News articles about George's birthday

From The Experss

GEORGE CLOONEY: GORGEOUS GEORGE’S 50TH BIRTHDAY

It's George Clooney's 50th birthday

Friday May 6, 2011

By Julie Carpenter

HAPPY half century to George Clooney. The Hollywood heart-throb turns 50 today, demonstrating an infuriating ability to resemble a fine red wine and just get better with age. Still as handsome and hirsute as ever (even if his locks are more salt and pepper than brilliant brunette) Gorgeous George is frequently voted “sexiest man alive” and continually held up as every woman’s fantasy.

Part of the attraction, no doubt, lies in the fact that Clooney appears to be temptingly available, his first and only marriage - to actress Talia Balsam - being already over by the time he shot to fame as Dr Doug Ross in the American hospital drama ER.

That was 1994 and by then Clooney - the son of a beauty queen and the former news anchor Nick Clooney - was already in his 30s. Coincidentally one of his earliest roles came in a short-lived medical sitcom called E/R (not to be confused with the rather more famous ER) and perhaps it was experiencing more than a decade of plugging away in small roles before finding fame that has kept the actor remarkably grounded with a great line in self-deprecating quips. Modesty combined with humour is a winning trait.

Commenting on his role in 1997 flop Batman And Robin, he noted: “I wasn’t the greatest Bat. Rubber and me just didn’t get along too well.”

He always appears to be the charismatic joker, whether he’s planting whoopie cushions on the set of ER (“Hey, funny’s funny. You can’t put a price on it”) or reacting to false rumours that he contributed to Julia Roberts’s split from Benjamin Bratt (“I didn’t have time. I was too busy breaking up Tom and Nicole’s marriage.”)

Now with films including Oceans Eleven, Michael Clayton and Up In The Air on his CV, he is one of the most bankable stars in the world, a director as well as an actor. He can boast an Oscar for the film Syriana to boot. He is also becoming as well known for his humanitarian work, especially in Darfur, as for his charm and rugged good looks.

Having acted opposite some of the most beautiful actresses in Hollywood (Julia Roberts, Michelle Pfeiffer, Nicole Kidman, Catherine Zeta-Jones), he is rarely seen without a glamorous woman on his arm but while past girlfriends include journalist and TV presenter Mariella Frostrup and model Lisa Snowdon, he has frequently asserted that his longest relationship has been not with a woman but with his now-deceased Vietnamese pot-bellied pig Max. That ran to 18 years.

His current girlfriend is Sardinian-born model Elisabetta Canalis, who is 18 years his junior, and he counts the likes of Brad Pitt and Matt Damon among his best friends so there is no reason why life after 50 should not continue in a charmed vein.

Many think he could even make president. “Run for office?” he once said. “No. I’ve slept with too many women, I’ve done too many drugs and I’ve been to too many parties.”

Fifty years well spent, then.

WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT HIM

Mariella Frostrup:
“What’s he like? Very funny. Very irreverent about his position. Normally, when people get to where he is in terms of world attention they tend to become more and more protective and paranoid. Yet within three hours of meeting him he was lending my best friend his hotel room key so she could use his bathroom. He is very good looking. A lot of film stars are very disappointing in the flesh. If he walked down the street now we’d think, ‘Who’s that handsome guy?’ He’s clever, funny, generous, politically committed, inspiring.”

Michelle Pfeiffer:
“I bet him he would get married and he keeps inflating the bet, from $100 to $100,000. I still think he will. He’s a handsome devil.”

Catherine Zeta-Jones:
“He’s fun, fun, fun.”

Lisa Snowdon:
“George is very romantic, just lovely. People always ask me what he was like in bed. I never tell. We finished years ago but I still get asked about it a lot. The media attention when we were together was unbelievable. I’m not sure how I survived it. The hardest thing to deal with was the perception that I was going out with him to further my career. It did me no favours at all. Work almost totally dried up. People saw me living a new life and thought I wouldn’t be interested in modelling again.”

Nicole Kidman:
“George is a gentleman.”

Girlfriend Elisabetta Canalis:
“George has given colour back to my life. I feel great. I am happy like when I was 18 years old. George reassures me all the time.”

Renée Zellweger on being eclipsed by Clooney, her leading man at the premiere of Leatherheads:
“That’s just the Clooney effect.”

Julia Roberts:
“A kind, lovely man - kind of goofy.”

Rupert Everett:
“He’ll be president one day. Mark my words, if he’s straight, he’ll be president"

Happy birthday to Mr Clooney

By Deirdre Reynolds

Friday May 6 2011

As gorgeous George turns 50 today, Deirdre Reynolds asks what can irish men learn from the sexiest man alive

So the Sexiest Man Alive turns 50 today -- and what red-blooded woman wouldn't want to burst out of George Clooney's birthday cake later on?

Sadly, that's the privilege of Italian lover Elisabetta Canalis, who's reportedly planned a surprise 50th birthday bash for her famous fella with guests such as Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Matt Damon at the couple's Lake Como pad this weekend.

And half a century on, gorgeous George has every reason to celebrate.

