Aurora Starchild
Harrison Ford is one of those rare actors who has managed to be the face of multiple fictional household names. Of course, we’re talking about Han Solo and Indiana Jones. Both adventurous, handsome, and perfectly imperfect. Ford has got a distinct look. His eyes are intense, his jawline was particularly chiseled in his younger days. And then there is the scar. Harrison Ford’s chin scar: where did it come from?
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Sometimes we block imperfections out when we see them on someone’s face enough times. But when you’re constantly appearing on 20-foot-wide screens, it’s hard to hide something as prominent as a 2-3” scar across your chin. So, Hollywood has gone the other route. Rather than try to hide the scar, they’ve written in stories for his characters to explain where it came from.
The Working Girl Chin Scar Story
In Working Girl, Ford’s character, Jack Trainer, tells Tess McGill (played by Melanie Griffith) that he got the scar from a previous girlfriend.
“How did you get this scar?” Tess asks Jack as she’s caressing his chin. Jack is on top of Tess in bed.
“Some guy pulled a knife in Detroit.”
“Really?”
“No. No. I was 19 and I thought it would be cool to have a pierced ear. And my girlfriend stuck the needle through, and I heard this ‘pop’ and fainted and hit my chin on the toilet.”
“Have you been telling that story ever since?”
“You’re the only one who knows the true story.”
“Except the girlfriend.”
“I had her disappeared. It’s too bad. Nice girl.”
The Indiana Jones Chin Scar Story
In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indiana gets the scar during the train chase scene. Young Indy (played by River Phoenix) falls into a train car after Fedora tells him “there’s no way out of this.”
Unfortunately, the car he falls into is holding a lion. The lion roars and steps towards Indy, who is backed into a wall. Indy looks over and sees a whip hanging on the wall. He grabs it and valiantly whips it, but instead of the whip hitting the lion, it lashes Indy’s chin.
The Real Story of Harrison Ford’s Chin Scar
According to Parade, the real story about Harrison Ford’s chin scar is a bit more mundane than either of the two movie versions, although it was scary. He was in his early 20s and working at Bullock’s Department Store near Laguna Beach, California. This was before Ford landed his first movie roles.
Ford describes the source of the scar as being “a fast car crash, a real mundane way of earning it.” On his way to work at Bullock’s, he was fumbling with his seat belt, trying to get it buckled. Then his car crashed into a telephone pole, sending his face smashing into his steering wheel.
Ford added that the scar was partially caused by an “inept emergency surgery” following the car accident.
