Hamilton began his film career in 1958, and although he has a substantial body of work in film and television, he is perhaps most famous for his debonair style, perpetual suntan, and commercials for Ritz Crackers. Bo Derek wrote in her autobiography that "there was an ongoing contest between John Derek and George Hamilton as to who had the most tan!".[2]
Early life
Hamilton spent his early years with his mother, Annie Lucille Stevens (Hamilton), known as 'Teeny'[3] and attended Hawthorne School in Beverly Hills, California.[4] In 1950, his mother sent him to live with his father in the north.[4] He attended Walt Whitman High School, in Bethesda, Maryland.[4]
Hamilton's stepfathers were Carleton Hunt and Jesse Spalding; his stepmother was June Howard, with whom Hamilton claimed he had repeated sexual relations when he was age 12, shortly after she married his father, and again later when he was an adult.[5][4]
MGM cast Hamilton in support of Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner in the melodrama All the Fine Young Cannibals (1960),[6] and the beach party comedy Where the Boys Are (1960).[6] Hamilton appeared in the lower budgeted Angel Baby (1961),[6] a drama about an evangelist, for Allied Artists. It had minimal commercial or critical impact. The movie was the feature debut of Burt Reynolds who recalled "George was different. When I came to Hollywood, there were 175 Marlon Brandos, 2,000 Jimmy Deans, zmd a lot of Carroll Bakers. But nobody wanted to be David Niven, except George." Reynolds later commented that " if anybody could have gotten him to be" as "relaxed and self-deprecating on film" as he was in real life "he would have been the next Cary Grant."[7]
After making a cameo in Looking for Love (1964),[6] Hamilton appeared in Your Cheatin' Heart (1964),[6] playing Hank Williams. Hamilton went to Mexico for Viva Maria! (1965).[6] It was directed by Louis Malle who cast Hamilton on the strength of his performance in Two Weeks in Another Town.[6] Malle said "he was a personal choice and I am happy with him...He's more interested in being in the social columns– I don't understand– when he should be one of the greatest of his generation".[8]
Hamilton played a cat burglar in MGM's Jack of Diamonds (1967). It was produced by Sandy Howard who said Hamilton was "a hot commodity these days" because he was dating Lyndon Johnson's daughter.[9] Reports put his fee around this time at $100,000 per movie. He was drafted into the Army but received a 3-A deferral notice on the grounds that he was the sole financial provider for his mother.[10] Hamilton's draft deferment was highly controversial at the time because it was thought that his relationship with the president's daughter gave him preferential treatment.[11] In 1968, Hamilton made The Power.[6]
Television
Hamilton went into television in 1969, supporting Lana Turner in the all-star series Harold Robbins' The Survivors (1969–70).[12] When the show was canceled in January 1970, Hamilton went into Paris 7000 (1970). He portrayed a trouble shooter for the U.S. State Department in Paris. This series was canceled in March 1970. He starred in the TV films Togetherness (1970) and The Last of the Powerseekers, a 1971 compilation of two episodes of Harold Robbins' The Survivors.[6]
Producer
Hamilton moved into producing to give himself greater control over his career. He produced and played the title role in Evel Knievel (1971).[6] Hamilton had the script rewritten by John Milius, and the latter called Hamilton "a wonderful guy, totally underrated. A great con-man, that's what he really is. He always said 'I'll be remembered as a third-rate actor when in fact, I'm a first-rate con man.'"[13]
In 1979, he appeared in the surprise hit Love at First Bite,[6] in which he showed a flair for comedy; it was the story of Count Dracula's pursuit of a young Manhattanite model, played by Susan Saint James. The film included scenes with Dracula and his conquest as they dance to "I Love the Nightlife" at a disco. The film's box-office success created a popularity surge for Hamilton, who also served as executive producer.[6]
He returned to TV for The Seekers (1979)[6] and The Great Cash Giveaway Getaway (1979), then he did 1981's Zorro, The Gay Blade,[6] which he produced. However, Zorro was not as popular as Love at First Bite, and film leads dried up quickly. He focused on television: Malibu (1983)[6] and Two Fathers' Justice (1985).[6]
He was in Meet Wally Sparks (1997), 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag (1997), and the miniseries Rough Riders (1997), where he portrayed William Randolph Hearst. With his matinee-idol looks, it was sometimes noted that Hamilton physically resembled Warren Beatty. Beatty's political satire Bulworth (1998)[6] contained a running gag, with Hamilton appearing as himself. Hamilton had a regular role on the TV series Jenny (1997).[6] He was in Casper Meets Wendy (1998), P.T. Barnum (1999), and She's Too Tall (1999). He was a semi-regular celebrity guest on the 1998-1999 syndicated version of Match Game.[6]
2000s
In 2001, Hamilton starred on Broadway in the play Chicago in the role of Billy Flynn. He played the roles from November 21, 2001, to February 17, 2002; June 4, 2002 to July 29, 2002; and from September 14, 2007, to October 7, 2007.
