Born on July 13, 1942 in Chicago, IL, Ford grew up the son of an advertising executive and homemaker in nearby Park Ridge. He was a quiet, isolated child, picked on by classmates who liked to routinely push him down a steep embankment at school. After surviving Main East High School, where he was president of the Social Science Club and a sportscaster for WMTH, Ford studied philosophy and English at Ripon College in Wisconsin. While looking to boost his sagging grade point average, Ford stumbled upon a drama class, but was surprised to learn that he was required to perform in a play. He went on to appear in several productions, including “The Skin of Our Teeth” and “The Fantasticks.” Unable to maintain passable grades, however, Ford flunked out of Ripon with only a month left to graduate. But he finally had his sights set on the path to becoming an actor. He did local summer stock, performing in productions of “Night of the Iguana” and “Damn Yankees,” then moved to the West Coast in the early-1960s, where he took part in his last play, “John Brown’s Body,” at the Laguna Playhouse.

In 1965, Ford took his first stab at a film career after signing a seven-year contract with Columbia Pictures for $150 per week – a considerably small sum even for the times. He made his feature debut as a hotel bellboy paging James Coburn in “Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round” (1966). But after an executive saw his performance, Ford was told to give up the business. Instead, he moved over to Universal Studios where he earned $250 per week and began guest starring in episodic television while still making the occasional feature appearance in films like the Civil War drama “Journey to Shiloh” (1968). At the time, however, Ford was married to his first wife, Mary, while adjusting to being a father for the first time. Because of a litany of mediocre films and his new responsibilities, Ford left acting to become a carpenter. He first learned the craft out of necessity when trying to fix up a rundown house he bought in the Hollywood Hills, reading several books while getting hold of some tools. Later, a friend recommended Ford’s services to recording engineer, Sergio Mendes, who wanted a $100,000 recording studio in his home. Satisfied with the work, Mendes recommended Ford to several friends.

It was through his carpentry work that Ford was able to resuscitate his acting career, even though he never gave up that ambition. In fact, the stability of his carpentry work allowed Ford to be selective in choosing roles rather than taking anything that came his way. In 1970, he signed with respected manger of up-and-coming actors, Patricia McQueeney, who was forced to contend with Ford’s ever-increasing pickiness. He had already begun to develop a reputation for being surly and grumpy, mainly because he went to auditions and acted as if he did not want to be there. He did, however, receive several offers – some well-paying – but he usually turned them down, much to McQueeney’s dismay. But Ford’s determination not to carve a career out of mediocre roles paid off when he was cast by George Lucas in “American Graffiti” (1973), a seminal coming-of-age film set during the last summer night of 1962, when a group of teens face difficult decisions about the directions of their lives. Ford played an older street racer donned in a white cowboy hat (his suggestion) who manages to lure the girlfriend (Cindy Williams) of a college-bound teen (Ron Howard) struggling with his feelings about leaving home.

With the success of his first major film, both critically and financially, Ford found his career had finally taken a turn for the better. After Francis Ford Coppola, who had produced “American Graffiti,” cast him for a small role in the paranoid thriller, “The Conversation” (1974), Ford made a brief return to television movies, playing an Ohio frontiersman in “James A. Michener’s ‘Dynasty’” (NBC, 1976). But it was his next project that catapulted the still-struggling actor into an international superstar. By the time Ford was cast as Han Solo in “Star Wars,” director George Lucas had auditioned just about every young actor available for the three lead roles. Originally, Lucas was uninterested in Ford playing Han Solo, as he did not want to recycle actors from his previous films; instead asking him to read lines with actors during the audition process – which included helping Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher land their roles. Eventually, Ford won Lucas over with his cheeky read, earning himself the role. But then there was the shoot, the stories of which became Hollywood legend. From Ford’s perspective, Lucas was distant with his actors, barely talking to them except to give terse direction like “faster” or “more intense,” while the dialogue was painful to say out loud. Though at the time everyone working on the film thought it was doomed to fail, “Star Wars” became an instant cultural phenomenon, with Ford’s turn as the irascible smuggler who gets embroiled in an intergalactic struggle being one of the film’s many indelible elements.

