Harrison Ford’s Disney association explored as the actor is honored with Disney Legends Award at the D23 expo

Indiana Jones star Harrison Ford was honored with the Disney Legends Award on Sunday, August 11. Ford was bestowed the Walt Disney Company's iconic award at the D23 expo. Disney CEO Bob Iger took to the stage to present the veteran actor with the award at the Honda Center and called him the "definition of a leading man."

Ever since Lucasfilm came under the Disney banner in 2012, Harrison Ford has been one of the company's main stalwarts having starred as the titular globetrotter in the Indiana Jones movies and as Han Solo in the Star Wars films. He is also set to feature as Secretary Thaddeus Ross aka Red Hulk in the upcoming Marvel movie Captain America: Brave New World.

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Harrison Ford has starred in three separate Disney franchises

After acquiring Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion on October 30, 2012, Harrison Ford became one of Disney's main men. Ford's breakout role came from Lucasfilm's 1977 hit Star Wars where he played the captain of the Millennium Falcon and Rebel Alliance leader, Han Solo.

Harrison Ford reprised his role in the following two movies of the original Star Wars trilogy, The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983). He returned as Han Solo after Disney acquired Lucasfilm for two films in the Disney trilogy, The Force Awakens (2015), and an uncredited role in The Rise of Skywalker (2019).

In 1984, Harrison Ford starred in Raiders of the Lost Ark as the globetrotting archaeologist Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr. He later reprised the role for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), then in the1989 film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, followed by Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in 2008. He once again donned Jones' iconic Fedora for one final time in the 2023 Disney movie Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.

To further solidify his position in Marvel, Ford was touted as the replacement for actor William Hurt who played Thaddeus E. "Thunderbolt" Ross in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This happened after William Hurt passed away in 2022.

Ford is now all set to hit theaters as the General turned U.S. Secretary of State with the alter ego of Red Hulk in Disney's upcoming Marvel film Captain America: Brave New World.

During Sunday's D23 expo at the Honda Center, Harrison Ford was bestowed with the Disney Legends Award. Disney CEO Bob Iger presented Ford with the award and teased how Ford was just "an aspiring actor" who set off to fulfill his Hollywood dreams before cementing himself in the minds of millions as Han Solo or Indiana Jones. Iger proclaimed:

"He is the definition of a leading man, who stands alone in a category all his own."

The audience at the Honda Center was treated with a montage of Ford's notable works before the actor himself took to the stage for his acceptance speech. The actor told the 12,000-strong crowd "I love you, too" in a callback to Han Solo's iconic quote, "I know". The emotional star addressed the audience with:

"I love the life you’ve given me. I love the people that I’ve had the opportunity to work with. Nobody does anything in this business for long. We work in collaboration, no matter what who we are and what we’re doing."

He added that he was an "assistant storyteller" and proclaimed that the stories he's worked on are for and about the audience. According to Ford, it was a "privilege" to be able to work in that area. Harrison Ford further extended his gratitude to Bob Iger by saying:

"I’m acknowledging how important Bob has been in the work that I’ve done and in a creative and business capacity, and he’s also become a dear friend."

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Apart from Harrison Ford, Disney's class of 2024 inductees for the Disney Legends Award included Kelly Ripa, Colleen Atwood, Angela Bassett, James L. Brooks, James Cameron, Jamie Lee Curtis, Miley Cyrus, John Williams, Frank Oz, Joe Rohde, Steve Ditko, Mark Henn, and the first ever Black Disney tour guide Martha Blanding.