Look up third or 3rd in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Third may refer to:

• 3 (number), such as the 3rd of something -see also Ordinal number (linguistics)
• Fraction (mathematics), such as 1/3
• 1/60 of a second, or 1/3,600 of a minute^{[citation needed]}
• Third World, economically underdeveloped nations
• Third-class degree, type of British undergraduate degree classification

In music theory[link]

• major third
• neutral third
• minor third
• augmented third/perfect fourth
• diminished third/major second

• Third (chord), chord member a third above the root
• Mediant, third degree of the diatonic scale
• Submediant, sixth degree of the diatonic scale--three steps below the tonic
• Chromatic mediant, chromatic relationship by thirds
• Ladder of thirds

In fiction and entertainment[link]

• 3 (Movie) is a 2012 Tamil Movie directed by Aishwarya R. Dhanush
• Third (play), 2005 work by Wendy Wasserstein
• Third/Sister Lovers, 1974 album by Big Star
• Third (Soft Machine album), 1970 album
• Third (Portishead album), 2008 album
• "3rd" (single), 1996 single by rock band The Rasmus
• Thirds, term used to refer to a third child permitted only by a special sanction of the government, in the 1985 novel Ender's Game

See also[link]

• 1/3
• The Third (disambiguation)
• Third party (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Soft Machine were an English rock band from Canterbury, named after the book The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs. They were one of the central bands in the Canterbury scene, and helped pioneer the progressive rock genre. Though they achieved little commercial success, they are considered by Allmusic to be "one of the more influential bands of their era, and certainly one of the most influential underground ones."

History[link]

Beginnings, Psychedelic, Jazz fusion[link]

Soft Machine (billed as The Soft Machine up to 1969) were formed in mid-1966 by Robert Wyatt (drums, vocals), Kevin Ayers (bass, guitar, vocals), Daevid Allen (guitar) and Mike Ratledge (organ) plus, for the first few gigs only, American guitarist Larry Nowlin.^[1] Allen, Wyatt and future bassist Hugh Hopper had first played together in the Daevid Allen Trio in 1963, occasionally accompanied by Ratledge. Wyatt, Ayers and Hopper had been founding members of the Wilde Flowers, later incarnations of which would include future members of another Canterbury band, Caravan.

This first Soft Machine line-up became involved in the early UK underground, featuring prominently at the UFO Club, and subsequently other London clubs like the Speakeasy and Middle Earth, and recorded the group's first single 'Love Makes Sweet Music', as well as some demo sessions that were released several years later. They also played in the Netherlands, Germany and on the French Riviera. During July and August 1967, the promoter and manager Giorgio Gomelsky booked shows all along the Côte d'Azur with the band's most notorious early gig taking place in the village square of Saint-Tropez. This led to an invitation to perform at producer Eddie Barclay's trendy "Nuit Psychédélique^(fr)", performing a forty minute rendition of "We Did It Again", singing the refrain over and over, achieving a Zen-like quality. This made them instant darlings of the Parisian "in" crowd, resulting in invitations to appear on leading television shows and at the Paris Biennale in October 1967. Upon their return from their sojourn in France, Allen (an Australian) was denied re-entry to the United Kingdom, so the group continued as a trio, while he returned to Paris to form Gong.

Sharing the same management team as Jimi Hendrix, the band were rewarded with a support slot on the Jimi Hendrix Experience's North America tour throughout 1968.^[1] Soft Machine's first album - a psychedelic rock/proto-prog classic - was recorded in New York in April at the end of the first leg. Back in London, eventually guitarist Andy Summers, later of The Police, joined the group, fresh from his stint with Dantalian's Chariot (previously Zoot Money's Big Roll Band). After a few weeks of rehearsals, the new quartet began a tour of the USA with some solo shows before reuniting with Hendrix for a final string of dates in August–September 1968. Summers, however, had in the meantime been fired at the insistence of Ayers.^[2] Ayers departed amicably after the final date at the Hollywood Bowl, and for the remainder of 1968 Soft Machine were no more. Wyatt stayed in the US to record solo demos, while Ratledge returned to London and began composing in earnest.

In January 1969, in order to fulfil contractual obligations, Soft Machine reformed with former road manager and composer Hugh Hopper on bass added to Wyatt and Ratledge, and set about recording their second album, Volume Two, which launched a transition towards a purely instrumental sound resembling what would be later called jazz fusion. In May 1969, this lineup acted as the uncredited backup band on two tracks of Syd Barrett's solo debut album, The Madcap Laughs. The base trio was late in 1969 expanded to a septet with the addition of four horn players, though only saxophonist Elton Dean remained beyond a few months, the resulting Soft Machine quartet (Wyatt, Hopper, Ratledge and Dean) running through Third (1970) and Fourth (1971), with various guests, mostly jazz players (Lyn Dobson, Nick Evans, Mark Charig, Jimmy Hastings, Roy Babbington, Rab Spall). Fourth was the first of their fully instrumental albums, and the last one featuring Wyatt.

