"[2], Hamilton was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the middle of three boys with an older maternal half-brother and a younger full brother, and lived in Blytheville, Arkansas. Though she would go on to marry and divorce Rod Stewart, she and Hamilton remain close. His first film role was a lead, Crime and Punishment U.S.A. (1959), directed by Denis Sanders. in November 2009. He was ousted as president in a popular revolt in 1986. He was going to show the apartment to Elizabeth Taylor, but they couldnt get in.. Lynda Bird Johnson Robb at the LBJ Presidential Library in 2018. Beatty's political satire Bulworth (1998) contained a running gag, with Hamilton'appearing as himself Hamilton had a regular role on the TV series Jenny (1997). Hamilton was interested in buying a neighbors property in order to expand his house, and Bernstein--Mrs. Marcos property manager in New York--made veiled inquiries on his behalf. A lot of young actors do it and they shouldnt. On another day, reclining on the cream sofa in the Wilshire Corridor high-rise condo where hes lived since 2008, his untucked dress shirt unbuttoned halfway to his navel, Hamilton is expansive. October 9, 1990 LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda allegedly funneled $12 million out of the country through actor George Hamilton, a newspaper reported today. They have wined, dined, danced and sung Imeldas favorite song, Dont Fence Me In, together. Hamiltons attorney shrugged off suggestions of sweetheart deals, saying Hamilton repaid Floirendo. MGM cast Hamilton in support of Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner in the melodrama All the Fine Young Cannibals (1960) which flopped at the box office. [22][23] A cigar lounge bearing his name was opened in the late 1990s at the New York, New York, hotel in Las Vegas and other locations, along with a line of cigars bearing the actor's name. Thats not the purpose of being here. As he embarks on his ninth decade he turns 80 on Aug. 12 the actor and avatar of ease knows that his hue is what has made him an icon. New York Times (October 6, 1966: 1. He was a semi-regular celebrity guest on the 1998-1999 syndicated version of Match Game. A January 1998 article in Cigar Aficionado described Hamilton's style as "Cary Grant meets Pat Riley". Shed say things like, Ill poison myself if I wish! ). He almost immediately landed the lead in a low-budget film, Crime and Punishment, U.S.A. MGM put him under contract. While hes the first to laugh about it explaining that his dermatologist long ago just gave up on convincing him to limit his solar exposure, and counting himself lucky not to have been felled by skin cancer he remains an evangelist for sunbathing, which he started because he didnt like wearing film makeup that melted in the heat. March 3 (UPI) -- A 7-year-old Louisiana boy with a firm grasp of baseball rules is seeking a Guinness World Record as the world's youngest umpire. Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos with U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson while sporting her iconic bouffant hairstyle, 1966. Attorneys for the Philippine government believe that Krodo was a secret entity of the Marcoses, used to funnel money to Hamilton or to control the property without revealing their interests. A major sticking point: Hamilton was in trouble with the press over his Vietnam War deferment. He advised her. U.S. District Judge John F. Keenan said in his Monday order that prosecutors sought immunity because Hamilton had indicated he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right not to answer questions that might incriminate him. After getting the Floirendo loan, Hamilton began an extensive remodeling project that included adding a large garage and about 2,000 square feet of living space to the mansion. George Hamilton with the Reflect-A-Tan in Palm Beach, c.1965. He had supporting roles in The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver (1977), The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington (1977), Killer on Board (1977), Sextette (1978), The Users (1978), From Hell to Victory (1979), Institute for Revenge (1979), and Death Car on the Freeway (1979). The Philippine businesswoman, who owns Manilas largest department store, was indicted on the same charges pending against Mrs. Marcos. More recently, as a spokesman, he has hawked the vitamin supplement Youth Infusion as well as another anti-aging formula, Renuva. Court records, testimony and financial documents show that the money then followed a zigzag path that investigators believe ended in Marcos control. I