Born in Chicago On July 13 th 1942 , this person graduated from high school in 1960 and went on to take drama at ripon college where he was expelled just 3 days before graduation.

After eventually graduating he headed to the west coast with college sweetheart and soon to be wife Mary Marquardt to seek work as an actor.

After playing numerous bit parts in movies, he was booted from his Columbia contract. Although he got numerous television roles in shows like "The Partridge Family", "Gun Smoke", "Kung Fu", and "The Virginian", acting just wasn't paying the rent for his family. In 1974, so he turned his back on acting and became a full-time carpenter.

When the money started to come in, he began to accept acting jobs again. Finally, His big break came. When One of his clients, Fred Roos, who was a casting director at Universal, had just been appointed to a then unknown director “George Lucas” for a film called AMERICAN GRAFFITI. , AND A FURTHER ROLE IN A GROUND BREAKING NEW SCI FI MOVIE IF SUCCESSFUL

The film began the surprise smash of 1973 and Roos gave him another job idea playing the part of smuggler Han Solo, to his disbelief, he was given the part. His future as an actor was sealed when STAR WARS was released on May 25, 1977 . It was a box office smash and a merchandiser's dream.