George Clooney's biography (from various sources)
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George Clooney's biography (from various sources)
by Katiedot Thu 16 Dec 2010, 02:42
I think we all know this, but it never hurts to have the info to hand:
George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an American actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter. For his work as an actor, he has received two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award. Clooney is noted for parlaying his celebrity into social activism and has served as one of the United Nations Messengers of Peace since January 31, 2008.
Though he made his acting debut on television in 1978, Clooney gained fame and recognition by portraying Dr. Douglas "Doug" Ross on the long-running medical drama ER from 1994 to 1999. While working on ER, he started attracting a variety of leading roles in films including Batman & Robin (1997) and Out of Sight (1998), where he first teamed with long-term collaborator Steven Soderbergh. In 2001, Clooney's fame widened with the release of his biggest commercial success, Ocean's Eleven, the first of a profitable film trilogy, that is a remake of the movie from 1960 with the members of The Rat Pack with Frank Sinatra as Danny Ocean. He made his directorial debut a year later with the 2002 biographical thriller Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and has since directed Good Night, and Good Luck (2005) and Leatherheads (2008). He won the 2006 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work in the Middle East thriller Syriana (2005).
Clooney's humanitarian work includes his advocacy of finding a resolution for the Darfur conflict, raising funds for the 2010 Haiti earthquake, 2004 Tsunami and 9/11 victims, and creating documentaries such as Sand and Sorrow to raise awareness about international crises.
Early life
Clooney was born in Lexington, Kentucky. His mother, Nina Bruce (née Warren), was a former beauty pageant queen, and his father, Nick Clooney, was an anchorman, as well as game show and American Movie Classics host. Clooney is of Irish descent on his father's side; his paternal great-great-grandparents, Nicholas Clooney (of County Kilkenny) and Bridget Byron, immigrated to the United States from Ireland.
Clooney was raised a strict Roman Catholic. He has an older sister, Adelia (also known as Ada), and his cousins include actors Miguel and Rafael Ferrer, who are the sons of his aunt, singer Rosemary Clooney, and actor José Ferrer. He is also related to another singer, Debby Boone, who married José Ferrer and Rosemary Clooney's son Gabriel. From an early age, Clooney would hang around his father's sets, often participating in shows, where he proved to be a crowd favorite.
Clooney began his education at the Blessed Sacrament School in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky. Spending part of his childhood in Ohio, he attended St. Michael's School in Columbus, and St. Susanna School in Mason, Ohio. In middle school, Clooney developed Bell's palsy, a debilitating condition that partially paralyzes the face. The malady went away within a year. "That was the worst time of my life," he told the Daily Mirror in 2003. "You know how cruel kids can be. I was mocked and taunted, but the experience made me stronger."
His parents eventually moved to Augusta, Kentucky, where Clooney attended Augusta High School. He has stated that he earned all As and a B in school, and was an enthusiastic baseball and basketball player. He tried out with the Cincinnati Reds in 1977 to play professional baseball, but was not offered a contract. He did not pass the first round of player cuts. He attended Northern Kentucky University from 1979 to 1981 majoring in History and Political Science and, very briefly, the University of Cincinnati, but did not graduate from either. He had such odd jobs as selling men's suits and cutting tobacco.
Career
Early work, 1978-1994
Clooney's first role was as an extra in the TV series Centennial in 1978. The series was based on the novel of the same name by James Michener and was partially filmed in Clooney's hometown of Augusta, Kentucky. Clooney's first major role came in 1984 in the short-lived sitcom E/R (not to be confused with ER, the better-known hospital drama, on which Clooney also costarred a decade later). He played a handyman on the series The Facts of Life and appeared as Bobby Hopkins, a detective, on an episode of The Golden Girls. His first significant break was a semi-regular supporting role in the sitcom Roseanne, playing Roseanne Barr's overbearing boss Booker Brooks, followed by the role of a construction worker on Baby Talk and then as a sexy detective on Sisters. In 1988, Clooney also played a role in Return of the Killer Tomatoes.
Breakthrough, 1994-2001
Clooney achieved stardom when he was selected to play Dr. Doug Ross, alongside Anthony Edwards's and Noah Wyle's characters on the hit NBC drama ER from 1994 to 1999. After leaving the series in 1999, he returned for a guest spot in the show's final season and also made a cameo appearance in the 6th season.
Clooney began appearing in movies while working on ER. His first major Hollywood role was in From Dusk till Dawn, directed by Robert Rodriguez. He followed its success with One Fine Day with Michelle Pfeiffer and The Peacemaker with Nicole Kidman. Clooney was then cast as the new Batman in Batman & Robin, which was a moderate box office success, but a critical failure (with Clooney himself calling the film "a waste of money"). In 1998, he starred in Out of Sight opposite Jennifer Lopez, marking the first of his many collaborations with director Steven Soderbergh. He also starred in Three Kings during the last weeks of his contract with ER.
International success, 2001-present
George Clooney cast his feet and hands in the Grauman's Chinese Theatre in 2007. After leaving ER, Clooney starred in commercially successful projects such as The Perfect Storm and O Brother, Where Art Thou?. In 2001, he teamed up with Soderbergh again for Ocean's Eleven, a remake of the 1960s Rat Pack film of the same name. It remains Clooney's most commercially successful movie, earning more than $444 million worldwide. The film spawned two sequels starring Clooney, Ocean's Twelve in 2004 and Ocean's Thirteen in 2007.
In 2001, Clooney and director Steven Soderbergh co-founded the Section Eight Productions, for which Grant Heslov was president of television. He made his directorial debut in the 2002 film Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, an adaptation of the autobiography of TV producer Chuck Barris. Though the movie didn't do well at the box office, Clooney's direction was praised among critics and audiences alike.
In 2005, Clooney starred in Syriana, which was based loosely on former Central Intelligence Agency agent Robert Baer and his memoirs of being an agent in the Middle East. Clooney suffered an accident on the set of Syriana, which resulted in a brain injury with complications arising from a punctured dura. The same year he directed, produced, and starred in Good Night, and Good Luck., a film about 1950s television journalist Edward R. Murrow's famous war of words with Senator Joseph McCarthy. Both films received critical acclaim and decent box-office returns despite being in limited release.
At the 2006 Academy Awards, Clooney was nominated for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for Good Night, and Good Luck, as well as Best Supporting Actor for Syriana. He became the first person in Oscar history to be nominated for directing one movie and acting in another in the same year. He won the Oscar for his role in Syriana.
George Clooney at the premiere of The Men Who Stare At Goats in the 2009 Toronto International Film FestivalClooney next appeared in The Good German (2006), a film-noir directed by Soderbergh that is set in post-World War II Germany. Clooney also received the American Cinematheque Award in October 2006, an award that honors an artist in the entertainment industry who has made "a significant contribution to the art of motion pictures". In August 2006, Clooney and Grant Heslov started a new production company: Smokehouse Pictures.
On January 22, 2008, Clooney was nominated for an Academy Award (and many others awards) for Best Actor for his role in Michael Clayton (2007). Clooney then directed his third film, Leatherheads (2008), in which he also starred. It was reported on April 4, 2008 in Variety that Clooney had quietly resigned from the Writers Guild of America over controversy surrounding Leatherheads. Clooney, who is the director, producer, and star of the film, stated that he had contributed in writing, "all but two scenes," of the film and requested a writing credit, alongside Duncan Brantley and Rick Reilly, who had been working on the project for 17 years. In an arbitration vote, Clooney lost 2–1 and ultimately decided to withdraw from the union over the decision. Clooney is now technically a "financial core status" nonmember, meaning he loses his voting rights, and cannot run for office or attend membership meetings, according to the WGA's constitution.
Clooney next co-starred with Ewan McGregor and Kevin Spacey in The Men Who Stare At Goats, which was directed by his friend Grant Heslov and released in November 2009. Also in November 2009, he voiced Mr. Fox in Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox. The same year, Clooney starred in Up in the Air, which was initially given limited release, and then wide-released on December 25, 2009. For his performance in the film, which was directed by Jason Reitman, he was nominated for a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award, BAFTA and an Academy Award.
Clooney is represented by Bryan Lourd, Co-Chairman of Creative Artists Agency (CAA).
Humanitarian work
Clooney in Abéché, Chad in January 2008 with the UNClooney has been active in advocating a resolution of the Darfur conflict. His efforts include appearing on an episode of Oprah and speaking at the Save Darfur rally in Washington, D.C., on April 30, 2006. On March 25, 2007, he sent an open letter to German chancellor Angela Merkel, calling on the European Union to take "decisive action" in the region in the face of Omar al-Bashir's failure to respond to the UN resolutions.
In April 2006, he spent ten days in Chad and Sudan with his father to make a film in order to show the dramatic situation of Darfur's refugees. In September of the same year, he spoke in front of the Security Council of the UN with Nobel Prize-winner Elie Wiesel to ask the UN to find a solution to the conflict and to help the people of Darfur. In December, he made a trip to China and Egypt with Don Cheadle and two Olympic winners to ask both governments to pressure Sudan's government.
After making his first trip to Darfur in 2006 with his father Nick, Clooney made the TV special "A Journey to Darfur", and advocated for action in the US. The documentary was broadcast on American cable TV as well as in the UK and France. In 2008, it was released on DVD with the proceeds from its sale being donated to the International Rescue Committee.
Clooney is involved with Not On Our Watch, an organization that focuses global attention and resources to stop and prevent mass atrocities, along with Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, and Jerry Weintraub. He narrated and was co-executor producer of the documentary Sand and Sorrow. Clooney also appeared in the documentary film Darfur Now, a call to action film for people all over the world to help stop the ongoing crisis in Darfur. The film was released on November 2, 2007. In February 2009, he visited Goz Beida, Chad with NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristof. In January 2010. he organized the Telethon Hope for Haiti Now, which collects donations for the 2010 Haiti earthquake victims.
Clooney discusses Sudan with President Barack Obama at the White House in October 2010.On December 13, 2007, Clooney and fellow actor Don Cheadle were presented with the Summit Peace Award by the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates in Rome. In his acceptance speech, Clooney said that "Don and I…stand here before you as failures. The simple truth is that when it comes to the atrocities in Darfur…those people are not better off now than they were years ago." On January 18, 2008, the United Nations announced Clooney's appointment as a United Nations messenger of peace, effective from January 31.
In the media
Clooney is one of three people to have been given the title of "Sexiest Man Alive" twice by People Magazine, first in 1997 and again in 2006. Clooney has appeared in commercials outside the US for products like Fiat, Nespresso and Martini vermouth, and has lent his voice to a series of Budweiser ads beginning in 2005.
Clooney was named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2007, 2008, and 2009.
South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker lampooned Clooney, among other stars, in their feature film Team America: World Police. Clooney later said that he would have been offended if he hadn't been made fun of in the film. He was also mentioned in the South Park episode "Smug Alert!", which mocks his acceptance speech at the 78th Academy Awards.
Political views
Clooney is a self-described political liberal. In 2003, he opposed the Iraq war, saying: "You can't beat your enemy anymore through wars; instead you create an entire generation of people seeking revenge.... Our opponents are going to resort to car bombs and suicide attacks because they have no other way to win.... I believe (Rumsfeld) thinks this is a war that can be won, but there is no such thing anymore. We can't beat anyone anymore."
