Nielsen ratings forMonday Night Footballincreased
throughout 1980’s, as viewers continued to respond
to the show’s mixture of sports and entertainment.
The Super Bowl, meanwhile, became an unofficial
national holiday and the top-rated television pro-
gram during most of the decade.
Further Reading
Boyles, Bob, and Paul Guido.Fifty Years of College Foot-
ball.Fishers, Ind.: Sideline Communications,
- A comprehensive history of college foot-
ball.
Dunnavant, Keith.The Fifty-Year Seduction: How Televi-
sion Manipulated College Football, from the Birth of the
Modern NCAA to the Creation of the BCS. New York:
St. Martin’s Press, 2004. Analysis of how television
coverage has affected college football.
Kanner, Bernice.The Super Bowl of Advertising: How
the Commercials Won the Game.New York: Bloom-
berg Press, 2003. Examination of how Super Bowl
advertising has changed since 1967.
Leiker, Ken, and Craig Ellenport, eds.The Super
Bowl: An Official Retrospective. New York: Rare Air, - Explores the Super Bowl as a cultural phe-
nomenon and as a global event.
MacCambridge, Michael, ed.ESPN College Football
Encyclopedia: The Complete Histor y of the Game.New
York: Hyperion, 2005. Comprehensive reference
guide to college football history, tradition, and
lore.
Smith, Michael, et al., eds.The ESPN Pro Football Ency-
clopedia.New York: Hyperion, 2006. Provides sta-
tistics on all aspects of professional football from
1920 through the 2005 season.
Watterson, John Sayle.College Football: Histor y, Specta-
cle, Controversy.Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univer-
sity Press, 2002. Historical examination of college
football, including scandals, controversies, and
attempts at reform.
Yost, Mark.Tailgating, Sacks, and Salar y Caps: How the
NFL Became the Most Successful Sports League in His-
tor y. Chicago: Kaplan, 2006. Analyzes the finan-
cial impact of professional football.
Cher yl Pawlowski
See also Advertising; African Americans; Apple
Computer; Arena Football League; Elway, John;
Hobbies and recreation; Montana, Joe; Sports; Tele-
vision.
Ford, Harrison
Identification American actor
Born July 13, 1942; Chicago, Illinois
After playing small parts in movies such asAmerican
Graffiti, Harrison Ford won the role of Han Solo in George
Lucas’sStar Warstrilogy and the title role in Steven
Spielberg’s Indiana Jones movies. As a result of playing
these roles, Ford became one of the top box-office stars of the
1980’s.
Harrison Ford appeared in four of the top ten gross-
ing films of the 1980’s:The Empire Strikes Back(1980),
Raiders of the Lost Ark(1981),The Return of the Jedi
(1983), andIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade(1989).
His work inWitness(1985) and theStar Warsand In-
diana Jones trilogies in particular led to his status as
a major star who could guarantee huge profits at the
box office. Ford’s appeal as a strong yet heroic
Everyman won him wide appeal with audiences and
critics alike.
While Ford is best known for his portrayals of Han
Solo and Indiana Jones, his versatility as an actor led
to his playing a wide range of characters in all gen-
res. He starred in science-fiction movies, such as the
cult hitBlade Runner(1982); detective movies, such
asWitness; and romantic comedies, such asWorking
Girl(1988). InThe Mosquito Coast(1986), the actor
took on the challenge of playing the role of a less lik-
able character to mixed reviews. Even though this
movie was not as successful as Ford’s other films, his
personal popularity continued to gain momentum
during the rest of the decade.
Other films that Ford starred in during the 1980’s
includeIndiana Jones and the Temple of Doom(1984)
andFrantic(1988). He worked with several major di-
rectors during the decade, including Steven Spiel-
berg, Peter Weir, Roman Polanski, Ridley Scott, and
Mike Nichols. In the mid-1980’s, Ford was recog-
nized by his peers in the film industry when he was
nominated for Golden Globe awards in 1985 and
1986 for his roles inWitnessandThe Mosquito Coast.
As a result of his personal success and the recogni-
tion of the movie industry, Ford was able to pick the
roles that he wanted to play, and he went on to take
chances in some of the characters that he chose to
portray. While the resulting films were not always
popular, he continued to enjoy the artistic freedom
to choose the kinds of characters he played and the
way that he practiced his craft.384 Ford, Harrison The Eighties in America