The Trouble with Harrison Ford’s Beard in The Fugitive
- Chicago Movie Tours
- Aug 1
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 9
The movie studio didn't want it, but Harrison Ford had other plans for his beard in the Chicago movie The Fugitive.
Harrison Ford's facial hair plays a surprisingly important role in The Fugitive.
The Fugitive is a 1993 action thriller filmed primarily in Chicago, with a few scenes shot in North Carolina. Harrison Ford stars as Richard Kimble, a doctor and prison escapee wrongly accused of murdering his wife. While trying to find her real killer and prove his innocence, Kimble is relentlessly pursued by Tommy Lee Jones's U.S. Marshal.
But there's something else Kimble is trying to escape: his own appearance.
For part of his screen time in The Fugitive, Ford insisted his character don a beard. No big deal, right?
Wrong.
Warner Bros., the studio behind the film, was reportedly not happy about the beard. According to Ford, the studio essentially felt that it had “paid for the face they wanted to see,” and executives were concerned that his facial hair would obscure it.
Ford, however, had two good reasons for keeping Kimble's whiskers.
The Beard Had a Purpose
First, Kimble has very little time between his escape and the end of the movie to maintain his disguise. Ford reasoned that shaving his beard would be a quick and easy way to change his appearance if necessary.
But the beard also helped establish something about Kimble's character.
Along with his flowered vest and the distinctive artwork on his walls, the facial hair makes Kimble seem "slightly idiosyncratic"—a doctor who exists somewhat outside the medical establishment. As Ford explained, that characterization “comes to play later on in the story.”
In other words, the beard wasn't simply Harrison Ford refusing to shave. It was part of the character. And the decision seems to have worked.
The Fugitive became a major box-office success, grossing roughly $370 million worldwide on a $44 million budget. It received seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and Tommy Lee Jones won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Moreover, it's still one of the highest-rated films on Rotten Tomatoes and the like.
Wait… That's a Fake Beard
There's an amusing wrinkle to all of this.
Although Ford wore his real beard for much of the movie, there is a scene in which he has to wear a fake one created by the film's makeup department.
And, as you might expect, the fake beard doesn't look quite as convincing as the real thing.
It's a small detail, but it's a great example of the practical decisions that go into creating a movie character—and how something as seemingly insignificant as facial hair can serve a larger storytelling purpose.
So the next time you watch The Fugitive, keep an eye on Richard Kimble's beard: it's more than just whiskers.
Sources
"Off Screen, Ford Unlike His Action Characters." Leader-Telegram, Aug 29, 1993, p. 51.
See The Fugitive Behind the Scenes
Want to go deeper into the movie’s Chicago story?
Bring The Fugitive to your library, organization, or group with On the Run in Chicago: Behind the Scenes of The Fugitive. This talk goes behind the scenes of the film to explore its Chicago roots, on-set challenges, and lasting legacy in film and TV history.
Filming The Fugitive during Chicago's 1993 St. Patrick's Day Parade
And for a quick taste of the real-life chaos behind one of the movie's most memorable Chicago scenes, watch my 60-second video below about filming The Fugitive during Chicago's 1993 St. Patrick's Day Parade.
Two movie productions were filming along the parade route that day—and their camera crews actually ran into each other.
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