In February 2003, syndicated columnist Liz Smith reported that while speaking at a National Board of Review event, Clooney had made the following remarks: "Charlton Heston announced again today that he is suffering from Alzheimer's." Clooney later said, "It was a joke,... They got the quote wrong. What I said was 'The head of the NRA announced today ...' (Filmmaker) Michael Moore had just gotten an award. Anyway, Charlton Heston shows up with guns over his head after a school shooting and then says in the documentary it's because of ethnic diversity that we have problems with violence in America. I think he's going to have to take whatever hits he gets. It was just a joke. That was someone else trying to make a bigger story." When asked if the actor went too far with his remarks, Clooney responded by saying, "I don't care. Charlton Heston is the head of the National Rifle Association; he deserves whatever anyone says about him." Heston himself commented, "It just goes to show that sometimes class does skip a generation," referring to Clooney's aunt, Rosemary Clooney. Heston further commented on the Clooney joke: "I don't know the man — never met him, never even spoken to him, but I feel sorry for George Clooney — one day he may get Alzheimer's disease. I served my country in World War II. I survived that — I guess I can survive some bad words from this fellow". Clooney said he subsequently apologized to Heston in a letter, and that he received a positive response from Heston's wife.
On January 16, 2006, during his acceptance speech for the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for Syriana, Clooney paused to sarcastically thank disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff before adding, "Who would name their kid Jack with the word ‘off’ at the end of your last name? No wonder that guy is screwed up!"
Clooney supported then-Senator Barack Obama's campaign in the 2008 presidential election.
About the possibility of him ever running for office, Clooney has said: "Run for office? No. I've slept with too many women, I've done too many drugs, and I've been to too many parties."
Personal life
Clooney and Elisabetta Canalis at the 66th Venice International Film FestivalClooney was married to Talia Balsam from 1989 to 1993. Since then, Clooney has said that he will never marry again. After meeting on the set of a Martini advert in 2000, he had a five-year on/off relationship with British model Lisa Snowdon. In 2007, he started dating Sarah Larson and the couple broke up in May 2008. Since 2009, Clooney has been in a relationship with Elisabetta Canalis.
Clooney's main home is in Los Angeles. He purchased the 7,354 square feet (683.2 m2) house in 1995 through his George Guifoyle Trust. His villa in Italy is situated in the village of Laglio, situated on Lake Como, near the former residence of famous Italian author Ada Negri.
On September 21, 2007, Clooney and then-girlfriend Larson were injured in a motorcycle accident in Weehawken, New Jersey. Clooney's motorcycle was hit by a car. The driver of the car reported that Clooney attempted to pass on the right, while Clooney stated that the driver signaled left and then decided to make an abrupt right turn and clipped the motorcycle. He was treated and released from the Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, New Jersey. On October 9, 2007, more than two dozen hospital staff members were suspended without pay for looking at Clooney's medical records in violation of federal law. Clooney himself quickly issued a statement on the hospital records matter, saying no one should be punished. He said "This is the first I've heard of it. And while I very much believe in a patient's right to privacy, I would hope that this could be settled without suspending medical workers."
Clooney owned a 280-pound Vietnamese black-bristled pot-bellied pig named Max which lived with him for eighteen years until its death in December 2006. He also owned two bulldogs, named Bud and Lou after the famous comedy team Abbott and Costello. Both dogs have died; one from a rattlesnake bite.
Last edited by Katiedot on Tue 28 Aug 2012, 07:05; edited 3 times in total (Reason for editing : made this a sticky)
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Re: George Clooney's biography (from various sources)
by Katiedot Thu 16 Dec 2010, 02:46
And another - extremely comprehensive! - biography from Talk Talk
Name: George Clooney
Born: 6 May 1961 (Age: 49)
Where: Lexington, Kentucky, USA
Height: 5' 11"
Awards: Won 1 Oscar and 2 Golden Globes, nominated for 6 BAFTAs
Biography:
They said it couldn't be done. They said that TV stardom necessarily disqualified an actor from major cinematic success. Yet, despite being the veteran of no fewer than fifteen TV pilots and seven major TV series, George Clooney would become one of the biggest and the brightest film stars of them. Ocean's Eleven and its subsequent franchise would see him draw together and headline over the likes of Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon and Al Pacino. He'd win an Oscar for his acting in Syriana and be nominated for Michael Clayton, as well as being nominated for directing and writing the screenplay for Goodnight, And Good Luck. His production credits would include comedies, thrillers and politically-charged award winners like Far From Heaven. This TV star was now a genuine Hollywood heavyweight.
Childhood
George Timothy Clooney was born on the 6th of May, 1961, in Lexington, Kentucky. His mother, Nina, was a former state beauty queen, while his dad, Nick Clooney, was a TV newscaster, actor and talk-show host of great repute around the Cincinnati area. The son of Andrew Joseph Clooney and Frances Marie Guilfoyle, Nick had begun his entertainment career in the army as a DJ then tried his luck in Hollywood, before returning to the mid-West. He'd be a news anchor in Lexington, following in the footsteps of his hero Edward R Murrow, then score his own TV show in Columbus, Ohio in the late Sixties before quickly moving on to a new show in Cincinnati in 1969. This was on WCPO's Channel 9. From here, in the early 1970s, he'd move on to WKRC-TV's Channel 12, also in Cincinnati, both versions of The Nick Clooney Show being morning chat shows. 1974 would see him get national coverage when he hosted the daytime game-show The Money Maze then , when this failed, he returned to his early love of more serious journalism when he became news director and anchor for WKRC.
From the age of 5, young George would potter around his father's sets, joining in where possible, shouting out the temperature during the weather report, generally being charming (some things never change). Nick's audiences loved him. George's aunt, the famous singer Rosemary Clooney, thought he'd make a fine comedian. Once, when he was thirteen, he was at home trying on an Easter Bunny costume for one of his dad's shows. Suddenly, there was an awful rumbling - it was Augusta's first earthquake in 150 years. Poor George; in his cute suit and huge fake feet, he had to leave the building and stand, humiliated, among the neighbours. Throughout his teens he build his role on his dad's show, serving coffee and doughnuts, greeting guests and even warming up the audiences.
His father would say that George's voice actually broke when he was trying to impress guest Lynda Day George, the glamorous star of Mission: Impossible.
Outside of TV, Nick would make some 150 personal appearances a year, visiting fairs, schools, businesses, anywhere there was an audience. The whole family - Nina, George and sister Ada - would go and George would learn the importance of entertaining the public at all times, any arguments in the car would have to be immediately forgotten upon arrival. In Ohio, Nick was seen as a cross between Elvis and Johnny Carson and refused to disappoint people. It was a lesson George learned well, eventually becoming a master of the press conference and red carpet.
George attended Kentucky's Augusta High School, but was no academic. Indeed, his father would give him extra book reports as he didn't think the boy was reading enough. War books became a favourite. George was more sporty. Indeed, baseball was his life. A big star at Augusta High, he actually tried out for the Cincinnati Reds, but did not make the cut.
Teenage / Early 20s
He tried college, at Northern Kentucky University, but didn't like that. He tried following his father into broadcast journalism, but didn't really want to do that either. Then came revelation. George's uncle was the actor Jose Ferrer, and now he came to Kentucky, along with his actor sons Miguel and Rafael, to make a horse-racing movie called And They're Off. Miguel was a particular friend of George's and he got him a minor role. The film was never released, but something in George Clooney was. He'd not seriously considered acting before. Indeed, his only real contact with that world had come very early on, when Raymond Burr came to Kentucky. George had trailed around behind the poor fellow all day, every five minutes grabbing his sleeve and shouting "You're Perry Mason! You're Perry Mason!"
Nick told him he ought to stick with college, have something to fall back on. But George replied that if he had something to fall back on, he'd probably fall back. So, he spent a season picking tobacco for his uncle Jack, then in 1982 took off for LA in his '76 Monte Carlo, with $300 in his pocket. The idea was to stay with his aunt Rosemary while he studied and looked for acting work, but she didn't fancy his chances and didn't really want to help him on his way to disaster. Nevertheless, when she went off on tour she invited George to be her driver.
Other work did not come. This was the time of the Brat Pack and George was just a couple of years too old. He borrowed $200 from new friend Grant Heslov (later his production partner) to have head shots done - still nothing. He became depressed and something of a pain, so Rosemary asked him to leave. Luckily, a friend and fellow-struggling-actor Tom Matthews could put him up - in a walk-in closet. George lived like that for a year, while touting for roles, doing construction work and studying under the renowned Milton Katselas. His first class production secured him an agent. Now the work came - and in the end HOW it came.
Many think that George Clooney was an immediate (and lucky) sensation with his first big part, in ER, then casually stepped into the movies. It didn't happen like that at all. He had to sell insurance door to door, draw caricatures in the mall, and flog lemonade from a stand. He did indeed start in a programme called E/R, but not the successful one. This one began in 1984, with Elliott Gould as divorced Dr Sheinfeld, a physician on call at a tough hospital. Like the later ER, it was set in Chicago, and veered between sit-com and high drama. For a couple of years, George was George Burnett in The Facts Of Life, a long running series about boarding school girls. Then, for a further year, he was Booker Brooks in Roseanne (this was a prime gig but, unable to get laughs, Clooney felt a failure and walked before he could be sacked). In between, there were a few film roles. There was the Scream-like Return To Horror High: Grizzly 2, with Charlie Sheen, which was (unsurprisingly) almost never released: and Return Of The Killer Tomatoes, where those vicious fruit were reanimated by John Astin (formerly Gomez Addams). Now reasonably confident of his toe-hold in Hollywood, Clooney would encourage his dad to return to LA and have another shot at the big-time. This he did, scoring a job on KNBC-TV in 1984. Ever grateful and generous, Clooney would always, but always attempt to encourage and help out his friends and family.
On paper, it doesn't look like much, but Clooney was actually big news in TV. He could get pilots greenlighted, and the money got progressively better. In 1990, he starred as Chic Chesbro in Sunset Beat, a shortlived TV series about LA cops who go undercover as bikers (Clooney LOVES motorbikes). Then came Baby Talk, a series based on Look Who's Talking, which featured sit-com gods Tony Danza and Scott Baio. He played Detective Ryan Walker in Bodies Of Evidence, a series of police mysteries. Then, between 1993 and '94, he was a cop again, as Detective James Falconer in Sisters, a popular series about four sisters in different walks of life, which variously featured Swoosie Kurtz, Julianne Phillips and Ashley Judd. He'd also, he later explained, became properly politicized. In 1992, after the Los Angeles riots, he and his friends had gone down to South Central to help with the clearing up operation.
Name: George Clooney
Born: 6 May 1961 (Age: 49)
Where: Lexington, Kentucky, USA
Height: 5' 11"
Awards: Won 1 Oscar and 2 Golden Globes, nominated for 6 BAFTAs
Biography:
They said it couldn't be done. They said that TV stardom necessarily disqualified an actor from major cinematic success. Yet, despite being the veteran of no fewer than fifteen TV pilots and seven major TV series, George Clooney would become one of the biggest and the brightest film stars of them. Ocean's Eleven and its subsequent franchise would see him draw together and headline over the likes of Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon and Al Pacino. He'd win an Oscar for his acting in Syriana and be nominated for Michael Clayton, as well as being nominated for directing and writing the screenplay for Goodnight, And Good Luck. His production credits would include comedies, thrillers and politically-charged award winners like Far From Heaven. This TV star was now a genuine Hollywood heavyweight.
