Christopher George
Encyclopedia
Christopher John George (February 25, 1931 - November 28, 1983) was an American television and film actor who was perhaps best known for his starring role in the 1966-1968 TV series The Rat Patrol
. He was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1967 as Best TV Star for his performance in the series. He was also the recipient of a New York Film Festival
award as the Best Actor in a Television Commercial. George was married to actress Lynda Day George
.
, the son of Greek
immigrants John and Vaseleke George. John George was born in Thebes, Greece
and was a veteran of World War I
, and Vaseleke was born in Athens
.
Christopher George could not speak English until he was six years old, because his family only spoke Greek
at home. His father was a traveling salesman during his childhood. George accompanied his father on selling trips to cities such as Akron
, New York City
, Chicago
, St. Louis
, Memphis
, and Detroit. From Michigan
, the family moved to Mountain Lakes, New Jersey
. Once George began learning to speak English, his father enrolled him in Greek school in addition to his regular school so that he would not forget the Greek language. That was where George first got interested in acting; at Greek school they performed Greek plays and recited Greek poetry. When George was 14, he and his family moved to Miami, Florida
. As a child, George lived in the Coconut Grove section of Miami and attended Shenandoah Elementary School and Miami Senior High School. In school, George played soccer, football and baseball and ran track. While in Florida
, he used to hunt for alligators in the Everglades
. After obtaining his driver's license, Chris worked for his father, driving trucks between Miami and other cities along the Eastern seaboard.
When he was young, he felt bound to enter the Greek Orthodox Church
and his family prepared him for it; his brother Nick said that all through his childhood, Christopher was an altar boy and a choir boy and that his parents and the priest were trying to groom him to become a priest. He served as an altar boy at St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Miami.
(USMC) on October 13, 1948, at Jacksonville, Florida
. George attributed his enlistment to being inspired by John Wayne
, saying, "You know, he caused the enlistment of hundreds of kids in the Marines and I was one of them." According to his military record at the National Personnel Records Center
, George attended boot camp at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island
, South Carolina
and graduated with a meritorious promotion to Private First Class
on December 31, 1948.
His first duty station was Headquarters Squadron, Marine Corps Air Station Quantico, Virginia
. In April 1950, he transferred to Aircraft Engineering Squadron 12 (AES-12), also located at Quantico. AES-12 maintained the aircraft for school pilots and also used them as a demonstration squadron for members of the United States Congress
, demonstrating new rockets and bombs. While assigned to AES-12, George rose to the rank of sergeant. He had forced landings in airplanes while he was in the Marines, and while he was stationed at Quantico, was very sick, lying in the hospital with "a 110-degree fever."
While stationed at Quantico, he was a passenger in an aircraft flown by one of AES-12's officers The weather was clear and sunny that day when both of the engines "conked out" at approximately 8000 feet (2,438.4 m) above the Carolinas. Both pilots worked to get the engines restarted, dipping to an altitude of about 1000 feet (304.8 m) before they succeeded. Another time, an aircraft caught fire; he had to bail out, in the first parachute jump of his life.
During the Korean War
, George skippered a Marine Corps crash boat, and served as gunner aboard the type of rescue aircraft used to fly wounded out of Korea
. George completed a three-year enlistment and stayed for a fourth year of service before asking for a discharge and returning home to Miami. He left active service on August 29, 1952.
After that, as a sergeant in the Marine Corps Reserves, he joined Marine Fighter Squadron 142
(VMF-142) of the Marine Air Reserve Training Command
, Marine Corps Air Station Miami, Florida
. He also served in the 4th Supply Company, in Stockton, California
. Finally, he reverted to inactive reserve status where he was assigned to Headquarters, 6th MCR&RD, Atlanta, Georgia
, until completing his enlisted service and receiving a discharge on September 3, 1956.
While in the USMC, George's superior officers encouraged him to apply for flight school and a commission; instead, he chose to receive a discharge so he could return to school. He passed a high school equivalency exam.
