Harrison Ford

Born: 13 July 1942
Where: Chicago, Illinois, USA

It's difficult to believe that the man who breathed life into Indiana Jones, Han Solo and Jack Ryan is having to come to terms with his own mortality.

Returning to crack the whip as Indy for a fourth time, Ford worked out three hours a day and stuck to a strict diet of fish and vegetables to go the distance.

His decision to play the grizzled archaeologist again comes after a lacklustre few years which saw him coast on autopilot through Firewall and Hollywood Homicide.

Since his his golden era - which began with 1977's Star Wars and ended on a high with The Fugitive in 1993 - Ford's output has been patchy and sporadic.

But when he was on top of his game, few of Hollywood's big hitters could come close to an actor with remarkable range for an action hero.

The son of a former radio actress and an advertising executive, he was a high-ranking American Boy Scout and attended Maine East High School in Park Ridge, Illinois (he was the first student voice broadcast on his high school's new radio station, WMTH-FM, and was its first sportscaster during his senior year). A poor student, he dropped out of Wisconsin's Ripon College but managed to sign a Hollywood contract with Columbia after heading to LA in search of voice work.

His first appearance was a walk-on role as a hotel porter in the 1966 James Coburn hit Dead Heat On A Merry-Go-Round.

Discouraged by the lack of quality film roles and fearful of TV stereotyping, he turned to carpentry (he built the elaborate entrance for Francis Ford Coppola's office at Goldwyn Studios and was also a stagehand for The Doors).

His luck changed when unknown young director George Lucas (who had hired him to build cabinets at his home) cast him in a supporting role in 1973's American Graffiti.

He went on to impress as a sleek spook in Ford Coppola's The Conversation before Lucas again came calling...for the role of Han Solo in Star Wars.

Before the second instalment of the Star Wars franchise The Empire Strikes Back, Ford appeared in Frisco Kid and the Vietnam War classic Apocalypse Now.

Then came his next big break - Steven Spielberg cast him as the death-defying archaeologist Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

He quickly followed this with a seminal performance as Rick Deckard in Ridley Scott's groundbreaking sci-fi thriller Blade Runner.

After his third and final Star Wars project - Return of the Jedi - and second Indiana outing - Temple of Doom - he dramatically switched styles.

Peter Weir's atmospheric police thriller Witness - which earned Ford his first Oscar nomination - revealed a sensitive side that had remained hidden by the action franchises.

Subsequent movies revealed a comedy talent (Working Girl) and he also appeared for the first time as American CIA operative Jack Ryan in Patriot Games.

His role as Dr Richard Kimble in The Fugitive in 1993 earned him a Golden Globe nomination.

He turned his hand to comedy again in the Sabrina remake in 1995 and even played the US president in 1997's thriller Air Force One.

Recently, he impressed in the chiller What Lies Beneath with Michelle Pfeiffer but his portrayal of a Russian submarine captain in K-19: The Widowmaker (for which he apparently received £20m) was ill-advised.

Hollywood Homicide, opposite Josh Hartnett, could be seen as a career low...and he fared little better in the 2006 thriller Firewall.

(During this time he declined a chance to star in the thriller Syriana and the role went to George Clooney, who won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his work).

In 2007, at 64 years old, he delighted the legions of Indian Jones fans when he returned for a fourth time in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.