Hollywood legend Harrison Ford is set to miss the Academy Awards today, having reportedly been diagnosed with shingles.

Ford was due to be one of the awards presenters at the 97th Oscars, having been added to the event’s line-up this week, but is reported by Entertainment Weekly to have dropped out of the ceremony on Saturday morning.

The 82-year-old had appeared at last weekend’s Screen Actors Guild Awards, causing laughter among attendees when he playfully interrupted a speech given by his Shrinking co-star Jessica Williams:

What is shingles?

Shingles, also known as herpes zoster, is described by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a “viral infection that causes a painful rash”.

The illness is caused by the varicella-zoster virus (VZV). According to the WHO, shingles occurs when VZV, which causes chickenpox, reactivates in the body of a person who has previously had chickenpox.

The United Nations agency explains that the chief symptom of shingles is “a rash that appears on one side of the body, often as a single stripe of blisters”, prompting “pain, itching, tingling and numbness”. Shingles sufferers may also experience fever, headache, chills and fatigue, the WHO says.

According to the U.S.’s Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), around one million people in America develop shingles each year.

Not least because more than 99% of Americans born before 1980 have previously had chickenpox, the CDC notes that older people are at greater risk of shingles. The illness is most common in adults over 50, the WHO agrees.

Per the CDC, shingles itself is not directly contagious. However, people who have not had chickenpox or received the chickenpox vaccine can potentially become infected with VZV and develop chickenpox. They could then suffer from shingles if VZV reactivates in their body at a later point.

You can prevent shingles by getting two doses of the recombinant zoster vaccine (RZV).

Has Harrison Ford ever won an Oscar?

Ford, who most recently appeared in the 2025 Marvel Universe film Captain America: Brave New World, has featured in numerous Oscar-winning movies throughout his six-decade career on the big screen.

However, he has never received an Academy Award himself, and has only been nominated once. The veteran’s sole Oscars nod came at the 1986 ceremony, when he went up for Best Actor for his performance in the crime thriller Witness.

While Witness won two Oscars at the 58th Academy Awards - for Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing - Ford was beaten to Best Actor by William Hurt, who triumphed for his role in Kiss of the Spider Woman.

When are the 2025 Academy Awards?

Held at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre, the 2025 Oscars are to take place today Sunday, March 2, at 7:00 p.m. ET/4:00 p.m. PT.

The ceremony is to be broadcast live in the U.S. by ABC and Hulu. Viewers in the States have the option of streaming ABC on fubo, which offers a free trial.

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