Matinee Classics - George Hamilton Biography & Filmography

George Hamilton ACTOR

PHOTOS

GEORGE HAMILTON BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

George Hamilton was born on August 12th, 1939 in Memphis, Tennessee with the middle name Stevens, born to Anne Potter Hamilton Hunt Spaulding and George Stevens Hamilton. His father was in a band and therefore he spent his years growing up in a variety of places.

When he was living in Florida and attending high school, he first developed an interest in acting while performing in a number of school productions. After earning his high school diploma he decided to take a big chance and relocate to Hollywood in pursuit of a career as an actor.

He first began with appearing on a number of television series such as, "The Veil" (1958), "The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin" (1959) and "Cimarron City" (1959). He then caught the attention on MGM who chose to cast him in a variety of films such as, "Lone Star" (1952) starring Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, Broderick Crawford and Lionel Barrymore, "Crime & Punishment" (1959), which although being quite an unsuccessful film, he still received a Golden Globe Award for, "Most Promising Newcomer" and was nominated for, "Best Foreign Actor" by the British Film Academy.

More successful film roles soon followed such as, "Home from the Hill" (1960), "Angel Baby" (1961), "Light in the Piazza" (1962) and Bus Stop (1962) starring Marilyn Monroe. Unfortunately, some of his other film roles during this time did not do so well at the box office. Such was the case for his roles in, "All the Fine Young Cannibals" (1960), "By Love Possessed" (1961) and the teen coming-of-age classic "Where the Boys Are" (1960).

However, he was able to make a comeback and increase his popularity as an actor again when he appeared in such features as, "Act One" (1963), "Your Cheatin' Heart" (1964) portraying country singer Hank Williams and "Evel Knievel" (1971).

After appearing in, "A Time for Killing" (1967), "The Power" (1968) and "Doctor, You've Got to Be Kidding!" (1967) he realized that he was no longer in demand in the film industry and began to turn his sights on television.

Some of the television series he appeared on in the later part of his career were, "Police Story" (1976), "Roots" (1977), "Gibbsville" (1977), "McCloud" (1977) and "Columbo" (1971-1978). Along with series work, he worked on a variety of television movies as well such as, "Death Car on the Freeway" (1979), "Malibu" (1983), "Two Fathers' Justice" (1985), "Monte Carlo" (1986) and "Vanished " (1995). He did however, make a decent comeback again when he was cast as the Corleone family lawyer in the film, "The Godfather, Part III" (1990).

Although he was not working on very many feature films, he was still making quite a decent living working in Hollywood and had no intentions of slowing down. He also had a recurring role between 1985 and 1986 on, "Dynasty" and became quite a well known face appearing on numerous commercials for such products as, Ritz Crackers and Wheat Thins.

Along with working as an actor he earned some experience as an executive producer on such films as, "Medusa" (1973), "Love at First Bite" (1979), "Zorro: The Gay Blade" (1981) and "My One and Only" (2009).

Other programs he has participated in are, "Dancing With the Stars" which he competed in the second season in 2006 and made it to the sixth round. He was also a top contender to take over for Bob Barker on the game show, "The Price is Right", however Drew Carey was ultimately chosen for the position.

In addition to working in the industry, he also started his own skin care line in 1989 as well as a chain of tanning salons. Hamilton has married only once to Alana Stewart between 1972 through 1976 and they had one child together, Ashley Hamilton, who also pursued a career as an actor. He has one other son, George Thomas Hamilton from a relationship with Kimberly Blackford.

He has been honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and his newest project began in the fall of 2011, playing, Georges for a national tour of the stage production, "La Cage aux Folles".