Harrison Ford, Strong and Silent Movie Star

Harrison Ford, Strong and Silent Movie Star
Two Stars, Same Name
Two stars on The Hollywood Walk of Fame

What are your favorite Harrison Ford films? The Primitive Lover, Rubber Tires, Night Bride, Hell's Four Hundred, Food for Scandal, Lovers in Quarantine, Her Beloved Villain? Have you seen Who Cares?

Harrison Ford has worked with many of the  best-known actors and actresses including Constance and Norma Talmadge, Gloria Swanson, Bebe Daniels, May Robson, Alfred Lunt, Marion Davies, Clara Bow, Charles Ruggles and Wallace Reid.

Ford was born March 16, 1884 Kansas City, Mo. He was educated in Los Angeles and began his theatrical career in Syracuse NY playing in stock. 

While playing in Strongheart he became interested in the screen. He worked with the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation. 

Late 1927, Famous Players-Lasky reorganized under the name Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation. Later it became the Paramount Pictures Corporation, now a division of Viacom.

Some of his other films included The Lottery Man with Wallace Reid, Girls and Easy to Get. In Proud Flesh 1925, directed by King Vidor, Ford played a Latin lover. He worked with some of the top actors and directors of silent films.

Mr. Ford was 5'10" weighing 160 lbs, with brown hair and brown eyes. He was married to stage actress, Beatrice Prentice for fifty years.

"He once told a reporter that his most embarrassing moment in the movies was when he was required to carry actress Corinne Griffith across a polished floor on a very hot day.

"'We started and on my first take my foot slipped and I dropped Miss Griffith to the ground... She was charming about it but my heart hit the floor harder than she did.'"

-- Los Angeles Times,   February 15, 2010

Harrison Ford with Constance Talmadge in
The Primitive Lover 1922

He left films in 1932 due to the arrival of sound. His final film, and only talkie, Love in High Gear, was released in 1932. 

He continued to act and direct in the theatre. During World War II, he toured with the United Service Organizations (USO).
   
Ford was hit by a car on September 13, 1951. He suffered severe injuries. He died on December 2, 1957.

The song, King of the Silents can be found on a few CDs, including Pop Duo Legends - Gallagher and Lyle. It's a musical ballad of sorts, an homage to the actors and actresses whose careers hinged on their voices, whether or not they could play to a microphone when talkies came into style. Do you remember all the rigmarole with the microphones in Singin' in the Rain?

Harrison Ford, silent film actor has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6665 Hollywood Blvd. 

Harrison Ford's Walk of Fame Star on Hollywood Blvd

The silent film star is no known relation to the present-day actor of the same name who is Han Solo in the Star Wars trilogy and the star of such films as Indiana Jones, Presumed Innocent, 42, The Fugitive, Air Force One and American Graffiti. 

Harrison Ford receives Jules Verne Achievement Award 2002

Indiana Jones Fedora
Bailey Briar Hat, Choose color
For adventures, travel, work,
flea markets...

Current day actor, Harrison Ford's Hollywood Walk of Fame Star, received May 30, 2003 is located at 6801 Hollywood Blvd. He was born July 13, 1942.

Many people thought the silent film actor's star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame belonged to the other Harrison Ford, until Ford finally received his own star in 1993.

We can celebrate both of these talented Harrison Fords and their contributions to the silver screen.

Related Pages of Interest:

Celebrity family members who have Hollywood Walk of Fame stars next to or near one another


Sources include The Los Angeles Times, Who's Who on the Screen 1929, Wikipedia