Their propensity for building extended suites from regular sized compositions, both live and in the studio (already in the Ayers suite in their first album), reaches its maximum in the 1970 album Third, unusual for its time in each of the four sides featuring one suite. Third was also unusual for remaining in print for more than ten years in the United States, and is the best-selling Soft Machine recording.^[3]

This period saw them gaining unprecedented acclaim across Europe, and they made history by becoming the first 'rock band' invited to play at London's Proms in August 1970, a show which was broadcast live and later appeared as a live album.

Post-Wyatt era[link]

After differences over the group's musical direction, Wyatt left (or was fired from^[4]) the band in 1971 and formed Matching Mole (a pun on machine molle French for soft machine). He was briefly replaced by Australian drummer Phil Howard, but further musical disagreements led to Howard's dismissal after the 1971 recording of the first LP side of Fifth (1972) and, some months later, to Dean's departure. They were replaced respectively by John Marshall (drums) and, for the recording of Six (1973), Karl Jenkins (reeds, keyboards), both former members of Ian Carr's Nucleus, and The Softs' sound developed even more towards jazz fusion.

In 1973, after Six, Hopper left and was replaced by Roy Babbington, another former Nucleus member, who had already contributed with double bass on Fourth and Fifth and took up (6-string) electric bass successfully. This new quartet of Babbington, Jenkins, Marshall and Ratledge recorded the next (and last) three official Soft Machine studio releases. After they released Seven (1973) without additional musicians, the band switched record labels from Columbia to Harvest. On their 1975 album Bundles, a significant musical change occurred with fusion guitarist Allan Holdsworth adding guitar as a very prominent melody instrument to the band's sound, sometimes reminiscent of John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra, setting the album apart from previous Soft Machine releases, which had rarely featured guitars. On the last official studio album Softs (1976), he was replaced by John Etheridge. Ratledge, the last remaining original member of the band, had left during the early stages of recording. Other musicians in the band during the later period were bassists Percy Jones (of Brand X) and Steve Cook,^[5] saxophonists Alan Wakeman and Ray Warleigh, and violinist Ric Sanders. Their 1977 performances and record (titled Alive and Well, ironically) were among the last for Soft Machine as a working band. The Soft Machine name was used for the 1981 record Land of Cockayne (with Jack Bruce and, again, Allan Holdsworth, plus Ray Warleigh and Dick Morrissey on saxes and John Taylor on electric piano), and for a final series of dates at London's Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in the summer of 1984, featuring Jenkins and Marshall leading an ad hoc lineup of Etheridge, Warleigh, pianist Dave MacRae and bassist Paul Carmichael.

Legacy[link]

In Soft Machine's Allmusic biography, authors Dave Lynch and Richie Unterberger wrote:

"Soft Machine were never a commercial enterprise and indeed still remain unknown even to many listeners who came of age during the late '60s and early ‘70s, when the group was at its peak. In their own way, however, they were one of the more influential bands of their era, and certainly one of the most influential underground ones. One of the original British psychedelic groups, they were also instrumental in the birth of both progressive rock and jazz-rock. They were also the central foundation of the family tree of the "Canterbury Scene" of British progressive rock acts, a movement that also included Caravan, Gong, Matching Mole, Hatfield and the North, and National Health, not to mention the distinguished pop music careers of founding members Robert Wyatt and Kevin Ayers and the jazz and jazz-rock explorations of saxophonist Elton Dean and bassist Hugh Hopper."

Since 1988, a wealth of live recordings of Soft Machine have been issued on CD, with recording quality ranging from poor to excellent.

In 2002, four former Soft Machine members - Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, John Marshall and Allan Holdsworth - toured and recorded under the name Soft Works^[6] (initially called Soft Ware, debuting at the 2002 Progman Cometh Festival).

From late 2004 onwards, with John Etheridge replacing Holdsworth, they toured and recorded as Soft Machine Legacy.^[7] They released three albums: Live in Zaandam^[8] (2005), the studio album Soft Machine Legacy^[9] (2006) and Live at the New Morning^[10] (2006). Although Elton Dean died in February 2006, the band has continued with British saxophonist and flautist Theo Travis (formerly of Gong and The Tangent).

In December 2006, the new line-up recorded the album Steam^[11][12][13] in Jon Hiseman's studio, released by Moonjune Records in August 2007 before a European tour in autumn.

In 2008 Hopper was sidelined by leukemia and the band continued live performances with Fred Baker. Following Hopper's death in 2009, the band announced that it would continue with Babbington once again stepping into the role formerly held by Hopper.^[14]

Influence[link]

The hip hop duo Reflection Eternal was inspired by Seven and they took samples from "Carol Ann" for the song "Memories Live" on their album Train of Thought^[15].

Awards[link]

The album on which Jenkins first played with Soft Machine, Six, won first place in the Melody Maker British Jazz Album of the Year award in 1973. Soft Machine was voted best small group in the Melody Maker jazz poll of 1974.

Biography[link]

Graham Bennett's Soft Machine biography, Soft Machine: Out-Bloody-Rageous,^[16] was published in September 2005. In 2006 the book won an Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research from the Association for Recorded Sound Collections.