During the summer of 1976, George appeared in a recruiting film done for the Marine Corps Air Reserves. On May 5, 2009, the Marine Corps flew a flag over the Iwo Jima Memorial in honor of his service in the Corps.
. These awards are documented in his official military personnel file available at the National Archives and Records Administration
.
from 1953–1958, where he earned a Bachelors in Business Administration degree from the school of business. He was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon
, along with his brother Nick, who also attended the University of Miami.
. The inn in Stockton where he worked for five months during a break from college had been owned by a late uncle for seven years and was off-limits to Marines. He held black belt
s in karate
and judo
. George worked as a bouncer in tough restaurants and held a pilot's license. He also hired on with a friend who owned a 110-foot converted Canadian gunboat and transported cargo through the Caribbean
for two years. Before graduating from the University of Miami, George had a job lined up with a big investment company; however he instead turned to acting after completing a vocational test battery that indicated that he should work in drama.
, where he performed on the stage and in television commercials. His big break came when he was working as a bouncer at a New York waterfront bar and producer Robert Rafelson convinced him to begin an acting career. He studied acting under Wynn Handman
and landed roles in off Broadway
productions of popular plays of the day. Small theater productions in which he appeared while he was studying drama included All My Sons
, The Moon Is Blue
, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
, Stalag 17
, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
. Under drama coach Wynn Handman, he landed a sixteen week engagement in the play Mr. Roberts
with actor Hugh O'Brian
; parts in Shakespeare and Tennessee Williams
works followed. George's career took off after he made a 60-second TV commercial for shaving cream, where he played the young man in the "Good morning, Mr. Gray" shaving spot, and won the New York Film Festival
Award for best actor in a commercial. During this 1962 shaving-cream commercial, George played a groom lathering up before his first honeymoon night, with a line where he said, "It's all for you." The commercial earned him over $30,000. He also appeared on TV in roles on Naked City
and Bewitched
television series shows. While in New York City
, George played in the Lemos Greek Repertory Theater because he could speak Greek fluently.
George first appeared on the screen when he landed a role in the 1965 film In Harm's Way
, playing a dying sailor for 30 seconds. This gave him his first opportunity to meet and work with John Wayne, who had been his boyhood idol and who would become a lifelong friend.
George first rose to prominence in 1966 playing a supporting role in the Howard Hawks
-directed western
film El Dorado, starring John Wayne. George and Wayne became friends while shooting the film and would co-star in additional westerns
, including Chisum
in 1970 and The Train Robbers
in 1973.
. The television show followed the exploits of four Allied soldiers
who were part of a long range desert patrol group
in the North African campaign
during World War II
. Along with fellow Rat Patrol members, George appeared in the April 1967 Cherry Blossom Festival
and Parade in Washington, D.C.
While filming a scene on January 4, 1967, George, as well as fellow cast members Justin Tarr and Gary Raymond
, were injured when the jeep Tarr was driving overturned on a dry lakebed at Rosamond, California
as they made a tight turn. George sustained a concussion, tearing something in his neck and injuring his back. Doctors at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
in California
were able to determine that his back had been badly sprained, not fractured as they had initially feared. While starring in The Rat Patrol, Chris also served as an awards presenter at the 1966 Washington, D.C. local version of the Emmy Awards, hosted at the Washington, D.C. Sheraton Park Hotel.
George also joined actor Lawrence Casey on a USO tour of Vietnam
, Japan
and Thailand
, which lasted for almost a month and which started on November 12, 1967 and went into December 1967. During the tour of Vietnam
, he visited III Corps
Headquarters at Bien Hoa
Army Base and used the III Corps signal switchboard to place a telephone call to his girlfriend and future wife, Lynda Day
. While in Vietnam
, George did not confine himself to the rear echelon, but instead pressed his escorts to allow him to go as far out into the field as they would permit; at one time, they were even pinned down by the Viet Cong. In November 1967, the USO and the Air Force
sent Chris George and several other Hollywood celebrities to visit a military hospital in San Antonio, where military personnel returning from Vietnam with serious burns were being treated. The visit, to Brooke Army Medical Center
in San Antonio, was arranged by Johnny Grant, a Hollywood radio personality who had taken troupes of performers to Vietnam
; during the visit George and some of the actresses, including his future wife Lynda Day
, spent over an hour with a wounded veteran who had been previously uncommunicative and got him to talk.
