(1967), a romantic comedy with Sandra Dee, which was mildly popular. Get the day's top news with our Today's Headlines newsletter, sent every weekday morning. Tantoco, who today lives in Morocco as a fugitive from federal fraud charges in New York and bail-jumping charges in Rome, traveled virtually everywhere with Mrs. Marcos and acted as her agent in purchases of art, jewelry and real estate, court records confirm. Glecy Tantoco was used as a front (in) . And although the $12 million in Hamilton transactions represent only a fraction of the $5 billion that the Marcoses are suspected of bleeding from their nations economy, the transactions are regarded by federal investigators as typical Marcos deals.. The 1966 Academy Awards were brimming with star power. That said, Hamilton keeps a Make America Great Again cap in the corner of his living room, which Trump, with whom he has mutual Palm Beach pals, gifted him at a campaign rally the actor says he happened into at Trump Tower. Maybe she used the house to justify giving money to Hamilton . Marcos, who also was indicted, died in exile in Hawaii in September. 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. Floirendo said it was Mrs. Marcos who directed that the check be endorsed to White. His vitamin intake includes 40 pills a day. . However, investigators have discovered that the money eventually wound up back in the Marcoses control outside the Philippines. Mrs. Tantoco, who owns a department store in Manila, was charged with Mrs. Marcos but is a fugitive. He auditioned for the show, and in March 2007, TMZ reported that Hamilton was a frontrunner to replace Barker. Although Hamilton maintains that he has had no involvement with the house since selling it to Khashoggi in 1986, he nonetheless is laying claim to art and furnishings in the house that he says are personal belongings of great sentimental value to his mother. Actor George Hamilton said Imelda Marcos saved his mother's life by inviting the despondent woman to the Philippines after Hamilton's brother died. While Hamilton had said it to razz Peppard, he realized he meant it. Court documents show that $12 million flowed from secret Marcos bank accounts in the Philippines through Hamilton investments in the United States to other banks and foreign companies allegedly controlled by the Marcoses. Among the disputed items, estimated to be worth as much as $500,000, are pre-Columbian pottery, a painting of Rudolf Valentino and a red velvet Victorian tete-a-tete on lion paw supports. Bo Derek wrote in her autobiography that "there was an ongoing contest between John Derek and George Hamilton as to who was tanner. With immunity, he cannot be prosecuted for any wrongdoing but must tell the truth or face perjury charges. Hes developing two films and a TV series as a producer out of a well-staffed office suite in Beverly Glen, where he first invites THR to meet him, taking a seat beneath a large chalk pastel portrait of his more youthful self. a typical Marcos transaction, he said. He starred in the TV films Togetherness (1970) and The Last of the Powerseekers, a 1971 compilation of two episodes of Harold Robbins' The Survivors. For three decades, actor George Hamiltons associations with the rich and famous women of the world--from Lynda Bird Johnson to Vanessa Redgrave and Elizabeth Taylor--have landed his name in the pages of international glamour and gossip magazines. The Hollywood Reporter is a part of Penske Media Corporation. Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day. [31], As a contestant in I'm A Celebrity in 2009, Hamilton revealed he had dated at least four Miss Worlds. You become a custodian, arriving home at night and seeing 15 people for dinner and thinking, What am I doing? Later, when Hamilton married model-actress Alana Stewart and sold the place, Teeny and Bill sued him for financial support, arguing that his subsidizing of their lifestyle had, in effect, saved his life by precluding him from serving in Vietnam. [15] In 1999, a Golden Palm Star on the Walk of Stars was dedicated to him. Johnson.[29]. . in November 2009. Hamilton simply signed a promissory note. March 3 (UPI) -- A Kentucky man who stopped to buy some breakfast said he lost his appetite when he won $50,000 from a scratch-off lottery ticket. The president apparently skeptical of this movieland slickster had his longtime fixer turned Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas spearhead an off-the-books FBI probe into Hamiltons personal life. This was something that several months ago he was told he would have to have, his rep told E! Hamilton had the script rewritten by John Milius, and the latter called Hamilton "a wonderful guy, totally underrated. Imelda was funding him, said the prosecutor, who continues to investigate the flow of Marcos funds around the world. When he said I shall return, (it) was based on his own decision that he wanted to bring this large invasion force to the doorstep of the woman that he loved, the actor said. Well, kind of, Video shows Memphis jailers beating Black inmate before his death, Skin lesion removed from President Bidens chest last month was cancerous, doctor says, Desperate mountain residents trapped by snow beg for help; We are coming, sheriff says, Newsom, IRS give Californians until October to file tax returns, Before and after photos from space show storms effect on California reservoirs. 