Harrison Ford Says Movie Exec Once Told Him He Had ‘No Future’ in Hollywood

Harrison Ford is living proof that rejection isn’t the end of the story – it’s often the beginning. 

The 83-year-old actor is one of the most recognizable names in film history. But in a recent Variety interview, Ford shared how, early in his career, he was told – flat-out – that he didn’t have what it takes to make it in Hollywood.

In the 1960s, Ford was a young actor under contract at Columbia Pictures, making just $150 a week for his very first on-screen appearance in Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round.

That’s when he was called into the office of the studio’s head of new talent for what he expected would be feedback or encouragement. Instead, he got a full-on reality check. The executive told him, bluntly, that he had “no future in the business.”

The same exec suggested Ford should consider changing his name and getting a slick, Elvis Presley-style haircut to have any shot in the industry. Ford didn’t bite. 

“He wanted me to change my name. He thought that Harrison Ford was too pretentious a name for a young man, and then he asked me to get my hair cut like Elvis Presley,” Ford told Variety. “That I didn’t go along with.”

Not long after, Ford left the gig and was determined to find success on his own terms. “I lasted about a year and a half of a seven-year contract,” he revealed. 

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Years later, after he’d already become a household name, the Indiana Jones actor crossed paths with that same executive. 

“I met him later across a crowded room,” Ford recalled. “He had sent me a card on which he had written, ‘I missed my guess.’ And I looked around and couldn’t remember which one he was, but then he nodded at me and smiled, and I thought, ‘Oh, yeah, I know you.’ ” 

With nearly six decades in the industry, Ford has built one of the most impressive resumes in Hollywood despite taking a short detour as a carpenter in the ’60s and ’70s to support his family.

It was during that time that he was recognized by George Lucas, who later cast him in American Graffiti and Star Wars.

He’s now best known for playing daring heroes like Han Solo, Indiana Jones, and Rick Deckard in Blade Runner. However, his range has extended into dramas like Witness, thrillers like The Fugitive, and even comedies and romantic films like Working Girl and The Age of Adeline. 

He’s worked with directors like Steven Spielberg, Ridley Scott, and Peter Weir, and he continues to headline major films and streaming series to this day.

Ford stands as a reminder to every young actor, artist, or dreamer: sometimes the experts get it wrong. And if you stay true to yourself, success might just prove them spectacularly wrong.