In the summer of 1997, the blockbuster action film “Air Force One” soared into theaters and became a global phenomenon. The movie was the perfect distillation of 90s Hollywood spectacle, a high-stakes thriller featuring a beloved movie star, a diabolical villain, and a premise that was pure patriotic popcorn. At the center of it all was its leading man, Harrison Ford, playing the heroic U.S. President James Marshall.
In 1997, Harrison Ford was not just an actor; he was an institution. He was Han Solo and Indiana Jones, the undisputed king of the box office. His reported salary for “Air Force One” was a staggering $20 million, placing him at the absolute zenith of Hollywood’s earning power. On a set filled with acclaimed actors like Gary Oldman and Glenn Close, there was no question who the biggest star was.
But a fascinating and little-known Hollywood paradox was quietly playing out on that set. The person with the biggest star power was not the person with the biggest fortune. In fact, the wealthiest actor in the entire cast was not the man who had saved the galaxy and found the Lost Ark. It was the quiet, 12-year-old girl who played his daughter. Her name was Liesel Pritzker, and while she was a talented child actress, her true role was that of an heiress to one of the most powerful, secretive, and colossal private fortunes in American history.
The Movie Star – Harrison Ford at the Peak of His Powers
To truly appreciate the scale of this financial anomaly, one must first understand the stratosphere Harrison Ford was occupying in the mid-1990s. His career was a murderer’s row of iconic, culture-defining hits. He had already anchored two of the most successful film trilogies of all time with Star Wars and Indiana Jones.
But unlike some of his peers from that era, his star power had not waned. The early 90s saw him successfully transition into the role of a serious, adult-oriented action hero. He had delivered massive commercial successes with films like The Fugitive, Patriot Games, and Clear and Present Danger. By the time he stepped into the shoes of President Marshall, he was arguably the most bankable movie star on the planet.
His $20 million salary for “Air Force One” was the pinnacle of the Hollywood pay scale, a figure reserved for only a tiny handful of actors who could guarantee a massive opening weekend. His personal net worth at the time was already well into the nine figures, a colossal fortune built over two decades of hard work, undeniable talent, and global fame. He was the embodiment of the self-made Hollywood dream. On that movie set, he was the undisputed king, a man whose personal wealth was as immense as his fame. Or so it seemed.
The Heiress – A Name of Unimaginable Wealth
Playing the role of Alice Marshall, the president’s resourceful young daughter, was a talented child actress named Liesel Pritzker. To the cast and crew, she was a professional young performer who had previously earned praise for her role in the critically acclaimed 1995 film “A Little Princess.” But her last name, Pritzker, while perhaps unfamiliar to the average moviegoer, was a name that carried immense weight in the worlds of business, finance, and philanthropy.
Liesel was not a typical child actor from a show business family. She was a member of the legendary Pritzker family of Chicago, one of America’s wealthiest and most influential business dynasties. The source of the family’s immense fortune was the Hyatt Hotels corporation, the global hospitality empire co-founded by her grandfather, Jay Pritzker, and his brother Donald.
The Pritzker empire, however, extends far beyond luxury hotels. The family’s private holding companies, most notably the Marmon Group (an industrial conglomerate that was later sold to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway for over $4.5 billion), controlled a vast and diversified portfolio of manufacturing and industrial service companies. Their wealth was a sprawling constellation of assets in real estate, finance, and industry, managed through a complex and famously secretive network of over 1,000 trusts.
As a direct descendant of this dynasty, the 12-year-old Liesel Pritzker was a beneficiary of this vast family fortune. While her exact net worth was a closely guarded family secret, she was, for all intents and purposes, a billionaire-in-waiting, an heiress to a fortune that dwarfed that of even the biggest movie star in the world.
The Lawsuit That Cracked Open a Dynasty
For years, the true extent of Liesel Pritzker’s personal wealth remained hidden within the family’s private trust system. But in the early 2000s, a dramatic and high-profile family feud erupted into the public sphere, and the quiet heiress was at the center of it.
In 2002, Liesel and her older brother, Matthew Pritzker, filed a bombshell lawsuit against their father, Robert Pritzker, and other family members. The lawsuit alleged that their father had improperly and vindictively drained their personal trust funds of over a billion dollars in the wake of his contentious divorce from their mother. The legal battle was a sensation, offering a rare and unprecedented look inside the secretive world of one of America’s most powerful families.
The lawsuit dragged on for several years, generating headlines around the world. Finally, in 2005, a settlement was reached. In a stunning resolution, Liesel and her brother were each awarded a reported $500 million. The settlement was a combination of a massive cash payment and, crucially, restored control over their remaining trust funds, which were still worth hundreds of millions more.
The lawsuit officially and publicly confirmed what had previously only been a matter of speculation. Liesel Pritzker, the former child actress from “Air Force One,” was now, in her early twenties, one of the wealthiest young women in the world. Her confirmed personal fortune of half a billion dollars—not including her remaining trusts—was several times larger than Harrison Ford’s entire net worth at the time. The 12-year-old girl on set had, in fact, been the richest person in the cast by an astronomical margin.
A New Mission – From Hollywood to Impact Investing
After her brief but successful acting career (which she pursued under the stage name Liesel Matthews to avoid connections to her family name) and her monumental legal victory, Liesel Pritzker Simmons (her married name) made a deliberate choice to step away from both Hollywood and the traditional path of a wealthy socialite.
She did not pursue a life of idle luxury. Instead, she dedicated herself to a new and ambitious mission: to use her inherited wealth as a force for positive change in the world. She became a prominent and highly respected leader in the field of impact investing.
Alongside her husband, Ian Simmons, she is the co-founder of Blue Haven Initiative, a unique and innovative investment firm. Blue Haven is one of the world’s leading family offices dedicated exclusively to impact investing. Their mission is to invest in businesses and ventures that generate not only a financial return but also a measurable and positive social and environmental impact. They have invested in a diverse portfolio of companies focused on renewable energy, financial inclusion, and sustainable agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa and across the United States.
Her work is a powerful counter-narrative to the typical “where are they now” story of a child actor. She has leveraged her immense fortune to become a thought leader in a movement that seeks to redefine the very purpose of capital, proving that wealth can be a tool for creating a more sustainable and equitable world.
Conclusion: A Tale of Two Fortunes
The story of the cast of “Air Force One” is a fascinating tale of two very different kinds of American fortunes. Harrison Ford’s wealth is the product of the classic Hollywood dream—a fortune built in the public eye through decades of hard work, undeniable talent, and global fame. It is a self-made empire built on the power of his own image.
Liesel Pritzker Simmons’s wealth is the product of a different American dream—that of the dynastic business empire. It is a fortune built over generations of shrewd investment, industrial innovation, and strategic family enterprise.
The fact that a 12-year-old heiress was quietly the wealthiest person on a set full of movie stars is more than just a piece of Hollywood trivia. It is a powerful illustration of the different scales of wealth that exist in the world. And in the remarkable journey of Liesel Pritzker Simmons from a movie set to the forefront of a global investment movement, it is a story of how a great fortune can be given an even greater purpose.