What was the name of Harrison Ford's character in "Apocalypse Now"?

Harrison Ford’s character in “Apocalypse Now” was Colonel Lucas. Lucas appears near the beginning of the 1979 film, where he helps brief Captain Benjamin Willard on the mission to find and kill Colonel Walter Kurtz.

The character is one of the military officers who sends Willard up the Nung River into Cambodia. His instructions frame Kurtz as a rogue officer operating beyond acceptable military conduct, while the mission itself is officially denied—an early example of the film’s recurring tension between bureaucracy and moral chaos.

Ford’s role is brief but memorable because it predates his superstar status in the “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” franchises. “Apocalypse Now” was released in 1979, the same year Ford appeared as Han Solo in “The Empire Strikes Back” production period, although the films’ releases and filming timelines are often confused.

The name Lucas also carries an inside reference: it echoes filmmaker George Lucas, who was involved in the early development of “Apocalypse Now” before Francis Ford Coppola directed it. The character is sometimes listed more fully as Colonel G. Lucas.