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

• The Soft Machine (ABC/Probe, 1968)
• Volume Two (ABC/Probe, 1969)
• Third (CBS, 1970)
• Fourth (CBS, 1971)
• Fifth (CBS, 1972)
• Six (CBS, 1973)
• Seven (CBS, 1973)
• Bundles (Harvest, 1975)
• Softs (Harvest, 1976)
• Rubber Riff (library music originally recorded for DeWolfe music in 1976 under Karl Jenkins' name - re-issued on CD as a Soft Machine title by Blueprint, 1994)^[17]
• Alive & Well: Recorded in Paris (Harvest, 1978)
• Land of Cockayne (EMI, 1981)

Live albums and compilations[link]

• Rock Generation Vol. 7 (one side only, 1967 demo recordings) (BYG, 1972)
• Rock Generation Vol. 8 (one side only, 1967 demo recordings) (BYG, 1972) - This and the preceding entry were combined on subsequent releases, under such titles as Jet Propelled Photographs or Faces & Places Vol.7 (BYG Records). A 1976 release on Charly records was entitled At the Beginning.
• Triple Echo (3 record compilation, 1967–1976) (Harvest, 1977) - Notable for containing both the rare big-band arrangement of Esther's Nose Job and the completely reworked "here at the BBC" version of the Moon in June lyrics.
• Live at the Proms 1970 (Reckless, 1988)
• Turns On Paradiso (Amazing Discs, 1988) (recordings of 1969 - bootleg?)
• The Untouchable (compilation from Bundles, Softs, and Alive and Well) (Castle Communications, 1990)
• The Peel Sessions (recorded 1969-1971) (Strange Fruit, 1990)
• BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert 1971 (Windsong, 1993; also issued as Soft Machine & Heavy Friends by Hux, 2005)
• BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert 1972 (Windsong, 1994; also issued as Softstage by Hux, 2005)
• Live at the Paradiso 1969 (Voiceprint, 1995)
• Live in France (recorded 1972; also issued as Live in Paris by Cuneiform, 2004) (One Way, 1995)
• Spaced (recorded 1969) (Cuneiform, 1996)
• Virtually (recorded by Radio Bremen 1971) (Cuneiform, 1998)^[18]
• Noisette (recorded 1970) (Cuneiform, 2000)
• Backwards (recorded 1968-1970) (Cuneiform, 2002)
• Facelift (recorded 1970) (Voiceprint, 2002)
• BBC Radio 1967-1971 (Hux, 2003)
• BBC Radio 1971-1974 (Hux, 2003)
• Somewhere In Soho (recorded 1970) (Voiceprint, 2004)
• Breda Reactor (recorded 1970) (Voiceprint, 2005)
• Out-Bloody-Rageous (compilation, 1967–1973) (Sony, 2005)
• Orange Skin Food (2 cd compilation of released live recordings) (Membran/EagleRock, 2005)
• British Tour'75 (Major League, 2005)
• Floating World Live (recorded 1975) (MoonJune Records, 2006)
• Grides (CD/DVD Recorded 1970) (Cuneiform Records, 2006)
• Middle Earth Masters (CD Recorded 1967) (Cuneiform Records, 2006)
• Drop (with Phil Howard, recorded 1971) (MoonJune Records, 2008)^[19]
• Live at Henie Onstad Art Centre (recorded 1971) (Reel Recordings, 2009)^[20]
• NDR Jazz Workshop (Hamburg, Germany, May 17, 1973) (Cuneiform Records,^[21] 2010)
• At The Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club (vinyl re-release of Somewhere In Soho - 2lp)(2011) (Lilith Records)

Singles[link]

• "Love Makes Sweet Music" / "Feelin' Reelin' Squeelin'" (Polydor UK, 1967)
• "Joy of a Toy" / "Why Are We Sleeping?" (ABC Probe USA, 1968)
• "Soft Space (part 1)" / "Soft Space (part 2)" (Harvest UK, 1977)

Line-ups timeline[link]

<timeline>

1. header

ImageSize = width:800 height:500 PlotArea = left:90 right:15 bottom:85 top:10 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/07/1966 till:31/12/1978 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy

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 id:gvoc        value:rgb(0.9,1,0.3)
 id:git         value:rgb(1,1,0.3)
 id:bass        value:rgb(0.6,0.6,1)
 id:sax         value:rgb(1,0.5,0.5)
 id:flsx        value:rgb(1,0.5,0.5)
 id:cornet      value:rgb(1,0.5,0.5)
 id:tb          value:rgb(1,0.5,0.5)
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 id:lgray       value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.9)
 id:mgray       value:rgb(0.8,0.8,0.8)
 id:alben       value:rgb(0,0.4,0.1)

ScaleMajor = gridcolor:mgray unit:year increment:1 start:01/01/1967 ScaleMinor = unit:month increment:3 start:01/07/1966 BackgroundColors = bars:lgray