Childhood
George Timothy Clooney was born on the 6th of May, 1961, in Lexington, Kentucky. His mother, Nina, was a former state beauty queen, while his dad, Nick Clooney, was a TV newscaster, actor and talk-show host of great repute around the Cincinnati area. The son of Andrew Joseph Clooney and Frances Marie Guilfoyle, Nick had begun his entertainment career in the army as a DJ then tried his luck in Hollywood, before returning to the mid-West. He'd be a news anchor in Lexington, following in the footsteps of his hero Edward R Murrow, then score his own TV show in Columbus, Ohio in the late Sixties before quickly moving on to a new show in Cincinnati in 1969. This was on WCPO's Channel 9. From here, in the early 1970s, he'd move on to WKRC-TV's Channel 12, also in Cincinnati, both versions of The Nick Clooney Show being morning chat shows. 1974 would see him get national coverage when he hosted the daytime game-show The Money Maze then , when this failed, he returned to his early love of more serious journalism when he became news director and anchor for WKRC.
From the age of 5, young George would potter around his father's sets, joining in where possible, shouting out the temperature during the weather report, generally being charming (some things never change). Nick's audiences loved him. George's aunt, the famous singer Rosemary Clooney, thought he'd make a fine comedian. Once, when he was thirteen, he was at home trying on an Easter Bunny costume for one of his dad's shows. Suddenly, there was an awful rumbling - it was Augusta's first earthquake in 150 years. Poor George; in his cute suit and huge fake feet, he had to leave the building and stand, humiliated, among the neighbours. Throughout his teens he build his role on his dad's show, serving coffee and doughnuts, greeting guests and even warming up the audiences.
His father would say that George's voice actually broke when he was trying to impress guest Lynda Day George, the glamorous star of Mission: Impossible.
Outside of TV, Nick would make some 150 personal appearances a year, visiting fairs, schools, businesses, anywhere there was an audience. The whole family - Nina, George and sister Ada - would go and George would learn the importance of entertaining the public at all times, any arguments in the car would have to be immediately forgotten upon arrival. In Ohio, Nick was seen as a cross between Elvis and Johnny Carson and refused to disappoint people. It was a lesson George learned well, eventually becoming a master of the press conference and red carpet.
George attended Kentucky's Augusta High School, but was no academic. Indeed, his father would give him extra book reports as he didn't think the boy was reading enough. War books became a favourite. George was more sporty. Indeed, baseball was his life. A big star at Augusta High, he actually tried out for the Cincinnati Reds, but did not make the cut.
Teenage / Early 20s
He tried college, at Northern Kentucky University, but didn't like that. He tried following his father into broadcast journalism, but didn't really want to do that either. Then came revelation. George's uncle was the actor Jose Ferrer, and now he came to Kentucky, along with his actor sons Miguel and Rafael, to make a horse-racing movie called And They're Off. Miguel was a particular friend of George's and he got him a minor role. The film was never released, but something in George Clooney was. He'd not seriously considered acting before. Indeed, his only real contact with that world had come very early on, when Raymond Burr came to Kentucky. George had trailed around behind the poor fellow all day, every five minutes grabbing his sleeve and shouting "You're Perry Mason! You're Perry Mason!"
Nick told him he ought to stick with college, have something to fall back on. But George replied that if he had something to fall back on, he'd probably fall back. So, he spent a season picking tobacco for his uncle Jack, then in 1982 took off for LA in his '76 Monte Carlo, with $300 in his pocket. The idea was to stay with his aunt Rosemary while he studied and looked for acting work, but she didn't fancy his chances and didn't really want to help him on his way to disaster. Nevertheless, when she went off on tour she invited George to be her driver.
Other work did not come. This was the time of the Brat Pack and George was just a couple of years too old. He borrowed $200 from new friend Grant Heslov (later his production partner) to have head shots done - still nothing. He became depressed and something of a pain, so Rosemary asked him to leave. Luckily, a friend and fellow-struggling-actor Tom Matthews could put him up - in a walk-in closet. George lived like that for a year, while touting for roles, doing construction work and studying under the renowned Milton Katselas. His first class production secured him an agent. Now the work came - and in the end HOW it came.
Many think that George Clooney was an immediate (and lucky) sensation with his first big part, in ER, then casually stepped into the movies. It didn't happen like that at all. He had to sell insurance door to door, draw caricatures in the mall, and flog lemonade from a stand. He did indeed start in a programme called E/R, but not the successful one. This one began in 1984, with Elliott Gould as divorced Dr Sheinfeld, a physician on call at a tough hospital. Like the later ER, it was set in Chicago, and veered between sit-com and high drama. For a couple of years, George was George Burnett in The Facts Of Life, a long running series about boarding school girls. Then, for a further year, he was Booker Brooks in Roseanne (this was a prime gig but, unable to get laughs, Clooney felt a failure and walked before he could be sacked). In between, there were a few film roles. There was the Scream-like Return To Horror High: Grizzly 2, with Charlie Sheen, which was (unsurprisingly) almost never released: and Return Of The Killer Tomatoes, where those vicious fruit were reanimated by John Astin (formerly Gomez Addams). Now reasonably confident of his toe-hold in Hollywood, Clooney would encourage his dad to return to LA and have another shot at the big-time. This he did, scoring a job on KNBC-TV in 1984. Ever grateful and generous, Clooney would always, but always attempt to encourage and help out his friends and family.
On paper, it doesn't look like much, but Clooney was actually big news in TV. He could get pilots greenlighted, and the money got progressively better. In 1990, he starred as Chic Chesbro in Sunset Beat, a shortlived TV series about LA cops who go undercover as bikers (Clooney LOVES motorbikes). Then came Baby Talk, a series based on Look Who's Talking, which featured sit-com gods Tony Danza and Scott Baio. He played Detective Ryan Walker in Bodies Of Evidence, a series of police mysteries. Then, between 1993 and '94, he was a cop again, as Detective James Falconer in Sisters, a popular series about four sisters in different walks of life, which variously featured Swoosie Kurtz, Julianne Phillips and Ashley Judd. He'd also, he later explained, became properly politicized. In 1992, after the Los Angeles riots, he and his friends had gone down to South Central to help with the clearing up operation.
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Re: George Clooney's biography (from various sources)
by Katiedot Thu 16 Dec 2010, 02:49
Becoming successful
His eyes opened, from now on he wouldn't simply talk a good game but act upon his words, too.
By now, Clooney was already rich. He was earning $40,000 a week, owned a Hollywood home and two cars. For some years, he'd been "the best-paid unknown actor in Hollywood". Trouble was, he couldn't get a film agent to represent him, not even one from his own agency, William Morris. He tried for a part in Thelma And Louise, reading for Ridley Scott five times, but lost out to Brad Pitt. He was gutted, and outraged, couldn't watch the movie for a full year. Then, when he did, he later recalled, "I sat there with my mouth open, saying I would never have thought of doing things the way he did them. Suddenly, I realised how right Ridley Scott was".
This film problem had not been George's only source of trouble. While making Baby Talk, he'd argued continually with the producers and quit in acrimonious circumstances. He believed he'd never be employed again. Beside that, he was splitting from his wife, Talia Balsam. The daughter of actors Martin Balsam and Joyce Van Patten, Talia was a year older than George and was a TV regular in shows like Happy Days, Taxi, Dallas, Magnum PI etc. They'd married in 1989, just after George had split from Kelly Preston (now Mrs Travolta). George claimed he would never marry again and never have children. Nicole Kidman would bet him $10,000 that he'd break this vow by the age of 40. On his 40th birthday, she'd send him a cheque. He'd return it with a note saying "Double or nothing on my 50th".
Now came the big break, though it must have looked like business as usual to George. It was yet another TV series, again called ER. But George answered the call of Warners president Les Moonves and took it on. Unlike the 1984 version, it was a mega-smash and, as heart-throb doctor Doug Ross, George was the sexy centrepiece. Some have snidely asked what Clooney would have been without ER - it's more pertinent to ask what ER would have been without Clooney, with his humour, his timing, his looks and his action-heroics.
Now came the movies. On the set of ER, Steven Spielberg had told Clooney that he'd could be a movie star if he stopped moving his head. He'd soon be proven correct. George had earlier auditioned for Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, performing Michael Madsen's horrifying dance sequence. Now he made the cut, starring alongside Tarantino himself as Seth Gecko in the weird, road-movie-come-vampire-flick From Dusk Till Dawn. Clooney played a baddie for the first time, but he went over well, his haircut in particular proving popular. He'd got himself a “Roman” cut to look especially crazy - but everyone thought he was cute. So he kept it
George received $250,000 for From Dusk Till Dawn. His next offer was infinitely more exciting, and not simply for the $3 million on offer. What thrilled George more was a note saying "The Peacemaker is the first film from our new studio and I'd love you to do it". The studio was Dreamworks, the writer Steven Spielberg, possibly the only man powerful enough to get George out of a contract to play the Green Hornet, which he did.
First though came a superior rom-com with Michelle Pfeiffer, called One Fine Day. Here Clooney managed to hold his own beside one of the industry's finest actresses, even though they were required to deliver their lines at twice the normal speed. Lots of money was made. Then came The Peacemaker, with Kidman. This was righteously slagged off but, as George later pointed out: "Dreamworks was being reviewed rather than The Peacemaker. It was the first time I'd gotten bad reviews ever in my life. Actually, Batman came out first, so it was like a one-two punch".
Ah, yes, Batman And Robin. George had been asked to take over from Val Kilmer by director Joel Schumacher and had accepted, despite making only $3 million to Arnie's $20 million. The movie wasn't good, mostly for its lack of story, but also because the involvement of both Robin and Batgirl added a thoroughly unnecessary superficiality. George wasn't too hot either. As he'd learned his craft, he'd begun to use a few fail-safe moves, in particular one where he looked down and slowly raised those big doe eyes (Antonio Banderas did something similar). The ladies may have loved it, and Schumacher, legendary for making stars look impossibly good, may have demanded it, but it was wholly inappropriate when George was sitting on butler Albert's death-bed. Worse still, much of the movie was looped - a process that the usually mild-mannered Clooney hates with abandon.
Fortunately, Clooney learned fast that he had to get real. Even more fortunately, though it was slated by everyone, Batman And Robin made money - $230 million worldwide, plus merchandising and video receipts that may well have taken its profits into the billions. Strangely, it was Clooney's next picture, his first real critical success, that lost money. After Batman, he'd looked for a decent script for over a year. He felt he needed one because he didn't believe he could carry a bad film on sheer personality. He also believes, for much the same reason, that he needs high quality co-stars. Very realistic is our George.
So, along came Steven Soderbergh with Out Of Sight, a smart, slick, indie-thriller that paired George, as Jack Foley, with the up-and-coming Jennifer Lopez. Money was lost due to marketing departments not being sure where to place such an unusual film, but those who saw the movie knew that George had arrived. His reputation so enhanced, he moved on to Three Kings, a superb movie about rebellious soldiers looting gold bullion during the Gulf War.
