Harrison Ford may be one of the biggest movie stars around, but before he was famous, he was an ordinary man renting a flat in London. The Indiana Jones icon moved to Notting Hill in 1976 while filming the first Stars War film, 1977’s Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire.
Details of his time living in west London have emerged after a Star Wars film script left at the flat by Ford was put up for sale and will appear at auction next month with an estimate of £8,000 to £12,000. According to Excalibur Auctions moved the Hollywood actor in after seeing an advert in the Sunday Times for ‘Flat to Let’.
During his stay, Ford was often visited during this time by Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, and Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia. The apartment owners, who did not want to be named, said Ford was “an excellent tenant, very tidy” and did not know Hamill’s name because he was called “the boy” by the Hollywood actor.
“He was an ideal tenant. It was a really fun time,” they added. They also remembered Ford buying new plants for their garden and attending their son’s first birthday party.
When Ford left, other items remained, including an April 16, 1976, typewritten letter from his longtime agent, Patricia McQueeney, talking about future film prospects and asking why his wife, Mary Marquardt, hadn’t heard from him before they divorced in 1979—and has an estimate of £60-80. Ford would go on to marry ET screenwriter Melissa Mathison before they also ended their marriage.
The script was a fourth draft of a script for the first filmed Star Wars film, originally titled The Adventures of Luke Starkiller. It is incomplete and unbound, with different colored pages indicating revisions – and includes scenes and characters that were cut from the final edit.
On page 56, Ford is introduced as the cynical hero Han Solo in George Lucas’ script, according to Excalibur Auctions. Auctioneer Jonathan Torode said people needed to understand that Star Wars hadn’t been released yet and that no one had any “idea how big it was going to be”. He added that “it was a groundbreaking” film that was a struggle to make before winning seven Oscars and launching many sequels, spin-offs and other material.
British producer Watts and Ford would also work on 1981’s Raiders Of The Lost Ark, 1983’s Indiana Jones And The Temple of Doom, and 1989’s Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade. An estimate of £800-1200 has been placed on shooting schedules and notes about parties and telephone numbers.
Mr Torode said: “Although other copies of this script have come to market before, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to be able to offer a version with such wonderful provenance and attribution to Harrison Ford. “The moving background of these items gives even more appeal to die-hard Star Wars fans and we expect great interest from around the world.”
The script will be sold along with other items on February 17th.
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