George Hamilton Biography

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George Stevens Hamilton (born August 12, 1939) is an American film and television actor.

Early life

Hamilton was the youngest son of bandleader George "Spike" Hamilton and his first wife, Ann Stevens (formerly Mrs. William Potter). He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and lived in Blytheville, Arkansas. He won many awards as a student at Palm Beach High School, West Palm Beach, Florida.

After moving to California, he was put under contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which showcased him in films such as Home from the Hill, Your Cheatin' Heart, All the Fine Young Cannibals, Light in the Piazza and Two Weeks in Another Town.

His stepfathers were Carleton Hunt and Jesse Spalding; his stepmother was June Howard, with whom Hamilton has said he had an affair when he was 12, shortly after she married his father. His elder half-brother, William Potter, became an interior decorator for such prestigious firms as Eva Gabor Interiors in Palm Springs, where Hamilton owned a home a few blocks away from Elvis Presley and his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, who became his good friend. Hamilton also has a younger brother, David Hamilton.

Career

Hamilton began his film career in 1952. Although he has a substantial body of work in film and television, he is perhaps most famous for his debonair style and his perfect and perpetual suntan (Bo Derek writes in her autobiography, "there was an ongoing contest between John [Derek] and George Hamilton as to who was tanner").

With his matinee-idol looks, it was sometimes noted that he physically resembled Warren Beatty; Beatty's political satire Bulworth contained a running gag about this, with Hamilton appearing as himself in a brief cameo.

One of his best-known MGM films was the iconic Where the Boys Are (1960), a coming-of-age romantic comedy set during a college student spring break in the Fort Lauderdale area of Florida in which Hamilton played a smooth Ivy League type. Hamilton received a Golden Globe award in 1960 as Most Promising Newcomer (Male).

He went on to star with George Peppard as a soldier in 1963's The Victors, a World War II story, and as a Confederate captain who kidnaps the wife of a Union officer (Glenn Ford) in a 1967 drama, A Time for Killing.

Hamilton made two memorable bio-pics: Your Cheatin' Heart (1964), in which he portrayed the country-western music legend Hank Williams, followed by Evel Knievel (1971), the life story of the motorcycle daredevil.

A surprise blockbuster hit came his way in 1979 when Hamilton showed a flair for comedy. Love at First Bite was the story of Count Dracula's pursuit of a young Manhattan socialite, played by Susan Saint James. It included such scenes as Dracula and his conquest dancing to "I Love the Nightlife" at a disco. The film's box-office success created a popularity surge for Hamilton, who followed it with a comic portrayal of a famed swordsman in 1981's Zorro, the Gay Blade. He was nominated for Golden Globe awards for both films.

Film leads dried up quickly, however. In the mid-1980s, Hamilton starred in the sixth season of the ABC Aaron Spelling-produced nighttime television serial Dynasty. Having once played a doctor who uses hypnosis to commit a murder on a 1975 episode of Columbo, Hamilton returned for a second homicide on that long-running Peter Falk detective series in 1991, this time playing the host of an America's Most Wanted-style television show. He later became a semi-regular panelist on the 1998 revival of Match Game.

A break for Hamilton came in 1990 when Francis Coppola cast him as the Corleone family's lawyer in a much-anticipated film, The Godfather, Part III.

In 2003 Hamilton hosted The Family, a reality television series on ABC spanning one season in 2003. It starred 10 members from a traditional Italian-American family, each fighting for a $1,000,000 prize.

In 2006 he competed in the second season of ABC's Dancing with the Stars with professional Edyta Sliwinska and lasted until the sixth round before being voted off. At age 66 and recovering from knee injuries, Hamilton, unable to match the limber dance moves of his younger competitors, charmed the audience and judges with endearingly silly dances utilizing props including a Zorro mask and sword from Zorro, The Gay Blade.

Also in 2006, it was rumored that Hamilton would replace Bob Barker on The Price Is Right. He did an audition and in March 2007, TMZ reported that Hamilton was a frontrunner to replace Barker. According to Reuters, Hamilton was one of the final three contenders to host the show, alongside Mark Steines and Todd Newton. Soon thereafter, however, Drew Carey was named as Barker's successor. Subsequently, Hamilton has hosted the live stage adaptation of the show, The Price Is Right Live!.

In August 2008, Hamilton co-starred in Coma, a web series on Crackle.

Hamilton was executive producer of the 2009 film My One and Only, which is loosely based on his early life and relationship with his mother.

Hamilton was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame on 12 August 2009 " his 70th birthday. In 1999, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.

Hamilton appeared as a contestant on the UK edition of I'm a Celebrity?Get Me out of Here! (UK series 9) in November 2009. Hamilton walked out of the jungle on 30 November 2009, telling the other contestants that he wasn't there to win, but to have fun. Hamilton was considered one of the favorites to win the series.

In 2010 Hamilton was chosen as one of David Hasselhoff's roasters in the Comedy Central Roast of David Hasselhoff.

Starting in the fall of 2011, Hamilton starred as "Georges" for the national tour of the Tony-winning revival of La Cage aux Folles. He is still starring in the show as of June 2012.

Personal life

In 1966 Hamilton had a relationship with Lynda Bird Johnson, the daughter of US President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Hamilton was married to actress Alana Stewart from 1972 to 1975. Their son, Ashley Hamilton, was born in 1974. George Thomas Hamilton is his younger son (born in December 1999 ) with his girlfriend Kimberly Blackford.

The divorced Hamiltons reunited in the mid-1990s to co-host a daytime talk show, George and Alana.

