Best known as an actor, George Clooney has moved beyond mere acting and playing the playboy. Clooney is an artistic and idealistic force that reaches far beyond Hollywood. He is also very much the playboy – tough life.
George Clooney
An amalgam of Cary Grant, JFK and Orson Welles, Clooney has created a distinct persona that is unique in today’s celebrity culture: a socially conscious, intellectual sex symbol. He is also one of the few actors who can truly be called classic. It’s very easy to imagine him working with someone like Gary Cooper or Humphrey Bogart.
The son of a reporter, George Clooney is articulate, inquisitive and intelligent. Politically active and astute, it’s also easy to see him running for office. That alone places him in a different league from other celebrities with a “cause.”
A liberal, he happily picks fights with conservative pundits – and often wins. A powerful producer and director, he also picks projects with a message; sometimes veiled, as with “Three Kings,” and other times very, very clear, like the Academy Award winning “Good Night and Good Luck.” Other projects are just plain fun, like any of the “Ocean’s” movies.
Clooney’s own fashion sense is an integral part of his timeless look, so much so that he was chosen to grace the inaugural cover of Men’s Vogue. Clooney is constantly compared to Cary Grant and his affinity for classic, simple outfits in monochromatic pallets is an obvious homage to Grant’s enduring image. George can wear a black turtleneck and polo coat like no one else.
That’s me – behind all the women
Clooney also has an approachability that is very un-celebrity. I can attest to this from firsthand experience. Meeting George Clooney on a D.C. street a few years ago, I found him to be a very nice guy. He had no handler, no entourage and seemed genuinely happy to take pictures with people and sign a few autographs. He was a real gentleman without pretense. The very next day I saw him on TV at a global hunger conference.
Not static in history, George Clooney is very much alive and still creating his future legacy. Just as he challenges his audiences with landmark projects like the gutsy, live telecast of “Catch 22,” he challenges his peers to back up their platitudes about global warming, education and the scourge of AIDS with substance and action.