Harrison Ford has been a star of the silver screen for nearly fifty years, but something about him changed dramatically ten years ago, when he was involved in a near-fatal plane crash.
In an expansive profile of the Hollywood legend for Wall Street Journal, a range of his co-stars were interviewed about him, including Dame Helen Mirren.
After playing a married couple in The Mosquito Ghost 40 years ago, the pair have reunited for the Yellowstone prequel, 1923.
© FilmMagic / Getty ImagesShe said: “Something rather magical has happened to Harrison, especially with his history of, you know, being the dude, the bloke, the fabulous action guy, the funny guy, the cool guy.
“Now there’s this open road to his inner feelings, which he is absolutely unafraid of expressing,” she continued, referring especially to his role in Apple TV+’s hit comedy-drama Shrinking. “It’s just a true, quick, instinctive emotional reaction to things, without sentimentality.”
She clarified that she believed surviving the plane crash was what led to these changes, recalling: “He’s been carried into the kitchen, dying and covered in blood, and later Harrison did say to me, ‘That was how I was after the accident’.
“I think, maybe, going through that experience just gave him a very different understanding of what it is to be a sentient human being.”
During the interview, she also spoke about their first meeting, calling herself a “nobody” in Hollywood at the time compared to the Indiana Jones actor.
“He was a huge star and he really didn’t want to be,” she revealed. “He wanted to just be a quiet person getting on with life, and of course, that’s kind of impossible.”
Harrison’s private homes away from the industry
Despite being an industry icon, Harrison has always tried to keep his personal life away from the spotlight.
The actor lives with his wife Calista Flockhart, on a massive ranch in Jackson Hole, a small town in the Teton Mountains, with over 800 acres of land. He first purchased the property in the early 1980s with his then-wife Melissa Mathison.
© Getty ImagesThough Jackson Hole became a bustling resort town, his ranch alongside Snake River remained a private nook. Starting in 1985, he donated nearly half the property as “conservation easements”, sections of land deemed nature reserves to prevent substantial development that could harm the area’s wildlife.
However, Wyoming isn’t the most convenient place to live for Harrison, especially while filming. Hence, he and Calista maintain an estate in Brentwood, California, which they bought in 2011 for $12.6 million.
