George Hamilton (actor)

George Stevens Hamilton (born August 12, 1939) is an American actor.

In 1950, his mother sent him to live with his father in the north.

He attended Walt Whitman High School, in Bethesda, Maryland.

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.

Hamilton's first roles were in television, appearing in shows such as The Veil, (playing an Indian), The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, The Donna Reed Show, and Cimarron City.

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!".

Hamilton spent his early years with his mother, Annie Lucille Stevens (Hamilton), known as 'Teeny' and attended Hawthorne School in Beverly Hills, California.

For his debut performance in Crime and Punishment U.S.A. (1959), Hamilton won a Golden Globe Awards and was nominated for a BAFTA Award.

He has received one additional BAFTA nomination and two Golden Globe nominations.

His first film role was a lead, Crime and Punishment U.S.A. (1959), directed by Denis Sanders, and Home from the Hill (1960).

His notable films include Home from the Hill (1960), Where the Boys Are (1960), Angel Baby (1961), By Love Possessed (1961), A Thunder of Drums (1961), Light in the Piazza (1962), Two Weeks in Another Town (1962), The Victors (1963), Looking for Love (1964), Your Cheatin' Heart (1964), Viva Maria! (1965), Doctor, You've Got to Be Kidding! (1967), Jack of Diamonds (1967), The Power (1968), Evel Knievel (1971), The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing (1973), Once Is Not Enough (1975), Love at First Bite (1979), Zorro, The Gay Blade (1981), The Godfather Part III (1990), Doc Hollywood (1991), Once Upon a Crime (1992), 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag (1997), Hollywood Ending (2002), and The Congressman (2016).

MGM cast Hamilton in support of Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner in the melodrama All the Fine Young Cannibals (1960), and the beach party comedy Where the Boys Are (1960).

Hamilton appeared in the lower budgeted Angel Baby (1961), a drama about an evangelist, for Allied Artists.

It had minimal commercial or critical impact.

For United Artists, he supported Lana Turner in the melodrama By Love Possessed (1961).

MGM tried to change his image by putting him in the Western A Thunder of Drums (1961).

Hamilton lobbied hard for the role of the Italian husband in Light in the Piazza (1962), with Olivia de Havilland.

The film lost money, but Hamilton received excellent notices.

It was shot in Italy, and MGM kept Hamilton in Italy to play a role in Two Weeks in Another Town (1962).

Hamilton had an excellent part in The Victors (1963), an anti-war drama from Carl Foreman.

Hamilton played Moss Hart in Act One (1963),

After making a cameo in Looking for Love (1964), Hamilton appeared in Your Cheatin' Heart (1964), playing Hank Williams.

Hamilton went to Mexico for Viva Maria! (1965).

It was directed by Louis Malle who cast Hamilton on the strength of his performance in Two Weeks in Another Town.

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".

Hamilton made That Man George (1965), and appeared in a production of A Farewell to Arms (1966) on TV.

He returned to MGM to make Doctor, You've Got to Be Kidding! (1967), a romantic comedy with Sandra Dee, which was mildly popular.

At Columbia, he co-starred with Glenn Ford in A Time for Killing (1967).

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.

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.

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.

In 1968, Hamilton made The Power.

Hamilton went into television in 1969, supporting Lana Turner in the all-star series Harold Robbins' The Survivors (1969–70).

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.