George Clooney
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| George Clooney | |
|---|---|
Clooney at a ceremony for John Wells to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in January 2012
|
|
| Born | George Timothy Clooney May 6, 1961 Lexington, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor, director, producer, screenwriter |
| Years active | 1978–present |
| Spouse(s) | Talia Balsam (m. 1989–1993) |
| Parents | Nick Clooney, Nina Warren Clooney |
| Relatives | Rosemary Clooney (aunt) Jose Ferrer (uncle) Miguel Ferrer (cousin) Rafael Ferrer (cousin) |
 |
This article is part of a series on George Clooney |
|---|---|
|
|
Clooney made his acting debut on television in 1978, and later gained wide recognition in his role as Dr. Douglas "Doug" Ross on the long-running medical drama ER from 1994 to 1999, for which he received two Emmy Award nominations. While working on ER, he began attracting a variety of leading roles in films, including Batman & Robin (1997) and Out of Sight (1998), in which he first worked with long-time collaborator Steven Soderbergh. In 1999 Clooney took the lead role in Three Kings, a well-received war satire set during the Gulf War. In 2001, Clooney's fame widened with the release of his biggest commercial success, Ocean's Eleven, the first of a profitable film trilogy, a remake of the 1960 film which starred members of the Rat Pack with Frank Sinatra as Danny Ocean. He made his directorial debut a year later with the biographical thriller Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, and has since directed Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), Leatherheads (2008), and The Ides of March (2011). He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the Middle East thriller Syriana (2005), and subsequently earned Best Actor nominations for Michael Clayton (2007), Up in the Air (2009) and The Descendants (2011). In 2013, he received the Academy Award for Best Picture for producing the film Argo, alongside Ben Affleck and Grant Heslov. He is the only person ever to be nominated for Academy Awards in six categories.[4]
In 2005, TV Guide ranked Clooney #1 on its "50 Sexiest Stars of All Time" list.[5]
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. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.[6]
Contents
Early life
Clooney was born in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1961.[7][8][9] His mother, Nina Bruce (née Warren, 1939–),[10] was a beauty pageant queen and city councilwoman. His father, Nick Clooney, is a former anchorman and game show host, and current American Movie Classics host. Clooney's ancestry includes Irish, German, English, and more distant Scottish and Dutch roots.[11] His patrilineal line traces to Nicholas Clooney (of County Kilkenny) and Bridget Byron, his great-great-grandparents, who emigrated to the United States from Ireland.[12] His maternal four times great-grandmother, Mary Ann Sparrow, was the half-sister of Nancy Hanks (the mother of President Abraham Lincoln).[13][14] Clooney has an older sister, Adelia (known as Ada); his cousins include actors Miguel and Rafael Ferrer, who are the sons of his aunt, singer Rosemary Clooney, and uncle, actor José Ferrer. He is also related to another singer, Debby Boone, who married his cousin Gabriel Ferrer.Clooney was raised a strict Roman Catholic,[15] but now says he doesn't know if he believes in Heaven, or even God.[16] He has said, "Yes, we were Catholic, big time, whole family, whole group."[17] By all reports, the Clooneys are a close-knit, Irish-Catholic family.[18] He 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; then Western Row Elementary School (a public school) in Mason, Ohio, from 1968 to 1974; and St. Susanna School in Mason, where he served as an altar boy. The Clooneys moved back to Kentucky when George was midway through the seventh grade. “George and his sister were always very conscious of social issues, and his parents were strong influences on the person he is today,” said John Romer, who served as a St. Susanna altar boy alongside George. “George would strongly defend his positions and argue logically and passionately . . . But George was never combative. He was the person you wanted to be with and laugh with.”[19]
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."[20]
After his parents moved to Augusta, Kentucky, Clooney attended Augusta High School. He has stated that he earned all As and a B in school,[21] and was an enthusiastic baseball and basketball player. He tried out to play professional baseball with the Cincinnati Reds in 1977, but he did not pass the first round of player cuts, and was not offered a contract. [22] He attended Northern Kentucky University from 1979 to 1981, majoring in Broadcast Journalism, and very briefly attended the University of Cincinnati, but did not graduate from either.[23] He had odd jobs selling women's shoes, selling insurance door-to-door, stocking shelves, working construction, and cutting tobacco.[24]
Career
Early work, 1978–93
Clooney's first role was as an extra in the television mini-series Centennial in 1978, which was based on the novel of the same name by James A. Michener, and was partly 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 co-starred 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 supervisor Booker Brooks, followed by the role of a construction worker on Baby Talk, a co-starring role on the CBS drama Bodies of Evidence as Detective Ryan Walker, and then a year-long turn as Det. James Falconer on Sisters. In 1988, Clooney also played a role in Return of the Killer Tomatoes.Breakthrough, 1994–99
Clooney achieved note when he played Dr. Doug Ross, alongside Anthony Edwards, Julianna Margulies, and Noah Wyle, on the hit NBC drama ER from 1994 to 1999. After leaving the series in 1999, he made a cameo appearance in the 6th season and returned for a guest spot in the show's final season.[25] For his work on the series, Clooney received two Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series in 1995 and 1996.[26][27] He also earned three Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Actor – Television Series Drama in 1995, 1996, and 1997 (losing to co-star Anthony Edwards).[28][29]Clooney began appearing in films 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 Batman in Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin, which was a modest box office performer, but a critical failure (with Clooney himself calling the film "a waste of money"). In 1998, he co-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.