think its unfair to the voter. (Still, this belief didnt stop him from discussing gun rights on a 2016 Fox & Friends appearance to announce his new gig as KFCs Extra Crispy Colonel.). In 2006, it was rumored that Hamilton would replace Bob Barker on The Price Is Right. He brought the then-22-year-old presidential daughter to the Academy Awards that year. In reality, he spent his teen years on the edge of real wealth in Palm Beach and attending the tony New York prep school Hackley for a short spell alongside true blue-blooded best buddy Herb Allen, the financier scion now famed for his Sun Valley mogul conference. But on that April evening, every eye in the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium was fixed on the years glamorous it couple: actor George Hamilton and Lynda Bird Johnson, the 22-year-old daughter of then-President Lyndon Johnson. I did not receive any amount from that check, Floirendo said in his affidavit. Hamilton did tell The Hollywood Reporter last year that hes not tanning as much as he used to and now maintains his bronzed facade with George Hamiltons Constant Color auto-bronzing tinted cream, which he used to shill on QVC. Why did Mrs. Marcos want money invested in Hamiltons house? On how a career in Hollywood is like gambling: Youve got to be a little bit foolish about the way you play. On his empathetic nature: I dont believe Im cerebral about my heart. And on how hes been grateful to be dismissed as a talking mannequin: If Id been overestimated, I may not have made it in the first place.. Still, in that era, the budding romance was reckoned untenable because of the potential for scandal. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. From bronzer to fried chicken, the actors has proved that skin really does sell. Very elegantly dressed and able to make you laugh: You cant say that of many people., Hamiltons no crank about the good old days. The estate was sold by Hamilton for about $6 million 10 days ago to a company based in the Grand Cayman Islands, according to documents on file in the office of the Los Angeles County Assessor. The film lost money, but Hamilton received excellent notices. Hamilton never married Blackford, but they became friends again as their son got older. And then we started talking about the real theme of the film. He summoned beauty expert extraordinaire, George Masters, to his home to oversee Johnsons hair and makeup for the big event, knowing the cameras would be zeroing in on the couple. So for me the idea of suntanning has always been a kind of health thing.. (To this day, I can take a bullwhip, he boasts, and cut a cigarette in half.) More crucially, Hamilton armed with good looks, easy charm and a given name so WASPy it almost seemed a put-on couldnt have been more game to participate in what would prove to be the old studio publicity machine. Marcos, who also was indicted, died in exile in Hawaii in September. Terms of Use He wanted stars around him. Kentucky man stops for breakfast, wins $50,000 lottery prize. U.S. District Judge John F. Keenan said in his Monday order that prosecutors sought immunity because Hamilton had indicated he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right not to answer questions that might incriminate him. The Hollywood Reporter is a part of Penske Media Corporation. Barbara Stepko is a New Jersey-based freelance editor and writer who has contributed to AARP magazine and the Wall Street Journal. Marcos became the first lady of the Philippines in 1965. . He appeared on such shows as The Veil (playing an Indian), The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, The Donna Reed Show, and Cimarron City. Yet when inquiry turns to pricklier matters, memory blurs. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day OConnor turned back his final appeal in late August. Hamilton, who once received an honorary degree from the International Smart Tan Network, a trade association for indoor tanning facilities, that he still prominently displays, says vitamin D is a healer for me. These days, though, to maintain his mahogany effect, he relies on a vintage stash of George Hamiltons Constant Color auto-bronzing tinted cream, which he once peddled on QVC. Amid turning 80, George Hamilton looks back on career and life as Hollywood's ultimate showman. What did Disney actually lose from its Florida battle with DeSantis? In his deposition, Hamilton testified that he decided against going ahead with the project. MGM tried to change his image by putting him in the Western A Thunder of Drums (1961); the film was mildly popular. It turned out, he said, that the