; Project X (1968), directed by William Castle
; and The Devil’s 8 (1969) co-starring Fabian
. He narrated a documentary about the careers of Craig Breedlove
and Lee Breedlove, a husband-and-wife auto racing team, titled "The Racers: Craig and Lee Breedlove", in 1968.
Then, in 1969, George portrayed Ben Richards in the pilot movie for The Immortal
which ran on ABC Movie of the Week
. The film was picked up as a TV series and ran for 15 episodes from 1970-1971.
The Thousand Plane Raid
(1969)- The biggest air-borne armada of the war - a thousand bombers on a secret mission to destroy the Nazi dream of a Thousand Year Reich!
Christopher George... Col. Greg Brandon / Laraine Stephens...Gabrielle
During this time, he also portrayed Dan August in the television film House on Greenapple Road (1970), which evolved into the 1970-71 series Dan August
starring Burt Reynolds
. In addition, he starred in an unsold TV series pilot, "Escape" with Avery Schreiber and Huntz Hall, which ABC released in 1971 as a TV movie. In it, he portrayed Robin-Hood-like escapologist and nightclub owner Cammeron Steele. George continued his television work throughout the 1970s with guest roles on many popular series including Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law
, Police Story, S.W.A.T.
, Charlie's Angels
. and Fantasy Island
. In 1973, George starred opposite of Jim Brown
in I Escaped from Devil's Island. He also surprised fans by posing nude for Playgirl
magazine in the June, 1974 issue. In 1976, George played a supporting role as Lieutenant Commander Wade McClusky in the all-star World War II
epic Midway
. That same year, he would play the lead role of Ranger Michael Kelly in the Film Ventures International
independent film Grizzly
. A thinly-veiled Jaws
clone, the animal horror thriller became one of the most popular films of George's career earning more than $39 million at the box office.
George followed that success with a busy string of horror, action
, splatter
and slasher
B-movies over the next seven years including Dixie Dynamite (1976) co-starring Warren Oates
; Day of the Animals
(1977) co-starring Lynda Day George
and Leslie Nielsen
; Whiskey Mountain (1977); Filippo Ottoni's Last Night Of Christmas aka Questo sì che è amore with Sven Valsecchi and Gay Hamilton
(1978); City of the Living Dead
(1980) directed by Lucio Fulci
; The Exterminator
(1980); Graduation Day
(1981); Enter the Ninja
(1981); Pieces
(1982) co-starring Lynda Day George
; and Mortuary
(1983) co-starring Lynda Day George
and Bill Paxton
. Many of these works have since achieved cult film
status.
in Maryland
to appear in a recruiting video for the US Marine Corps Air Reserves
. This video featured Marines assigned to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 321
and they had just returned from their annual training
tour as reservists. The commander of the unit at the time was LtCol Charles McLeran. It was filmed by the J. Walter Thompson advertising company
and provided to recruiters in 1978. Archive records show that George was on contract with J. Walter Thompson
for this work.
The Gentle Rain. They would star together again four years later in Chisum, where they fell in love and soon married. In May 1970, they were married in an Episcopal
ceremony in a judge's chamber in Palm Beach, Florida
. The following day, they left for their honeymoon in St. Croix the Virgin Islands
. They had a son and a daughter.
Lynda Day George
co-starred with her husband in multiple television films over the next 10 years, including Mayday at 40,000 Feet (1976) and Cruise Into Terror (1978). They also worked together in episodes of The F.B.I. (1970), Mission: Impossible
(1971), McCloud (1975), Wonder Woman
(1976), Love Boat
(1977) and Vega$
(1978).
was released, George died of a heart attack
on the evening of November 28, 1983. He died at Westside Hospital in Los Angeles, California
, while under the care of his cardiologist
, Dr. Pearl McBroom. A contributing factor in his death is believed to have been the 1967 Rat Patrol mishap, which had left George with a bad heart.
