Born July 13: Harrison Ford

When the United States Postal Service issued the Star Wars set of 15 41¢ stamps in 2007, it seemed that many of the stamps, which portray characters and spacecraft from the series of six successful Star Wars films, were actually showing living people — actors in their film roles.

Featured on one of those stamps is one of the heroes of the original 1977-83 Star Wars trilogy, the rogue smuggler and space pilot Han Solo, played by actor Harrison Ford.

Ford was born July 13, 1942, in Chicago, Ill. The stamp illustration by Drew Struzan shows the Han Solo character alongside his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca, portrayed by British-born actor Peter Mayhew in the Star Wars films.

Ford has starred in many of the most popular movies of the last 40 years, including Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and later films in the Indiana Jones series, as well as Blade Runner (1982), Witness (1985), Air Force One (1997) and many others.

He will return to the role of Han Solo in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which is scheduled for theatrical release on Dec. 18.