George, co-starring with Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube and Spike Jonze, was instrumental in getting the movie made. Offered $10 million, he gave $5 million back, taking $2.5 million upfront and accepting a further $2.5 million later. He also, he said, personally financed the hugely impressive blowing up of a cow - perhaps the movie's finest moment and one that, due to budgeting constraints, nearly never happened. There were other fireworks onset, too. At one point, tired by a tough schedule and frustrated by director David O. Russell's habit of directing every line of dialogue, he cracked when he saw Russell, frustrated himself, berating some extras. Punches were thrown, Russell later claiming "I wouldn't make another George Clooney movie if they paid me $20 million".
Strange that Clooney should have acted so violently - he's known as one of the nicest and most laid-back of them all. He's also a major practical joker, sometimes spending months in preparation. Once, he found a painting of a fat woman in a skip and had an idea. He took the painting, signed it and packed it away. Then, for about a year, he deliberately kept missing golfing appointments with his friend Richard Kind, his excuse being that he had art classes. He'd take Kind to art shops, discussing paint, making him feel the brushes. Then, on Kind's next birthday, George presented him with the painting of the fat lady. It was the first work he'd done, he claimed, of which he and his art teacher were genuinely proud. Kind was touched and hung the piece up in his front-room. Clooney told all of Kind's other friends to marvel at it when in Kind's house, and they did. How pleased Richard was - till Clooney hit him with the awful truth.
Career-wise, Clooney had done the smart thing. Hugely popular, he'd been nominated for Emmies in 1995 and 1996, and for Golden Globes from 1996-98, and he'd stayed with ER while his cinematic CV grew and strengthened. Now, after Out Of Sight and Three Kings, and with another serious action flick Wolfgang Petersen" - Wolfgang Petersen's The Perfect Storm - on the way, he was ready to move on. Approached by the Coen Brothers with a script they'd written for him, he agreed to star without even reading it, and left ER at last. This was done with little acrimony. For a while, despite being the biggest star on the show, Clooney had been the lowest paid regular, yet he still honoured his contract. He, naturally, thought nothing of it. "It's a scary profession we're in," he said later "when just doing what you're supposed to do is some kind of distinction".
The Coens' film was O Brother Where Art Thou?, a bizarre chain-gang musical based on The Odyssey. George was excellent, having sent the script off to his Uncle Jack to be read out on tape, so George could get that down-home accent just right. It was a big cult hit and Clooney won a Golden Globe, beating off De Niro, Carrey, Cusack and Gibson (some evening, eh?).
His eyes opened, from now on he wouldn't simply talk a good game but act upon his words, too.
By now, Clooney was already rich. He was earning $40,000 a week, owned a Hollywood home and two cars. For some years, he'd been "the best-paid unknown actor in Hollywood". Trouble was, he couldn't get a film agent to represent him, not even one from his own agency, William Morris. He tried for a part in Thelma And Louise, reading for Ridley Scott five times, but lost out to Brad Pitt. He was gutted, and outraged, couldn't watch the movie for a full year. Then, when he did, he later recalled, "I sat there with my mouth open, saying I would never have thought of doing things the way he did them. Suddenly, I realised how right Ridley Scott was".
This film problem had not been George's only source of trouble. While making Baby Talk, he'd argued continually with the producers and quit in acrimonious circumstances. He believed he'd never be employed again. Beside that, he was splitting from his wife, Talia Balsam. The daughter of actors Martin Balsam and Joyce Van Patten, Talia was a year older than George and was a TV regular in shows like Happy Days, Taxi, Dallas, Magnum PI etc. They'd married in 1989, just after George had split from Kelly Preston (now Mrs Travolta). George claimed he would never marry again and never have children. Nicole Kidman would bet him $10,000 that he'd break this vow by the age of 40. On his 40th birthday, she'd send him a cheque. He'd return it with a note saying "Double or nothing on my 50th".
Now came the big break, though it must have looked like business as usual to George. It was yet another TV series, again called ER. But George answered the call of Warners president Les Moonves and took it on. Unlike the 1984 version, it was a mega-smash and, as heart-throb doctor Doug Ross, George was the sexy centrepiece. Some have snidely asked what Clooney would have been without ER - it's more pertinent to ask what ER would have been without Clooney, with his humour, his timing, his looks and his action-heroics.
Now came the movies. On the set of ER, Steven Spielberg had told Clooney that he'd could be a movie star if he stopped moving his head. He'd soon be proven correct. George had earlier auditioned for Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, performing Michael Madsen's horrifying dance sequence. Now he made the cut, starring alongside Tarantino himself as Seth Gecko in the weird, road-movie-come-vampire-flick From Dusk Till Dawn. Clooney played a baddie for the first time, but he went over well, his haircut in particular proving popular. He'd got himself a “Roman” cut to look especially crazy - but everyone thought he was cute. So he kept it
George received $250,000 for From Dusk Till Dawn. His next offer was infinitely more exciting, and not simply for the $3 million on offer. What thrilled George more was a note saying "The Peacemaker is the first film from our new studio and I'd love you to do it". The studio was Dreamworks, the writer Steven Spielberg, possibly the only man powerful enough to get George out of a contract to play the Green Hornet, which he did.
First though came a superior rom-com with Michelle Pfeiffer, called One Fine Day. Here Clooney managed to hold his own beside one of the industry's finest actresses, even though they were required to deliver their lines at twice the normal speed. Lots of money was made. Then came The Peacemaker, with Kidman. This was righteously slagged off but, as George later pointed out: "Dreamworks was being reviewed rather than The Peacemaker. It was the first time I'd gotten bad reviews ever in my life. Actually, Batman came out first, so it was like a one-two punch".
Ah, yes, Batman And Robin. George had been asked to take over from Val Kilmer by director Joel Schumacher and had accepted, despite making only $3 million to Arnie's $20 million. The movie wasn't good, mostly for its lack of story, but also because the involvement of both Robin and Batgirl added a thoroughly unnecessary superficiality. George wasn't too hot either. As he'd learned his craft, he'd begun to use a few fail-safe moves, in particular one where he looked down and slowly raised those big doe eyes (Antonio Banderas did something similar). The ladies may have loved it, and Schumacher, legendary for making stars look impossibly good, may have demanded it, but it was wholly inappropriate when George was sitting on butler Albert's death-bed. Worse still, much of the movie was looped - a process that the usually mild-mannered Clooney hates with abandon.
Fortunately, Clooney learned fast that he had to get real. Even more fortunately, though it was slated by everyone, Batman And Robin made money - $230 million worldwide, plus merchandising and video receipts that may well have taken its profits into the billions. Strangely, it was Clooney's next picture, his first real critical success, that lost money. After Batman, he'd looked for a decent script for over a year. He felt he needed one because he didn't believe he could carry a bad film on sheer personality. He also believes, for much the same reason, that he needs high quality co-stars. Very realistic is our George.
So, along came Steven Soderbergh with Out Of Sight, a smart, slick, indie-thriller that paired George, as Jack Foley, with the up-and-coming Jennifer Lopez. Money was lost due to marketing departments not being sure where to place such an unusual film, but those who saw the movie knew that George had arrived. His reputation so enhanced, he moved on to Three Kings, a superb movie about rebellious soldiers looting gold bullion during the Gulf War.
George, co-starring with Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube and Spike Jonze, was instrumental in getting the movie made. Offered $10 million, he gave $5 million back, taking $2.5 million upfront and accepting a further $2.5 million later. He also, he said, personally financed the hugely impressive blowing up of a cow - perhaps the movie's finest moment and one that, due to budgeting constraints, nearly never happened. There were other fireworks onset, too. At one point, tired by a tough schedule and frustrated by director David O. Russell's habit of directing every line of dialogue, he cracked when he saw Russell, frustrated himself, berating some extras. Punches were thrown, Russell later claiming "I wouldn't make another George Clooney movie if they paid me $20 million".
Strange that Clooney should have acted so violently - he's known as one of the nicest and most laid-back of them all. He's also a major practical joker, sometimes spending months in preparation. Once, he found a painting of a fat woman in a skip and had an idea. He took the painting, signed it and packed it away. Then, for about a year, he deliberately kept missing golfing appointments with his friend Richard Kind, his excuse being that he had art classes. He'd take Kind to art shops, discussing paint, making him feel the brushes. Then, on Kind's next birthday, George presented him with the painting of the fat lady. It was the first work he'd done, he claimed, of which he and his art teacher were genuinely proud. Kind was touched and hung the piece up in his front-room. Clooney told all of Kind's other friends to marvel at it when in Kind's house, and they did. How pleased Richard was - till Clooney hit him with the awful truth.
Career-wise, Clooney had done the smart thing. Hugely popular, he'd been nominated for Emmies in 1995 and 1996, and for Golden Globes from 1996-98, and he'd stayed with ER while his cinematic CV grew and strengthened. Now, after Out Of Sight and Three Kings, and with another serious action flick Wolfgang Petersen" - Wolfgang Petersen's The Perfect Storm - on the way, he was ready to move on. Approached by the Coen Brothers with a script they'd written for him, he agreed to star without even reading it, and left ER at last. This was done with little acrimony. For a while, despite being the biggest star on the show, Clooney had been the lowest paid regular, yet he still honoured his contract. He, naturally, thought nothing of it. "It's a scary profession we're in," he said later "when just doing what you're supposed to do is some kind of distinction".
The Coens' film was O Brother Where Art Thou?, a bizarre chain-gang musical based on The Odyssey. George was excellent, having sent the script off to his Uncle Jack to be read out on tape, so George could get that down-home accent just right. It was a big cult hit and Clooney won a Golden Globe, beating off De Niro, Carrey, Cusack and Gibson (some evening, eh?).
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Join date : 2010-12-05
Re: George Clooney's biography (from various sources)
by Katiedot Thu 16 Dec 2010, 02:50
He was also now a massive international star as The Perfect Storm, a tale of New England sailors struggling to survive an awesome maelstrom (and again co-starring Mark Wahlberg), was his first mega-hit, making well over $300 million worldwide. It certainly helped him get over the pain of The Thin Red Line. This, a war epic by maverick director Terrence Malick, had enjoyed a wildly stellar cast. But Clooney's part of the storyline had been chopped, so he only appeared in the finale. Knowing that this looked like some gross, egomaniacal casting decision - like, "You will put George in this movie or you'll never lunch in this town again!" - he BEGGED Malick to leave him out altogether. It couldn't, sadly, be done.
This horrible memory wasn't the only bad thing in Clooney's life. There was also a law-suit, courtesy of the family of the man he played in The Perfect Storm, Captain Billy Tyne. They said the film-makers did not have permission to use the real names of the people involved in the real-life tragedy. The producers retorted that it was a historical event, therefore the names were fair game. But, countered the family, there were only radio reports to go on. Being as there were no survivors, no one knows what happened on the boat, so the film was essentially a work of fiction. The case went on.
Otherwise, things were looking good. To show the esteem in which he's held in TV-land, Clooney was allowed by Les Moonves, now president of CBS, to put together a live action drama, Fail Safe, starring Richard Dreyfuss and Clooney himself. George, said Moonves, "likes the idea of being a trapeze artist without the net". And it worked.