A Greek Orthodox rosary service was conducted at Westwood Memorial Park and a private funeral was held at Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Northridge, California. At his funeral, the Marine Corps provided an honor guard
to render military honors. The non-commissioned officer in charge of the military detail for the funeral, Gunnery Sergeant (retired) Ron Paschall, stated that the military honor guard included pallbearers, a color guard and riflemen that came from the nearby Marine Corps Air Station El Toro
. He is interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
in Los Angeles
.
He was survived by his wife, a daughter and a son. His death devastated his wife; she never recovered from the shock. Afterward, she only worked sporadically in television guest roles until her retirement in the early 1990s.
On May 5, 2009, the Marine Corps flew a flag over the Iwo Jima Memorial in honor of his service in the Corps.
George's niece is Wheel of Fortune hostess Vanna White
.
The Rat Patrol
The Rat Patrol is an American television program that aired on ABC during the 1966–1968 seasons. The show follows the exploits of four Allied soldiers who are part of a long-range desert patrol group in the North African campaign during World War II...
. He was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1967 as Best TV Star for his performance in the series. He was also the recipient of a New York Film Festival
New York Film Festival
The New York Film Festival has been a major film festival since it began in 1963 in New York. The films are selected by the Film Society of Lincoln Center...
award as the Best Actor in a Television Commercial. George was married to actress Lynda Day George
Lynda Day George
For other entertainers with similar names, see Linda George .Lynda Day George is an American television and film actress whose career spanned three decades from the 1960s to the 1980s...
.
Early life
George was born in Royal Oak, MichiganRoyal Oak, Michigan
Royal Oak is a city in Oakland County of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a suburb of Detroit. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 57,236. It should not be confused with Royal Oak Charter Township, a separate community located nearby....
, the son of Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
immigrants John and Vaseleke George. John George was born in Thebes, Greece
Thebes, Greece
Thebes is a city in Greece, situated to the north of the Cithaeron range, which divides Boeotia from Attica, and on the southern edge of the Boeotian plain. It played an important role in Greek myth, as the site of the stories of Cadmus, Oedipus, Dionysus and others...
and was a veteran of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, and Vaseleke was born in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
.
Christopher George could not speak English until he was six years old, because his family only spoke Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
at home. His father was a traveling salesman during his childhood. George accompanied his father on selling trips to cities such as Akron
Akron, Ohio
Akron , is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Summit County. It is located in the Great Lakes region approximately south of Lake Erie along the Little Cuyahoga River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 199,110. The Akron Metropolitan...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
, and Detroit. From Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, the family moved to Mountain Lakes, New Jersey
Mountain Lakes, New Jersey
Mountain Lakes is a borough in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 4,256....
. Once George began learning to speak English, his father enrolled him in Greek school in addition to his regular school so that he would not forget the Greek language. That was where George first got interested in acting; at Greek school they performed Greek plays and recited Greek poetry. When George was 14, he and his family moved to Miami, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. As a child, George lived in the Coconut Grove section of Miami and attended Shenandoah Elementary School and Miami Senior High School. In school, George played soccer, football and baseball and ran track. While in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, he used to hunt for alligators in the Everglades
Everglades
The Everglades are subtropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large watershed. The system begins near Orlando with the Kissimmee River, which discharges into the vast but shallow Lake Okeechobee...
. After obtaining his driver's license, Chris worked for his father, driving trucks between Miami and other cities along the Eastern seaboard.
When he was young, he felt bound to enter the Greek Orthodox Church
Greek Orthodox Church
The Greek Orthodox Church is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity sharing a common cultural tradition whose liturgy is also traditionally conducted in Koine Greek, the original language of the New Testament...
and his family prepared him for it; his brother Nick said that all through his childhood, Christopher was an altar boy and a choir boy and that his parents and the priest were trying to groom him to become a priest. He served as an altar boy at St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Miami.
