It's impossible not to have a soft spot for George Hamilton - he is so clearly someone you can't take seriously, with his tan, love of the high life, friendships with Imelda Marcos, role in Where the Boys Are, and erratic list of performances. There is something quite unrealistic about him - like he's a cartoon character. And yet... he's a true survivor, having gone at it for half a century now, and he's done some terrific work on screen. And he's had a hell of a life.
Hamilton was a Southerner, son of a band leader and a vivacious local beauty, both of whom had exotic love lives. He lost his virginity to his dad's second wife, developed expensive tastes at a young age despite a lack of ability to fund them them, had one brother who was a gay interior designer, another with a strong taste for alcohol. He went skinny dipping with a beautiful girl and crossed with a young JFK doing the same thing, and was good friends with Sean Flynn.
Hamilton never seems to have had been gripped by a burning desire to be an actor but it's not hard to see why he found it appealing with its glamour and make believe. (John Milius says Hamilton once described himself as "not a third rate actor but a first rate con man"). So he tried his luck, was cast in the lead in a low budget feature in his first role, got an MGM contract with his second (Home from the Hill). He was in a big hit, Where the Boys Are, but also in a number of expensive disappointments - Home from the Hill, All the Fine Young Cannibals, By Love Possessed, Angel Baby, The Light in the Piazza, The Victors, Act One, You're Cheatin' Heart. A lot of these films are pretty good but he never got a break out hit. (He was one of MGM's last in house stars but the studio was in decline.)
Occasionally he received serious consideration - playing a gigolo in Piazza and Hank Williams in Cheatin' Heart (both roles he went after hard) but he never got as much publicity as for his personal life and over time he became a bit of a joke.
Yet he kept at it, developing a flair for comedy, taking lesser paid jobs when necessary (TV and then dinner theatre), turning producer with some success (Evil Knievel - for which he hired Milius - and especially Love at First Bite). You don't have that sort of record without a strong work ethic, and preparation - Hamilton seems to have had that, although he doesn't talk much about his craft in this book, which is a shame, I would have liked to learned more about it. (He does express frustration so much of his part in Godfather III was cut.) But there was lots of stuff I didn't know, like his being mentored by Colonel Tom Parker (who acted as his agent almost - this bit really made me appreciate Parker's gifts more) and romance with Susan Kohner.
An entertaining ride. Hamilton still feels a little unrealistic even after reading it - all that glamour and money and going to exotic locations - but with the family he came from that's not such a shock.
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