For Harrison Ford, the movie business all started because his grade-point average took a tumble in college.

''I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, so nothing of what I was studying seemed to fit,'' he reflects. ''I know now that I should have taken advantage of that time and that I missed a great deal of the opportunity to educate myself.

''I got into a drama class. Part of the requirement in the class was that you act in a school play. It terrified me. I had never been up in front of people before. You could see from the back row of the theater that my knees were knocking.

''That made me mad, to be so out of control. I wanted to regain that control. Once that was dealt with, I was really hooked. I found out that this was a fascinating exercise as a way to get out of my self and into somebody else's head. It was an opportunity to live other lives and experience things that I would not be able to experience in my own life.

''It was a chance to challenge myself felt comfortable working with people. It did then occur to me that (acting) might be a good life.''

For the past 16 years, Ford has been getting into the heads of such screen heroes as Han Solo (the ''Star Wars'' trilogy), Indiana Jones and Jack Ryan (''Patriot Games'' and the upcoming ''Clear and Present Danger''). He assumed another role this summer: Dr. Richard Kimble in ''The Fugitive.''

A notably private man, Ford came to Los Angeles from his Jackson Hole, Wyo., hideaway to talk about his career in an interview.

The Chicago-born actor recalled his early days in Hollywood. He left Ripon College, came to California with his new wife, Mary Marquardt and found a role in a Laguna Beach production of ''John Brown's Body.'' That helped bring him a $150-a-week contract with Columbia Pictures.

''I was so naive I thought I had to pay them the $150,'' he said.

After an uneventful 18 months at Columbia and a similar stretch at Universal, Ford tried free-lancing with equal results. ''I had a young son, and I couldn't turn down acting jobs, good or bad,'' he said. ''I thought. 'this is not a wood way of Conducting a career.' In the only plan I've ever had for my career, i decided I would find another way of making a living, which became carpentry.

''That seemed to work. In about eight years, I did three films. But they were good parts in good films: 'American Graffiti,' 'The Conversation' and 'The Court Martial of Lt. Calley,' which I did for TV with Stanley Kramer. Good work. I used the work I did in those films to 'platform up.'''

The upward movement was marked by his ''Star Wars'' and Indiana Jones films - six of the world's all-time top-10 moneymakers. Collectively, they have helped make Ford one of the most financially successful stars of all time.

At 51, Ford remains in top shape. Hints of silver appear in the unruly brown hair, but the face is unlined. A good-looking face, not Tom Cruise-handsome but friendly. His eyes fixed on his listener, he talks in a quiet monotone with a voice reminiscent of Midwest America.

He is a thoughtful, concerned man, but you won't find him ranting for some political candidate or marching in a protest parade. That's not his style.

''I have certain things I believe in and am concerned with as a private citizen,'' he remarked, emphasizing ''private citizen.''

''I don't feel good about taking the platform, merely on account of my celebrity. I do believe in supporting things I believe in, and I believe that the people I support are in a position to make a better argument for the cause, based on facts and their expertise, than I am on the authority of my celebrity.

''I am concerned about environmental issues, health issues, AIDS, abuse of women and children; those are the main issues we're involved in. I am involved, but not visibly so.''

When he isn't working on film locations around the world, Ford can be found on his Wyoming ranch, which he discovered before the area became a fashionable hideaway for celebrities. He lives with his second wife, screenwriter Melissa Mathison (''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,'' ''The Black Stallion'') and their children, ages 6 and 3.

He was asked what he finds so great about Wyoming.

''It's very quiet, and it gives a lot back to me,'' he said. ''As well as the peace and quiet, just being away from things is important to me. It's not a revulsion toward the (film) business or the people who practice it.

''You work intensely on a company with 250 talented people, and it becomes a community. But it's all organized around the people at the top. So you have this very supportive, but very unnatural organization of the whole troupe toward whatever needs you may express from time to time.

"It's good to get your own cup of coffee. It's good to find your own chair. It's good to sheep your own laundry and go to the grocery store. My wife would laugh at me, because I haven't gone to the grocery store yet.''

And how does he handle the winter chill in Wyoming?

''The winters? I came to California from Chicago, where it's colder than I've ever been in Wyoming,'' he said. ''It does get to be 40 below in Jackson, but it's very dry and it's usually sunny. So when you compare that to Chicago with the wind whipping, and the gray, humid cold, they come up about equal.''

By Bob Thomas
Associated Press Writer
Aug. 1993
APTV-08-16-93_PDT-DE