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.). He focused on television: Malibu (1983) and Two Fathers' Justice (1985). Once, when Bernstein suggested that Mrs. Marcos should consider investing in a 200,000-acre Utah site, he said Hamilton came up to his office to investigate the deal on her behalf. The program starred 10 members from a traditional Italian-American family, each fighting for a prize of $1 million. March 3 (UPI) -- A New Brunswick couple who initially thought a burglar had broken into their home discovered the invader was actually a panicked deer. In 2003, Hamilton hosted The Family, a reality television series, for one season. In 1990, Hamilton was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in a federal fraud and racketeering case against the Marcoses involving the looting of government funds; Imelda was acquitted in the case.[34]. Documents show he returned $5.5 million to Tantocos account at the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank on Nov. 22, 1983. (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. 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. Kentucky man stops for breakfast, wins $50,000 lottery prize. Heiress Doris Duke posted the bail for Marcos and actor George Hamilton . Marcos died before going to trial and Mrs. Marcos was acquitted in the case prosecuted by LaBella. Marcos became the first lady of the Philippines in 1965. . It turned out to be a stroke of genius for the publicity-hungry Hamilton, who found himself in the headlines and gossip pages. 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All Rights Reserved, in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2017, All the celebs at Paris Fashion Week February-March 2023: Halsey and more, Billboard Women in Music Awards 2023 red carpet: Lana Del Rey, more, Costume Designers Guild Awards 2023 red carpet: Cate Blanchett, more, All the celebrities at Milan Fashion Week February 2023: Dua Lipa, more. Furthermore, the funds had been converted from Philippine pesos into U.S. dollars by siphoning hard currency away from the vital dollar reserves of the government-owned Philippine National Oil Co. Prosecutors contend that the loan was repaid with money later given to the actor by Mrs. Marcos. . It was all above board.. Hamilton, an unindicted co-conspirator in the case, was granted immunity at the trial. The inquiry, whose machinations became public only five years ago, turned up nothing that could potentially be weaponized except that Bill was gay. Let him publish it. And she just handed it to him and everybody went, phew. . It was in this transaction that the seeds of the Philippine governments successful claim to the 13,436-square-foot Beverly Hills house were sown. . She was acquitted earlier this year of fraud and federal racketeering in a New York criminal case in which Hamilton was an unindicted co-conspirator. [citation needed], His stepfathers were Carleton Hunt and Jesse Spalding; his stepmother was June Howard, with whom Hamilton said he had repeated sexual relations when he was age 12, shortly after she married his father, and again later when he was an adult. New York Times October 7, 1966: 38. The famously tanned actor was spotted in Los Angeles this week running errands and grabbing some food at a McDonalds drive-thru looking a little weathered. Philippine First Lady Imelda R. Marcos dances with American actor George Hamilton during a filipino tribal festival 1/31 at the 2nd Manila International Film Festival. The film included scenes with Dracula and his conquest as they dance to "I Love the Nightlife" at a disco. 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 it was the couples appearance at the 1966 Oscars that really got tongues wagging. It was his world. (Both Khashoggi and Marcos were later acquitted.) 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. 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. He would not knowingly participate in any transaction that has any taint.. Its not the spray tan Im after, he revealed in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2017. Hes an active producer. Interviews, testimony and court records--some of which were part of the massive evidence introduced in the New York case--also cast new light on the long-acknowledged relationship between the actor and Madam Marcos. In a previously sealed court deposition, Hamilton testified he received the money from associates of the Marcoses, that he paid it back and that he did not know the funds were linked to the couple, the Times reported. Hamilton declined to be interviewed for this story after his attorneys lost a strenuous legal battle to keep sealed hundreds of pages of records and testimony. 