BarData =

 bar:RobertWyatt     text:Robert Wyatt
 bar:MikeRatledge    text:Mike Ratledge
 bar:KevinAyers      text:Kevin Ayers
 bar:DaevidAllen     text:Daevid Allen
 bar:LarryNolan      text:Larry Nowlin
 bar:AndySummers     text:Andy Summers
 bar:HughHopper      text:Hugh Hopper
 bar:BrianHopper     text:Brian Hopper
 bar:LynDobson       text:Lyn Dobson
 bar:EltonDean       text:Elton Dean
 bar:MarcCharig      text:Marc Charig
 bar:NickEvans       text:Nick Evans
 bar:PhilHoward      text:Phil Howard     
 bar:JohnMarshall    text:John Marshall    
 bar:KarlJenkins     text:Karl Jenkins     
 bar:RoyBabbington   text:Roy Babbington   
 bar:AlanHoldsworth  text:Alan Holdsworth  
 bar:JohnEtheridge   text:John Etheridge   
 bar:AlanWakeman     text:Alan Wakeman     
 bar:CarolBarrat     text:Carol Barratt     
 bar:RicSanders      text:Ric Sanders      
 bar:PercyJones      text:Percy Jones
 bar:SteveCook       text:Steve Cook 

1. regular albums

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 text:The Soft Machine      

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 text:Volume Two

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 text:Alive & Well

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 bar:RobertWyatt
 from: 15/08/1966  till: 15/03/1970    text:drums,voc color:dsvc mark:(line,white)
 from: 15/03/1970  till: 15/09/1971    text:drums color:ds mark:(line,white)

 bar:MikeRatledge
 from: 15/08/1966  till: 15/01/1976    text:keybd color:kbd mark:(line,white)

 bar:KevinAyers
 from: 15/08/1966  till: 15/09/1968    text:bass,voc color:bvoc mark:(line,white)

 bar:DaevidAllen
 from: 15/08/1966  till: 15/08/1967    shift:(4,-4) text:guitar,voc color:gvoc mark:(line,white)

 bar:LarryNolan #genaue Zeit der Mitarbeit nicht dokumentiert "only a few early gigs"
 from: 15/08/1966  till: 15/12/1966    shift:(32,-4) text:guitar color:git mark:(line,white) 

 bar:AndySummers
 from: 15/07/1968  till: 15/09/1968    shift:(32,-4) text:guitar color:git mark:(line,white)

 bar:HughHopper
 from: 15/12/1968  till: 15/05/1973    text:bass color:bass mark:(line,white)

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 from: 15/12/1968  till: 15/10/1969    text:sax color:sax mark:(line,white)

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 bar:EltonDean
 from: 15/10/1969  till: 15/05/1972    text:sax color:sax mark:(line,white)

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 bar:NickEvans
 from: 15/10/1969  till: 15/12/1969    shift:(33,-4) text:trombone color:tb mark:(line,white)
 
 bar:PhilHoward    # nur "Fifth"/Side1
 from: 15/09/1971  till: 15/01/1972    shift:(33,-4) text:drums color:ds mark:(line,white)

 bar:JohnMarshall  # ab "Fifth"/Side2
 from: 15/02/1972  till: 15/12/1978    text:drums color:ds mark:(line,white)

 bar:KarlJenkins
 from: 15/07/1972  till: 15/01/1976    text:oboe,sax,keybd color:obsxkbd mark:(line,white)
 from: 15/01/1976  till: 15/12/1978    text:keybd color:kbd mark:(line,white) 

 bar:RoyBabbington
 from: 15/05/1973  till: 15/07/1976    text:bass color:bass mark:(line,white)

 bar:AlanHoldsworth
 from: 15/11/1973  till: 15/03/1975    text:guitar color:git mark:(line,white)

 bar:JohnEtheridge
 from: 15/03/1975  till: 15/12/1978    text:guitar color:git mark:(line,white)

 bar:AlanWakeman
 from: 15/02/1976  till: 15/07/1976    shift:(29,-4) text:sax color:sax mark:(line,white)

 bar:CarolBarrat
 from: 15/02/1976  till: 15/07/1976    shift:(32,-4) text:keybd color:kbd mark:(line,white)

 bar:RicSanders
 from: 15/09/1976  till: 15/12/1978    text:violin color:vln mark:(line,white)
 
 bar:PercyJones
 from: 15/09/1976  till: 15/02/1977    shift:(32,-4) text:bass color:bass mark:(line,white)

 bar:SteveCook
 from: 15/02/1977  till: 15/12/1978    text:bass color:bass mark:(line,white)

</timeline>

This timeline does not include the last Soft Machine studio album Land of Cockayne (1981) which had:

• Karl Jenkins – keyboards, synths
• John Marshall – drums, percussion

with

• Jack Bruce – bass
• Allan Holdsworth – lead guitar
• John Taylor – electric piano
• Ray Warleigh – alto saxophone, bass flute
• Dick Morrissey – tenor saxophone
• Alan Parker – rhythm guitar
• Stu Calver – backing vocals
• John Perry – backing vocals
• Tony Rivers – backing vocals

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Bennett, Graham: Soft Machine: Out-Bloody-Rageous. London: SAF Publishing, 2005. ISBN 0-946719-84-5 Biography

External links[link]

• Soft Machine section at Calyx website
• Soft Machine - First period with Robert Wyatt
• Soft Machine discography
• Collapso - Canterbury Music Family Tree
• The Soft Machine - A Chronology
• Facelift Magazine - exploring the Canterbury scene and beyond
• Strongcomet:
• Interview with drummer/singer Robert Wyatt
• Elton Dean - interview for Facelift Magazine
• Soft Machine: Out-Bloody-Rageous biography
• Hugh Hopper site (hosted by Burning Shed) including link to the Hopper Archives
• Soft Machine page at Cuneiform Records
• Noisette - The ultimate Soft Machine experience, music, pictures, movies, facts
• Soft Machine at progarchives.com
• Soft Machine at Allmusic
• Soft Machine at allaboutjazz.com