He's a great guy, and a good guy. Heavily influenced by his father's journalistic sense of justice and habit of campaigning for good causes, Clooney has certainly stood up to be counted. Aside from the fracas on the Three Kings set, he also demanded the reinstatement of (and offered to pay the fines for) three unknown actors expelled from the Screen Actors' Guild for working during the big strike. It wasn't fair, said George, that they should be kicked out when more famous strike-breakers like Tiger Woods, Shaquille O'Neal and Elizabeth Hurley (as in "Elizabeth Scabley, you make me hurl!") were simply fined.
Then there was the fight with Hard Copy, the tabloid TV news show. Clooney was annoyed with the way reporters would resort to aggression, like insulting a star's partner at the airport or in a restaurant, just to get a "newsworthy" reaction from the star, which they could then sell to Hard Copy. He boycotted them, others followed - and, well, George is the one still standing. There was also the case of TV Guide, George publicly taking umbrage with the fact that Eriq La Salle, his co-star in ER, had done three photo-sessions for their front cover, but never actually appeared on it. Was it because he was black?
And, most famously, George was heavily involved in the organisation of America: A Tribute To Heroes. This was a telethon screened just after the attacks of September 11th. Clooney got EVERYONE involved Tom Cruise">- Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts, Jim Carrey, the lot - raising over $150 million for the families of the dead.
Movie-wise, the best was yet to come. Clooney had been bugging Steven Soderbergh to make another movie with him ever since Out Of Sight. He'd sent him twenty scripts, to each of which Soderbergh had said "No way, dude" ("He's a snob", explained Clooney). Then Clooney came up with the idea of remaking Ocean's Eleven, the old Rat Pack heist hit (coincidentally, most of the Rat Pack had earlier appeared on George's aunt's TV show). Soderbergh liked the idea, they got Brad Pitt on board. Then Soderbergh, having just hit big with Erin Brockovich, sent a copy of the script to his Erin, Julia Roberts. Inside was tucked a $20 bill and a note saying "I hear you get 20 a picture now". Roberts was in, as Tess, the ex-wife of Clooney's Danny Ocean. Next came Matt Damon. All the stars took upfront pay cuts to get the movie made, and it was a big hit, topping the US charts.
In true Clooney fashion, the stars publicised the movie in the nicest possible way - visiting US troops in Turkey. And some great stories came from the shoot. Clooney had constantly booby-trapped his co-stars' rooms, often soaking Pitt with well-placed buckets of water (Remember Thelma And Louise? Well, take THAT you brilliant GIT!). Then there was the gambling. Clooney is a terrible gambler, horribly unlucky, but, on location in Las Vegas, he began playing blackjack, accompanied by Damon. Having lost 25 hands on the trot, he ran out of money and had to borrow $600 from his co-star, money that he lost near-instantly. The next morning, Damon found an envelope shoved under his hotel-room door. It was a cheque for $600 - prompt payment, very Clooney. But, looking closer, he saw that George had filled in the section on the cheque where you can say what the payment is for. If he tried to bank the cheque, the cashier would think he'd been lap-dancing for George. $600-worth! Again, very Clooney.
Of course, Clooney is well known for his way with the ladies, and he's had many high-profile relationships. After Talia Balsam, there were a couple of years, up until 1999, with Celine Balitran, a French model studying the law. Then came Charlize Theron and Kimberly Russell, from whom George split when marriage and kids were mentioned ("He told me flat out it was never going to happen again"). And there was British model and TV presenter Lisa Snowdon, with whom George had an on-off thing, continuing through 2005. In one of the Off periods, he saw Renee Zellweger. That he did not stay with her was proof positive of his inability to commit. There was also actress Krista Allen. Oh, and there WASN'T Julia Roberts, despite reports that Clooney had ruined her relationship with Benjamin Bratt.
This horrible memory wasn't the only bad thing in Clooney's life. There was also a law-suit, courtesy of the family of the man he played in The Perfect Storm, Captain Billy Tyne. They said the film-makers did not have permission to use the real names of the people involved in the real-life tragedy. The producers retorted that it was a historical event, therefore the names were fair game. But, countered the family, there were only radio reports to go on. Being as there were no survivors, no one knows what happened on the boat, so the film was essentially a work of fiction. The case went on.
Otherwise, things were looking good. To show the esteem in which he's held in TV-land, Clooney was allowed by Les Moonves, now president of CBS, to put together a live action drama, Fail Safe, starring Richard Dreyfuss and Clooney himself. George, said Moonves, "likes the idea of being a trapeze artist without the net". And it worked.
He's a great guy, and a good guy. Heavily influenced by his father's journalistic sense of justice and habit of campaigning for good causes, Clooney has certainly stood up to be counted. Aside from the fracas on the Three Kings set, he also demanded the reinstatement of (and offered to pay the fines for) three unknown actors expelled from the Screen Actors' Guild for working during the big strike. It wasn't fair, said George, that they should be kicked out when more famous strike-breakers like Tiger Woods, Shaquille O'Neal and Elizabeth Hurley (as in "Elizabeth Scabley, you make me hurl!") were simply fined.
Then there was the fight with Hard Copy, the tabloid TV news show. Clooney was annoyed with the way reporters would resort to aggression, like insulting a star's partner at the airport or in a restaurant, just to get a "newsworthy" reaction from the star, which they could then sell to Hard Copy. He boycotted them, others followed - and, well, George is the one still standing. There was also the case of TV Guide, George publicly taking umbrage with the fact that Eriq La Salle, his co-star in ER, had done three photo-sessions for their front cover, but never actually appeared on it. Was it because he was black?
And, most famously, George was heavily involved in the organisation of America: A Tribute To Heroes. This was a telethon screened just after the attacks of September 11th. Clooney got EVERYONE involved Tom Cruise">- Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts, Jim Carrey, the lot - raising over $150 million for the families of the dead.
Movie-wise, the best was yet to come. Clooney had been bugging Steven Soderbergh to make another movie with him ever since Out Of Sight. He'd sent him twenty scripts, to each of which Soderbergh had said "No way, dude" ("He's a snob", explained Clooney). Then Clooney came up with the idea of remaking Ocean's Eleven, the old Rat Pack heist hit (coincidentally, most of the Rat Pack had earlier appeared on George's aunt's TV show). Soderbergh liked the idea, they got Brad Pitt on board. Then Soderbergh, having just hit big with Erin Brockovich, sent a copy of the script to his Erin, Julia Roberts. Inside was tucked a $20 bill and a note saying "I hear you get 20 a picture now". Roberts was in, as Tess, the ex-wife of Clooney's Danny Ocean. Next came Matt Damon. All the stars took upfront pay cuts to get the movie made, and it was a big hit, topping the US charts.
In true Clooney fashion, the stars publicised the movie in the nicest possible way - visiting US troops in Turkey. And some great stories came from the shoot. Clooney had constantly booby-trapped his co-stars' rooms, often soaking Pitt with well-placed buckets of water (Remember Thelma And Louise? Well, take THAT you brilliant GIT!). Then there was the gambling. Clooney is a terrible gambler, horribly unlucky, but, on location in Las Vegas, he began playing blackjack, accompanied by Damon. Having lost 25 hands on the trot, he ran out of money and had to borrow $600 from his co-star, money that he lost near-instantly. The next morning, Damon found an envelope shoved under his hotel-room door. It was a cheque for $600 - prompt payment, very Clooney. But, looking closer, he saw that George had filled in the section on the cheque where you can say what the payment is for. If he tried to bank the cheque, the cashier would think he'd been lap-dancing for George. $600-worth! Again, very Clooney.
Of course, Clooney is well known for his way with the ladies, and he's had many high-profile relationships. After Talia Balsam, there were a couple of years, up until 1999, with Celine Balitran, a French model studying the law. Then came Charlize Theron and Kimberly Russell, from whom George split when marriage and kids were mentioned ("He told me flat out it was never going to happen again"). And there was British model and TV presenter Lisa Snowdon, with whom George had an on-off thing, continuing through 2005. In one of the Off periods, he saw Renee Zellweger. That he did not stay with her was proof positive of his inability to commit. There was also actress Krista Allen. Oh, and there WASN'T Julia Roberts, despite reports that Clooney had ruined her relationship with Benjamin Bratt.
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Re: George Clooney's biography (from various sources)
by Katiedot Thu 16 Dec 2010, 02:50
After Ocean's Eleven (and a cameo in Spy Kids, directed by his old From Dusk Till Dawn buddy Robert Rodriguez) would come Welcome To Collinwood, a lower budget heist movie produced by Section 8, a company formed by Clooney and Steven Soderbergh and named after the military clause dealing with discharge on the grounds of insanity. Here Luis Guzman would lead a shambolic gang in an attempt to bust into a pawn shop, Clooney playing a wheelchair-bound former safecracker who, for a small fee, teaches them how to pull off the job. It was a chaotic comedy and, quite literally, worlds away from his next project. This was Solaris, a remake of Tarkovsky's haunting 1972 sci-fi classic. Once more directed by Soderbergh, this saw George as a psychiatrist who's called to a space-station circling the planet of the title when the astronauts begin sending back wholly disturbed messages. Solaris, it seems, in order to keep hold of any visitors, recreates people they loved and have lost. Thus Clooney's dead wife, a suicide, turns up in bed beside him, alive once again. But now he must cope with the fact that she is a construct built from his memories of her. Is this real, is it right, is it what he wants? Delving deep into the nature of human relationships, the movie was contemplative, sad and very intelligent, drawing a subdued but genuinely moving performance from its star.
Now a big star and producer, it was logical that Clooney would turn to directing, and this he did with Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind. With its screenplay written by Charlie Kaufman, this was adapted from gameshow host Chuck Barris's notorious autobiography, in which he claimed to have moonlighted as a hitman for the CIA. Starring as Barris would be Sam Rockwell, one of the dodgy robbers in Welcome To Collinwood, with George appearing as the CIA smoothie who recruits him. Clooney would also use his burgeoning influence to entice both Julia Roberts and Drew Barrymore onto the picture, working for scale. Brad Pitt and Matt Damon would pop up, too, as contestants on The Dating Game. These were sequences director Clooney, who as a kid had spent so much time backstage on his father's productions, would simulate superbly.
Next up would come more comedy when Clooney reunited with the Coen brothers for Intolerable Cruelty. This saw him as a divorce lawyer famous for drawing up an unbreakable pre-nup agreement, who defeats gold-digger Catherine Zeta-Jones when she goes after her cheating husband's fortune. Knowing the kind of girl she is (and fancying her like crazy), he's intrigued when she then hires him to work out a pre-nup for her next marriage, to bashful Texas oil billionaire Billy Bob Thornton. He marvels at her skill in manipulation, skill that mirrors his own, and plots to win her - a fascinating and hilarious battle of wills between two of the best-looking film stars of modern times.
With so many irons in the fire, Clooney's screen appearances would now be limited.
