Why Harrison Ford's Indiana Jones Only Had A Beard In A Single Scene

Indiana Jones is known for his hat and his whip, but there's another aspect of his appearance that some fans take for granted: he's never had a beard. Despite his chaotic lifestyle, making it reasonable for him to go days or weeks without shaving, Indy is never sporting anything more serious than a five o'clock shadow. Even including the latest film, "Indiana Jones and Dial of Destiny," which took place during the great beard boom of the late '60s, Indy has stayed clean-shaven ... Or has he?

In the early-1990s TV series "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles," Harrison Ford stopped by for an episode to play a middle-aged Indy. He filmed the episode in the middle of making his 1993 thriller "The Fugitive," in which his character sported a natural beard. The result is that there was a brief moment in the "Indiana Jones" franchise where Indy had a beard, even if it was in a scene that most fans today haven't watched. 

The episode that features bearded Indy is called "Indiana Jones and the Mystery of the Blues," and his scenes take place in the early 1950s. The next official Ford appearance in the franchise wouldn't be until the fourth movie, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," which takes place in 1957. The implication is that Indy spends a few years or so in the '50s experimenting with his facial hair before returning to a clean-shaven look for the rest of his life. 

In some ways, it's a shame that Indy abandoned the beard. Beards are interesting in that they can both indicate age while hiding a lot of the signs of aging. Old, beardless Indy may still look young at first glance, for instance, but the more you see him, the more you notice the aging in his exposed mouth and neck. Indy with a beard would've seemed like the movie embracing this new stage of his life, all while subtly hiding the true signs of his age. Indy without a beard came across as the movie desperately trying to return to the young vibes of the original trilogy, only to end up calling more attention to his age by accident. 

Fans have long talked wistfully about that one glimpse they've gotten of bearded Indy. "I wish he had it in the new movie," one fan lamented on the "Indiana Jones" subreddit. Another fan in the same thread wrote, "Wish they'd built on this look in 'Crystal Skull' and the new one. Indy should look like the American Gandalf the older he gets." But if they wanted to see Ford looking like American Gandalf, the closest thing they'd get would be his role in the 2020 film "The Call of the Wild." 

During the press tour for that movie, Ford shed some insight into why so many of his characters are clean-shaven, implying that his wife doesn't like him with a beard. "[The beard] took about three and a half months," he explained about his "Call of the Wild" character. "Then I shaved it off. And then we did some reshoots. So I had to grow it again. My wife (Calista Flockhart) will never forgive me for that."