Less than two decades ago, the young hunk from Kentucky seemed destined to become just another Tinseltown cautionary tale -- with nothing but a dodgy mullet, run of bad B-movies and blink-and-you'll-miss-'em TV appearances to look back on on his deathbed.

Now on his milestone birthday, the last true matinée idol has a legion of fans, beautiful girlfriend, brilliant career and millions stuffed in the mattress to toast.

In a plot twist that few could have predicted, the Return of the Killer Tomatoes star has even been credited with playing a part in the liberation of South Sudan.

Yep, at an age when men traditionally descend into mid-life crisis over everything from their mortality to their bald spot, Clooney seems to have it sussed -- sexier, more successful and happier than ever.

So as he reflects over the past five decades this weekend, the eternally handsome A-lister is sure to wonder: "Where did it all go right?"

By now, a certain pair of green scrubs have been globally acknowledged as the turning point in Clooney's career -- not least by the star himself.

Raising ratings and heart rates one sick kid at a time, at 33 Clooney became a household name as delectable paediatrician Dr Doug Ross on '90s TV juggernaut ER.

"If you stuck a mannequin in my part, he'd get all the fan mail," he said.

People magazine was less coy about the show's pulling power when it named him Sexiest Man Alive in 1997 (and again in 2006).

"It's that little head tilt he does when his chin dips down and his eyes drop to the floor," swooned one excitable writer. "Then, wham! Those eyes are back, full of mischief and magic, atop a sly half grin that all but announces, 'Yep, I'm trouble, but you love me anyway'."

But while millions of women across the globe may crush on the silver fox, only one has ever managed to put a ring on him.

In 1989, Clooney and actress Talia Balsam -- who's now married to Mad Men's John Slattery -- drove to Vegas in a Winnebago and wed.

Suffice to say they divorced three years later -- and despite dating a long line of lovelies including Lisa Snowdon, Sarah Larson and now Canalis, the actor has remained steadfastly footloose ever since.

"I probably -- definitely -- wasn't someone who should have been married at that point," he recalls.

Weighing a stubbly 290lbs, the one great love of Clooney's life wasn't much to look at. But together for almost two decades, the star's long-term companion Max -- a pot-bellied pig given to him by ex-girlfriend Kelly Preston -- out-lasted his string of lovers put together.

As for fatherhood, the perma-bachelor once famously won a $20,000 bet against Nicole Kidman and Michelle Pfeiffer that he would be single and child-free at 40, then doubled the stakes for his 50th -- a bet he can cash in on today.

He said: "Even one kid running around my villa makes me nervous.

"I can always call Brad and Angie and ask them to stay with me, just to remind me why I'm so happy."

Though much is made of Clooney's refusal to 'settle down', in truth, the actor-activist is more settled than ever.

After getting off to a shaky start on the big screen (Batman and Robin -- enough said), he's found his groove both in front of and behind the camera with more serious-minded fare such as Good Night, and Good Luck and The American.

Gaining 30lbs and an Oscar for his role as a CIA agent in 2005's Syriana, the salt-and-pepper sex symbol quashed any question over his acting ability.

But it's his humanitarian work -- including an all-star telethon for the victims of the Haitian earthquake and TV special A Journey to Darfur with his news-anchor dad Nick -- that has earned Clooney the greatest accolade, after Time magazine named him among the 100 Most Influential People in the World.

Meanwhile on the home front, things seem peachy with 32-year-old model Canalis too -- even though the couple were almost caught up in the sex trial of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi after being named as witnesses.

"It's an interesting thing to watch yourself grow older on screen," reflects George. "I was watching (his 2009 movie) Up in the Air and I thought, 'Who's the old grey-haired guy?'

"I never wear make-up for movies, and it's starting to show.

"(But) you don't want to try to look younger because you'll look wrong."

Only getting better with (middle) age, what can Irish men like singer Daniel O'Donnell and actor Liam Cunningham, both of whom turn 50 this year, learn from Mr Clooney?

"What man wouldn't want to be like George Clooney at 50," reckons Shane Breslin, editor of men's website Joe.ie.

"He's definitely the thinking woman -- and non-thinking woman's -- sex symbol. But he's a guy's guy too.

"When women talk about Clooney, they may be talking about 'Gorgeous George' -- but when me and my mates talk about him, it's about the intelligence of films like Michael Clayton and Syriana. In spite of his looks, he's the opposite of someone as vacuous as Josh Hartnett.

"A lot of his appeal boils down to humility," adds Shane. "You can't really imagine Clooney having a mid-life crisis. He's a 'fine wine' type of guy, ageing with grace -- and that's something all Irish men could learn from."

In his next film The Ides of March, Clooney plays a flawed presidential candidate. So with Hollywood, the world and the California Democratic Party at his feet, could life imitate art?

"I didn't live my life in the right way for politics, you know," Clooney says in typically self-effacing fashion. "I f***ed too many chicks and did too many drugs, and that's the truth."

Happy birthday, indeed, Mr Clooney.

- Deirdre Reynolds