In I'm A Celebrity he revealed he had dated at least four Miss Worlds.

Hamilton had a well-known social relationship with Imelda Marcos, the wife of former Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos. It was later revealed that he also had business ties to the Marcoses. In 1990 Hamilton was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in a federal fraud and racketeering case against the Marcoses involving looting Philippine government funds; Mrs. Marcos was acquitted in the case.

According to Burt Reynolds' autobiography, Hamilton has a healthy sense of humor, even when the humor is directed at him: Reynolds once made up a birthday card for Hamilton with a composite photograph of Tony Curtis and Anthony Perkins, titled "To George, love from Mum and Dad". Hamilton found the card hilarious and showed it to everybody.

Business endeavors and misc

In the late 1980s Hamilton launched George Hamilton Skin Care System and the George Hamilton Sun Care System and tanning salons.

A cigar lounge bearing his name was opened in the late 1990s at the New York, New York, hotel in Las Vegas and other locations, along with a line of cigars bearing the actor's name. A January 1998 article in Cigar Aficionado magazine described Hamilton's style as "Cary Grant meets Pat Riley".

In April 2006 Hamilton served as grand marshal for the 79th Annual Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival in Winchester, Virginia.

Filmography

• Lone Star (1952)
• Crime and Punishment U.S.A. (1959)
• Home from the Hill (1960)
• All the Fine Young Cannibals (1960)
• Where the Boys Are (1960)
• Angel Baby (1961)
• By Love Possessed (1961)
• A Thunder of Drums (1961)
• The Light in the Piazza (1962)
• Two Weeks in Another Town (1962)
• The Victors (1963)
• Act One (1963)
• Looking for Love (1964) (Cameo)
• Your Cheatin' Heart (1964)
• Viva Maria! (1965)
• That Man George (1966)
• A Time for Killing (1967)
• Doctor, You've Got to Be Kidding! (1967)
• Jack of Diamonds (1967)
• The Power (1968)
• Togetherness (1970)
• Elvis: That's the Way It Is (1970) (documentary)
• Evel Knievel (1971)
• Medusa (1973)
• The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing (1973)
• Columbo: A Deadly State of Mind (1975)
• Jacqueline Susann's Once Is Not Enough (1975)
• "Roots" (TV series/film) (1977)
• The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington (1977)
• Sextette (1978)
• The Users (1978)
• From Hell to Victory (1979)
• Love at First Bite (1979)
• Zorro, The Gay Blade (1981)
• Malibu (1983)
• The Godfather Part III (1990)
• Columbo: Caution: Murder can be Hazardous to your Health (1991)
• Doc Hollywood (1991)
• Once Upon a Crime (1992)
• Amore! (1993)
• Double Dragon (1994)
• Vanished (1995 TV movie)
• Playback (1996)
• Meet Wally Sparks (1997)
• 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag (1997)
• The Little Unicorn (1998)
• She's Too Tall (1998)
• Bulworth (1998) (Cameo)
• Casper Meets Wendy (1998)
• Pets (1999)
• Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles (2001) (Cameo)
• Off Key (2001)
• Reflections of Evil (2002)
• Hollywood Ending (2002)
• A Very Cool Christmas (2004) (plays santa)
• The L.A. Riot Spectacular (2005)
• Rumor Has It... (2005) (Cameo)

Television work

• The Donna Reed Show (as Herbie Shields in "Have Fun", 1959)
• A Farewell to Arms (1966) (miniseries)
• Harold Robbins' The Survivors (1969"1970)
• Paris 7000 (1970) (canceled after 10 episodes)
• The Last of the Powerseekers (1971)
• The Dead Don't Die (1975)
• Columbo: A Deadly State of Mind (1975)
• Roots (1977) (miniseries)
• The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver (1977)
• Killer on Board (1977)
• The Users (1978)
• Express to Terror (1979) (pilot for Supertrain)
• Institute for Revenge (1979)
• Death Car on the Freeway (1979)
• The Seekers (1979)
• The Great Cash Giveaway Getaway (1980)
• Malibu (1983) (miniseries)
• Two Fathers' Justice (1985)
• Dynasty (cast member from 1985"1986)
• Monte Carlo (1986) (miniseries)
• Spies (1987)
• Poker Alice (1987), based on the frontier gambler Poker Alice
• Columbo: Caution: Murder Can Be Hazardous to Your Health (1991)
• The House on Sycamore Street (1992)
• Birds of a Feather: It Happened in Hollywood (Himself) (1993)
• Das Paradies am Ende der Berge (1993)
• Two Fathers: Justice for the Innocent (1994)
• The Bold and the Beautiful (cast member in 1994)
• George & Alana (1995"1996)
• Vanished (1995)
• The Guilt (1996"1997)
• Hart to Hart: Till Death Do Us Hart (1996)
• Rough Riders (1997)
• Miss USA & Miss Universe (1997) (host)
• Jenny (1997"1998)
• Casper Meets Wendy (1998)
• P.T. Barnum (1999)
• Baywatch (1 episode: season 9, episode 21) (1999)
• The Family (2003"2004)
• Las Vegas (TV series) (guest appearance 2004)
• Too Cool for Christmas (2004)
• Dancing with the Stars (cast member in 2006)
• Joey (guest appearance 2005)
• I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! (2009)
• The Comedy Central Roast Of David Hasselhoff (2010)
• Hot in Cleveland (2013)

Books

• Life's Little Pleasures (co-authored with Alysse Minkoff) (1998)
• Don't Mind If I Do or do I (co-authored with William Stadiem) (2008)