Harrison Ford made his film debut in 1966, playing a small role as a bellboy. The film, Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round, was a heist comedy starring James Coburn.
It wasn’t a memorable film, but it was where it all began for Ford. Despite the milestone, the studio wasn’t convinced he was cut out for the industry.
“I was under contract to Columbia Pictures at the time for $150 a week,” he told Variety. “And all the respect that that implies. I was called into the office of the head of the new talent program, and he told me that I had no future in the business. Which was OK.”
The same executive then made an unusual request, an idea he flatly refused.
“And then he asked me to get my hair cut like Elvis Presley,” he recalled. “That I didn’t go along with.”
The exchange became one of the more memorable footnotes of Ford’s early career.
Why a Studio Executive Tried to Change Harrison Ford’s Name
The studio had more than Ford’s hairstyle on its mind. An executive also felt his real name needed to go.
“He thought that ‘Harrison Ford’ was too pretentious a name for a young man,” he told Variety.
At the time, studios routinely renamed young talent to fit a more marketable image. Columbia clearly hoped to apply that same formula to Ford early in his career.
Ford ultimately refused to act on it. He kept his name exactly as it was, despite the studio’s doubts.
That decision turned out to matter more than anyone could have predicted. Ford went on to build one of the most recognizable names in Hollywood history.
Meanwhile, Ford crossed paths with the same executive years later, who owned up to his mistake.
“I met him later, across a crowded dining room,” he recalled. “He sent me a card on which he’d written, ‘I missed my guess.’ I looked around, couldn’t remember which one he was, but then he nodded at me and smiled, and I thought, ‘Oh yeah, I know you.'”
Ford has since starred in the Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Blade Runner series. Across his career, Ford has grossed more than $12 billion worldwide at the box office.
The name that Columbia once wanted to drop eventually became one of the most recognizable in Hollywood. Decades later, “Harrison Ford” needs no introduction at all.
from Men's Journal https://ift.tt/hONgswj
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