WHO WAS THE GEORGE HAMILTON GUIDEPOST TALKED TO IN 1965?

Hamilton in 1969

by Rose Maramba

George Hamilton, Hollywood actor: Born 12 August 1939 in Memphis, Tennessee, USA

At the time of GUIDEPOST’s talk with him in 1965, he already had two dozen notable films to his name:
• Crime and Punishment U.S.A. (1959) as Robert
• Home from the Hill (1960) as Theron Hunnicutt
• All the Fine Young Cannibals (1960) as Tony McDowall
• Where the Boys Are (1960) as Ryder Smith
• Angel Baby (1961) as Paul Strand
• By Love Possessed (1961) as Warren Winner
• A Thunder of Drums (1961) as Lt. Curtis McQuade
• The Light in the Piazza (1962) as Fabrizio Naccarelli
• Two Weeks in Another Town (1962) as Davie Drew
• The Victors (1963) as Cpl. Theodore Trower
• Act One (1963) as Moss Hart
• Looking for Love (1964) as Himself (cameo)
• Your Cheatin’ Heart (1964) as Hank Williams
• Viva Maria! (1965) as Flores

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

Hamilton, now nearing 83, remains active doing TV shows and movies. While some films are in the works, his latest so far are

Hamilton appears in the movie as himself

• The L.A. Riot Spectacular (2005) as The King of Beverly Hills
• Rumor Has It… (2005) as himself (cameo)
• Melvin Smarty (2012) as Hitman / Mexican Colonel
• Silver Skies (2015) as Phil
• The Congressman (2016) as Laird Devereaux
• Swiped (2018) as Phil Singer

Forget his movie and TV credentials. George is best known as debonair Mr. PermaTan. (Shown here with Reflect-A-Tan product circa 1960 in Florida)

On television which, incidentally, was where he first acted before he was hired to do films, his latest works are
• Celebrity Wife Swap (1 episode, 2015) as himself
• 2 Broke Girls (1 episode, 2016) as Bob
• American Housewife (recurring, 2017–2019) as Spencer Blitz
• General Hospital (July 6, 2018) as Colonel Sanders
• Grace and Frankie (1 episode, 2019) as Jack Patterson

Voluminous love life

Lynda Brid Johnson with his father, LBJ, in the Oval Office, White House, 1967

Though his filmography and TV portfolio are voluminous, Hamilton is actually best known for his debonair style and perpetual tan, an irresistible mix for many women. In 1965 Hamilton got invited to a White House dinner after the First Family saw him in “Your Cheatin’ Heart.” He hit it off right away with the “brainy and bookish” President’s daughter Lynda Bird Johnson (Hamilton’s description of her in his memoir Don’t Mind If I Do) who was then studying at George Washington University. A paparazzi-haunted courtship ensued between the two.

Alana Stewart at the Stand Up to Cancer fundraising, 2014

He may have made chasing skirts his parallel career but for all his many girlfriends Hamilton had married but once. The “lucky” gal? Actress Alana Stewart (1972 — 1975). They have a son, Ashley Hamilton, who was born in 1974 and is an actor like his father, as well as singer-songwriter. (Hamilton has also a lovechild with his former girlfriend, Kimberly Blackford, George Thomas Hamilton, born in December 1999.) After their divorce, Alana married rock star Rod Stewart. Still, George Hamilton and Alana would be reunited to co-host the “George & Alana” talk show in the mid-1990s. They had another show together in 2015, “Stewarts & Hamiltons”, an American reality documentary TV series that ran out of steam after one season.

Imelda Marcos with husband Ferdinand Marcos, President-elect-turned dictator of the Philippines, in 1984. Hamilton had a “platonic” relationship with her.

Hamilton had a well-known “platonic” relationship with Imelda Marcos, the widow of the Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos. In the British reality TV series “I’m A Celebrity” in 2009, he recounted that he had dated at least four Miss Worlds. Meanwhile, in the Celebrity jungle, he admitted to missing his current girlfriend.

Geroge on his 70th birthday (2009). That day he received his star on Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The forever-tanned aging Hollywood movie star said not so long ago that he was romantically unattached; he just played the field. However, in 2020 he was still dating old-friend Kelly Day, a Beverly Hills philanthropist; they fell in love with each other after years of friendship. Who knows if they’re still dating?

Though Alana said in 2019 that she “would kill the b***h” who steals George from her, and she and Hamilton could put an act like a married couple decades after their divorce, it seems that behind the scenes what has happened is that they have become close friends since “Stewarts & Hamiltons”.

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Images
Featured image/ABC Television, PD via Wikimedia Commons. Frame supplied.
All the Fine Young Cannibals poster/MGM. Source: Modern Screen, 1960. PD
Rumor Has It poster, Fair use via Wikimedia
Hamilton with “Reflect-A-Tan”/Photographer: Bert Morgan, Florida Memory, StateLibrary and Archives of Florida, PD
Lynda Bird Johnson with LBJ/Yoichi Okamoto, PD via Wikimedia Commons
Alana Stewart/Walt Disney Television, CC BY-ND2.0 via Flickr
Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos/SSG Marvin Lynchard, USAF, PD via Wikimedia Commons
Hamilton on 70th birthday/Angela George, CC BY-SA3.0 via Wikimedia Commons 
Stewarts & Hamiltons logo, Fair use via Wikipedia