Ford also has very particular ideas about raising children. "I really believe that kids want discipline," he told Ladies' Home Journal in 1996. "It's also my disposition to be rigorous. I've gone through this one more time than Melissa has." So, where does he draw the line? "Somewhere ahead of my wife," he told Redbook in 1998. "It doesn't matter where I draw the line -- they're always over it. If they want to go skateboarding, I have to insist they wear helmets."

The actor tries to limit his filming schedule to one movie a year to spend more time with the kids, and Mathison often works from home. But although they're both in the movie business, they only consult occasionally with each other on professional matters. "I'll often ask her to read something because I hope she'll confirm my opinion of it," Ford said this summer. "Of course, she's wonderfully talented and I've enjoyed everything she's done, but what matters is the people you're working for." Indeed, Ford has admitted, those people matter a lot. "I feel comfortable at home with my family, but it's on the set where I feel the most valued," he said two years ago. "I'm probably a better actor than I am a father or husband."

Whether or not Mathison agrees with that assessment, as recently as July she seemed positive about their union. "There's no secret to our marriage other than that we really like each other," she told The Calgary Sun. "When there's a lack of trust and responsibility in a relationship, that's when strange things begin to go bump in the night."

Friends hope more peaceful nights lie ahead for the pair. Meanwhile, others may have to grapple with their idol's mortal roots, just as Ford himself has done and continues to do. "There's always things you wish you had a chance to do better, I mean like being a better actor, being a better father, a better husband, being a better person," he told PEOPLE in 1998. "I don't think I've mastered anything. I'm still wrestling with the same frustrations, the same issues, the same problems as I always did. That's what life is like."

-- ANNE-MARIE O'NEILL -- TOM CUNNEFF, ELIZABETH LEONARD, MICHAEL FLEEMAN, PAMELA WARRICK and MICHELLE CARUSO in Los Angeles and K.C. BAKER, FANNIE WEINSTEIN and EVE HEYN in New York City