With seven of his films having been inducted into the National Film Registry, the organization for preserving movies it feels are of the very highest regard, Harrison Ford must be a truly great actor.
That septet was all released within nine years of each other, which shows the run of hits he was helping to churn out in the 1970s and 1980s. The projects in question were American Graffiti, The Conversation, Star Wars, Apocalypse Now, The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Blade Runner.
In addition, Ford starred in six films which were voted for the Best Picture Academy Award – Star Wars, Apocalypse Now, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Witness, Working Girl and The Fugitive.
His most famous recurring roles are Han Solo, Indiana Jones and Jack Ryan, but his turn as John Book in Witness and as Dr. Richard Kimble in The Fugitive gave him his nominations for an Oscar and Golden Globe.
But with the realm of the blockbusters failing to leave his side, even at the age of 77, his current swathe of moviemaking is still intriguing.
In 2019, he did his first animated voiceover role for The Secret Life of Pets 2, and his new film for 2020 is as the role of John Thornton in director Chris Sanders’s adaptation of the Jack London novel The Call of the Wild.
In that, he stars alongside Karen Gillan in exploring the opportunities and dangers of the great outdoors. It’s an environment not alien to the Chicago-born actor. He has a house near the Teton Mountain range in the Rockies, east of the Idaho state line.
The switch back to outward bound fodder sets Ford up perfectly for his reprisal of adventurous archaeologist Indiana Jones in 2021, proving beyond doubt that in the modern, open-minded, politically correct version of Hollywood that evolves more with every new premiere, ambition comes before age.
STRIPLV: You’ve never been someone who takes the industry too seriously. FORD: I think a lot of that is to do with the fact I’ve always taken a lot of time out and away from movies. I don’t feel I need to keep feeding this thing, and it certainly isn’t the one thing that fuels me and gives me my purpose. In the 70s and 80s, I stepped it up a bit, sure, but there’s been a lot of other stuff I’ve wanted to take care of outside of film, so I’ve built a life around that too. STRIPLV: Like what? FORD: I think environmental matters are really at the forefront now and have been for a while. I’m old, but it’s refreshing to see a new breed of young people coming through with a genuine voice, and the ability to raise genuine concerns about the world out there and the change they feel we should be making. Twenty, maybe even 10 years ago, there wasn’t a strength of a movement. I think there is now and that’s good to see. It’s reassuring that the power to change doesn’t just come from movie stars or pop stars or politicians, it’s from real people living real lives, and that fills me with a lot of optimism. STRIPLV: How did you get into acting, and what happened with you dropping out of college? FORD: In college, I was studying English and philosophy as a major, but things weren’t turning out exactly as I wanted to or as I expected, and my performance was dipping, and I just had to get out of there. But how was I going to get out of there, and what would I do? Well, I put myself down to start in a drama class and thought that would be the next best step to take in my life. However, that didn’t begin massively great, either. You see, like Indiana Jones, I did have a fear, not snakes, but stage-fright. I think it was more down to the fact that I have never demonstrated or even practiced anything to do with acting, speaking, or stood up in front of people. But I was determined, and I found a way through that. Just as well. My parents weren’t hugely happy with my decision and even less so with that fact that I was kicked out of college just a matter of days before graduation, which I admit, wasn’t the greatest thing. My first lines in any film, for which I was an uncredited bellhop boy, by the way, were: “Paging Mr. Ellis, paging Mr. Ellis, Mr. Ellis.” I walked around a hotel looking for this Bob, or Robert Ellis and it was James Coburn, who is the conman in the movie Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round. STRIPLV: But your career didn’t just take off, did it? You were forced to wait for more prominent roles. How was that? FORD: That’s right, I worked as a master carpenter, and, after that first film, I was called into an office by a guy who was just about older than me, called me “boy,” and he told me that I wasn’t Tony Curtis. I told him I knew that. But he didn’t like that. He then went on to say that Tony Curtis was a movie star from his first-ever role as a grocery delivery boy in a movie, and I had a smart comment to him that he was a grocery delivery boy. I naturally got told to get out. (Laughs) I did work around Hollywood as a carpenter and thought that was what I was always going to be. Sergio Mendes asked me to do work on his recording studio, and it cost $100,000. But what was funny is that it was pretty much the very first time I had done a job of that size, and I was working from a book on how to get it right, which thankfully, I did. STRIPLV: You’ve often stated how you have a solid work ethic and take great pride in getting things done right. Where does that come from? FORD: I grew up in the Midwest (Chicago) in an era when hard work was something that was ingrained in your upbringing. My ancestors were all farmers. I lived in a big city because my father was working at an advertising agency. My first job as a kid was cleaning snow off sidewalks and driveways. I must have been eight or nine years old. And then I learned to mow the lawn. I did all these things to earn myself some extra spending money, which I usually spent on chocolate bars and candy. But the idea of learning to work when you are young and maintaining specific job responsibilities while you grow up is something very typical of the Midwest, and it is something that has stayed with me my entire life. STRIPLV: In a long and varied film career, in 2019, you found yourself doing a voiceover for an animated feature film for the first time in your life in your 70s. How did that feel? FORD: It was great. I enjoyed it, and I think that’s because it was the first time that I had a chance to work in something animated. When you get to my age, you always want to know that there’s something new around the corner. That’s important. I think the older you get, and unless you know the challenge is there, it’s easy to start slipping into a situation where you live in the present or the past. The secret to life and staying happy is always to be looking at the future. STRIPLV: Call of the Wild is undoubtedly a film full of ambition and experience. FORD: There’s so much wrapped up in it that I had to take it. You’ve got the gold rush, a great story about a man and his dog; you have a survival, escape-type theme, and for me the chance to perform all my stunts going down the rapids. (Laughs) Joking aside, it was a great movie to do. It is a movie of hope, and I do believe that’s what we all need right now. STRIPLV: It does feel like a sort of prelude to Indiana Jones as well. FORD: If it does, that’s unintentional. I think people will quickly realize Indiana Jones is a bit older than the last time they saw him, and that won’t need a long intro. When Sean Connery came in to do The Last Crusade, I remember thinking this was the only time Indiana would really be looking at someone of that age and working that into the whole thing. That was a nice angle we took, and it was very original to step up a generation like that. I now turn around, and that older generation is back again, except this time it’s me! STRIPLV: I think Sean was 70 when he did that movie, you are now 77. Does that worry you? FORD: I’m too old to worry, and so is Sean.