With his surprise appearance in December's Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and the release of Call of the Wild later this month, Harrison Ford has been all over movie screens lately. For any fan, it's no surprise that the 77-year-old actor is still working and still drawing an audience.
He's been working in the industry since 1966 and had a life before a career as well. Everyone may have heard the Ford worked as a carpenter before hitting it big in Hollywood, or that he was born and raised in Chicago Illinois. But below are a few more abstract Ford facts you may not have come across before.
Real-Life Hero
Back in 2000, at the beginning of the new millennium, Harrison Ford played a real-life hero by rescuing a stranded hiker near his home in Wyoming. Ford is known not only as an onscreen space pilot but as a real-life aviation enthusiast.
When he flies in the real world it's not only planes either. He didn't fly the Millennium Falcon, but he did fly a helicopter. He found the stranded woman, landed in a nearby meadow, and picked her up.
There's a Chef in the Family
Harrison Ford is the father of five, four sons and one daughter. His eldest child, and son, Ben, was born a few years before his father found any real success in movies. While the eldest Ford did not follow his father into show business, he did take on another competitive industry, that of the restaurateur.
Ben Ford today is a successful restaurateur and chef and works all around the L.A. area.
The Documentary Man
Harrison Ford's filmography is full of blockbusters. His work includes dramas, action films, and even the occasional comedy. Some of his less well-known work surrounds documentaries he has narrated, all concerning subjects that the man himself is passionate about.
The films include Living in the Age of Airplanes, Dalai Lama Awakening, and the new Armstrong, about the life and work of Apollo 11 Astronaut, Neil Armstrong. He also narrated a Verizon commercial during this year's Super Bowl.
He Was The Backup For Indiana Jones
While many have heard the tale that Ford was not the first choice to play Han Solo in Star Wars (he was originally just brought on board to read lines against actors who were actually auditioning) fewer know that he was not supposed to play Indiana Jones either.
Despite the fact that Steven Spielberg wanted very much to cast Ford, George Lucas didn't want to depend on Ford for a third time (after American Graffiti and Star Wars). However, when Tom Selleck was originally cast, he was forced to pull out due to a contract conflict with Magnum P.I. Spielberg and Lucas brought Harrison on only a few weeks before filming started.
Ford for President
In 1997 Ford took on the role of James Marshall, President of the United States in the action film, Air Force One. The movie made over $300 million at the box office and once again certified Ford as a bankable action star.
The film also put Ford on the list of famous movie presidents and, since the film's release, his character James Marshall has always been found at the top of the "Best Movie Presidents" lists.
The One That Got Away
Harrison Ford is never one to give great in-depth interviews. He likes his privacy and is no big fan of the press. What fans have heard is that he has few regrets about his career (even as he often complains about his role as Han Solo).
The one regret he has voiced, however, was turning down the role of CIA agent Bob Barnes in 2005's Syriana. The role eventually went to George Clooney and earned Clooney the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
No Oscar
Harrison Ford has still never won an Oscar in all his years in the film industry. In fact, the megastar has only been nominated once, back in 1986 for his role as Detective John Book in Witness.
He was also nominated for a Golden Globe for the role. The only Golden Globe Ford has received was the Cecil B. Demille Award in 2002. Along with Witness he had also been nominated for his work in Sabrina, The Fugitive, and The Mosquito Coast.
Francis Ford Coppola
While Ford is best known for his work with directors George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, on the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises, he has also worked with super-star director Francis Ford Coppola on two movies, The Conversation (1974) and Apocolypse Now (1979).
He had a small role as an army officer in Apocolypse Now, coming right on the heels of his success in Star Wars. Coppola and Lucas were close friends at the time so, in Apocolypse Now, Ford's officer is actually named, "G. Lucas".
Behind the Camera
Harrison Ford once worked behind the camera, as a cameraman and stagehand for the rock band, The Doors. At the age of 25, he was asked to come on board and help put together a documentary about the band. Ford had met the director, Paul Ferrara, at a party and, when Ferrara realized shooting the band with one camera was not enough, he asked around if anyone else was available to come along as a second cameraman on the project.
Aside from the documentary he also shot The Doors on stage at the Northern California Folk-Rock Festival in San Jose.
Ford the Singer
Ford claims he came to acting late in life, not taking on any dramatic roles until he started as a freshman at Ripon College in Wisconsin. While Ford did not leave the institution with a degree, he did leave it with a musical credit under his belt.
Ford starred in the Bertolt Brecht musical, The Three Penny Opera Mack the Knife, as a criminal who secretly marries Polly Peachum, angering her father, who then uses the rest of the story trying to get Mack the Knife killed. Who knew that Han Solo himself had such a background in musical theater.