Harrison Ford is one of the true gems of Hollywood to date. In his way beyond-successful career of nearly 60 years and counting, Ford has starred in several blockbuster movies and TV series and has even been widely acclaimed for the same, including the Indiana Jones movie series and the Star Wars series for a few to count.
In a surprising turn of events on the sets of his movie Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977), it was revealed how Harrison Ford had to announce a fake engagement with Carrie Fisher in front of Mark Hamill after the latter caught the pair spending a night together during the shoot of their movie together.
Harrison Ford’s Fake Engagement with the Late Carrie Fisher
Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, the low-budget space opera, was the beginning of the now multi-billionaire franchise of Star Wars which starred the then-relatively unknown actors Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill in the lead roles. While the on-screen movie became one of the fans’ favorites, very few people are aware of the off-screen affair drama between Ford & Fisher.
After quickly becoming friends on the sets of the movie, Harrison Ford and the late Carrie Fisher got into a rendezvous that was kept secret for many years. In an instance disclosed in Carrie Fisher’s memoir The Princess Diarist, the late actress mentioned how once Hamill caught them red-handed when she slept over at Ford’s and how they escaped the situation, saying,
“Clearly I hadn’t just dropped by for brunch, as no scones or eggs were in evidence, and we didn’t appear to be running lines. Harrison, after letting Mark in, returned to the table we’d been sitting at, sat down across from me, took my hand, and pronounced solemnly, ‘We’re engaged,” Fisher wrote. “It was hiding in plain sight, mocking the suggestion that there was anything going on; therefore, it couldn’t be true.”
Although Harrison Ford was already married to Mary Marquardt at that time, both Ford and Fisher kept their months-long relationship a secret for a long time.
Mark Hamill was Clueless Until The Princess Diarist was Released
Even after nearly catching them red-handed, Mark Hamill claims he was ‘blissfully unaware’ of their relationship like the rest of the world until the late Carrie Fisher’s memoir got released. Referring to the Harrison Ford-Carrie Fisher affair, Hamill said,
“I was so self-involved at that point, they could’ve been doing it in front of me, and I wouldn’t have noticed. I think it might have been a distraction if I’d known what was going on [during filming].”
But even after finding out all about it several years later, Mark Hamill revealed he wasn’t bothered about it but rather he was ‘glad’ he didn’t know about it, for the 71-year-old actor feared he could’ve ruined his job due to the distraction, had he known.
You can watch Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope on Disney+.
Source: CheatSheet
