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- Harrison Ford was told to ditch 'pretentious' name, copy Elvis Presley to succeed in Hollywood</p>
<p>Janelle AshAugust 1, 2025 at 4:00 PM</p>
<p>Harrison Ford was never going to be a household name, according to a Hollywood executive in the '60s.</p>
<p>Ford explained that when he got his debut role in "Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round," he was making $150 per week and was treated accordingly.</p>
<p>"I was under contract to Columbia Pictures at the time for $150 a week and all the respect that that implies. I was called into the office of the head of the new talent program, and he told me that I had no future in the business, which was OK," Ford told Variety.</p>
<p>Harrison Ford was told by a Hollywood executive early in his career to change his name and look.</p>
<p>He explained that the head of talent at Columbia Pictures told him to change his look and his name.</p>
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<p>"And then he asked me to get my hair cut like Elvis Presley. That I didn't go along with."</p>
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<p>"He thought that 'Harrison Ford' was too pretentious a name for a young man," the actor said.</p>
<p>Harrison Ford was told by a Hollywood exec to look more like Elvis Presley.</p>
<p>Ford told the outlet that, later on in his career, he saw the Hollywood executive while he was at dinner one night.</p>
<p>"I met him later, across a crowded dining room. He sent me a card on which he'd written, 'I missed my guess.' I looked around, couldn't remember which one he was, but then he nodded at me and smiled, and I thought, 'Oh yeah, I know you,'" he told the outlet.</p>
<p>Harrison Ford has become a household name for roles like "Indiana Jones."</p>
<p>Although he's undeniably one of the most famous leading men in Hollywood history, he said he never expected or necessarily desired the level of fame he's achieved.</p>
<p>WATCH: Harrison Ford walks the red carpet at the 2024 Critics Choice Awards</p>
<p>"No one ever believes this, but I never wanted to be rich and famous. I just wanted to be an actor," he told People in 2023.</p>
<p>"I never thought that I would be a leading man. I really was just hoping I could make a living as an actor and not have to supplement my income with some other side hustle.</p>
<p>"I thought I would be lucky to have a character part on a regular TV show."</p>
<p>Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill in "Star Wars."</p>
<p>During his interview with Variety, Ford took a trip down memory lane and recalled the moment he discovered a love for acting. He was in college and was searching for an easy course to get his GPA up and stumbled upon drama.</p>
<p>"The first line of the paragraph that described the course said, 'You read and discuss plays,' and I thought, 'I can do that.' I didn't read all the description — typical of me in those days — because the last few lines described that the course also required you to be part of the school plays for that academic year. I hadn't ever done anything like that before, so I was shocked by that part of it.</p>
<p>Harrison Ford in a scene from the movie "Blade Runner" in 1982.</p>
<p>"But I quickly recognized that I loved telling stories. I liked dressing up and pretending to be somebody else. And the people that I met had a similar bent, people that I might have overlooked. They're people that probably hadn't been really seen before, for who they are, for what they were — and they were storytellers," Ford told Variety.</p>
<p>Ford has made a name for himself in numerous iconic roles, including "Star Wars," "Indiana Jones" and the "Blade Runner" franchises.</p>
<p>In 2017, Ford reprized his role as Rick Deckard in "Blade Runner 2049," which starred Ryan Gosling.</p>
<p>Harrison Ford accidentally punched Ryan Gosling in the face while filming "Blade Runner 2049."</p>
<p>While on set, Ford accidentally punched Gosling in the face.</p>
<p>"[We were rehearsing a fight] and we got too close, and I hit him. I apologized right away. What more could I do? Can't take back a punch. Just take it. He's a very handsome man. He's still very handsome," he told Variety.</p>
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<p>Ford is never going to retire from acting.</p>
<p>"No. 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," he told the outlet.</p>
<p>Harrison Ford debuted as an actor in the '60s.</p>
<p>In 2023, Ford admitted that although things have been getting tougher for him as he gets older, he's also glad to be his age.</p>
<p>"I don't want to be young again. I was young, and now I enjoy being old," he told People at the time.</p>
<p>"You are certainly physically diminished by age," he explained, "but there are wonderful things about age — richness of experience, the full weight of all the time you've been spending getting to being old — and there's a certain ease in it for me."</p>
<p>Harrison Ford will never retire.</p>
<p>Another thing that comes easily to Ford is being a movie star.</p>
<p>"I am very gratified that I still have the opportunities that I have to work, and I owe that to the audience," he said.</p>
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<p>With a decades-long acting career to support him, Ford doesn't care about how anyone sees him.</p>
<p>In 2023, Ford sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to discuss therapy. He plays a therapist on the Apple TV+ show "Shrinking," and he revealed his thoughts on the subject.</p>
<p>Harrison Ford doesn't care what people think about him.</p>
<p>"My opinion is not of the profession, it's of the practitioner. There are all kinds of therapy. I'm sure many of them are useful to many people. I'm not anti-therapy for anybody — except for myself. I know who the f--- I am at this point," he said at the time.</p>
<p>Original article source: Harrison Ford was told to ditch 'pretentious' name, copy Elvis Presley to succeed in Hollywood</p>
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