Paul Newman was clueless about George Clooney - but still gave him vital advice
Hollywood megastar George Clooney asked late acting legend Paul Newman how to navigate fame - but Paul had no idea who George was.
Hollywood legend Paul Newman had no idea who George Clooney was when they met but still gave him advice on how to navigate fame.
George, 64, was playing Dr. Doug Ross on the NBC medical-drama ER when he crossed paths with the late great - who was shooting the 1999 romance-drama film Message in a Bottle - on the Warner Bros. Studios lot in Burbank, California.
George told the New York Times: "'I'm not as good at getting out as you are. I have a tendency to go, 'If I go out, that's going to be an extra hour of talking to people.' Paul Newman actually talked about this to me.
"When I first met him, he was at Warner Bros. doing Message in a Bottle, and I was on ER. Newman was sitting outside smoking a cigarette, so I pulled up in the golf cart and was like, 'Hey, just wanted to say hi.'
Paul - who died of lung cancer at the age of 83 in 2008 - eventually realized he was speaking to a fellow A-list celebrity when people greeted George as they drove past the pair.
George continued: "He had no idea who I was, but everybody who came by on golf carts was like, 'Hey, George.' 'George!' So bit by bit, he figured out I was successful in the industry in some way."
And Paul's words of wisdom have stuck with the Batman and Robin legend ever since.
Megastar George shared: "Then he goes, 'George, don't let them keep you at home.' He meant very specifically that tendency to isolate because you're trying to hold onto some privacy.
"My tendency at that moment was to stay in, and hearing Newman say that, it made sense immediately."
Elsewhere, George hopes his children, nine-year-old twins Alexander and Ella, will not follow in his footsteps and instead, become lawyers like his 47-year-old wife, Amal Clooney.
He recently told Entertainment Tonight: "I don’t want them in it.
"Well, they actually don’t know what I do for a living yet. No, not really."
Asked if Alexander and Ella may be interested in becoming lawyers, George replied: "I hope. My god, a lawyer? That’d be amazing."
