The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 231

CALENDAR FORD IN THE FAST LANE By RODERICK MANN There he is. Harrison Ford. The actor who at the age of 39 already has been in three of the biggest film blockbusters ever made. And who, unless the American public suddenly develops an insatiable taste for Albanian documentaries, will almost certainly be in two more smash hits before he turns 41. It's a surprise to see him.

He keeps the kind of low profile that would draw an admiring whistle from Garbo herself. He's probably the least seen and least publicized actor in Hollywood. No way would he even pose for a Times photograph. Some actors believe they exist only when they see their names in the columns. Not Ford.

He does his work and then he disappears back to his house in one of the canyons. And stays there. A lot of people didn't even know who he was until "Star Wars" burst upon us. Yet Ford had made several films before that, "American Graffiti" among them. And after "Star Wars" he did a cameo in "Apocalypse Now." Few recognized him.

"Good," he says flatly. "I'm an actor. You weren't supposed to recognize me." Most actors in their lifetimes will not appear in one blockbuster, let alone three. But with "Star Wars," "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark" already under his acting belt, Ford is now set for "Revenge of the Jedi" (the third of the "Star Wars" trilogy) plus two sequels to "Raiders." And he has just finished shooting Ridley Scott's first Hollywood film, "Blade Runner." Clearly the Force is not only with him but behind him. And pushing.

Film makers like George Lucas and Steven Spielberg are well aware what it is that Harrison Ford brings to the screen. So, it seems, are audiences, who see" him as a sort of herioc Mr. Everyman with a nice bit of deadpan humor. But Ford himself doesn't know what he's got Tell him it's unusual to have been in so many hit films and he seems genuinely Harrison Ford, as Indiana Jones, surprises a cobra in "Raiders of the Lost Ark," left. As Han Solo, he defends the rebel base in "Empire Strikes Back." past should choose to work with him again.

"Well, look. A man like George Lucas can work with anyone in the world. So after making 'American Graffiti' for him, I was quite surprised when he asked me to do 'Star Now I've worked four times for him. And twice for Francis Coppola. "I had a small part in "The Conversation" for Francis.

Then he offered me a couple of parts in "Apocalypse Now." Unfortunately, 'Star Wars' was starting at exactly the same time so I couldn't do them. By the time my film was finished he had only some small parts left and I took the smallest because I didn't want to be stuck in the Phillipines for months on end." In "Apocalypse Now" Ford played a nervous Army intelligence colonel who briefs Martin Sheen about his trip up river. During this scene, which went on for some time, he kept dropping papers. Finally one of the other actors said to Coppola, "Look, can't you do something to help this kid? He keeps dropping his papers." Said Coppola, sotto voce, "He's doing it on purpose." "Nobody recognized me in that scene," said Ford happily. "Not even George Lucas.

Yet it's his name I have on my uniform patch." When Ford first went to join the Screen Actors Guild, they told him he'd have to change his name. "There's another Harrison Ford," they said. He was an old-time matinee idol. Ford toyed with a couple of names but finally plumped for Harrison J. Ford and was so billed on two pictures.

"Finally I learned the old man had passed on," said Ford. "So I called SAG and told them I was dropping the J. They said they had no record of him dying but I went ahead and dropped it anyway. "The old man has a star on Hollywood Boulevard did you know? There it is. Harrison Ford.

So if they ever decide to give me one, they can save themselves a lot of trouble and expense. I rather like the idea of using his. been a difficult decision for George (Lucas, the producer) and Steven (Spielberg, the director) to make. For myself, my only worry was making sure the characters of Han Solo and Indiana Jones were entirely different. But since both had been written by the same man, Lawrence Kasdan, there were bound to be similarities." So Ford and Lucas and Spielberg worked on the character and invented the unkempt and tattered look with the aid of a big felt hat and a leather jacket.

The final character was a cross between an unshaven Bond and an agile Bogart. And very successful. "The great thing about men like George and Steven is that they achieve their success not by pandering to the audience but by taking full advantage of the medium," said Ford. "Both of them understand what you can do with film and basically they make films that they themselves want to see." (related article on Page 1). The sequel to 'Raiders is now planned for 1983, with Lucas again producing and Spielberg directing.

Ford, clearly content to have work lined up so far in advance, is looking forward to repeating the role of the whip-cracking Indiana Jones. Though he has had more than his share of successes, Harrison Fcxd has also appeared in one monumental dud. "Hanover Street," in which he starred with Lesley-Anne Down, was pretty bad. He knows it And he doesn't much like talking about it "Look, at that stage in my career I'd made 'American 'Star 'Heroes' and 'Force Ten From Navarone and I'd yet to kiss a girl or be involved romantically. Then along came this love story and I agreed to do it, expecting that the script, which I didn't have total faith in, would be changed as we went along.

"Well, it wasn't And making that film was not a happy experience for me. I haven't seen it so I don't like talking about it I keep saying that if 50 people tell me they liked it then I may change my mind and see it But so far I'm just up to 18 so there's no immediate danger of that happening." Ford says he still finds it surprising that directors he has worked with in the surprised. He makes it clear their success was nothing to do with him. He just happened to be in them. Understood? Years ago when this Chicago-born former carpenter came out here from the East, he was under contract to Columbia.

The first film they put him in was called "Dead Heat on a Merry Go Round." "I had just one day's work," he said the other day. "I played a bellboy and I had to say 'Mr. Jones, paging Mr. Jones' and then James Coburn waved me over and took the telegram I was holding. "After doing that scene I was called in to the office of one of the studio executives, who said, 'Listen, kid, let me tell you a story.

The first time Tony Curtis was in a movie he walked on the the screen delivering a bag of groceries. You took one look at the guy and you knew there was a star. Well, you ain't got that, kid. So I want you to go back to class and study. You're not going to work again for six months.

"Now that confused me. I thought you were supposed to act like a bellboy or a delivery boy. Yet here this man was telling me that no matter what part you had, you were supposed to play it like a movie star. "I thought he was wrong at the time and I've based my professional attitude on that assumption ever since. Funnily enough, I saw the man again about a year ago.

It was in the executive dining room of another studio and he sent his card across to me. On it he'd written 'I missed my bet'" Many people, it seems, still didn't take Ford seriously even after the first two "Star Wars" pictures were a success. Not until they saw him as Indiana Jones in that marvelous piece of nonsense, "Raiders of the Lost Ark," did it finally register just how good he was in that kind of role. Yet he was not first choice for it as he is happy to admit. "They'd wanted Tom Selleck," said Ford, "but he couldn't get out of his TV commitment for "Magnum P.I.' So I got the part by default "I'm not surprised they didn't think of me first I was so strongly identified with the Han Solo character in 'Star Wars' that it must have seemed a silly idea to put me in "Raiders And even after Selleck dropped out it must have.