Military service
He entered the United States Marine CorpsUnited States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
(USMC) on October 13, 1948, at Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
. George attributed his enlistment to being inspired by John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
, saying, "You know, he caused the enlistment of hundreds of kids in the Marines and I was one of them." According to his military record at the National Personnel Records Center
National Personnel Records Center
The National Personnel Records Center is an agency of the National Archives and Records Administration, created in 1956. It is divided into two large Federal Records Centers located in St...
, George attended boot camp at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island
Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island
Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island is an military installation located within Port Royal, South Carolina, approximately south of Beaufort, the community that is typically associated with the installation. MCRD Parris Island is used for the training of enlisted Marines...
, South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
and graduated with a meritorious promotion to Private First Class
Private First Class
Private First Class is a military rank held by junior enlisted persons.- Singapore :The rank of Private First Class in the Singapore Armed Forces lies between the ranks of Private and Lance-Corporal . It is usually held by conscript soldiers midway through their national service term...
on December 31, 1948.
His first duty station was Headquarters Squadron, Marine Corps Air Station Quantico, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. In April 1950, he transferred to Aircraft Engineering Squadron 12 (AES-12), also located at Quantico. AES-12 maintained the aircraft for school pilots and also used them as a demonstration squadron for members of the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
, demonstrating new rockets and bombs. While assigned to AES-12, George rose to the rank of sergeant. He had forced landings in airplanes while he was in the Marines, and while he was stationed at Quantico, was very sick, lying in the hospital with "a 110-degree fever."
While stationed at Quantico, he was a passenger in an aircraft flown by one of AES-12's officers The weather was clear and sunny that day when both of the engines "conked out" at approximately 8000 feet (2,438.4 m) above the Carolinas. Both pilots worked to get the engines restarted, dipping to an altitude of about 1000 feet (304.8 m) before they succeeded. Another time, an aircraft caught fire; he had to bail out, in the first parachute jump of his life.
During the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, George skippered a Marine Corps crash boat, and served as gunner aboard the type of rescue aircraft used to fly wounded out of Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
. George completed a three-year enlistment and stayed for a fourth year of service before asking for a discharge and returning home to Miami. He left active service on August 29, 1952.
After that, as a sergeant in the Marine Corps Reserves, he joined Marine Fighter Squadron 142
VMFA-142
Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 142 was an aviation unit of the United States Marine Corps Reserve that was active from 1942 to 2008. At the time of its inactivation, the squadron was based at Naval Air Station Atlanta, Georgia and fell under the command of Marine Aircraft Group 42 , 4th Marine...
(VMF-142) of the Marine Air Reserve Training Command
4th Marine Aircraft Wing
The 4th Marine Aircraft Wing is the reserve airwing of the United States Marine Corps. It is headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana but its subordinate units are scattered throughout the United States...
, Marine Corps Air Station Miami, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. He also served in the 4th Supply Company, in Stockton, California
Stockton, California
Stockton, California, the seat of San Joaquin County, is the fourth-largest city in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. With a population of 291,707 at the 2010 census, Stockton ranks as this state's 13th largest city...
. Finally, he reverted to inactive reserve status where he was assigned to Headquarters, 6th MCR&RD, Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
, until completing his enlisted service and receiving a discharge on September 3, 1956.
While in the USMC, George's superior officers encouraged him to apply for flight school and a commission; instead, he chose to receive a discharge so he could return to school. He passed a high school equivalency exam.
During the summer of 1976, George appeared in a recruiting film done for the Marine Corps Air Reserves. On May 5, 2009, the Marine Corps flew a flag over the Iwo Jima Memorial in honor of his service in the Corps.
Military awards
George earned the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal and the National Defense Service MedalNational Defense Service Medal
The National Defense Service Medal is a military service medal of the United States military originally commissioned by President Dwight D. Eisenhower...
. These awards are documented in his official military personnel file available at the National Archives and Records Administration
National Archives and Records Administration
The National Archives and Records Administration is an independent agency of the United States government charged with preserving and documenting government and historical records and with increasing public access to those documents, which comprise the National Archives...
.
