Harrison Ford, America's Leading Man

Challenging
But Ford quickly ran into trouble. He developed a reputation for being difficult, willing to second-guess directors. As he says himself, "Generally speaking, I don't consider what I read to be finished scripts but a work in progress." Disillusioned, Ford picked up carpentry to supplement his acting income. An old friend helped get him an audition for a low-budget George Lucas film called American Graffiti. The coming-of-age story about a group of teenagers, shown above, proved to be a huge commercial and critical success.

Read the interview with Harrison Ford.