Harrison Ford is one of the world's biggest movie stars and has led tons of blockbuster movies, but his dedication to action films has led to many on-set injuries. The actor became an action hero with Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark, and his characters Han Solo and Indiana Jones have become iconic within the genre. While those characters are well written with lovable quirks, what made them great and truly unforgettable were Ford's charisma and his insistence on doing many of his own stunts.
Even in his personal life, Harrison Ford has flown and crashed planes, and his fearlessness persists on movie sets, where he has wound up hurting himself more than most actors. Between committing to a fight scene and the simple bad luck of standing in the wrong place at the wrong time, Ford has a list of injuries almost as prolific as his filmography. But even while some of these cause delays in production, it seems as if no amount of bruises, broken bones, or near-death experiences will ever stop the actor from executing stunts and delivering some of the most exciting action sequences.
Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981)
One of the coolest moments in Raiders of the Lost Ark is when Indiana Jones fights a mechanic twice his size, but that entertainment came at a cost for Harrison Ford. During a Reddit AMA in 2014, when asked about injuries, Ford detailed the first time he seriously hurt himself on set, which was while shooting the movie that kicked off the Indiana Jones franchise. Ford explained, "I tore an ACL in one of my knees, can't which knee, the scene in which I was fighting the big German mechanic on an airplane called a flying wing. I was run over by the landing gear and injured my knee."
Indiana Jones & The Temple Of Doom (1984)
The Indiana Jones franchise wasn't kind to Harrison Ford's body, as his second outing as the cool archeologist marked the second major injury for the actor. While shooting theory that Indiana Jones is immortal, Ford is not invincible. The injury required some creative filmmaking from Steven Spielberg, as the director was left without his star for five weeks while the actor was getting special treatment on his back, "fusing it together." The filmmaker shot Ford's stunt double from behind the whole time.
The Fugitive (1993)
Harrison Ford suffered his second leg injury while shooting make The Fugitive even movie suspenseful.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
While making his long-awaited return as Han Solo in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, reuniting with the iconic Millennium Falcon wasn't exactly the exciting moment it should have been for the actor. A hydraulic door was accidentally activated when Ford was underneath it, which broke his leg. He was lucky that's all that broke, as the accident could have reportedly killed Ford (via CBR). Ford described the incident as, "a f***ing great hydraulic door which closed at light speed." Still, Ford has been in five Star Wars movies and only injured himself while shooting one of them, which makes it a much less risky franchise than Indiana Jones.
Indiana Jones & The Dial Of Destiny (2023)
While Harrison Ford impressively went two whole Indiana Jones movies without injuring himself following Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, that streak ended when shooting Ford injured his shoulder on the set of the fifth Indy movie, and it caused the whole shooting schedule to be adjusted. According to a statement from Disney, "Harrison Ford sustained an injury involving his shoulder. Production will continue while the appropriate course of treatment is evaluated." Strangely, the way he hurt himself sounds eerily similar to his very first injury in Raiders of the Lost Ark, as it was while shooting a fight scene.
