Harrison Ford’s Earnest Actor Awards Speech Honors Craft: “We Share The Privilege Of Working In The World Of Ideas, Of Empathy, Of Imagination”

Only Harrison Ford could so effortlessly toggle between pulling on audience heartstrings and cracking whip-smart jokes. In his acceptance speech for this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award from SAG-AFTRA’s Actor Awards, the Oscar-nominated performer quipped about it being “a little weird” that the distinction was being presented “at the half point of my career.”

“It’s a little early, isn’t it? I’m still a working actor,” he said.

The Indiana Jones alum recalled struggling in the business for 15 years, hopping from acting to carpentry, before landing his big break in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, which introduced the world to Han Solo. He thanked George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, as well as late casting director Fred Roos and late manager Patricia McQueeney.

Ford then earnestly launched into his origin story, beginning: “In my third year of college, I was a little lost. I was failing at school.