stockwell, Gary Oldman, William H. Macy, Xander Berkeley and Paul Guilfoyle.

Harrison Ford is most famous for his role as Han Solo in the original, "Star Wars" trilogy as well as being the main character for the, "Indiana Jones" film series. In 2008 he starred in, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", which became the 2nd highest grossing film world wide for 2008.

Along with his successful career as an actor he also has producing experience on, "Extraordinary Measures" (2010) co-starring Brendan Fraser and Keri Russell and "K-19: The Widowmaker" (2002) starring with Liam Neeson and Peter Sarsgaard. He has also starred in some Japanese commercials for a video game called, "Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception".

Ford has been honored numerous ways throughout his career in the industry such as being chosen by Empire magazine as, "One of the Sexiest Stars in film History" in 1995 and in 1998, People's magazine chose him as, "The Sexiest Man Alive". In 2003 he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contribution to the Motion Picture Industry. In the year 2000, Ford received an AFI Life Achievement Award and in 2006 he was awarded the Jules Spirit of Nature Award for all his work to preserve nature and wildlife.

He has been very involved in conservation work and has been honored by his involvement in a number of ways such as having a Central American ant called, Peidole Harrisonfordi named after him as well as a spider called, Caloponia Harrisonfordi. He continues to sit on the Board of Directors for Conservation International. Ford has also volunteered as a food server providing meals to the homeless.

His more recent film roles have been in, "Morning Glory" (2010), "Cowboys & Aliens" (2011) and soon to release, "Ender's Game" and "42".

Throughout his lifetime he has married a total of three times. His first marriage was in 1964 to Mary Marquardt and they had two children together before this marriage came to an end in 1979. He then married Melissa Mathison in 1983 and they also had two children together before the marriage ended in divorce in 2004. He is currently married to actress, Calista Flockhart whom he wed in 2010 and they have one child. He resides in Jackson Hole, Wyoming on an 800 acre ranch and also owns a residence in Los Angeles, California.