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Harrison Ford
Ford in 2010
Born	(1942-07-13) July 13, 1942 (age 69) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, producer
Years active	1966–present
Spouse	Mary Marquardt (1964–1979; divorced) Melissa Mathison (1983–2004; divorced) Calista Flockhart (2010–present)

Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American film actor and producer. He is famous for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the title character of the Indiana Jones film series. Ford is also known for his roles as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, John Book in Witness and Jack Ryan in Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. His career has spanned six decades and includes roles in several Hollywood blockbusters, including Presumed Innocent, The Fugitive, Air Force One, and What Lies Beneath. At one point, four of the top six box-office hits of all time included one of his roles.^[1] Five of his films have been inducted into the National Film Registry.

In 1997, Ford was ranked No. 1 in Empire's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. As of July 2008^[update], the United States domestic box office grosses of Ford's films total over US$3.5 billion, with worldwide grosses surpassing $6 billion, making Ford the third highest grossing U.S. domestic box-office star.^[2] Ford is the husband of actress Calista Flockhart.

Early life[link]

Ford was born July 13, 1942, at Chicago, Illinois' Swedish Covenant Hospital.^[3] His mother, Dorothy (née Dora Nidelman), was a homemaker and former radio actress, and his father, Christopher Ford (born John William Ford), was an advertising executive and a former actor.^[4][5] A younger brother, Terence, was born in 1945. Ford's paternal grandparents, John Fitzgerald Ford and Florence Veronica Niehaus, were of Irish Catholic and German descent, respectively.^[4] Ford's maternal grandparents, Harry Nidelman and Anna Lifschutz, were Jewish immigrants from Minsk, Belarus (at that time a part of the Russian Empire).^[4] When asked in which religion he and his brother were raised, Ford has jokingly responded, "Democrat,"^[6] "to be liberals of every stripe".^[7] In a television interview shown in August 2000, when asked about what influence his Irish Catholic and Russian Jewish ancestry may have had on his life as a person and as an artist, Ford humorously stated "As a man I've always felt Irish, as an actor I've always felt Jewish."^[8][9]

Ford was active in the Boy Scouts of America, and achieved its second-highest rank, Life Scout. He worked at Napowan Adventure Base Scout camp as a counselor for the Reptile Study merit badge. Because of this, he and Eagle Scout director Steven Spielberg later decided to depict the young Indiana Jones as a Life Scout in the film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. They also jokingly reversed Ford's knowledge of reptiles into Jones' fear of snakes.

In 1960, Ford graduated from Maine East High School in Park Ridge, Illinois. His was the first student voice broadcast on his high school's new radio station, WMTH,^[8] and he was its first sportscaster during his senior year (1959–1960). He attended Ripon College in Wisconsin,^[8] where he was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity. He took a drama class in the final quarter of his senior year to get over his shyness.^[10] Ford, a self-described "late bloomer,"^{[citation needed]} became fascinated with acting.

Early career[link]

In 1964, Ford traveled to Los Angeles, California to apply for a job in radio voice-overs. He did not get it, but stayed in California and eventually signed a $150 a week contract with Columbia Pictures' New Talent program, playing bit roles in films. His first known part was an uncredited role as a bellhop in Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round (1966). There is little record of his non-speaking roles (or "extra" work) in film. Ford was at the bottom of the hiring list, having offended producer Jerry Tokovsky after he played a bellboy in the feature. He was told by Tokovsky that when actor Tony Curtis delivered a bag of groceries, he did it like a movie star; Ford felt his job was to act like a bellboy.^[11] Ford managed to secure other roles in movies, such as A Time for Killing (The Long Ride Home), starring Glenn Ford, George Hamilton and Inger Stevens.

His speaking roles continued next with Luv (1967), though he was still uncredited. He was finally credited as "Harrison J. Ford" in the 1967 Western film, A Time for Killing, but the "J" did not stand for anything, since he has no middle name. It was added to avoid confusion with a silent film actor named Harrison Ford, who appeared in more than 80 films between 1915 and 1932, and died in 1957. Ford later said that he was unaware of the existence of the earlier Harrison Ford until he came upon a star with his own name on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Ford soon dropped the "J" and worked for Universal Studios, playing minor roles in many television series throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, including Gunsmoke, Ironside, The Virginian, The F.B.I., Love, American Style, and Kung Fu. He appeared in the western Journey to Shiloh (1968) and had an uncredited, non-speaking role in Michelangelo Antonioni's 1970 film Zabriskie Point, as an arrested student protester. Not happy with the roles being offered to him, Ford became a self-taught professional carpenter^[8] to support his then-wife and two small sons. While working as a carpenter, he became a stagehand for the popular rock band The Doors. He also built a sun deck for actress Sally Kellerman and a recording studio for Brazilian band leader Sérgio Mendes.

