George Clooney’s career has evolved from playing a hot handyman dripping with charisma to a, well, hot Oscar-winning actor and producer dripping with charisma. But his resume isn’t all that’s changed in those four decades – his hair has, too. Here is the long and short of it.
As a kid growing up in Kentucky, little George Timothy Clooney sported shaggy bangs. The hair doesn’t scream “George Clooney,” but the eyes and grin sure do.
1985 • Well into building an acting career, Clooney sat for a typical Hollywood-style photo shoot showing off his gorgeous wavy locks and fashionable (at the time) mullet.
1988 • A gig on “Roseanne” brought Clooney some notoriety… for both him and that fabulous head of hair.
1989 • Clooney hit the road to promote his new film “Red Surf” (notice the poster behind him) playing a — you guessed it — surfer who enjoys the lifestyle drug money brings him. His girlfriend, played by Dede Pfeiffer, isn’t so crazy about it. But, oh, that hair, gotta love it.
1994 • Five years later, along comes “ER,” and, poof, he’s pediatrician Dr. Doug Ross. The sophisticated, sexy look had women across the world wishing he took adult patients.
1998 • During his five-plus years on “ER,” Clooney let his hair go gray. And we were totally fine with that.
2000 • His role as chain gang escapee Ulysses Everett McGill in the Coen Brothers’ adventure comedy “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” had him looking a bit more scruffy. OK, a lot more scruffy.
2001 • Clooney cleaned up nicely to join Matt Damon and Andy Garcia at the Los Angeles premiere of “Ocean’s Eleven.”
2005 • Clooney posed for photos at the 62nd Venice Film Festival, where the historical drama that he directed, co-wrote and had a supporting role in, “Good Night, and Good Luck” premiered. This became Clooney’s signature look, which he credits to the Flowbee.
2005 • And here is that premiere night. Perfection.
2009 • Clooney took another comical turn on screen, this time in “The Men Who Stare at Goats,” which he also produced. The hair isn’t bad, but the mustache… nah.
2006 • The look Clooney established during his “ER” years was a timeless “Caesar haircut.” But in his second film with the Coen Brothers, “Hail, Caesar!”, he played an actor playing Caesar with a Caesar cut. Did you follow all that?
2019 • Clooney went full military in another satirical dark comedy, this time in the Hulu miniseries, “Catch-22,” which he also executive produced and directed. He played a parade-obsessed former ROTC graduate who works his way up through the Army to eventually become Brigadier General. And all the way, his hair stood at attention.
2020 • In stark contrast to that wavy-haired, clean-shaven up-and-comer 35 years earlier, Clooney’s look in his latest film, Netflix’s “Midnight Sky,” is a buzz cut and scraggly gray beard. Thankfully, he still has those Clooney eyes.
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