Harrison Ford Almost Lost His Name: Producer Saw No Future for Him in Film

It’s hard to forget those who have misjudged us, and this holds true even for actors.

The year was 1966. Harrison Ford, at age 24, had just played his first screen role as a bellhop delivering a message to James Coburn’s character in the comedy thriller “Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round.” With his hair neatly parted to the side, he presented a clean-cut image. Under a weekly contract with Columbia, he was summoned by a producer who believed Ford had “no future in this business” and added (via Variety):

“Too Pretentious”

“He wanted me to change my name. He thought Harrison Ford was too pretentious for a young man and then asked me to get a haircut like Elvis Presley. I didn’t really follow his advice. Out of the 7 years of my contract, I lasted only a year and a half.”

Ford left after playing the role of a cavalry lieutenant in the 1967 western “A Time for Killing.” He would take on low-key roles on television and after a minor appearance in Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Conversation” (1974), he rose to stardom as Han Solo in “Star Wars” (1977). The rest of his illustrious career, from Rick Deckard to Indiana Jones, and from Jack Ryan to Jacob Dutton, needs no introduction.

Years later, after becoming famous, Ford unexpectedly encountered this early producer: “I ran into him later in a crowded room. He had sent me a card that read: ‘I had misjudged you.’ I scanned the crowd because I couldn’t remember who he was, he nodded and smiled at me. And I recognized him immediately.”