Born August 12, 1939, George Hamilton is my tanning hero!

He is the eldest son of bandleader Spike Hamilton and his first wife, Ann Stevens.  He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and lived in Blytheville, Arkansas. A mama’s boy, the 2009 film My One and Only is loosely based on Hamilton’s early life and relationship with his mother.

After moving to California, where he got a tan, he was put under contract by MGM, who stuck him in films like Home From The Hill, All The Fine Young Canibals, and Two Weeks In Another Town.  

Don’t feel badly, I’d never heard of them either!

 His stepfathers were Carleton Hunt and Jesse Spalding; his stepmother was June Howard, with whom Hamilton has said he had an affair when he was 12, shortly after she married his father

Ewwwww!

Hamilton began his film career in 1952, the year UP was born!

Although he has a substantial body of work in film and television, he is perhaps most famous for his debonair style and his perfect and perpetual suntan.

Which is what this is alllllllll about!

With his matinee-idol looks, it was sometimes noted that he physically resembled Warren Beatty.  I don’t see it!  But, Beatty’s political satire Bulworth contained a running gag about this, with Hamilton appearing as himself in a brief cameo, so maybe it’s just me.

One of his best-known MGM films was the 1960s’ Where The Boys Are,  “the” Spring Break movie of all time.  

This was the beginning of his serious tanning.  This was where he really reved it UP.

He starred in lots of movies and television shows.  He was pretty big in Hollywood until the advent of the “anti-hero” with men like Dustin Hoffman.

He was really pretty good in the Hank Williams story,  Your Cheatin’ Heart.

His real forte was comedy, He gave an excellent comic portrayal of the swordsman in 1981’s Zorro, The Gay Blade.  And he was nominated for a Golden Globe awards for both Love at First Bite and Zorro.

Starring roles went the way of all flesh for George and he landed on TV.  Saying a big Thank Goodness for Aaron Spelling.  Dynasty was his big TV break. 

He later became a regular on TV’s The Match Game.

But, he was still tan! 

He landed back in the movies tanner than ever in The Godfather, III.  But then, everyone was in that movie.  And I’m sure most regretted it.

He was in the second season of DWTS.  He was booted in the sixth round, doing better than his son would a few years later, and better than Hate Kate Gosselin.

He dated LBJ’s daughter, Lynda Bird Johnson.  She was pasty white, he was tan.

He also married Rod Stewart’s ex, Alana.  They had a TV show together.   She was pasty white, he was tan!

In the late 1980s Hamilton launched a line of skin-care products and tanning salons. 

He was still tan!

He had some famous friends, Elizabeth Taylor

and Imelda Marcos.

He was still more tan than they were!

Back in 1966, George told Sheila Graham, “I have never confused breeding with money. My mother and I and my two brothers have had hard times – never exactly poor, but never rich. But we have always had good taste and good manners. It’s not what you do, but how you do it.” 

George is my Tanning Hero!