Harrison Ford Nearly Got Blacklisted From Hollywood Before Star Wars Made Him a Star, All Thanks To This One Line

Before Ford had appeared in acclaimed films like American Graffiti and The Conversation, it was luck and timing that eventually landed him one of his career-defining roles. If one Hollywood executive had had his way, Ford might never have made it that far.

In the first ten years of his acting career, Ford’s work was mostly small and unremarkable. Before American Graffiti, he had acted in six films, three of which didn’t even list him in the credits. Ford had grown so uncertain about his acting career that he decided to take up carpentry as a backup trade.

Ford’s first credited appearance came after an uncredited debut in Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round, a crime thriller starring James Coburn. He had just one line in the film, but that apparently wasn’t enough for Jerry Tokofsky, a powerful studio executive, who decided Ford wasn’t cut out for Hollywood.

The incident became a legendary story in Ford’s early career, but what many people don’t know is what happened right after. Ford stood up to Tokofsky, and the executive reacted harshly. As Ford recalls, the vice president of Columbia Pictures told him, “Get the f**** out of my office.” That one moment put him on the studio’s “s**** list,” and Ford suddenly found himself at odds with one of the most powerful people in the industry.

He wasn’t entirely alone, though. Walter Beakel, head of Columbia’s New Talent Program, was the only person who supported Ford. Beakel helped aspiring actors and filmmakers get their start, and he was willing to back Ford despite the conflict with Tokofsky. “He was on the s**** list after that, I can tell you,” Beakel said. Columbia’s top executives thought Ford was too arrogant and confrontational to succeed, but Beakel admired his independent spirit. “He had his own mind. A person who doesn’t buy that stuff, who looks at you sceptically, questions and challenges you. But I liked that. It was rare to find it in an actor at that time.”

Thanks to Beakel’s support, Ford managed to return to acting, though it took more than a year before he appeared in another film. In 1967, he acted in A Time for Killing, the first time he was officially credited on screen as Harrison J Ford, even though he doesn’t have a middle name. Tokofsky’s harsh rejection couldn’t stop him, but it would take nearly another decade before Ford finally became a major star.

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