In 2003, Hamilton hosted The Family, a reality television series, for one season. The program starred 10 members from a traditional Italian-American family, each fighting for a prize of $1 million. In 2006, Hamilton competed in the second season of Dancing with the Stars[14] with professional Edyta Sliwinska in which they lasted until the sixth round. At age 66 and recovering from knee injuries, Hamilton, unable to match the limber dance moves of his younger competitors, charmed the audience and judges with endearingly silly dances that used props, including a Zorro mask and the sword from Zorro, The Gay Blade.[6]
In 2006, it was rumored that Hamilton would replace Bob Barker on The Price Is Right. He auditioned for the show, and in March 2007, TMZ reported that Hamilton was a frontrunner to replace Barker. According to Reuters, Hamilton was one of the final three contenders to host the show, alongside Mark Steines and Todd Newton.[15] However, Drew Carey was named as Barker's successor. Hamilton has hosted the live stage adaptation of the show The Price Is Right Live! In August 2008, Hamilton co-starred in Coma, a web series on Crackle.[16] Hamilton was executive producer of the 2009 film loosely based on his early life and relationship with his mother, My One and Only.[6]
Hamilton was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame on August 12, 2009.[17] In 1999, a Golden Palm Star on the Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.[18] Hamilton appeared as a contestant on the UK edition of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! in November 2009. Hamilton walked out of the jungle on November 30, 2009, telling the other contestants that he wasn't there to win but to have fun.[19][20][21] Hamilton was considered one of the favorites to win the series. In 2010 Hamilton was chosen as one of David Hasselhoff's roasters in the Comedy Central Roast of David Hasselhoff. Starting in Fall 2011, Hamilton starred as "Georges" for the national tour of the Tony-winning revival of La Cage aux Folles.[22] He was still starring in the show as of June2012[update].
In 2015 George and his ex-wife, Alana Hamilton appeared in Season 4/Episode 10 of Celebrity Wife Swap. Alana swapped with Angela "Big Ang" Raiola of Mob Wives and her husband Neil Murphy. In Summer 2016, Hamilton appeared in television commercials for KFC as the "Extra Crispy Colonel", a deeply tanned version of the company's mascot Colonel Sanders, a role which he returned to in Spring 2018. On July 6, 2018, Hamilton portrayed the Colonel on General Hospital.[23]
Business endeavors
In the late 1980s, Hamilton launched the George Hamilton Skin Care System and the George Hamilton Sun Care System and tanning salons.[24][25] A cigar lounge bearing his name was opened in the late 1990s at the New York, New York, hotel in Las Vegas and other locations, along with a line of cigars bearing the actor's name. A January 1998 article in Cigar Aficionado described Hamilton's style as "Cary Grant meets Pat Riley".[26][27][28]
In April 2006, Hamilton served as grand marshal for the 79th Annual Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival in Winchester, Virginia.[29] In 2016 and 2018, Hamilton appeared as the "Crispy Colonel" in commercials for KFC, playing on his image for tanning.[30]
From 1972 to 1976, Hamilton was married to actress Alana Stewart. Their son, Ashley George, was born in 1974. The divorced Hamiltons reunited in the mid-1990s to co-host the daytime talk show George & Alana, and again in 2015, as stars of the reality show Stewarts & Hamiltons.[6]
From 1995 to 1999, Hamilton dated Kimberly Blackford, whom he met in Fort Lauderdale when she was a swimsuit model.[32][33] In December 1999, Kimberly gave birth to their son, George Thomas Hamilton (nicknamed "GT"[34] or George Jr.). Hamilton never married Blackford, but they became friends again as their son got older. Hamilton and both of his sons attended military schools; GT attended Admiral Farragut Academy in St. Petersburg.[33]
As a contestant in I'm a Celebrity in 2009, Hamilton revealed he had dated at least four Miss Worlds. In 2019, Hamilton said he was romantically unattached, but does enjoy dating different ladies.[35]
Hamilton has a well-known social relationship with Imelda Marcos, widow of former Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, and had business ties to the Marcos family. In 1990, Hamilton was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in a federal fraud and racketeering case against the Marcoses involving the looting of government funds; Imelda was acquitted in the case.[36]
According to Burt Reynolds' autobiography,[37] Hamilton has a healthy sense of humor, even when the humor is directed at him. Reynolds wrote that he made up a birthday card for Hamilton with a composite photograph of Tony Curtis and Anthony Perkins, titled "To George, love from Mum and Dad". Hamilton found the card hilarious and showed it to everybody.[37]
In 2009, he was in a comedy film starring Logan Lerman, was loosely based on a story about George Hamilton's early life on the road with his mother and brother, and features anecdotes that Hamilton had told to Merv Griffin, My One and Only.[6]
In the comic strip Doonesbury, Hamilton is the namesake of the fictional "George Hamilton Cocoa Butter Open", described as the Le Mans of the (also fictional) professional tanning circuit, and "Tanmaster Hamilton" is the idol of character Zonker Harris who competes on that circuit.[39]
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↑ Derek, Bo (with Mark Seal) (2002), Riding Lessons: Everything That Matters in Life I Learned from Horses, ReganBooks HarperCollins, ISBN0060394374, p.212
↑ Segaloff, Nat, "John Milius: The Good Fights", Backstory 4: Interviews with Screenwriters of the 1970s and 1980s, Ed. Patrick McGilligan, Uni of California 2006 p 289
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