Harrison Ford Finally Opens Up

Most people know a good deal about Harrison Ford. His path to becoming an actor was methodical and uneventful: going out for parts, landing small roles. He figured he could be a character actor. "Anyone but the leading man" is how he describes it. A working actor. Getting paid and going home at night. Then there's the famous thing that happened, a story of which there are many versions, but this is the right one: Ford had got a small part in the second feature film by a young director named George Lucas, 1973's American Graffiti. But he had a young family and wasn't making enough to live on, so he worked as a carpenter. "I said I would do it but only at night, when no one was around, because I didn't want to be that guy—I wanted them to think of me as an actor, which I was," Ford says. "First thing in the morning in walked George Lucas to begin the process of meeting people for Star Wars. I was there with my tool belt on, sweeping up, said hello, chatted, and that was it. Later, I was asked by the producer to help them read lines with candidates for all the parts. Don't know whether I read with people who were reading for Han Solo—can't remember. I read with quite a few princesses. But there was no indication or forewarning that I might be considered for this part. It was just a favor. And then of course they offered me the part."

View in Browser  SHOP EXCLUSIVE SUBSCRIBE Harrison Ford Has Stories to Tell Most people know a good deal about Harrison Ford. His path to becoming an actor was methodical and uneventful: going out for parts, landing small roles. He figured he could be a character actor. "Anyone but the leading man" is how he describes it. A working actor. Getting paid and going home at night. Then there's the famous thing that happened, a story of which there are many versions, but this is the right one: Ford had got a small part in the second feature film by a young director named George Lucas, 1973's American Graffiti. But he had a young family and wasn't making enough to live on, so he worked as a carpenter. "I said I would do it but only at night, when no one was around, because I didn't want to be that guy—I wanted them to think of me as an actor, which I was," Ford says. "First thing in the morning in walked George Lucas to begin the process of meeting people for Star Wars. I was there with my tool belt on, sweeping up, said hello, chatted, and that was it. Later, I was asked by the producer to help them read lines with candidates for all the parts. Don't know whether I read with people who were reading for Han Solo—can't remember. I read with quite a few princesses. But there was no indication or forewarning that I might be considered for this part. It was just a favor. And then of course they offered me the part." Read More The Ted Lasso Season Finale Is—Improbably, Miraculously—Perfect In the season (and possibly series) finale, Jason Sudeikis and co. recaptured the magic that made us fall in love with AFC Richmond in the first place. Read More 9 Great Smokeless Fire Pits for More Relaxing Bonfires Your lungs, throat, and eyes will thank you. Read More How to Be a Man—According to Pop Culture Writer Manuel Betancourt is a historicizing critic. He thinks about the context in which something—whether a telenovela or sexy Adidas ad—is created, examining the positionality between the text and himself as a consumer. For him, media isn't a mirror, but something more fluid. He thinks of it as ripples in a pond, or light reflecting off a disco ball. At turns funny and sexy, thirsty for intellectual engagement (and men too), his new book, The Male Gazed: On Hunks, Heartthrobs, and What Pop Culture Taught Me About (Desiring) Men, untangles the simultaneous threads of desire to be a beautiful man, or to be with beautiful men, then unravels the implications of all of it to understand how those threads form the self. Read More Harrison Ford Knows Who Would Win a Fight Between Han Solo and Indiana Jones "Me, asshole." Read More The Dark and Stormy Has the Best—and Most Controversial—Name in Cocktails Technically, there's only one legal way to make one. Chris Moore, Head of Bars at the Ned, shows you how. Read More The Shoe That Officially Made Me a Sneaker Person It takes a lot to sell me on a sneaker. I'm a city person, so a sneaker needs to be sidewalk-friendly; I'm also a fashion person, so a sneaker needs to be…not hideous. It should be versatile enough to go with everything in my wardrobe, from rainy afternoon coffee runs to sunny morning commutes, and it should, above all else, be comfortable. Enter stage left: the Cariuma OCA Lows. I had high hopes for this sneaker (they are, after all, Ashton Kutcher's shoe of choice), and all of them were met (if not exceeded). I wasn't a sneaker person before, but I sure am one now—as long as these are the sneakers in question. Read More Follow Us Unsubscribe | Privacy Notice/Notice at Collection esquire.com ©2023 Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Hearst Magazines, 300 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019