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Then, with just $300 in his pocket he hit Hollywood, landing on
the doorstep of his aunt's house. Rosemary Clooney wasn't particularly
chuffed to have her wilful young nephew arrive on her doorstep
with no money and no job, so she hired him to drive her around
the country as she toured with other 40's singers. After the tour
George turned his attention to getting his 'Big Break'. Attending
audition after audition he eventually landed his first professional
acting job in a stereo commercial, after showing up with a six-pack
of beer under his arm. George says of auditions: "If you sit on
auditions, the best actor never gets the job. Especially in TV.
You get the job when you walk in the door. Because in a weird
way, we're not selling acting. What we're selling is confidence."
While showing up for numerous auditions George also began taking
acting classes with Milton Katselas, a highly respected teacher
and eventually an agent saw him in one of the class' productions.
Still, he kept showing up for his auditions, and
one by one he began to get the jobs. None of the particularly
inspiring, but he did begin to learn how to act in front of the
cameras, including both TV and film roles. From the dreadful 'Return
of the Killer Tomatoes' to a stint on a short-lived sitcom called
'E/R', via 'Roseanne' (as her womanising boss) to 'Baby Talk',
where he played a construction worker to Sisters, as a detective.
Finally "the world's richest unknown actor" hit the big time after
landing the part of maverick doc Doug Ross. Over five seasons
Clooney perfected his crinkly-eyed, head-to-one-side form of acting,
and the shows producers had a bona-fide star (although officially
Anthony Edwards was the show's biggest name as he had the biggest
trailer.)
As the show's popularity spread worldwide so did
George's with hundreds of Internet sites springing up dedicated
to the womanising doctor. But it was apparent to fans of the show;
Clooney was bound to make the move to the big screen at some point.
His first film was Quentin Tarantino's vampire flick 'From Dusk
Till Dawn', which showed his talents, didn't lie just in playing
a doctor. The role helped raise his profile in Hollywood, as did
his cameo appearance on NBC's other huge Thursday night hit, 'Friends'.
Not one to take typecasting too seriously he co-starred alongside
fellow 'ER' hunk Noah Wyle as a pair of doctors who date Monica
and Rachel.
In 1996 he joined old friend Michelle Pfeiffer
(he dated her sister Deedee) in the single-parent romantic comedy
'One Fine Day', although some would argue he was just being Doug
Ross on the big screen. Mimi Leder, one of the resident directors
on 'ER' chose him to co-star alongside Nicole Kidman in the first
film from Steven Spielberg's fledgling studio Dreamworks. In 'The
Peacemaker', Clooney played a military colonel on the hunt for
nuclear-warhead hijackers (slight aside, Goran Visjnic, who took
over from Clooney as 'ER''s resident hunk also appeared in the
film). The film was regarded as some as a bit of a flop, although
it actually made $120 million worldwide.
All these films were helping to establish Clooney
as a big screen actor, while he was able to continue with his
small screen duties. In 1997 he scored what most people in the
industry saw as a major coup as he was chosen to don the rubber
suit previously worn by Michael Keaton and Val Kilmer. Clooney
happily credits himself with "possibly sinking the entire 'Batman'
franchise." But he says the whole fiasco helped him take a real
look at the way his career was headed. "I think 'Batman and
Robin' not doing so well was a real awakening for me," he
says. "That was the turning point where I said 'OK, I'm just
going to do projects and scripts that I like.'"
Since then, Clooney's career has gone from strength
to strength. His performance in the Steven Soderbergh directed
'Out of Sight' alongside Jennifer Lopez garnered praise from all
sides, and a cameo in Terence Malick's 'The Thin Red Line' also
helped. Never one to shy away from taking a tough stance, in 1997
he was one of the first actors to speak out against media intrusion
in the wake of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, specifically
aiming his tirade at the editor of the National Enquirer.
Then he decided to abdicate from the title of
"Sexiest Man Alive" which was bestowed on him by People magazine,
although that didn't stop them sticking him on the front cover
anyway. With everything that was going on his life, something
had to go, and in 1999, Clooney hung up his scrubs and said goodbye
to County General. His first post-ER role was in ''Three Kings'
alongside Mark Wahlberg and Ice Cube as three soldiers who set
out to steal Saddam's gold at the end of the Gulf War. His part
was originally written for Clint Eastwood. "They also started
talking to Mel Gibson and Nic Cage, you know the usual suspects,"
he says. "I always have to wait and see who is not available.
And I have to hope the director doesn't say 'You were on The Facts
of Life. Forget it.'"
Earlier this year he produced and starred in
a live TV remake of the classic Cold War thriller 'Fail Safe'
alongside the likes of Harvey Keitel, Richard Dreyfuss and old
friend Noah Wyle, But if Clooney is to become one of Hollwood's
true A-list actors he'll never have a better chance than this
summer as he stars in two of the year's biggest films. First,
up is 'The Perfect Storm', was is due to be released the same
weekend as Mel Gibson's 'The Patriot'. Directed by 'Das Boot'
helmer Wolfgang Peterson, Clooney again stars alongside Mark Wahlberg
in the true story about a bunch of fishermen who got caught up
in a deadly 1991 tempest. The funniest thing about the film is
Clooney suffers dreadfully from sea sickness in real life.
Later in the year he'll be seen in the Joel and
Ethan Coen's 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' A comedy about three
guys who escape from a chain gang, and is partially based on Homer's
Odyssey. Not only does Clooney act, he has a development deal
with CBS and his production company is going from strength to
strength with a number of projects in various stages of development.
They include 'Metal Gods', which stars Mark Wahlberg (again),
and Jennifer Aniston, as well as Britain's own Timothy Spall.
Plus there's a snowboarding comedy, a political thriller about
DEA agents who uncover a CIA conspiracy, as well as a true story
about a group of prisoners who have an undeniable urge to dance.
But the biggest thing on the horizon for Clooney
is the remake of the classic Rat Pack starrer 'Ocean's Eleven',
which is currently one of the hottest properties in Hollywood.
Director Steven Soderbergh is putting together a stellar cast
with the likes of Bruce Willis, Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt also
slated to appear. Now if that doesn't make George Clooney a true
star, what will? |
