George Clooney

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.4 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 23 February 2003

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the actor, George Clooney. George was born in Lexington, Kentucky in 1961, the son of Nick Clooney, a TV newscaster. From the age of five, George spent time pottering round his father's sets, joining in where possible, shouting out the temperature during the weather report. After an initial plan to follow his father into broadcasting, then studying for a short while at Northern Kentucky University, George failed to join the Cincinnati Reds baseball team. But then he got a part in a small film through his uncle, the actor Jose Ferrer. The film was never released, but it had persuaded George of his vocation.

Now decided on a career in acting, George moved to L.A. in 1982 and for a year tried to get a role while he slept in a friend's closet. His first film, in which he starred with Charlie Sheen, stayed unreleased, but got him the producers' attention for later contracts. He got parts in sit-coms such as The Facts Of Life, and Roseanne, and earned decent money, although fame eluded him. Then came a part as Doug Ross in the US TV drama ER. It was to be a huge success and made George's name around the world. Film parts soon flooded in and today he is one of Hollywood's biggest stars, featuring in many Hollywood blockbusters such as From Dusk Til Dawn, One Fine Day, The Peacemaker, Out of Sight, O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Ocean's Eleven. After numerous Golden Globe and Emmy nominations, in 2001 George was awarded a Golden Globe for best leading actor in a comedy for O Brother, Where Art Thou?

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Destination Moon by Dinah Washington Book: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Luxury: An anchored yacht

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Kirstie Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive.
0:05.0	For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music.
0:08.0	The program was originally broadcast in 2003, and the presenter was Sue Lolly. My cost away this week is an actor. He's one of Hollywood's biggest stars, films such as The Three Kings, The Perfect Storm and
0:35.6	Oceans 11 have in the last few years put him at the very top of the tree. Well connected,
0:41.0	his father was a television presenter his aunt a famous singer he moved to California to try his hand in the entertainment business
0:48.1	It nearly didn't happen and even when after a long apprenticeship and some terrible parts, he emerged as Dr.
0:55.0	Doug Ross in ER, the final transfer from small to big screen proved tough.
1:00.0	In the end though, versatility, good looks and an ability to take risks have won through.
1:06.0	He's also just made his directorial debut with a film called Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.
1:12.0	I'm much more successful than I ever thought I'd be, he says.
1:16.7	It's harder to be nice when things are going badly. That's when you find out if you have any
1:21.5	character. He is George Clooney. So now you're nice all the time,
1:26.2	George. That's right. Now I'm just nothing but nice. And did you discover you had character?
1:31.7	No. But I'm at the point now where I can actually buy a character.
1:35.0	I mean, I think that works out really well for me.
1:38.0	But did you have character?
1:39.0	Did you discover you had character when you were doing such terrible things?
1:42.0	People always, I know confront
1:43.3	you with these things is the revenge of the what tomato
1:45.4	revenge of the killer tomatoes that gives you character by the way what gives you
1:48.9	ketchup I see what does give you character is the fact that they'll rerun it every once in a while.
1:55.0	You have to apologize to send out letters of apology to pretty much everyone.
	...

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