The inspiring and incredible story of how Harrison Ford got his big break in STAR WARS

Harrison Ford he described himself as a “late bloomer” on his journey to mass stardom. At 80, Ford is still one of Hollywood’s most popular and sought-after stars. Over the years she has worked with some of the greatest directors who ever lived, including George Luke, Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, Ridley Scottand more.

Some of the roles he is best known for are Han Solo in Star Wars franchise and Indiana Jones, which is a role he returned to play one last time in the upcoming film Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Star Wars is the film that launched his acting career into a new stratosphere. But the road to that role was long and difficult, and to get there he worked hard doing manual labor as a carpenter.

Ford’s journey into acting began when he enrolled in an acting class in his senior year at Ripon College to help him deal with his shyness. That’s where the acting bug bit him and he decided to pursue that career.

He started getting small “extra” roles in a few films before the head of Columbia’s creative affairs department, Jerry Tokofsky, pushed him to the bottom of the hiring list. There were rumors that he had no “future” in Hollywood, and as you can imagine, it was tough on him. He ended up feeling frustrated with the quality of the roles he was offered, which led him to pursue a fallback job to help support his family. That job was a self-taught professional carpenter.

Ford once said of the job: “Through the carpentry business, I fed my family and began to choose from the roles on offer. I could afford to hang on until something better came along. But I never gave up on my ambition to become an actor. I was frustrated but never felt defeated by my frustration.

It was in the late 60s and early 70s when Ford caught the attention of the Hollywood casting director Fred Roos, and when the two became friends, Roos was always looking to boost Ford’s acting career. It was in 1973 when Ford landed the role of Bob Falfa in George Lucas’ classic film American Graffiti. While the movie was a hit, it didn’t really boost his career.

The film’s producer, Francis Ford Coppola, however, began casting him for small roles in films such as The conversation AND Apocalypse now.

In 1976, when Lucas was casting his next film, Star WarsRoos insisted that Lucas cast Ford as Han Solo, but Lucas initially didn’t want to cast him because he was in American Graffiti, and he didn’t want any repeat casting. So, to help move the ford of the process and get Ford in, the actor was hired to build a door for him in the offices of American Zoetrope, where Lucas had set up the casting. This allowed for the “fortuitous” meeting between Ford and Lucas.

Roos recalls, “Harrison had done a lot of carpentry work for me… He needed money, he had kids, he wasn’t a big movie star yet. The day he was doing it, George was there by accident. He was fortuitous.

Discussing this, Ford said, “I was actually installing a door for Francis Ford Coppola as a favor to his art director, who had built the door but couldn’t find anyone to install it. And I said I’ll do it, but I I’ll just do it at night because I don’t want people walking by when I’m not trying to do the thing. And one morning, he walked in, as I was finishing the door, George came in with Richard Dreyfuss. George came in and it was a surprise, and I thought it was an interview for a new sci-fi movie. Anyway, we just chatted and said hello.”

Ford said in another interview: “George told our agents he wanted new faces, not the same people from American Graffiti. I was there with my tool belt on, sweeping, waving, just chatting. After that, the producer asked me to help them read lines with candidates for all parts. I don’t know if I’ve read with people who were reading for Han Solo, I don’t remember. I have read with quite a few princesses. But there was no indication or notice that I could be considered for this part. It was just a favor. And then of course they offered me the part.

So Roos’ plan worked! Star Wars ended up launching his career, so the long game of patience and hard work worked for Ford. Ford later teased Lucas that he didn’t plan on getting the role in Star Wars since carpentry was his priority at the time. He joked, “No, no, that didn’t happen… I wouldn’t sit around and wait for you.”

Carpentry turned out to be a great thing for Ford and by building doors for famous Hollywood moguls, he managed to find the success as an actor he was looking for. Ford offered his thoughts on success saying, “For me, success is choice and opportunity.”