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Activist, director, star - and yes, Clooney is also Mr Sexy
By Sevanand Gaddala,

Mumbai, Nov 26 Any serious filmgoer would jump at the chance to dismiss any actor honoured as Sexiest Man Alive. But George Clooney could have easily done without being People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive of 2006 to add to his prestige.

   

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This is a man who just won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the political thriller "Syriana", his other movie "Good Night, and Good Luck" which he directed, co-wrote and acted in got him nominations for Best Director, Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. He became the first person ever to be nominated for acting and directing in two different films in the same year.

And if this was not enough, Clooney is actively involved in quite a few political and social causes, the prominent one being his support for the ending of ethnic strife in the Darfur region of Sudan in Africa.

Clooney may not even be at the mid- point of his career but he has come to the point where he almost has nothing more to achieve. He was a TV star, box office hit, award winning actor and director and is socially conscious. But looking back over the years, all this almost never happened for Clooney.

He had such a shaky start. He tried college but left because he didn't like it, got into broadcast journalism but decided to drop that too. He then got a very small part in a movie called "And They're Off", which was never released but it was here that Clooney decided he would seriously pursue acting. When he tried out for a part in "Thelma and Louise" in 1992, he lost out to Brad Pitt even though he had auditioned for the part no less than five times. He was shell-shocked.

Clooney's arrival on pop culture radar seems so sudden that it betrays years of frustration. He had to go door-to-door selling insurance, drew pictures in the mall and even had to make lemonade at a stand. But he got his big break starring as doctor Doug Ross in "ER". It was a smash success and Clooney was the main star.

Movie offers soon came flooding in. Clooney had auditioned for "Reservoir Dogs" directed by Quentin Tarantino but co-starred with the director in "From Dusk Till Dawn". For his next movie "The Peacemaker", he got paid $3 million and though written by Steven Spielberg it fared badly at the box office and got critically mauled. He then took a different turn to star in the romantic comedy "One Fine Day" opposite Michelle Pfeiffer.

His next foray into roles would see him as Batman in "Batman and Robin", co-starring with Arnold Schwarzenegger though he was making $3 million to Arnold's $20 million. There was then his first collaboration with Steven Soderbergh in the stylish "Out of Sight". With his reputation now intact he went on to star in one of the most exciting action movies of the 90s - "Three Kings" along with Mark Wahlberg and Ice Cube. This experience was mixed, though offered $10 million he gave back $5 million and even that he accepted in instalments.

Then, in one of the rare instances of negativity, Clooney fought with director David O. Russell with Russell exclaiming, "I wouldn't make another George Clooney movie if they paid me $20 million."

Now becoming a bona fide star and producer he turned to directing with "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind", which was critically well received. He slowly turned his attention to more political themes and starred in "Syriana" for which he won an Oscar. He followed this up with the most recent "Good Night, and Good Luck" which now cements him as one of the most important people in Hollywood.

Clooney has also been known as a ladies man. Though single, he has had relationships with Talia Balsam, Celine, Balitran, Charlize Theron and Kimberly Russell. He supposedly even dated Renee Zellweger. But he has also been politically active. He spoke out against the Iraq War, supported John Kerry against George Bush in the presidential elections and helped in getting aid for the Asian tsunami victims.

With all these accomplishments Clooney will be most remembered for the arc of his career. He has made the almost impossible step from TV to film, is an action-comic-romantic star and for the film aficionados he is a legitimate auteur. And oh, he is also the Sexiest Man Alive.

 
IANS