2000 – present
In 2001, Clooney and Soderbergh co-founded Section Eight Productions, for which Grant Heslov was president of television. Clooney made his directorial debut in the 2002 film Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, based on the autobiography of TV producer Chuck Barris. Though the film didn't do well at the box office, Clooney's direction showed promise.[32]
In 2005, Clooney starred in Syriana, which was based loosely on former Central Intelligence Agency agent Robert Baer's memoirs of his service in the Middle East. He suffered an accident on the set of Syriana, which caused a brain injury with complications from a punctured dura.[33] 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. 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 won the Oscar for his role in Syriana.
Clooney next appeared in The Good German (2006), a film noir directed by Soderbergh that is set in post-World War II Germany. In August 2006, Clooney and Heslov started the production company Smokehouse Pictures. In October 2006, Clooney received the American Cinematheque Award, which honors someone in the entertainment industry who has made "a significant contribution to the art of motion pictures".[34] On January 22, 2008, Clooney was nominated for an Academy Award (and many other awards) for Best Actor for Michael Clayton (2007). Later that year, he directed his third film, Leatherheads, in which he also starred. On April 4, 2008, Variety reported that Clooney had quietly resigned from the Writers Guild of America over a dispute concerning Leatherheads. Clooney, who is the director, producer, and star of the film, claimed that he had contributed in writing "all but two scenes" of it, and requested a writing credit alongside Duncan Brantley and Rick Reilly, who had worked on the screenplay for 17 years. Clooney lost an arbitration vote 2–1, and withdrew from the union over the decision. He became a "financial core status" non-member, meaning he no longer has voting rights, and cannot run for office or attend membership meetings, according to the WGA's constitution.[35]
As of 2011, Clooney is represented by Bryan Lourd, co-chairman of Creative Artists Agency (CAA).[36]
In 2013, Clooney won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Drama, the BAFTA Award for Best Picture and the Academy Award for Best Picture for producing Argo. He is the only person in Academy Award history to be nominated for Oscars in six different categories: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Clooney co-starred with Sandra Bullock in Gravity (2013), a science fiction film directed by Alfonso Cuarón.[37] He co-wrote, directed and starred in The Monuments Men, an adaption of The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History by Robert M. Edsel.[38] Clooney also produced August: Osage County (2013), an adaptation of the play of the same name. The film stars Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts.[39]
Political views
In the U.S.
Clooney supported Barack Obama's campaign in the 2008 presidential election[40] and in the 2012 presidential election.[41] He is a supporter of gay rights.[42]Humanitarian work
In February 2009, he visited Goz Beida, Chad, with NY Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof.[44] In January 2010, he organized the Telethon Hope for Haiti Now,[45] which collected donations for the 2010 Haiti earthquake victims.
In March 2012, Clooney was featured with Martin Sheen and Brad Pitt in a performance of Dustin Lance Black's play, '8'—a staged reenactment of the federal trial that overturned California's Prop 8 ban on same-sex marriage—as attorney David Boies.[46] The production was held at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre and broadcast on YouTube to raise money for the American Foundation for Equal Rights.[47][48] In September 2012, Clooney offered to take an auction winner out to lunch to benefit the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). GLSEN works to create a safe space in schools for children who are or may be perceived to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.[49]
Darfur
Clooney has advocated a resolution of the Darfur conflict.[50] He spoke at a 2006 Save Darfur rally in Washington, D.C. In April 2006, he spent ten days in Chad and Sudan with his father to make the TV special "A Journey to Darfur" reflecting the situation of Darfur's refugees, and advocated for action. 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 sale proceeds being donated to the International Rescue Committee.[51][52][53][54] In September of the same year, he spoke to the UN Security Council with Nobel Prize-winner Elie Wiesel to ask the UN to find a solution to the conflict and to help the people of Darfur.[55] In December, he visited China and Egypt with Don Cheadle and two Olympic winners to ask both governments to pressure Sudan's government.[56]
Clooney conceived of and, with John Prendergast, human rights activist, co-founder of the Enough Project, and Strategic Advisor for Not On Our Watch Project, initiated the Satellite Sentinel Project (SSP), after an October 2010 trip to South Sudan. SSP aims to monitor armed activity for signs of renewed civil war between Sudan and South Sudan, and to detect and deter mass atrocities along the border regions there.[61]
Clooney and John Prendergast co-wrote a Washington Post op-ed piece in May 2011, titled "Dancing with a dictator in Sudan", arguing that:[62]