On top of work, there was politics (which would soon spill over into his work). George spoke out against the war in Iraq and, alongside Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon and Ed Norton, featured on an infamous pack of playing cards called The Weasels. Furthermore, 2004 would see him backing John Kerry against George Bush (Clooney had actually bought a villa on Lake Como from Kerry and his rich wife Teresa Heinz) and helping his dad Nick when he campaigned for a Congressional seat, hoping to represent Kentucky. Though George managed to raise over $600,000 from his celebrity buddies, Nick would be beaten by Republican Geoff Davis. 2005 would see George back in organisational mode when he helped put together a telethon to aid victims of the Asian tsunami, which had struck on Boxing Day, 2004. And this he did despite having to publicize his own Ocean's Twelve, and having just undergone an operation to stop fluid leaking out of his spinal column (an injury he'd suffered while filming the forthcoming Syriana).
On the production front, Section 8 was going great guns. Aside from high profile (but always classy and interesting) projects like Far From Heaven, The Jacket and A Scanner Darkly, they'd moved into TV with the acclaimed and very witty series Unscripted, which saw three young actors struggling to make it in Hollywood, Frank Langella tearing it up as a feisty acting coach. But the world knew Clooney best as a film star and Ocean's Twelve, released at the end of 2004, cemented his position as one of the biggest. This time the action would shift to Europe, as the gang have to pull off three daring robberies in order to pay back Andy Garcia, the Vegas casino owner they turned over in the original. All the big boys (and girls) returned to the fray - it was Clooney calling, after all - with the addition of his Intolerable Cruelty co-star Zeta-Jones, who'd earlier starred in Soderbergh's Traffic.
Back on top, Clooney would move on to Syriana, based on Robert Bauer's book See No Evil: The True Story Of A Ground Soldier In The CIA's War On Terrorism. Written and directed by Stephen Gaghan (who'd also written Traffic), this gradually brought together many disparate characters as it explored the shady world of American foreign policy, with its government intrigue, legal battles and dealings in oil and guns. Clooney would play Bauer himself, an operative hunting down terrorists in the Middle East, with Matt Damon (who, following Mark Wahlberg, had seemingly become George's latest protege) as an oil price analyst drawn into the murk.
Following Syriana, Clooney would return to the director's chair with Good Night, And Good Luck which, like Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind, would take him back to the TV studios of days long gone.
Now a big star and producer, it was logical that Clooney would turn to directing, and this he did with Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind. With its screenplay written by Charlie Kaufman, this was adapted from gameshow host Chuck Barris's notorious autobiography, in which he claimed to have moonlighted as a hitman for the CIA. Starring as Barris would be Sam Rockwell, one of the dodgy robbers in Welcome To Collinwood, with George appearing as the CIA smoothie who recruits him. Clooney would also use his burgeoning influence to entice both Julia Roberts and Drew Barrymore onto the picture, working for scale. Brad Pitt and Matt Damon would pop up, too, as contestants on The Dating Game. These were sequences director Clooney, who as a kid had spent so much time backstage on his father's productions, would simulate superbly.
Next up would come more comedy when Clooney reunited with the Coen brothers for Intolerable Cruelty. This saw him as a divorce lawyer famous for drawing up an unbreakable pre-nup agreement, who defeats gold-digger Catherine Zeta-Jones when she goes after her cheating husband's fortune. Knowing the kind of girl she is (and fancying her like crazy), he's intrigued when she then hires him to work out a pre-nup for her next marriage, to bashful Texas oil billionaire Billy Bob Thornton. He marvels at her skill in manipulation, skill that mirrors his own, and plots to win her - a fascinating and hilarious battle of wills between two of the best-looking film stars of modern times.
With so many irons in the fire, Clooney's screen appearances would now be limited.
On top of work, there was politics (which would soon spill over into his work). George spoke out against the war in Iraq and, alongside Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon and Ed Norton, featured on an infamous pack of playing cards called The Weasels. Furthermore, 2004 would see him backing John Kerry against George Bush (Clooney had actually bought a villa on Lake Como from Kerry and his rich wife Teresa Heinz) and helping his dad Nick when he campaigned for a Congressional seat, hoping to represent Kentucky. Though George managed to raise over $600,000 from his celebrity buddies, Nick would be beaten by Republican Geoff Davis. 2005 would see George back in organisational mode when he helped put together a telethon to aid victims of the Asian tsunami, which had struck on Boxing Day, 2004. And this he did despite having to publicize his own Ocean's Twelve, and having just undergone an operation to stop fluid leaking out of his spinal column (an injury he'd suffered while filming the forthcoming Syriana).
On the production front, Section 8 was going great guns. Aside from high profile (but always classy and interesting) projects like Far From Heaven, The Jacket and A Scanner Darkly, they'd moved into TV with the acclaimed and very witty series Unscripted, which saw three young actors struggling to make it in Hollywood, Frank Langella tearing it up as a feisty acting coach. But the world knew Clooney best as a film star and Ocean's Twelve, released at the end of 2004, cemented his position as one of the biggest. This time the action would shift to Europe, as the gang have to pull off three daring robberies in order to pay back Andy Garcia, the Vegas casino owner they turned over in the original. All the big boys (and girls) returned to the fray - it was Clooney calling, after all - with the addition of his Intolerable Cruelty co-star Zeta-Jones, who'd earlier starred in Soderbergh's Traffic.
Back on top, Clooney would move on to Syriana, based on Robert Bauer's book See No Evil: The True Story Of A Ground Soldier In The CIA's War On Terrorism. Written and directed by Stephen Gaghan (who'd also written Traffic), this gradually brought together many disparate characters as it explored the shady world of American foreign policy, with its government intrigue, legal battles and dealings in oil and guns. Clooney would play Bauer himself, an operative hunting down terrorists in the Middle East, with Matt Damon (who, following Mark Wahlberg, had seemingly become George's latest protege) as an oil price analyst drawn into the murk.
Following Syriana, Clooney would return to the director's chair with Good Night, And Good Luck which, like Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind, would take him back to the TV studios of days long gone.
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Re: George Clooney's biography (from various sources)
by Katiedot Thu 16 Dec 2010, 02:52
Here, the admirable David Strathairn (who could forget his brilliant turn in Dolores Claiborne?) would play Edward R Murrow, the CBS news anchorman who challenged notorious senator Joseph McCarthy and helped bring about the end of the Communist witch-hunt, and the cruel and unusual punishment of "un-American" activities. Murrow was, of course, also the hero of George's father, Nick. George would play Fred Friendly, Morrow's producer and the movie, co-written by the ever-expanding Clooney, would see him bring his political vision to the screen for the first time.
It could now no longer be argued that Clooney was not a heavyweight film-maker. Syriana would see him win a Golden Globe and an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor, while Good Night would be Oscar nominated as Best Picture, with Clooney himself getting a nod for Best Direction and Best Screenplay. But already he'd moved on. 2006 would bring The Good German, once again directed by Soderbergh, where Clooney would play a journalist returning to Berlin after WW2, partly to cover the Allied summit presided over by Churchill, Truman and Stalin but mostly to seek his wartime love, Cate Blanchett. Her husband is missing and wanted by both the American and Russian secret services and Clooney is further drawn into a mystery and a political morass when the body of an American soldier is washed up on the beach. Following this would come the third installment in the Danny Ocean saga. Here Elliott Gould would find himself diddled out of a share in a new casino by Al Pacino, with Clooney and the gang reuniting to take revenge, employing many fancy tricks, including starting up a giant drill underground to fake an earthquake. Due to the law of diminishing returns, the movie would be a hit, but only make some $300 million worldwide.
Clooney's other film of 2007 would be the corporate drama Michael Clayton, where Tom Wilkinson would play a partner in a law firm hired to defend a company being sued for billions for fatal pollution. Wilkinson, however, suffers a breakdown so Clooney, the firm's fixer, is called in. Divorced, addicted to gambling and in dangerous debt, he needs the pay-off, but he's torn by his friendship with Wilkinson and the clear knowledge that his client is guilty. Under severe pressure, not least from Tilda Swinton as the client's panicked lawyer, he must question his whole moral system. A tremendous performance, it would see Clooney nominated yet again for both a Golden Globe and an Oscar. Interestingly, in both Syriana and Michael Clayton, Clooney's characters both had partners - played by Greta Scacchi and Jennifer Ehle respectively - who would be cut from the films to increase Clooney's dislikeability and peril. He didn't want his characters to be seen to be loved, and he didn't want them to have a happy life to fall back on.
His career was in full swing.
He'd even managed to squeeze in a self-deprecating coffee ad where he believed two ladies to be drooling over him when in fact they were simply enjoying their full-bodied drinks. He was no slouch in his private life either. 2006 had seen him finally lose his famous pot-bellied pig Max (at the age of 18) and also the collapse of a plan to build a hotel complex in Las Vegas, which was to have been designed by his friend Brad Pitt. His successful Section Eight production company would be cut back, Clooney instead opening a company called Smoke House with old friend Grant Heslov who'd earlier co-written and co-produced Good Night, And Good Luck (and paid for Clooney's very first mug-shots in LA).. More importantly, he'd involve himself more heavily in international politics. Having visited the disaster zones of Darfur with his father, where 200,000 were dead and 2.5 million displaced, Clooney took it upon himself to act, visiting Egypt and China, addressing the UN Security Council, pleading with the main players to stop the slaughter. At Cannes in 2007, he and Pitt would campaign relentlessly, raising nearly $10 million for the Save Darfur fund. At the World Summit of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates in Rome, Clooney and his fellow activist and former co-star Don Cheadle would be honoured for their efforts and, come 2008, Clooney would officially be appointed a UN Messenger of Peace.
Darfur was not the only focus of Clooney's extra-curricular activities. Late 2007 would see the beginning of a writers' strike in Hollywood that halted many TV and film productions. Studio bosses were convinced that Clooney was drumming up support for the writers' among his acting peers, asking them not to cross picket lines and thereby potentially wrecking the forthcoming awards shows. Keeping his cool, Clooney would offer to act as mediator between the two parties while also donating to a fund for actors impoverished by the strike. He wouldn't, though, stay cool when in November invasive paparazzi threatened to knock him and new girlfriend Sarah Larson off his Harley. He was now extra-wary of crashes as, back in September, he and Larson had been involved in an accident while riding his motorbike in New Jersey, Clooney suffering a cracked rib and Larson several broken toes.
Back onscreen, 2008 would see Clooney return to the director's chair for Leatherheads, in which he'd also star. This was based in the 1920s, in the early days of professional American football, with Clooney an owner who sees his team and the league itself falling apart. To boost both, he hires college star and war hero John Krasinski, but then ends up fighting his new recruit for control of the team and the affections of Renee Zellweger, a feisty reporter digging into Krasinski's war stories. Next would come a third outing with the Coen Brothers, Burn After Reading, where John Malkovich would play a drunken and sacked CIA veteran who vengefully writes his memoirs and loses them.
It could now no longer be argued that Clooney was not a heavyweight film-maker. Syriana would see him win a Golden Globe and an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor, while Good Night would be Oscar nominated as Best Picture, with Clooney himself getting a nod for Best Direction and Best Screenplay. But already he'd moved on. 2006 would bring The Good German, once again directed by Soderbergh, where Clooney would play a journalist returning to Berlin after WW2, partly to cover the Allied summit presided over by Churchill, Truman and Stalin but mostly to seek his wartime love, Cate Blanchett. Her husband is missing and wanted by both the American and Russian secret services and Clooney is further drawn into a mystery and a political morass when the body of an American soldier is washed up on the beach. Following this would come the third installment in the Danny Ocean saga. Here Elliott Gould would find himself diddled out of a share in a new casino by Al Pacino, with Clooney and the gang reuniting to take revenge, employing many fancy tricks, including starting up a giant drill underground to fake an earthquake. Due to the law of diminishing returns, the movie would be a hit, but only make some $300 million worldwide.