He was then hired to build cabinets at the home of director George Lucas, who subsequently cast him in a pivotal supporting role for his film American Graffiti (1973).^[8] Ford's relationship with Lucas affected his career later on. After director Francis Ford Coppola's film The Godfather was a success, he hired Ford to expand his office and gave him small roles in his next two films, The Conversation (1974) and Apocalypse Now (1979); in the latter film he played a smarmy officer named "G. Lucas."

Milestone franchises[link]

[edit] Star Wars

Ford's carpentry work eventually landed him his first starring film role. In 1975, George Lucas hired him to read lines for actors auditioning for parts in his Star Wars (1977). Lucas was eventually won over by Ford's portrayal, and cast him as Han Solo.^[12] Star Wars became one of the most successful movies of all time worldwide, and established Ford as a superstar.^[8] He went on to star in the similarly-successful Star Wars sequels, The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983), as well as The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978). Ford wanted Lucas to kill off Han Solo at the end of either sequel, saying, "That would have given the whole film a bottom," but Lucas refused.^[13]

[edit] Indiana Jones

The type of fedora worn by Ford in the Indiana Jones films

Ford's status as a leading actor was solidified when he starred as Indiana Jones in the George Lucas/Steven Spielberg collaboration Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).^[8] Though Spielberg was interested in casting Ford in the lead role from the start, Lucas was not, due to having already worked with the actor in American Graffiti and Star Wars, but he eventually relented after Tom Selleck was unable to accept.^[14][8] Ford reprised the role for the prequel Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and the sequel Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989).^[8] He later returned to his role as Indiana Jones again for a 1993 episode of the television series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, and for the fourth film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008).

Other film work[link]

Ford has been in numerous other films, including Heroes (1977), Force 10 from Navarone (1978), and Hanover Street (1979). Ford also co-starred alongside Gene Wilder in the buddy-Western The Frisco Kid (1979), playing a bank robber with a heart of gold. He then starred as Rick Deckard in Ridley Scott's cult sci-fi classic Blade Runner (1982), and in a number of dramatic-action films: Peter Weir's Witness (1985) and The Mosquito Coast (1986), and Roman Polanski's Frantic (1988).^[8]

The 1990s brought Ford the role of Jack Ryan in Tom Clancy's Patriot Games (1992) and Clear and Present Danger (1994), as well as leading roles in Alan Pakula's Presumed Innocent (1990) and The Devil's Own (1997), Andrew Davis' The Fugitive (1993), Sydney Pollack's remake of Sabrina (1995), and Wolfgang Petersen's Air Force One (1997). Ford also played straight dramatic roles, including an adulterous husband in both Presumed Innocent (1990) and What Lies Beneath (2000), and a recovering amnesiac in Mike Nichols' Regarding Henry (1991).^[8]

Many of Ford's major film roles came to him by default through unusual circumstances: he won the role of Han Solo while reading lines for other actors, was cast as Indiana Jones because Tom Selleck was not available, and took the role of Jack Ryan supposedly due to Alec Baldwin's fee demands, although Baldwin disputes this (Baldwin had previously played the role in The Hunt for Red October).

Recent roles[link]

Ford in 2007

Starting in the late 1990s, Ford appeared in several critically derided and commercially disappointing movies, including Six Days Seven Nights (1998), Random Hearts (1999), K-19: The Widowmaker (2002), Hollywood Homicide (2003), Firewall (2006), and Extraordinary Measures (2010). One exception was 2000's What Lies Beneath, which grossed over $155 million in the United States and $291 million worldwide.^[15]

In 2004, Ford declined a chance to star in the thriller Syriana, later commenting that "I didn't feel strongly enough about the truth of the material and I think I made a mistake."^[16] The role eventually went to George Clooney, who won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his work. Prior to that, he had passed on a role in another Stephen Gaghan-written role, Robert Wakefield in Traffic. That role went to Michael Douglas.

In 2008, Ford enjoyed success with the release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, another collaboration between George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. The film received generally positive reviews and was the second highest-grossing film worldwide in 2008.^[17] He later said he would like to star in another sequel, "...if it didn't take another 20 years to digest."^[18]

Other 2008 work included Crossing Over, directed by Wayne Kramer. In the film, he plays an immigrations officer, working alongside Ashley Judd and Ray Liotta.^[19][20] He also narrated a feature documentary film about the Dalai Lama entitled Dalai Lama Renaissance.^[21]

Ford at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival

Ford filmed the medical drama Extraordinary Measures^[22] in 2009 in Portland, Oregon. Released January 22, 2010, the film also starred Brendan Fraser and Alan Ruck. Also in 2010, he co-starred in the film Morning Glory, along with Patrick Wilson, Rachel McAdams, and Diane Keaton.^[23]

He has expressed interest in returning to the Jack Ryan franchise.^[24]

In July 2011, Ford starred alongside Daniel Craig and Olivia Wilde in the science fiction Western film Cowboys & Aliens. Ford portrays Colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde, a character who rules the town of Absolution with an iron fist.^[25] Ford and executive producer Steven Spielberg did not want to have the character wear a cowboy hat because they were worried that it would remind audiences of the Indiana Jones films.^[26] Ford described his character as a "grumpy old man."^[27] To promote the film, Ford made his first appearance at the San Diego Comic-Con International, being led onstage in handcuffs by two security guards, giving the audience the impression that he was being dragged to Comic-Con against his will. However, the actor's arrival involuntarily referred to an actual assault that occurred shortly before the presentation of the film, after which the alleged assailant was taken away in handcuffs. Ford received a long standing ovation as he joined his co-stars, and, apparently surprised by the warm welcome, told the audience, "I just wanted to make a living as an actor. I didn't know about this."^{[28][29][30][31][32]}

