1923 star Harrison Ford is taking on his first lead role in a TV series at the age of 80. As Jacob Dutton — an ancestor of Kevin Costner’s John Dutton from Yellowstone — Ford will star alongside Oscar-winner Helen Mirren, who plays his wife, Cara. But landing a fantastic, highly-coveted role is nothing new for Ford. Over the past 50 years, he’s been the luckiest guy in Hollywood.
‘1923’ star Harrison Ford says he doesn’t play ‘heroes’
Ford made his film debut back in 1966 when he played a bellhop in the film Dead Heat On a Merry-Go-Round. But it wasn’t until 1973’s American Graffiti — when he played big-talking townie Bob Falfa — where had his first dose of luck. That’s when he met casting director Fred Roos and director George Lucas, and this connection would lead to much bigger and better things.
Throughout his career, Ford has played everything from an adventure-seeking archaeologist to the President of the United States. But according to the legendary actor, he doesn’t play heroes.
“I don’t play heroes,” Ford said in 2002, per E! News. “I play guys who behave well under difficult circumstances. I play people who have particular dilemmas and if it comes off as heroic, then it’s a cultural definition of the behavior.”
Harrison Ford might just be the luckiest guy in Hollywood
After meeting Lucas on the set of American Graffiti, Ford didn’t do much acting and went back to working as a carpenter. When Roos hired Ford to build “an elaborate portico entrance” at the offices of Francis Ford Coppola’s American Zoetrope production company, he ran into Lucas again. This is when Roos convinced Lucas to bring Ford in to audition for Han Solo in Star Wars.
“I read with more than 100 actors,” Ford recalled. “The story that I know is that there were two threesomes that they narrowed it down to, and I was in one of them. I had no idea that that was a potential situation. They asked me if I wanted to do it, and I said, ‘Sure, why not?’”
The role of Han Solo made Ford a star, but it was when he played Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark that he became one of the most bankable A-listers in Hollywood. Overall, audiences have spent more than $9.3 billion at the box office to see Ford on the big screen.
“I’ve been enormously lucky,” Ford confessed in 2010. “I just choose roles that I think will be entertaining and will make good films.”
Kevin Costner gave the ‘1923’ star one of his most iconic roles
After Star Wars and Indiana Jones, Ford continued to dominate the box office throughout the 1980s and into the 90s with roles in Blade Runner, Witness, Working Girl, Presumed Innocent, Patriot Games, and Clear and Present Danger. Ford also starred alongside his 1923 co-star Helen Mirren back in 1986 when they played a husband and wife in The Mosquito Coast. In 1997, he played the President in Air Force One — a role that was given to him by Kevin Costner.
“This was a script that Kevin Costner originally had, and he gave it to me,” Ford said, per Looper. “Kevin knew this was a big commercial movie, and his schedule didn’t allow him to do it.”
The Star Wars alum noted that Costner told the film’s producers that he would certainly step away from the role if the part went to Ford. Even though they aren’t close friends, Ford has met Costner many times and he likes him “very much.” He says he likes him even more now because he “really threw a winner” his way.
1923 premieres Sunday, December 18 on Paramount+.
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