Thanks to the international sensation “Star Wars” became during the summer of 1977, Ford had finally reached stardom after a decade and a half of labor. But it would take several more films before he could open a film on his name alone. Meanwhile, he starred in “Force 10 from Navarone” (1978), the unheralded sequel to the blockbuster hit, “The Guns of Navarone” (1961). After a one-scene role as a colonel (whom he named Col. Lucas in honor of his director/friend) who helps brief Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) in “Apocalypse Now” (1979), Ford starred as an American bomber pilot who has an affair with a married British nurse (Lesley-Anne Down) during World War II in “Hanover Street” (1979), perhaps his most forgettable film as a leading actor. After a brief appearance in “More American Graffiti” (1979) and a starring role in the comedy-western “The Frisco Kid” (1979), Ford returned to play Han Solo in “The Empire Strikes Back” (1980), widely considered to be the best of the original three-part series. Though the focus was primarily on Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) becoming a Jedi knight, Han Solo struggles with Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) to escape from the Empire, which hunts them down to the ethereal Cloud City where Solo is tracked by the bounty hunter Boba Fett, frozen in carbonite and used as a trap to lure Skywalker to Darth Vader (David Prowse/James Earl Jones).

During the production, Ford was dissatisfied with Han telling Leia he “loved her, too” before he was put into hibernation, feeling that the response was out of character. Director Irvin Kershner agreed and allowed Ford to improvise a take, in which he responded to Leia’s “I love you” with “I know.” Though initially infuriated with the change, Lucas used the take in the finished product, allowing for one of the series’ few truly emotionally connective moments – and one of Ford’s first invaluable off-the-cuff contributions to his projects which would resound w/ viewers. Unlike the first “Star Wars,” the sequel was expected to dominate the box office, which it did to the tune of over $200 million. Meanwhile, Ford was firmly in command of his international stardom, though it came as part of an ensemble cast, along with Hamill and Fisher. But that problem was alleviated with his next film, “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” one of the most successful and beloved films of all time; as well as a nod and wink to 1930s action serials beloved by producer Lucas and director Steven Spielberg as young boys. Ford played Indiana Jones, a hard-scrabble, but all-too-human archeologist who hunts for the fabled Arc of the Covenant with the help of his old flame, Marion (Karen Allen), and old friend, Sallah (John Rhys Davies). Once again, Ford was not the first pick to play Indiana Jones. Lucas wanted Tom Selleck, but could not get the television star because of his contractual agreement with “Magnum P.I.” (CBS, 1980-88). Eventually, Lucas caved, despite not wanting to have a Martin Scorsese-Robert De Niro-type relationship with Ford. But, in the end, Lucas knew he was the right actor for the role.

“Raiders of the Lost Ark” was a grueling shoot – Ford suffered a torn knee ligament when an airplane wheel ran over him during the famous airstrip fistfight. But instead of submitting himself to local doctors, Ford wrapped his knee in ice and soldiered on. Meanwhile, Ford and everyone else on the crew got sick from the local Tunisian cuisine. Though ravaged with dysentery, Ford continued shooting, which actually served to the film’s advantage. In an elaborate fight scene in an outdoor market, Ford was scheduled to battle a swordsman, but was unable to continue. So instead, he suggested to director Spielberg that he simply draw his gun and shoot him. Another of Ford’s brilliant ideas, the scene was kept and turned into one of the most memorable (and hilarious) onscreen moments in the film. Upon its release, “Raiders” was an enormous financial and critical success, becoming the highest-grossing film of the year, while it earned eight Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Picture. Single-handedly bring back fedora hat sales for men, Ford was instantly propelled to superstar status and had easily created his most indelible character since Han Solo.

For his next film, “Blade Runner,” Ford starred in what became one of the most popular and revered science fiction films ever made. It was also one of the worst production experiences of his career. Ford played Rick Deckard, a down-and-out ex-detective brought out of retirement to hunt down and kill a group of human androids – or replicants – who have escaped a mining company and taken refuge in the dystopian world of Los Angeles, circa 2019. As he discovers disturbing secrets about Tyrell Corporation, the company that manufactures the replicants, Deckard finds himself falling in love with an android, Rachael (Sean Young), but is unaware of her true nature. Behind the scenes, director Ridley Scott caused considerab