"It's not about an opening weekend. It's about a career, building a set of films you're proud of. Period."
-- George Clooney
After a long career of making films of which any artist would be proud, George Clooney became the 46th winner of the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award on June 7, 2018. As such, he follows in the footsteps of such legendary filmmakers and stars such as John Ford, James Cagney, Orson Welles and, more recently, Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro. The event, hosted by Oscar and Life Achievement Award winner Shirley MacLaine, features tributes from President Barack Obama; co-stars Julia Roberts, Cate Blanchett, Anna Kendrick and Don Cheadle; and Clooney's father, journalist and TV host Nick Clooney.
In his 40-year career, George Clooney has combined old Hollywood glamour with a modern commitment to new media and social activism. His rakish masculinity, which first drew serious attention during his five-season run as Dr. Doug Ross on ER, calls up memories of Clark Gable at his best. Yet he also has mastered the sensitivity of a Henry Fonda or James Stewart in off-beat comic films like Up in the Air (2009) and The Descendants (2011). Like one of his idols, Spencer Tracy, Clooney doesn't wear makeup on camera and looks the other actors in the eyes with the intention of telling them the truth. His move into directing and producing, not to mention his commendable record of social and political involvement, is reminiscent of Paul Newman's career. His work has brought him Oscar nominations for acting, directing, producing and writing, winning for Best Supporting Actor in Syriana (2005) and Best Picture for Argo (2012). With nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay, he is the only person to have ever competed for Oscars in six different categories. He has also won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Writers Guild of America Award, six Venice Film Festival Awards, a Producers Guild of America Award, three Golden Globes and the Hollywood Foreign Press' Cecil B. DeMille Award, the National Television Academy's Bob Hope Humanitarian Award, a British Academy Award, two Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards, four National Board of Review Awards and two People's Choice Awards.
Clooney was born in Lexington, KY, on May 6, 1961, the son of politician Nina Bruce Clooney and television news anchor Nick Clooney. Nick's sister was singing star Rosemary Clooney, whose son, Miguel Ferrer, was a fellow actor and close friend. After attending Northern Kentucky University and the University of Cincinnati, Clooney came out to Los Angeles at Ferrer's urging and with his help made his film debut in And They're Off (1978), which costarred Ferrer and his father, Jose Ferrer.
Things were rough during Clooney's early Hollywood days. He studied acting at the Beverly Hills Playhouse, rode a bicycle to get to his first auditions and at one point was so poor he stayed in a friend's closet. He had to borrow $200 from future writing and producing partner Grant Heslov to get his first set of headshots. His fortunes improved when he landed a regular role on the comedy series E/R (not to be confused with his later hit series) in 1984. Although it boasted an impressive cast--including Elliott Gould, Conchata Ferrell and Mary McDonnell--it only lasted one season. He followed with recurring roles on The Facts of Life, which led to a lifelong friendship with series star Charlotte Rae, Roseanne and Sisters. His one-season role on the latter, as Sela Ward's detective husband, was the first to suggest the image he would create as a star. The next season, he was cast in ER and his performance as the womanizing maverick doctor made him the show's breakout star. The role won him two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, three Golden Globe nominations and four Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.
While he was still appearing on ER, Clooney started to land leading roles in major films like From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), with Quentin Tarantino and Salma Hayek; The Peacemaker (1997), with Nicole Kidman; and Out of Sight (1998), which started a long collaboration with director Steven Soderbergh. Also, during this period, he appeared in Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line (1998), David O. Russell's Three Kings (1999) and Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin (1997). Clooney frequently jokes about the critical drubbing he took for the latter film, but also says it taught him a valuable lesson. From then on, his selection of film properties was based primarily on his respect for the script.
With his film career heating up, Clooney left ER in 1999, though he would return for guest shots in later years. He scored at the box office with Wolfgang Petersen's The Perfect Storm, co-starring Mark Wahlberg, and the Coen Brothers' O Brother, Where Art Thou? (both 2000), which brought him his first Golden Globe and started a long association with the Coens. It was his second teaming with Soderbergh, however, for Ocean's Eleven (2001) that made him a superstar. The film's $451 million gross is the highest for any film in which he has starred, and it led to two sequels, Ocean's Twelve (2004) and Ocean's Thirteen (2007), both directed by Soderbergh.
Clooney turned to directing with Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), an adaptation of game show producer Chuck Barris' memoir, starring Sam Rockwell. He produced, directed and co-wrote, with producing partner Heslov, Good Night, and Good Luck (2005). The black-and-white account of newscaster Edward R. Murrow's stand against McCarthyism brought him Oscar nominations for directing and writing. His other directing projects include the football comedy Leatherheads (2008), the political drama The Ides of March (2011)--for which he, Heslov and Beau Willimon won Oscar nominations for their adaptation of Willimon's play, Farragut North--the World War II thriller The Monuments Men (2014) and the dark comedy Suburbicon (2017).
The same year he was nominated for co-writing and directing Good Night, and Good Luck, Clooney won the Oscar and the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for his role as an aging CIA agent in Syriana (2005). He also won Oscar nominations for playing a crooked lawyer who finds his conscience in Michael Clayton (2007), for which he was named Best Actor by the National Board of Review; and as a grieving husband and father in Alexander Payne's The Descendants (2011), which brought him his third Golden Globe and another National Board of Review Award.
Along with his busy career, Clooney has maintained a high level of involvement in humanitarian projects, including the Not On Our Watch Project, which fights to prevent mass atrocities; the Hope for Haiti Now telethon to raise money after the 2010 earthquake; the American Foundation for Equal Rights and the Gay, Lesbian; and Straight Education Network. He has also campaigned tirelessly to find a peaceful resolution to the Darfur conflict, visiting with the Chinese and Egyptian governments and addressing the U.N. He was appointed a U.N. "Messenger of Peace" in 2008. In 2010, he co-founded the Satellite Sentinel Project to monitor military activity in Sudan and South Sudan. He even was arrested with his father for civil disobedience during a demonstration outside the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, D.C., in 2012. He has campaigned for recognition of the Armenian genocide and support for Syrian refugees. More recently, he helped support the March for Our Lives after the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.
Clooney was briefly married to Talia Balsam between 1989 and 1993. After years as one of Hollywood's most eligible bachelors, he married human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin in 2014. They became the proud parents of twins in 2017.
At 57, Clooney shows no signs of slowing his busy career. His current project is a six-episode adaptation of Joseph Heller's satirical World War II classic Catch-22 for Hulu Television. In addition to co-producing with Heslov for their Smokehouse Pictures, he is directing two episodes and co-stars as Scheisskopf with Christopher Abbott, Kyle Chandler and Hugh Laurie.
By Frank Miller