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.. The real theme of the film became something far more sensitive than I had wanted to get into.. [24][25][26], In April 2006, Hamilton served as grand marshal for the 79th Annual Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival in Winchester, Virginia. Hamilton was cast, and the film was popular. He is noted for his perpetual, chestnut-colored suntan and his colorful boulevardier lifestyle. He supported Elizabeth Taylor in Poker Alice (1987). Los Angeles Times (June 29, 1965: C8. Teeny was escaping Hamiltons father, a philandering bandleader. She is an actress, known for The . "[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. 2023 The Hollywood Reporter, LLC. [27] In 2016 and 2018, Hamilton appeared as the "Crispy Colonel" in commercials for KFC, playing on his image for tanning. The president, he says, was always a performer in his own mind like Hamilton himself. He made deposits in his own name, not fictitious accounts. Theyve remained friends. In a previously sealed deposition, the actor testified that he got the money from associates of the Marcoses, that he paid it back and that he had no knowledge that the Marcoses were personally linked to the funds. 50,062, This story has been shared 18,198 times. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. Ramos told them he turned it over to two swarthy men--presumably Filipinos. He said he acted on instructions from Mrs. Tantoco, the agent for Mrs. Marcos. in 2015 called Stewarts & Hamiltons (it lasted a single season), he found that his grown sons Ashley, an actor, musician and comedian, and George Jr., a college student didnt share his equanimity about self-caricature. ), The serene relationship Hamilton possesses with artifice was, however, not passed on to his own children. In this 'Where Are They Now' exclusive, actor George Hamilton explains the origins of his famous tan. It had all the appearance of a sham transaction, the Philippines Laguatan said. He soaked it up. The money was for what prosecutor LaBella called a supposed movie deal--purportedly a plan to develop a film about Gen. MacArthurs wartime exploits. The Philippine businesswoman, who owns Manilas largest department store, was indicted on the same charges pending against Mrs. Marcos. Acquisition of the Beverly Hills house will add to a growing list of recent property recoveries in the United States made by the Philippine government which has filed a civil racketeering case in Los Angeles federal court, seeking to recover some of the billions of dollars it claims was stolen by the Marcoses and their cronies. Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. He played the roles from November 21, 2001 to February 17, 2002; June 04, 2002 to July 29, 2002; and from September 14, 2007 to October 07, 2007. After deciding not to make the movie, Hamilton returned the money to a Hong Kong bank in 1983. He and his wife fled to Hawaii, where Marcos died last year. MGM tried to change his image by putting him in the Western A Thunder of Drums (1961); the film was mildly popular. Imelda Marcos, in full Imelda Romuldez Marcos, ne Imelda Remedios Visitacion Romuldez, (born July 2, 1929, Manila, Philippines), public figure in the Philippines who wielded great power during the 20-year rule of her husband, Pres. The money came from crony Antonio Floirendo Sr. who admitted funneling it for Imelda. Some of the Marcos money could have been invested in that enterprise, investigators said. [30][31] In December 1999, Kimberly gave birth to their son, George Thomas Hamilton (nicknamed "GT"[32] or George Jr.). In March, 1983, Hamilton flew to Hong Kong to pick up personally $5.5 million from a Tantoco bank account. Ive long been OK with that., Hamilton contends it was for Teeny and Bill as much as himself that, at the age of 28, he bought the 36-room Grayhall in Beverly Hills, where Douglas Fairbanks once lived. Hamilton was great pals with the former first lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos,. Hamiltons attorney, Greenberg, said that his client made a profit on the house sale, but he did not know how much. However, the film was seen by Vincente Minnelli who thought Hamilton would be ideal for the younger son in Home from the Hill (1960), a Southern melodrama with Robert Mitchum. He starred in the TV movie The Dead Don't Die (1975) and had a supporting role in Once Is Not Enough (1975). (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. Theyd brought him and younger sibling David from small-town Arkansas to Beverly Hills when George was 7. When they were together, Her pelvis would arrive across the room before the rest of her, Hamilton once volunteered. Hamilton was great pals with the former first lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos, who was accused of illegally amassing a fortune with her husband Ferdinand Marcos. Like about how he got a look at Elvis Presley in his coffin before his funeral (the rockers manager, Col. Parker, was a close friend) and saved mourners a lamentable final impression by pointing out the tiny trickle of hair dye running down his forehead. The settlement agreement, expected to be announced perhaps as early as next week, validates Manilas claims that the house, which Hamilton sold in 1986, was financed with looted Philippine funds.