Action movie star Harrison Ford was born in Chicago in 1942. He grew up in Morton Grove and Park Ridge and graduated from Maine East High School in 1960. Former First Lady and New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton also graduated from Maine East in 1965 as did pioneer children's TV actor Hugh Brannum (aka "Mr. Green Jeans" on Captain Kangaroo) in 1927. Harrison Ford's grandfather had worked in vaudeville and his father was an advertising executive and a part-time "voice over" actor who recorded some radio commercials in Chicago. Harrison attended Ripon College in Wisconsin but did not finish the credits needed for a degree. After some acting in summer stock plays, Harrison tried hard in the late 1960s to support a family and to make a living as an actor in Hollywood but with limited success. He quit acting for four years to work as a carpenter before making a successful new start in films in 1973 when George Lucas hired him for a small role as the hot rod driver Bob Falfa in American Grafitti. His major films have included the Star Wars series, the Indiana Jones movies, Force Ten From Navarone, Patriot Games, Air Force One, and The Fugitive which was filmed almost completely on locations in Chicago and southern Illinois. He was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for his role as John Book in Witness. Harrison Ford now lives most of the time in Wyoming when he is not making movies.
Ford's fiance Calista Flockhart was born in Freeport, Illinois in 1964. Her father worked for Chicago-based Kraft Foods. While she considers Freeport her hometown, she also lived in other states before college studies at Rutgers University in New Jersey. She acted in TV soap operas such as Guiding Light and had some small roles in films such as Quiz Show. She played the daughter of Illinois-native Gene Hackman in The Bird Cage which also starred Illinois-native Robbin Williams. Gene Hackman is from Danville and Robbin Williams was born in Chicago. Calista won the 1998 Golden Globe Award for best comedy address on TV in her role as Ally McBeal. Since leaving that TV series, Calista has enjoyed success in Chicago, on Broadway, and in other cities in legitimate theater productions. She won critical good notices for her performance in New York in Tennessee Williams' The Glass Managerie. Various news wire stories reported on June 19, 2006 that Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart are planning to be married in the fall.