In 2011, Ford starred in Japanese commercials advertising the video game Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception for the PlayStation 3. In it, he can be seen playing the game whilst appearing amazed and praising it.^[33]

As of April 2012, he was said to be in late-stage negotiations to join the corporate espionage thriller Paranoia. The movie already has Hunger Games star Liam Hemsworth confirmed as the lead while Gary Oldman is also in final talks to star in a supporting role. Directed by Robert Luketic, Paranoia takes place in the fast-paced world of business and involves a duel between telecom giants. Production is scheduled to begin this summer.^[34]

Personal life[link]

Marriages and family[link]

Ford with wife Calista Flockhart at the 2009 Deauville American Film Festival

Ford is one of Hollywood's most private actors,^[8] guarding his personal life. He has two sons (Benjamin and Willard) with his first wife, Mary Marquardt, as well as two children (Malcolm and Georgia) with his second wife, screenwriter Melissa Mathison.

Ford began dating actress Calista Flockhart after meeting at the 2002 Golden Globes, and together they are parents to her adopted son, Liam. Ford proposed to Flockhart over Valentine's Day weekend in 2009.^[35] They married on June 15, 2010, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where Ford was filming Cowboys and Aliens.^[36]

Ford has three grandchildren: Eliel (born 1993), Giuliana (born 1997), and Ethan (born 2000).^[37] Son Benjamin owns Ford's Filling Station, a gastro pub in Culver City, California.^{[38][39][40][41]} Son Willard is co-owner of Ford & Ching showroom, as well as Ludwig Clothing company.^[42]

Chin and back injury[link]

Ford injured his chin at the age of 20 when his car, a Volvo 544, hit a telephone pole in Northern California;^{[citation needed]} the scar is visible in his films. An explanation for it on film is offered in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, when a young Indiana Jones cuts his chin while attempting to crack a whip to ward off a lion. In Working Girl, Ford's character explains that it happened when he passed out and hit his chin on the toilet when a college girlfriend was piercing his ear. In June 1983, at age 40, during the filming of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in London, he herniated a disc in his back, forcing him to fly back to Los Angeles for an operation. He returned six weeks later.^[43]

Aviation[link]

Ford is a private pilot of both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters,^[8] and owns an 800-acre (3.2 km²) ranch in Jackson, Wyoming, approximately half of which he has donated as a nature reserve. On several occasions, Ford has personally provided emergency helicopter services at the behest of local authorities, in one instance rescuing a hiker overcome by dehydration.^[44]

Ford began flight training in the 1960s at Wild Rose Idlewild Airport in Wild Rose, Wisconsin, flying in a Piper PA-22 Tri-Pacer, but at $15 an hour he was unable to continue the training.^[45] In the mid-1990s, he bought a used Gulfstream II and asked one of his pilots, Terry Bender, to give him flying lessons. They started flying a Cessna 182 out of Jackson, Wyoming, later switching to Teterboro, New Jersey, flying a Cessna 206, the aircraft he soloed in.^[46]

On October 23, 1999, Harrison Ford was involved in the crash of a Bell 206L4 LongRanger helicopter (N36R). The NTSB accident report states that Ford was piloting the aircraft over the Lake Piru riverbed near Santa Clarita, California, on a routine training flight. While making his second attempt at an autorotation with powered recovery Ford allowed the aircraft's altitude to drop to 150–200 feet before beginning power up. As a result the aircraft was unable to recover power before hitting the ground. The aircraft landed hard and began skidding forward in the loose gravel before one of its skids struck a partially embedded log and flipped onto its side. Neither Ford nor the instructor pilot suffered any injuries, though the helicopter was seriously damaged. When asked about the incident by fellow pilot James Lipton in an interview on the TV show Inside the Actor's Studio Ford replied, "I broke it."^[47]

Ford keeps his aircraft at Santa Monica Airport,^[48] though the Bell 407 is often kept and flown in Jackson, Wyoming, and has been used by the actor in two mountain rescues during the actor's assigned duty time assisting the Teton County Search and Rescue. On one of the rescues Ford recovered a hiker who had become lost and disoriented. She boarded Ford's Bell 407 and promptly vomited into one of the rescuers' caps, unaware of who the pilot was until much later; "I can't believe I barfed in Harrison Ford's helicopter!" she said later.^[49]

Ford flies his de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver (N28S) more than any of his other aircraft, and although he dislikes showing favoritism, he has repeatedly stated that he likes this aircraft and the sound of its Pratt & Whitney R-985 radial engine.^[50] Ford first encountered the Beaver while filming Six Days Seven Nights, and soon purchased one.^{[citation needed]} Kenmore Air in Kenmore, Washington, restored Ford's yellow and green Beaver — a junked former U.S. military aircraft — with updated avionics and an upgraded engine. According to Ford, it had been flown in the CIA's Air America operations, and was riddled with bullet holes that had to be patched up.^[51] He uses it regularly for impromptu fly-ins at remote airports and bush strips, as well as gatherings with other Beaver owners and pilots.^{[citation needed]}

