Harrison Ford Says He’ll Never Retire: “They Need Old People”

Harrison Ford isn’t going anywhere. The 83-year-old actor says retirement isn’t something he’s planning, not now and maybe not ever. In an interview with Variety, Ford explained why acting is still a big part of his life.

“That’s one of the things I thought was attractive about the job of an actor, was that they need old people, too, to play old people’s parts,” Ford said. And that’s exactly what he’s doing.

Ford has been working for over six decades. He’s been in some of the biggest movies of all time, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Blade Runner, The Fugitive, Witness, and many more. The characters he’s played are unforgettable. He’s been space smugglers, archaeologists, detectives, even the President of the United States. And somehow, he’s still finding ways to surprise people.

Recently, he’s made a move to television. He’s starring in Shrinking, a comedy-drama on Apple TV+ where he plays a therapist named Paul Rhoades who’s dealing with Parkinson’s. The show has gotten great reviews, and Ford earned his first Emmy nomination for it. But as usual, he doesn’t make a big deal about it.

“I’m grateful, but I would have done what I did — and I’ll do what I’m doing — regardless of whether it’s deemed worthy of mention or not,” he said. “Because it’s what I do. It’s what I love doing. I love telling stories. I love pretending to be somebody else.”

His co-stars are constantly impressed by how much he puts into the work. Jason Segel, who acts with him in Shrinking, said Ford isn’t just coasting on his past.

“This guy knows his moves, but he’s not content to do his moves,” Segel said. “He’s creating a character from scratch.”

That includes doing things you might not expect from Ford, like playing a scene completely high on gummies and getting laughs from the whole crew. After one scene like that, Segel remembers Ford whispering to him, “I knew I was f*ck*ng funny.”

Ford’s been in so many movies that even now, when one pops up on TV, it can catch him off guard. He said he recently came across Witness, one of his most critically praised performances, and watched a bit of it.

“Young,” he said when asked how he looked. He’s also known for playing the same characters decades apart. He returned as Han Solo nearly 40 years after the first Star Wars. He played Deckard again in Blade Runner 2049, and wore the hat one last time as Indiana Jones in Dial of Destiny. For Ford, it wasn’t about money.

“I wanted to see how they had changed,” he said about revisiting those characters. He wanted to show how people grow older, how their choices affect them, and how time changes a person, even a hero.

Ford’s long-time collaborator J.J. Abrams said there’s something special about the way Ford creates characters. “Harrison meets them between who he is and who the character is,” Abrams said. “He bends the will of the character to be the thing that he brings to it.”

He started acting by accident. He took a drama class in college because he thought it would be easy. He didn’t realize he’d have to act in plays. But once he started performing, he loved it. It gave him a way to disappear into someone else.

“It made me feel truly unseen. Because I was able to hide behind the character, and that was the first freedom I really felt,” he said.

That love for the craft never left. Even now, he’s filming new seasons, learning lines, and pushing himself. He’s also very aware of the responsibility that comes with telling certain stories. When playing someone with Parkinson’s, for example, he wants to be careful and respectful.

“Parkinson’s is not funny. And I want to get it right,” he said. “It’s necessary to be correct with what we do in respect of the challenge that Parkinson’s represents.”

So no, Harrison Ford is not thinking about retiring. He likes what he does too much.

“No,” he said, when asked if he’ll ever stop. “I love telling stories. I love pretending to be somebody else.”

That’s the simple reason why he’s still at it, showing up, saying the lines, doing the work. And after more than 60 years, he’s still one of the best to do it.

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