Clooney's other film of 2007 would be the corporate drama Michael Clayton, where Tom Wilkinson would play a partner in a law firm hired to defend a company being sued for billions for fatal pollution. Wilkinson, however, suffers a breakdown so Clooney, the firm's fixer, is called in. Divorced, addicted to gambling and in dangerous debt, he needs the pay-off, but he's torn by his friendship with Wilkinson and the clear knowledge that his client is guilty. Under severe pressure, not least from Tilda Swinton as the client's panicked lawyer, he must question his whole moral system. A tremendous performance, it would see Clooney nominated yet again for both a Golden Globe and an Oscar. Interestingly, in both Syriana and Michael Clayton, Clooney's characters both had partners - played by Greta Scacchi and Jennifer Ehle respectively - who would be cut from the films to increase Clooney's dislikeability and peril. He didn't want his characters to be seen to be loved, and he didn't want them to have a happy life to fall back on.
His career was in full swing.
He'd even managed to squeeze in a self-deprecating coffee ad where he believed two ladies to be drooling over him when in fact they were simply enjoying their full-bodied drinks. He was no slouch in his private life either. 2006 had seen him finally lose his famous pot-bellied pig Max (at the age of 18) and also the collapse of a plan to build a hotel complex in Las Vegas, which was to have been designed by his friend Brad Pitt. His successful Section Eight production company would be cut back, Clooney instead opening a company called Smoke House with old friend Grant Heslov who'd earlier co-written and co-produced Good Night, And Good Luck (and paid for Clooney's very first mug-shots in LA).. More importantly, he'd involve himself more heavily in international politics. Having visited the disaster zones of Darfur with his father, where 200,000 were dead and 2.5 million displaced, Clooney took it upon himself to act, visiting Egypt and China, addressing the UN Security Council, pleading with the main players to stop the slaughter. At Cannes in 2007, he and Pitt would campaign relentlessly, raising nearly $10 million for the Save Darfur fund. At the World Summit of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates in Rome, Clooney and his fellow activist and former co-star Don Cheadle would be honoured for their efforts and, come 2008, Clooney would officially be appointed a UN Messenger of Peace.
Darfur was not the only focus of Clooney's extra-curricular activities. Late 2007 would see the beginning of a writers' strike in Hollywood that halted many TV and film productions. Studio bosses were convinced that Clooney was drumming up support for the writers' among his acting peers, asking them not to cross picket lines and thereby potentially wrecking the forthcoming awards shows. Keeping his cool, Clooney would offer to act as mediator between the two parties while also donating to a fund for actors impoverished by the strike. He wouldn't, though, stay cool when in November invasive paparazzi threatened to knock him and new girlfriend Sarah Larson off his Harley. He was now extra-wary of crashes as, back in September, he and Larson had been involved in an accident while riding his motorbike in New Jersey, Clooney suffering a cracked rib and Larson several broken toes.
Back onscreen, 2008 would see Clooney return to the director's chair for Leatherheads, in which he'd also star. This was based in the 1920s, in the early days of professional American football, with Clooney an owner who sees his team and the league itself falling apart. To boost both, he hires college star and war hero John Krasinski, but then ends up fighting his new recruit for control of the team and the affections of Renee Zellweger, a feisty reporter digging into Krasinski's war stories. Next would come a third outing with the Coen Brothers, Burn After Reading, where John Malkovich would play a drunken and sacked CIA veteran who vengefully writes his memoirs and loses them.
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Re: George Clooney's biography (from various sources)
by Katiedot Thu 16 Dec 2010, 02:55
Clooney would play a straight-laced operative investigating the matter, being shouted at again by Tilda Swinton, as the plot drew him to a gym where Brad Pitt worked. Clooney would say that his character, Harry Pfarrer, was his third Coens' idiot.
2009 would see Clooney indulge his nostalgic side and return to ER, then completing its final season. Typically, Clooney demanded that his appearance would not be publicized, and so there was Doug Ross, back for the fourth last episode, now in Seattle and talking bereaved grandmother Susan Sarandon through her farewells to her dead grandson. There's also a question of organ donation, one of the organs being sent to save Noah Wyle's Dr Carter back at Chicago's ER. Clooney's next movie would be Up In The Air, another darker piece where he'd use his charm to no good purpose. Here he'd be a Termination Facilitator, flying around the country sacking people on behalf of downsizing corporations. Totally displaced, with nowhere really to call his home, he loves his job and dreams of knocking up ten million miles of American Airlines. He's in one convenient occasional relationship with fellow traveller Vera Farmiga, then has to deal with colleague Anna Kendrick and must prove why his job is still necessary. Directed by Jason Reitman, already renowned for Juno and Thank You For Smoking, the film would be both amusing and tough, Clooney perhaps being the only actor alive who could make his Ryan Bingham anything other than utterly detestable. Shot on a low budget, it would be a big hit and would see Clooney nominated for an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA.
The same year, 2009, would bring The Men Who Stare At Goats, directed by Clooney's pal Grant Heslov, where Ewan McGregor would play a journalist keen to enter the Iraq war-zone. Meeting Clooney, he thinks he's hit upon a super-scoop as George claims to be an ex-member of the New Earth Army, a secret squad of psychic warriors trained to garner military information and even kill their enemies with the power of their minds. Cue several extraordinary flashbacks to Clooney's schooling at the hands of Jeff Bridges, coming on like The Dude in The Big Lebowski. Just as cartoonish, and understandably so, would be the animated The Fabulous Mr Fox, based on the Roald Dahl story and directed by Wes Anderson. Clooney would lend his voice to the titular hero, happily domesticated with wife Meryl Streep then reverting to his old ways and, by stealing chickens, bringing the bloody wrath of local farmers down on the animal community. Now he must use his cunning to beat the farmers and win back the confidence and love of his fellow furry creatures.
2010 would see Clooney back at full speed in the charity arena, as executive producer helping to organise the Hope For Haiti Now telethon, an absurdly star-studded event that raised huge sums following that nation's disastrous earthquake.
He'd then appear in another prestigious but low-key picture, The American, based on Martin Booth's novel A Very Private Gentleman. Both a thriller and a character study, this would see Clooney heavily involved in assassinations. Hoping to escape a shadowy world where he has no friends and is never safe, and deciding his next job will be his last, he prepares in a small town in Italy where, perhaps unwisely, he becomes involved with both a local priest and local beauty. Keeping to the Italian theme, in real life he'd now be linked to TV presenter Elisabetta Canalis.
Marriage may not be on the cards, but further success is. Now a film star, producer, writer and active charity fundraiser and politico, George Clooney has forged a massive success. Onscreen, not only has he made the difficult step from TV to film, he's also moved from action star and romantic lead to become something of an auteur. Off-screen, you never, ever hear a bad word said about him (well, maybe from the few who think he's a weasel). Though by his own admission he has seen too many women, taken too many drugs and partied way too hard to ever be President, artistically and politically he has become a force for good in this world. About that, there can be no doubt.
2009 would see Clooney indulge his nostalgic side and return to ER, then completing its final season. Typically, Clooney demanded that his appearance would not be publicized, and so there was Doug Ross, back for the fourth last episode, now in Seattle and talking bereaved grandmother Susan Sarandon through her farewells to her dead grandson. There's also a question of organ donation, one of the organs being sent to save Noah Wyle's Dr Carter back at Chicago's ER. Clooney's next movie would be Up In The Air, another darker piece where he'd use his charm to no good purpose. Here he'd be a Termination Facilitator, flying around the country sacking people on behalf of downsizing corporations. Totally displaced, with nowhere really to call his home, he loves his job and dreams of knocking up ten million miles of American Airlines. He's in one convenient occasional relationship with fellow traveller Vera Farmiga, then has to deal with colleague Anna Kendrick and must prove why his job is still necessary. Directed by Jason Reitman, already renowned for Juno and Thank You For Smoking, the film would be both amusing and tough, Clooney perhaps being the only actor alive who could make his Ryan Bingham anything other than utterly detestable. Shot on a low budget, it would be a big hit and would see Clooney nominated for an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA.
The same year, 2009, would bring The Men Who Stare At Goats, directed by Clooney's pal Grant Heslov, where Ewan McGregor would play a journalist keen to enter the Iraq war-zone. Meeting Clooney, he thinks he's hit upon a super-scoop as George claims to be an ex-member of the New Earth Army, a secret squad of psychic warriors trained to garner military information and even kill their enemies with the power of their minds. Cue several extraordinary flashbacks to Clooney's schooling at the hands of Jeff Bridges, coming on like The Dude in The Big Lebowski. Just as cartoonish, and understandably so, would be the animated The Fabulous Mr Fox, based on the Roald Dahl story and directed by Wes Anderson. Clooney would lend his voice to the titular hero, happily domesticated with wife Meryl Streep then reverting to his old ways and, by stealing chickens, bringing the bloody wrath of local farmers down on the animal community. Now he must use his cunning to beat the farmers and win back the confidence and love of his fellow furry creatures.
2010 would see Clooney back at full speed in the charity arena, as executive producer helping to organise the Hope For Haiti Now telethon, an absurdly star-studded event that raised huge sums following that nation's disastrous earthquake.
He'd then appear in another prestigious but low-key picture, The American, based on Martin Booth's novel A Very Private Gentleman. Both a thriller and a character study, this would see Clooney heavily involved in assassinations. Hoping to escape a shadowy world where he has no friends and is never safe, and deciding his next job will be his last, he prepares in a small town in Italy where, perhaps unwisely, he becomes involved with both a local priest and local beauty. Keeping to the Italian theme, in real life he'd now be linked to TV presenter Elisabetta Canalis.
Marriage may not be on the cards, but further success is. Now a film star, producer, writer and active charity fundraiser and politico, George Clooney has forged a massive success. Onscreen, not only has he made the difficult step from TV to film, he's also moved from action star and romantic lead to become something of an auteur. Off-screen, you never, ever hear a bad word said about him (well, maybe from the few who think he's a weasel). Though by his own admission he has seen too many women, taken too many drugs and partied way too hard to ever be President, artistically and politically he has become a force for good in this world. About that, there can be no doubt.
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Re: George Clooney's biography (from various sources)
by Katiedot Thu 16 Dec 2010, 02:59
Trivia from iMDb:
Best man at the wedding of Richard Kind.
Tried out for a position on the Cincinnati Reds baseball team.
He says he will never get married again, nor have any children, but Michelle Pfeiffer and Nicole Kidman both bet $10,000 each that he would be a father before he turned 40. They were both wrong, and each sent him a check. He returned the money, betting double or nothing that he won't have kids by age 50.
Waged war against the paparazzi by boycotting "Entertainment Tonight" (1981), the sister show of "Hard Copy" (1989), which had filmed Clooney without his permission.
Was voted "Sexiest Man Alive" by People Magazine. [1997]
Was voted "Best Dressed Male Television Star." [1997]
Chosen by People (USA) magazine as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World." [1996]
Cousin is actor Miguel Ferrer, Rafael Ferrer and Debby Boone.
