Ford's No Ferrari

Aug 9 1992
The People
by Frank Sanello

Harrison Ford is a fish out of water in Hollywood and that's just the way he likes it...

Harrison Ford's new blockbuster Patriot Games is about Northern Irish terrorism, and he's the first to admit a personal connection. "My grandmother took the gold out of her teeth to send to the IRA,'' he said.

"That was a long time ago. That was her history. It's not mine. I don't know what the solution to the problems between Britain and Ireland are. I don't want to make some glib pronouncement.''

Patriot Games has Ford rescuing the cousin of the Queen from an Irish terrorist, then finding the terrorist's fury directed back at him and his family. The characters of Charles and Di have walk-on parts and the movie is certain to arouse controversy.

In contrast Harrison Ford is a quiet, almost timid-seeming man. His complexion is darkly tanned and flawless, with scarcely a wrinkle, despite the fact that he turns 50 this year.

A former carpenter, he has starred in six of the 10 highest grossing films in history. And to cap it all, his beautiful wife, Melissa Mathison, is the author of the No 1 grossing film of all time, ET. They live with their four children on an idyllic 800-acre ranch in the wilds of Wyoming, getting by on the $12 million that Harrison earns each time he makes a picture.

Besides starring in blockbusters like the Star Wars and Indiana Jones trilogies, Ford has also earned respect as a serious actor in dramas like Presumed Innocent, Witness - which won him an Oscar nomination - and Regarding Henry.

Yet, in Hollywood, he is a fish out of water. At the post-premiere party for Working Girl, well-wishers and paparazzi swarmed around his co-star Melanie Griffith and her husband, Don Johnson, while Ford made his way through the crowd virtually unnoticed. And that's the way he likes it.

"I cringe when somebody calls me a superstar,'' he admitted. "Somebody once said that no matter what I accomplish, the collar around my neck will always be blue. And it's true. When I look in the mirror, I don't see the highest grossing movie star of all time... I see his idiot twin.''

Typically, Ford is even more modest about his acting skills. "I always ask myself 'I wonder if I'm going to be able to act today.' You know, there are days when you can't act your way out of a paper bag. It happens to everybody. It's the same with tennis. I play a lot and some days I just can't make connections on the court. My timing is just awful.

"Whether it's tennis or acting, those days kill you. They just take the wind out of your sails. On those days I'm no Ferrari. I'm more like a moped.''

As to the stunts in his adventure films, he said: "I don't do anything dangerous. I DO do stuff that makes me sweaty and dirty and I did injure a disc in my back. I have hurt myself a couple of times.''

He is a committed home-body, largely because he cannot forget that success broke up his first marriage in 1979. He married second wife Melissa in 1983. They met when she showed up to interview him for a magazine.

"Melissa is from California,'' he said. "She's tall, blonde, athletic. Not glamorous. She's very much at home on our ranch in Wyoming. She has infinite patience when it comes to her work.''

His two adult sons live in houses on his Wyoming property and he's saving two more lots for his younger kids when they grow up. Other than those structures, he has donated his land to a wildlife trust and promises not to develop the property further.

He is forever telling carpenters working on his home how to do their job. "Sometimes they accept what I'm saying and sometimes they think I'm nuts. And sometimes I AM nuts... I think.''

Amazingly, he now admits he doesn't like his Star Wars movies. And he added: "My five-year-old son Malcolm is a big Indiana Jones buff but I don't think that has anything to do with me. In fact, he was once flipping through the TV channel and Indiana Jones came on. Somebody in the room asked my son: 'Who is that?' And he said: 'That's my other daddy.'''

He enjoyed the Indiana Jones roles though: "Those films are fun to make - in spite of all the insects and rodents.''

Despite his lukewarm attitude to the Star Wars movies, the last word goes to his co-star, Carrie Fisher, who first took notice of him when she saw his audition video for those films. "I knew immediately he would be a big star, like Bogart or Tracey,'' she said. "He's an incredibly attractive male animal, this carpenter stud.''

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