In March 2004, Ford officially became chairman of the Young Eagles program of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA). Ford was asked to take the position by Greg Anderson, Senior Vice President of the EAA at the time, to replace General Charles "Chuck" Yeager who was vacating the post that he had held for many years. Ford at first was hesitant, but later accepted the offer and has made appearances with the Young Eagles at the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh gathering at Oshkosh, Wisconsin for two years. In July 2005, at the gathering in Oshkosh Ford agreed to accept the position for another two years. Ford has flown over 280 children as part of the Young Eagles program, usually in his DHC-2 Beaver, which can seat the actor and five children. Ford is involved with the EAA chapter in Driggs, Idaho, just over the mountains from Jackson, Wyoming.

As of 2009, Ford appears in Web advertisements for General Aviation Serves America, a campaign by advocacy group AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association).^[52]

Ford is an Honorary Board Member of the humanitarian aviation organization Wings of Hope.^[53]

He has also flown as an invited VIP with the Blue Angels.^[54]

Aircraft owned

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2010)

Activism[link]

Environmental causes[link]

Ford sits on the board of directors of Conservation International.^{[citation needed]} He received the Jules Verne Spirit of Nature Award for his ongoing work in preservation of the planet.^[55]

In 1993, the arachnologist Norman Platnick named a new species of spider Calponia harrisonfordi, and in 2002, the entomologist Edward O. Wilson named a new ant species Pheidole harrisonfordi (in recognition of Harrison's work as Vice Chairman of Conservation International).^[56]

Since 1992, Ford has lent his voice to a series of public service messages promoting environmental involvement for EarthShare, an American federation of environmental and conservation charities.^{[citation needed]}

Political views[link]

Like his parents, Ford is a lifelong Democrat,^[57] and a close friend of former President Bill Clinton.^[19]

On September 7, 1995, Ford testified before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee in support of the Dalai Lama and an independent Tibet, and was banned thereafter by the Chinese government from entering Tibet and China.^[58][59] In 2008, he narrated the documentary Dalai Lama Renaissance.^{[citation needed]}

In 2003, he publicly condemned the Iraq War and called for "regime change" in the United States. He also criticized Hollywood for making violent movies, and called for more gun control in the United States.^[60] He opposed the recall of Californian Governor Gray Davis, and stated in an interview that replacing Davis with Arnold Schwarzenegger would be a mistake.^[61]

Archaeology[link]

Following on his success portraying the archaeologist Indiana Jones, Ford also plays a part in supporting the work of professional archaeologists. He serves as a General Trustee^[62] on the Governing Board of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA), North America's oldest and largest organization devoted to the world of archaeology. Ford assists them in their mission of increasing public awareness of archaeology and preventing looting and the illegal antiquities trade.

Community work[link]

Ford volunteered as a food server. On November 21, 2007, Ford and other celebrities, including Kirk Douglas, Nia Long and Calista Flockhart, helped serve hot meals to the homeless at the annual Thanksgiving feast at the Los Angeles Mission.^[63]

Awards[link]

Ford's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Ford received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor for Witness, for which he also received "Best Actor" BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations. He received the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 2002 Golden Globe Awards and on June 2, 2003, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He has received three additional "Best Actor" Golden Globe nominations for The Mosquito Coast, The Fugitive and Sabrina.

In 2006, Ford was awarded the Jules Verne Spirit of Nature Award for his work in nature and wildlife preservation. The ceremony took place at the historic Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California.^[55]

He received the first ever Hero Award for his many iconic roles, including Han Solo and Indiana Jones, at the 2007 Scream Awards, and in 2008, the Spike TV's Guy's Choice Award for Brass Balls.^[64][65]

Harrison Ford received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2000.^[66]

Filmography[link]

See also[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Harrison Ford

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Harrison Ford

• Harrison Ford at the Internet Movie Database

Interviews

• "Harrison Ford Interview". CinemasOnline. 2002. http://www.cinemas-online.co.uk/website/interview.phtml?uid=2. Retrieved March 19, 2006. 
• Dawson, Angela (June 12, 2003). "Harrison Ford: Hollywood loved him even before they knew him". E. W. Scripps Company. Archived from the original on February 27, 2005. http://web.archive.org/web/20050227054049/http://www.cincypost.com/2003/06/12/ford061203.html. Retrieved March 19, 2006. 
• Honeycutt, Kirk (1986). "Harrison Ford on Harrison Ford". Daily News. http://www.peterweircave.com/articles/articlen.html. Retrieved March 19, 2006. 
• Leopold, Todd (February 9, 2006). "Harrison Ford and the movie machine". Cable News Network. http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Movies/02/08/harrison.ford/. Retrieved March 19, 2006. 
• Rader, Dotson (July 7, 2002). "I found purpose". Parade. http://apartment42.com/parade.txt. Retrieved March 19, 2006. 
• Turan, Kenneth (1986). "Harrison Ford wants to be alone.". GQ. http://apartment42.com/gq_nov86.htm. Retrieved March 19, 2006.