Uncle is the late actor José Ferrer.
Nephew of singer/actress Rosemary Clooney and Betty Clooney.
Education: Northern Kentucky University
Owned a pet pig named Max, given to him by Kelly Preston, for eighteen years. Max died on December 1, 2006.
Studied acting at The Beverly Hills Playhouse.
Coincidentally, his first steady TV role was in the medical sitcom "E/R" (1984) that was based in Chicago and co-starred Elliott Gould, Mary McDonnell and Jason Alexander. Ten years later it would take another TV series "ER" (1994) (also based in Chicago) to finally launch him into the galaxy of superstardom.
He was talk-show host Rosie O'Donnell's very first guest when her TV show debuted ("The Rosie O'Donnell Show: Episode dated 10 June 1996" (1996)).
Committed to O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) before even reading a script, because of his wish to work with the Coen brothers. He even accepted a significantly lower salary than usual.
Reportedly got into a fistfight with Three Kings (1999) director David O. Russell on the set. Russell had yelled and derided a few extras out of frustration and Clooney didn't appreciate it. Russell has since said, "I wouldn't make another George Clooney movie if they paid me $20 million."
Good friends with actor Mark Wahlberg and Ben Weiss.
Dated Renée Zellweger and Mariella Frostrup.
Has stated in several interviews that he has suffered from bleeding stomach ulcers and is still on medication for stomach pain to this day.
Ranked #27 on Premiere's 2002 Power 100 List.
Frequently stars in so-called "heist movies" that revolve around some type of robbery: Out of Sight (1998), From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), Three Kings (1999), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), Ocean's Eleven (2001), Welcome to Collinwood (2002), Ocean's Twelve (2004), Ocean's Thirteen (2007), and Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009).
Was once the son-in-law of Martin Balsam and Joyce Van Patten while he was married to Talia Balsam.
First cousin once removed of Gabi Ferrer.
One of People Magazine's "Top 50 Bachelors" (2002).
Was a pallbearer at the funeral of his late aunt, Rosemary Clooney.
He got his start in a movie starring his cousin, Miguel Ferrer. Later, after Clooney had established himself on "ER" (1994), Ferrer made a guest appearance on the very first show. George's aunt, Rosemary Clooney, made guest appearances on two shows the first month "ER" (1994) aired.
Ranked #29 in Premiere's 2003 annual Power 100 List.
Is the sixth actor to play Batman.
No. 3 of 10 Top Sexiest Men in People magazine. (2003)
His voice was dubbed for the singing moments in O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000).
Heads his own film and television production company, Maysville Pictures.
Broke up with girlfriend Krista Allen (2004).
Shared an apartment with actor Thom Mathews during the early 1980s.
Dated Céline Balitran from 1996 to 1999.
Was the second man, after Richard Gere, to make an appearance on the cover of Vogue magazine.
Ranked #16 on VH1's "100 Hottest Hotties."
Rode a bicycle to get to auditions as a struggling actor.
Son of actor and AMC host Nick Clooney and Nina Warren Clooney.
He loves the show "South Park" (1997). He got a hold of Trey Parker, the creator of the series, and asked for a part in an episode. He was given the role of "Sparky," the gay dog, which involved little more than panting and yelping. However, when it was time for South Park to go to the big screen, Clooney got a full speaking part, as an ER surgeon.
Is of Irish-American descent.
At 43, he was voted sexiest male celebrity in a 'Naughty Forties' poll conducted for UK television station FX.
Shared an L.A. home with Kelly Preston when both were struggling actors.
Auditioned five times for Ridley Scott for the role of J.D. in Thelma & Louise (1991), a role that ultimately went to future friend Brad Pitt and catapulted Pitt to super-stardom.
Born 2:48 AM, EST.
He loves beer. He does voiceovers for Budweiser TV commercials and allegedly had a beer keg installed in his dressing room during filming of Ocean's Eleven (2001).
Lived in a friend's closet while struggling as an actor in L.A., early in his career.
Is a Dallas Mavericks fan.
Received the first "Spirit of Independence Award" of the Los Angeles Film Festival and Find Independent (FIND). [June, 2005]
He and his Ocean's Eleven (2001) and Ocean's Twelve (2004) co-stars, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt and Elliott Gould, and Bruce Willis who did a cameo in Ocean's Twelve as himself, all have guest-starred on the TV show "Friends" (1994), though not in the same episodes.
His relationship with Krista Allen, whom he met on the set of Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), ended after 2 years. [March 2004]
Broke off relationship with Lisa Snowdon after 5 years. [June 2005]
Appears on the cover of the first Men's Vogue. (2005)
After an accident on the set of his movie Syriana (2005), he suffered from back pain, bad headaches, and memory loss. After several spine surgeries, he fully recovered and is fine now. [October 2005]
Sought the role of Jack in Sideways (2004). However, the film's director, Alexander Payne, felt that he was too big a star, and turned him down in favor of Thomas Haden Church.
Owns a villa in Laglio at Lake Como, Italy, where he lives several months of the year.
In winning the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Syriana (2005), he becomes the second generation of his family to win an Oscar. His uncle, José Ferrer, won a Best Actor Oscar for playing in Cyrano de Bergerac (1950). Also appearing in Syriana (2005) was Christopher Plummer, who once played Christian to Ferrer's Cyrano in a subsequent production, and later succeeded Ferrer as Cyrano as well.
Is the first (and only) actor who played Batman (in Batman & Robin (1997) to win an Oscar (for Best Supporting Actor in Syriana (2005)).
Frequently involves himself in projects involving the "Golden Age" of television. For example, he produced and starred in _Fail Safe (2000) (TV)_, a throwback to the live television plays of the 1950s and 1960s; he directed and appeared in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), about Chuck Barris's' career in early game shows; and he directed, wrote, and appeared in Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005), about Edward R. Murrow's battle with Senator Joseph McCarthy.
Ranked #21 on Premiere's 2006 "Power 50" list. Had ranked #43 in 2005.
Turned down the role of Sgt. John McLoughlin in World Trade Center (2006).
As of 2006, he is the only regular cast member from "ER" (1994) to win an Oscar (for Best Supporting Actor in Syriana (2005)).
Was originally to star in Jack Frost (1998) but chose to do Batman & Robin (1997) instead. His part went to Michael Keaton, who had previously starred as Batman in Batman (1989) and in Batman Returns (1992).
Played a gangster in seven movies: From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), Out of Sight (1998), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), Ocean's Eleven (2001), Welcome to Collinwood (2002), Ocean's Twelve (2004), and Ocean's Thirteen (2007).
He and his producing partner Steven Soderbergh have decided to close down their Section Eight production company after six years of working partnership. [August 2006]
He and Grant Heslov founded production company Smoke House after his production company Section Eight closed down.
He auditioned for the role of Mr. Blonde/Vic Vega in Reservoir Dogs (1992), but was turned down.
People Magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive". [2006]
Is frequently cast as a soldier, as seen in The Thin Red Line (1998), The Peacemaker (1997), Three Kings (1999), and The Good German (2006).
Personal stunt doubles are stunt men Brad Martin, Troy Hartman and James E. Mitchell.
His famed "Roman haircut" was actually an accident. While filming From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), he wanted to make his character Seth Gecko look really crazy with a chopped off hairstyle. But the haircut became popular and turned into a positive.
Suffered from Bell's palsy for a time while he was in high school.
In December 2006, he traveled to China and Egypt to make a personal plea to Chinese and Egyptian officials to use their ties with the Sudanese government to help stop the violence in the Darfur region.
Lives at Lago di Como in Italy.
Was considered for the part of Reed Richards in Fantastic Four (2005).
His The Peacemaker (1997) co-star Nicole Kidman presented him his Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 2006.
2001: Voted Most Eligible Bachelor by People Magazine.
Although he grew up working in tobacco fields, Clooney disliked the smell and never took up smoking. His parents were non-smokers, although many of his aunts and uncles did.
In September 2006 he addressed the United Nations Security Council, urging it to act over Darfur.
Helped celebrate a plan to rebuild a hospital in hurricane-devastated Louisiana alongside former President George Bush [George H. W. Bush]. The pair appeared outside the courthouse in Cameron Parish, the only surviving building in the town following Hurricane Rita. Bush presented local officials with a check for $2 million from the Bush-Clinton Katrina fund. The money will help run South Cameron Memorial Hospital once it has been rebuilt. Former "ER" (1994) star Clooney quipped, "There is good news in all of this, which is that when the hospital gets up and running, I will not be doing any of the medical procedures" (20 December 2006).
2007 - Ranked #13 on EW's The 50 Smartest People in Hollywood.
In 2007, Forbes Magazine estimated his earnings for the year at $25 million.
Supports Senator Barack Obama's bid to win the Democratic nomination for the 2008 presidential election.
Least favorite movies from his filmography include: Batman & Robin (1997), The Peacemaker (1997), etc. [2008]
Personal favorite movies from his filmography include: Out of Sight (1998), Three Kings (1999), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005), etc. [2008]
He and his girlfriend, Sarah Larson, had an accident in 2007 while riding a motorcycle. She broke some toes, and Clooney broke a rib.
Turned down two roles which went to Kevin Kline: "Artemus Gordon" in Wild Wild West (1999) and "Guy Noir" in A Prairie Home Companion (2006).
Merited a place in Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People in the World" (Artists & Entertainers section) with a tribute written by Roseanne (Issue May 12, 2008).
Broke up with Sarah Larson [June, 2008].
His palatial villa overlooking Italy's Lake Como comprises 15 rooms, a wine cellar, and a master bedroom suite atop three floors. In his garage Clooney keeps his collection of Piaggio motorbikes. Docked at his pier is a Colombo classic powerboat.
Quit the WGA in April 2008 after the union turned down his wish to be credited as a co-writer for Leatherheads (2008). He felt that he was let down by the union.
His favorite song is "Destination Moon" by Dinah Washington and his favorite novel is Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace".
Friend of Rande Gerber.
On the DVD commentary for Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005), George Clooney says that shortly after he met Grant Heslov in 1982, Heslov loaned Clooney $200.00 to buy his first set of headshots, and they have been friends ever since (and later writing and producing partners).
Close friends with actress Julia Roberts and actor Brad Pitt.
Boyfriend of Elisabetta Canalis [July 28, 2009].
Was in a relationship with Renée Zellweger (April-November 2001).
His production company, Section 8 Productions, is named after Jamie Farr's "M*A*S*H" (1972) character "Maxwell Q Klinger" (Klinger tried to get out of the army via a section.
Lives in Los Angeles, California.
He is known for his self-mocking sense of humor. The creators of "South Park" (1997) spoofed his Oscar acceptance speech in a South Park episode, and his political views in Team America: World Police (2004). Clooney commented that he would have been really disappointed, had he not been spoofed in the latter.
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Re: George Clooney's biography (from various sources)
by melbert Thu 16 Dec 2010, 03:39
Katie - you are just blowing me away!!! You're the BEST!!! 
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Re: George Clooney's biography (from various sources)
by Katiedot Mon 04 Jun 2012, 16:08
Just refreshing this thread because it's got the most biographical info about George that maybe some newer fans didn't know.
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