George Clooney

By Ines Mendoza

When I'm forced to consummate my marriage with my partner I - like many of my female friends - block out the beer bellies, the body odors and uncouth language that often emanates from our male counterparts. And how do we block such repugnances? Using only one thought. 

Ladies and Gentlemen - but mainly Ladies - I give to you Mr. George Clooney.

Born George Timothy Clooney in the small town of Lexington, Kentucky on May 6, 1961 to his loving parents Nick and Nina Clooney. His father worked as a local broadcast journalist, which meant poor young George had to move around with the family, quite frequently, as his father's career entailed working all over North America. This, of course, meant that young George grew up on television sets. Indeed, his first "acting role" was simply dressing up as a Leprechaun for St. Patrick's day and as a rabbit for Easter, which featured on many of his fathers stories. However, Clooney made it clear early on that Hollywood wasn't for him - he wanted to be a professional athlete, playing baseball.

Yet Clooney would eventually be led back to the profession he was adamant not to pursue. But not, however, before encountering some hardships; at the age of 15, George was told he was suffering from Bell's palsy, a paralyzing disease that affects one facial hemisphere. However, this wasn't as serious as first thought, and as you tell from the photos, both hemispheres of his face are quite active.

Time rolled on, and between dressing up as Leprechaun's for his father's reports, George decided to attend college in Kentucky, which he quickly became bored with. "I partied a lot, got drunk a lot," he once said, recalling his fondest memories of the time. In fact, it was this lifestyle that eventually led to him coming to the realisation that Hollywood was the place to be following a call from his cousin, Miguel Ferrer, who talked George into coming on location to hang out. While on set, he landed a small role in the film and what followed was three months of non-stop partying.

Clooney spent many years as a traditional "struggling actor", landing brief roles in various TV pilots - none of which got picked up by the networks (his first major role was in the short-lived television medical comedy/drama, "E/R" - not to be confused with the much later "ER" of the mid '90s). Additionally, there was the now-infamous role of a handyman on the series "The Facts of Life".

It wasn't until his first significant break with a semi-regular supporting role on the sitcom Roseanne (playing Roseanne Barr's overbearing boss Booker Brooks) that Clooney's career started heading skywards. There were brief movie roles in low budget films like The Return of the Killer Tomatoes, Return to Horror High, and Red Surf but it wasn't until he read for - and received - the role of Dr. Douglas Ross for a new television pilot called "ER" that things really started to brew.

The new show took the unique perspective of following the stories of the Doctor's and not the patients, which ultimately paid off as the show soon became an international hit. Despite the seven-day-a-week shooting schedule of "ER", the film scripts came flooding in with Clooney splitting his time between TV and film, and taking on less of a role in the medico TV series in order to complete the filming on features like From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), One Fine Day (1996), Batman & Robin (1997), and Out of Sight (1998).

By 1999, Clooney decided that it was time to move on, deciding not to renew his contract for ER - but living up to his 'good guy' reputation he fulfilled his contractual obligations with the show, never once asking for more money. In one of the best kept secrets in Hollywood, when Julianna Marguiles announced she would not renew her contract the press went wild with stories of Doctor Ross coming back to sweep Carol Hathaway off her feet. True to form, George appeared in her last episode (for about 1 minute) and was paid the minimum Screen Actors Guild fee for his performance. All art, no ego.

Shortly before that appearance, George pulled off television history, producing and starring in the live film "Fail Safe" which appeared on the US channel CBS. And from there, he's just gone from strength to strength starring in 3 Kings (1999), The Perfect Storm (2000), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), Ocean's Eleven (2001), Welcome to Collinwood (2002), Intolerable Cruelty (2003), Ocean's Twelve (2004), Good Night and Good Luck (2005) and his Oscar Award Winning turn in Syriana (2005). He also has a tenuous fashion link, as George has was photographed in a print campaign for Levi's 501 Jeans.

But of course, the reason that we all love Clooney - or George as I like to think of him on those cold winter nights by the fire - is his history for being a ladies man. He has stated on numerous occasions that he will never get married again and that he will never have kids. Clooney has often stated that it was not something he was very good at (during his brief marriage to Talia Balsam), and having kids is not something that should be taken lightly. In a recent interview in Esquire magazine George expressed his sadness about his predicament with women. His relationship with Celine Balitran came to an end, due in part to the strains of constantly travelling for films. Either way, he will always have his pot bellied pig, Max, by his side (something I also have to live with, however my pot bellied pig is my husband).

Like Clint Eastwood, George Clooney is also one of the elite few A-list celebrities who have successfully made the transition from actor to director, helming a number of very fine films, including the captivating feature about the game show host who also happens to be a CIA hitman on the side, in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002). Clooney then wrote and directed Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), a politically charged film that shone the spotlight on US government Senator Joseph McCarthy, who was creating an air of fear and paranoia among the American public in the 1950s by talking up the threat of Communism.

It's no secret that Clooney is well known for his political activism, and some have reasoned that there are parallels to be drawn between the fear mongering perpetuated by Senator McCarthy in Clooney's 2005 feature film, and the Bush Administration's current crusade against terrorism. Recently speaking about the 2003-2006 Iraq war, Clooney said "You can't beat your enemy anymore through wars; instead you create an entire generation of people revenge-seeking. 

"These days it only matters who's in charge. Right now that's us — for a while at least. Our opponents are going to resort to car bombs and suicide attacks because they have no other way to win... I believe (Rumsfeld) thinks this is a war that can be won, but there is no such thing anymore. We can't beat anyone anymore.". Like most well adjusted people, he's strongly opposed to the violence and unfairness of war, and can back up his arguments with impassioned wit and historical fact. He has a decent conscience and goodness in his heart, yet another facet of his personality that adds to his considerable appeal.

He is an outspoken critic of the conservative right-wing Republican party from the US (the equivalent of John Howard's Liberal Party here in Australia), and 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 the disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who paid bribes to many Republicans, 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!”

There he is, George Clooney; Hollywood A-Lister; Political Activist; Party Boy; and the man of many a thinking woman's dreams. Or, to put it in pure 'Strine - dead set legde.