story was to be built around the generals very unrequited love affair. Hamilton, 51, has acknowledged publicly that he received many gifts from Mrs. Marcos, who he met in 1979 while visiting Manila to promote a movie. Ruben Carranza: "I recall greed & tragedy while visiting the Beverly Hills mansion Imelda bought for George Hamilton" THE MANSION THAT IMELDA BOUGHT FOR GEORGE: I was in California a few days ago, visited the Beverly Hills mansion that Imelda "bought" for actor George Hamilton in 1982 and recalled the tragedy and greed behind it in this . The president, he says, was always a performer in his own mind like Hamilton himself. When Hamilton met with studio officials to negotiate, he showed up in a rented Rolls-Royce. LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda allegedly funneled $12 million out of the country through actor George Hamilton, a newspaper reported today. Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Read another story from us:How a Movie About a Pig Inspired James Cromwell to Change his Life, Ah, but what might have been. His vitamin intake includes 40 pills a day. He says he hasnt voted in his life and believes its irresponsible for actors, who have no qualifications, to express opinions on such matters. However, Floirendo declared in his affidavit that all the money went to other individuals or shell corporations on orders from Mrs. Marcos, and that she dictated who controlled the loans. Hamiltons draft deferment had in fact been granted on the grounds that he was the sole financial provider for Teeny which prompted an outcry when the public learned he was dating Lynda Bird Johnson in 1966. Call This Couple, New Doc Explores Fatal Danger of Pacific Coast Highway, Tom Sizemore, Saving Private Ryan, Heat and Natural Born Killers Actor, Dies at 61, Diane Warren Performs Her 14 Oscar-Nominated Songs in Six Minutes (Exclusive Video), Feinberg Forecast: Updated Projections As Final Oscar Voting Gets Underway, Ted Donaldson, Young Actor in Father Knows Best and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Dies at 89, Hollywood Flashback: Catherine Martin Struck Gold With Moulin Rogue!. Unlike Tantocos supposed movie investment, the $6 million from Floirendo was regarded as a loan. Heiress Doris Duke posted the bail for Marcos and actor George Hamilton . Additional Philippine funds financed Hamilton real estate investments, including a Mississippi plantation and his former Benedict Canyon home, built by screen legend Charlie Chaplin. I think he slops bronzer on and hopes itll last till the evening easy to put on, probably a spray tan: less fussy and camera-ready, says Hamilton, whom Trump once employed as a host of Miss Universe and later bestowed with a Lifetime Achievement Award for debonair style., For anyone seeking more than skin-deep analysis of the president, Hamilton is not your man. What did Disney actually lose from its Florida battle with DeSantis? This series was canceled in March 1970. ), The serene relationship Hamilton possesses with artifice was, however, not passed on to his own children. The inquiry, whose machinations became public only five years ago, turned up nothing that could potentially be weaponized except that Bill was gay. . [20] He was still starring in the show as of June2012[update]. According to the late nationally syndicated gossip columnist Sheila Graham, [Hamilton] was determined to see Lynda and still maintain his bachelor status, which he had declared was an actors lifeblood.. Rich L.A. homeowners are snapping them up, Elliott: Kings use their heads over hearts in trading Jonathan Quick, Federal Reserve officials sound warnings about higher rates, White House cyber plan would hold software companies liable for attacks, Silvergate warns of more losses, viability of its business after crypto crisis, Justice Dept. LOS ANGELES -- Actor George Hamilton, who recently sold his lavish Beverly Hills estate for $6 million, denies that exiled Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos or his wife owned the property or gained from the sale. Both mother and brother harbored dreams of stardom. LOS ANGELES -- Actor George Hamilton, who recently sold his lavish Beverly Hills estate for $6 million, denies that exiled Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos or his wife owned the property. Latinx Files: In praise of Jenna Ortega, Aubrey Plaza and moody, deadpan Latinas, Jaguars, narcos, illegal loggers: One mans battle to save a jungle and Maya ruins, CPAC shows the GOP has deep divisions heading into 2024, Abortion clinics crossing state borders not always welcome, Black Vietnam veteran awarded Medal of Honor after decades-long wait, Toxic forever chemicals about to get their first U.S. limits, Hidden, illegal casinos are booming in L.A., with organized crime reaping big profits, This fabled orchid breeder loves to chat just not about Trader Joes orchids. . He made deposits in his own name, not fictitious accounts. (Merv Griffin labored for years to turn Hamiltons early life into a film, finally released in 2009 as My One and Only, with Rene Zellweger as Teeny and Logan Lerman playing 15-year-old Hamilton. It doesnt make any sense, said Ted Laguatan, U.S.