He's on Fire

Harrison Ford makes stop in Boston for viewing of new film

Harrison Ford always manages to keep it real, whether he's saving the universe, the world, or his family from certain disaster.

How does he do it?

"Well, there's money involved," joked the 63-year-old actor whose last reported salary was $25 million. "I don't mean to be glib. It's my job."

The notoriously shy Ford struck up conversation with the audience after a recent screening of his latest film, "Firewall," at Loews Boston Common. Dressed in a tight black sweater, jeans and a twinkling gold hoop, he answered inquiries about "Firewall," opening Feb. 10, "Indiana Jones 4," scheduled to begin filming this summer, and plenty of other topics.

Even with glasses, gray hair and a grizzly beard, several college girls professed undying love and admiration. One even asked if he'd ever do a musical — or at the very least jump out of a cake at her birthday party later that night.

"No and yes, though not in that order," he said, after warbling a few Marilyn Monroe-like bars of "Happy Birthday."

In "Firewall," Ford plays a banking executive blackmailed into robbing his employers by kidnappers holding his family. While Ford has played family men who thwart bad guys before, his performance still elicted cheers from the audience, especially when he knocked around the bad guys. They gave the actor a standing ovation when he appeared before the packed house.

He shared an important secret: He never expected any of this mega-star stuff.

"I was not interested in fortune or fame," said Ford, whose big break came with the 1973 film "American Graffiti." "I just wanted to make a living as an actor. I knew I was doomed when 'Star Wars' was a success."

Despite the "doom," he's made do, searching for characters with interesting journeys and scripts he can "get all the way through." H tries to make films people will want to see.

"I think of this as a service occupation. We are storytellers and there is a no reason to tell stories people don't want to hear," he said. "I'm looking for a good ride."

Apparently he knows one when he sees one. While Ford made a few duds in his 40-year career, including "Force 10 from Navarone," and more recently, "Hollywood Homicide," he's also been in four of the 10 top-earning films of all time — "Star Wars," "The Empire Strikes Back," "Indiana Jones" and "Return of the Jedi."

And to think he stumbled into acting "by accident." In college, he took a theater course to pad his GPA and ended up with a bad case of stage fright.

"I was determined to get over the knee knocking," Ford said. "I found myself engaged in something that felt better than anything I had done before."

He got over the fear, and evidence suggests he's got the acting thing down. However, Ford said he'd never step behind the camera for a new challenge.

"It takes too long, it's really hard and it doesn't pay very well," he said.

He doesn't mind doing his own stunts in his senior years, however. In fact, he did all but one stunt for his current movie, letting stunt double get hurtled out a window, over a railing and into a ditch).

"That was the one that hurt," he said. "The rest is smoke and mirrors and putting the pads in the right places."

About Harrison Ford:

Born: July 13, 1942, in Chicago, Ill.Height: 6-foot-1-inch
Spouses: Mary Marquardt (June 1964 - 1979), divorced with two children; Melissa Mathison (March 1983 - January 2004), divorced with two children
Main squeeze: Calista Flockhart
Nickname: Harry
Awards: Nominated for Oscar. Won lifetime achievement award from Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films.
Last reported salary: $25 million for "K-19: The Widowmaker"

Trivia: Chosen by Empire magazine in 1995 as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (No. 15). .He was a master carpenter before becoming a movie star, a craft he still does as a hobby. He has some false teeth, two were pulled by a dentist after some others were damaged when he fell on a gun during a stunt for a TV appearance early in his career.

- By Rosemary Ford