George Hamilton

Handsome, charming, self-amused and of course, deeply tanned, George Hamilton was an actor whose long career in film and television was consistently overshadowed by his dashing persona both on and off-screen. Frequently cast as cads or hopeless romantics in films during the late 1950s and early 1960s, he enjoyed success in lightweight roles, but yearned for more substantive parts. His attempts to achieve such roles in the mid-1960s, such as his turn as Hank Williams in "Your Cheatin' Heart" (1964), were met largely with dismissal. He floundered through the 1970s until striking gold with "Love at First Bite" (1979), a winning comedy which cast him as a vain Count Dracula. Hamilton's ability to mock his own image proved his saving grace, and he enjoyed a fruitful run in the 1990s and 2000s as a comic presence in numerous films and television shows, often as himself. His longevity in show business was proof positive that a career not only had second acts, but could surpass all expectations.