-based special counsel to President Corazon Aquinos Commission on Good Government. Petersburg. Its invention.. 'The statements are untrue,' Hamilton said Thursday through his spokesman, Michael Sherman, who also made a point of denying as 'categorically untrue' rumors linking the actor and Mrs. Marcos. This story has been shared 60,063 times. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. Hamilton, an unindicted co-conspirator testifying under a grant of immunity, acknowledged under prosecution questioning that he had received a $5.5-million loan from a Philippine businesswoman and close associate of Mrs. Marcos. Actor George Hamilton, linked by federal prosecutors to some of the alleged financial schemes of Imelda Marcos, testified Tuesday that the former Philippine first lady was a great friend who prevented his mother from committing suicide after his brothers death. British bus driver stops to give loose sheep a lift. pushes companies to punish white-collar crime by clawing back exec pay, PG&E can keep operating Diablo Canyon at least for now, feds say. News at the time. Let him publish it. And she just handed it to him and everybody went, phew. . However, as more than a few reporters were quick to point out, his mothers fourth husband was an heir to the Spalding sporting goods fortune, and she lived in high style in Beverly Hills, with a butler, cook, and gardener at her beck and call. 2023 The Hollywood Reporter, LLC. He focused on television: Malibu (1983) and Two Fathers' Justice (1985). Furthermore, The Times has learned, the former Hamilton house--a one-acre hillside estate in exclusive Benedict Canyon--is about to become property of the Philippine government. Immediately after Hamilton returned the money, it was transferred again, across town, to another Tantoco account at Hong Kongs Wardley Bank Ltd. A week later, the $5.5 million was transferred to Londons National Westminster Bank into the account of Jorge Ramos, a Filipino architect Mrs. Marcos hired to refurbish her secretly owned Lindenmere estate on Long Island and other properties in the United States. [7] Reports put his fee around this time at $100,000 per movie. They had a very close relationship, Bernstein said in an interview. [9]), Hamilton went into television in 1969, supporting Lana Turner in the all-star series Harold Robbins' The Survivors (196970).[10]. Luckily, they were unscathed. Prosecutors contend that the loan was repaid with money later given to the actor by Mrs. Marcos. Philippine government sources said they discovered that both Hamilton and his mother had their own keys to the Olympic Tower home--which apparently caused some embarrassment, they said, when Hamilton tried to enter shortly after the Marcos regime collapsed. It was on his first trip to Manila that Hamilton also met two prominent Filipino business figures: Antonio O. Floirendo and Gliceria (Glecy) Tantoco, the latter regarded as the most intimate of Mrs. Marcos inner circle known as the Blue Ladies. (The name came from the color of the dresses they wore as volunteers in Marcos election campaigns.). It was my impression she was very involved with that house.. Hamilton first met Mrs. Marcos in 1979, while on a world promotional tour for his movie Love at First Bite. The actor, then at the pinnacle of his movie career, had produced the box office success, in which he also starred as a comedic vampire. NEW YORK (AP) _ A judge granted immunity to George Hamilton to compel the actor to testify at Imelda Marcos fraud trial. He and his wife fled to Hawaii, where Marcos died last year. He was in Casper Meets Wendy (1998), P.T. March 2 (UPI) -- A Maryland woman scored a $100,000 prize from a scratch-off lottery ticket less than 12 hours after she scored an $11,000 jackpot at a casino. When asked about it now, he blinks in apparent bewilderment then goes, Federal case?, Hamilton, who befriended Imelda when he participated in her countrys attempt to create a Southeast Asian answer to Cannes, has remained a fan of the notorious spendthrift.