President Omar al-Bashir has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for genocide, is escalating bombing and food aid obstruction in Darfur, and he now threatens the entire north-south peace process ... the evidence shows that incentives alone are insufficient to change Khartoum's calculations. International support should be sought immediately for denying debt relief, expanding the ICC indictments, diplomatically isolating the regime, suspending all non-humanitarian aid, obstructing state-controlled bank transactions and freezing accounts holding oil wealth diverted by senior regime officials.On March 16, 2012, Clooney was arrested outside the Sudanese Embassy for civil disobedience.[63][64] He intended to be arrested when he planned the protest.[64] Several other prominent participants were also arrested, including Martin Luther King III.[64]
Controversy
In January 2003, Clooney made a controversial joke about the fact that Charlton Heston was suffering from Alzheimer's, and Clooney initially refused to apologize.[21][65][65][66] While speaking at a National Board of Review event as he accepted an award on television, Clooney said: "Charlton Heston announced again today that he is suffering from Alzheimer's."[67] When syndicated columnist Liz Smith asked Clooney whether he wasn't "going too far" with his remark, he responded: "I don't care. Charlton Heston is the head of the National Rifle Association; he deserves whatever anyone says about him."[66][68]Heston himself commented, "It just goes to show that sometimes class does skip a generation," referring to Clooney's aunt, Rosemary Clooney.[68] 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."[69] Clooney said in 2008 he subsequently apologized to Heston in a letter, and that he received a nice response from Heston's wife.[21]
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!"[70] Abramoff's father wrote a letter to The Desert Sun, calling Clooney's comment "glib and ridiculous".[71] Larry King asked Clooney on CNN if he would apologize, but Clooney declined.[71]
Personal life
Relationships
Despite his highly publicized relationships with women, Clooney's sexual orientation has been the subject of media scrutiny. When asked about the subject in an interview with The Advocate, Clooney stated, "The last thing you’ll ever see me do is jump up and down, saying, ‘These are lies!’ That would be unfair and unkind to my good friends in the gay community. I’m not going to let anyone make it seem like being gay is a bad thing."[82]
Real estate
Clooney's main home is in Los Angeles. He purchased the 7,354-square-foot (683.2 m2) house in 1995 through his George Guifoyle Trust. His home in Italy is in the village of Laglio, on Lake Como,[83] near the former residence of Italian author Ada Negri.[84] Clooney also maintains a home in Los Cabos, Mexico that is next door to the home of Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber.[85]Motorcycle accident
On September 21, 2007, Clooney and then-girlfriend Sarah 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 him on the right,[86] while Clooney said that the driver signaled left and then decided to make an abrupt right turn and clipped his motorcycle. Clooney was treated and released from the Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, New Jersey.[87] On October 9, 2007, more than two dozen staff at the hospital were suspended without pay for looking at Clooney's medical records in violation of federal law.[88] Clooney said: "[W]hile I very much believe in a patient's right to privacy, I would hope that this could be settled without suspending medical workers."[89]Pets
"Max" (1987 – December 1, 2006) was Clooney's pet Vietnamese black bristled potbellied pig, often referred to as "Max the star" by Clooney.[90] The pig shared Clooney's Hollywood Hills home, as well as Clooney's bed, and frequently made cameos in interviews, mostly because of his enormous size.[91] He is often credited with saving Clooney's life by waking him up before the Northridge earthquake on January 16, 1994.[90] In 2006, the pig was taken for a flight on John Travolta's private jet.[92]Max was bought by Clooney in 1988 as a gift for his then-girlfriend Kelly Preston, who later became Travolta's wife.[93] The pig used to have a special cattle-pen and his own corner in the garage of Clooney's manor.[94] Max was seriously injured in 2001 when one of Clooney's friends accidentally ran him over with his car.[95] Weighing ca. 300 pounds (over 130 kg), Max died in Los Angeles of natural causes, as has been stated by Clooney's press secretary Stan Rosenfield. Because he was known to have arthritis, and was partly blind, the animal was falsely reported to have died in January 2005. Clooney dotingly recalls that Max would squeal every morning until he was fed.[92] A column on Max by Clooney's father, Nick, appeared in The Cincinnati Enquirer.[96]
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.[97][98]
In the media
He was parodied in the South Park episode "Smug Alert!", which mocks his acceptance speech at the 78th Academy Awards. However, Clooney has also lent his voice to South Park, as Sparky the Dog in "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride", and the emergency room doctor in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. Clooney was caricatured in the American Dad! episode Tears of a Clooney, in which Francine sees her plan to destroy him materialize.[106]
Director Alexander Cartio made his debut feature film, Convincing Clooney, about a Los Angeles artist who, faced with rejection as an actor and screenwriter, arrives at a master plan to get Clooney to star in his first-ever low-budget short film. The movie was released on DVD in November 2011.[107]
Awards and honors
Filmography
Main article: George Clooney filmography
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave a comment-- or suggestions, particularly of topics and places you'd like to see covered