University education
After completing his enlistment, he attended the University of MiamiUniversity of Miami
The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...
from 1953–1958, where he earned a Bachelors in Business Administration degree from the school of business. He was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon
Sigma Phi Epsilon
Sigma Phi Epsilon , commonly nicknamed SigEp or SPE, is a social college fraternity for male college students in the United States. It was founded on November 1, 1901, at Richmond College , and its national headquarters remains in Richmond, Virginia. It was founded on three principles: Virtue,...
, along with his brother Nick, who also attended the University of Miami.
Non-acting jobs
Christopher George held down a variety of jobs before he began acting for a living, including working as a private investigator and as a bartender in a Miami bar. He owned and operated eateries and beer joints, one called the Dragnet Drive-In in Miami and another in Stockton, CaliforniaStockton, California
Stockton, California, the seat of San Joaquin County, is the fourth-largest city in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. With a population of 291,707 at the 2010 census, Stockton ranks as this state's 13th largest city...
. The inn in Stockton where he worked for five months during a break from college had been owned by a late uncle for seven years and was off-limits to Marines. He held black belt
Black belt (martial arts)
In martial arts, the black belt is a way to describe a graduate of a field where a practitioner's level is often marked by the color of the belt. The black belt is commonly the highest belt color used and denotes a degree of competence. It is often associated with a teaching grade though...
s in karate
Karate
is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Islands in what is now Okinawa, Japan. It was developed from indigenous fighting methods called and Chinese kenpō. Karate is a striking art using punching, kicking, knee and elbow strikes, and open-handed techniques such as knife-hands. Grappling, locks,...
and judo
Judo
is a modern martial art and combat sport created in Japan in 1882 by Jigoro Kano. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw or takedown one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an...
. George worked as a bouncer in tough restaurants and held a pilot's license. He also hired on with a friend who owned a 110-foot converted Canadian gunboat and transported cargo through the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
for two years. Before graduating from the University of Miami, George had a job lined up with a big investment company; however he instead turned to acting after completing a vocational test battery that indicated that he should work in drama.
Acting career
After graduating from college, George began acting in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, where he performed on the stage and in television commercials. His big break came when he was working as a bouncer at a New York waterfront bar and producer Robert Rafelson convinced him to begin an acting career. He studied acting under Wynn Handman
Wynn Handman
Wynn Handman, is the Artistic Director of The American Place Theatre, which he co-founded with Sidney Lanier and Michael Tolan in 1963. His role in the theatre has been to seek out, encourage, train, and present new and exciting writing and acting talent and to develop and produce new plays by...
and landed roles in off Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
productions of popular plays of the day. Small theater productions in which he appeared while he was studying drama included All My Sons
All My Sons
All My Sons is a 1947 play by Arthur Miller. The play was twice adapted for film; in 1948, and again in 1987.The play opened on Broadway at the Coronet Theatre in New York City on January 29, 1947, closed on November 8, 1947 and ran for 328 performances...
, The Moon Is Blue
The Moon Is Blue
The Moon Is Blue is a 1953 American comedy film produced and directed by Otto Preminger. The screenplay by F. Hugh Herbert, based on his 1951 play of the same title, focuses on a young woman who meets an architect on the observation deck of the Empire State Building and quickly turns his life...
, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is a play by Tennessee Williams. One of Williams's best-known works and his personal favorite, the play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1955...
, Stalag 17
Stalag 17
Stalag 17 is a 1953 war film which tells the story of a group of American airmen held in a German World War II prisoner of war camp, who come to suspect that one of their number is a traitor...
, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a play by Edward Albee that opened on Broadway at the Billy Rose Theater on October 13, 1962. The original cast featured Uta Hagen as Martha, Arthur Hill as George, Melinda Dillon as Honey and George Grizzard as Nick. It was directed by Alan Schneider...
. Under drama coach Wynn Handman, he landed a sixteen week engagement in the play Mr. Roberts
Mister Roberts (play)
Mister Roberts is a 1948 play based on the 1946 Thomas Heggen novel of the same name.The novel began as a collection of short stories about Heggen's experiences aboard the USS Virgo in the South Pacific during World War II...
with actor Hugh O'Brian
Hugh O'Brian
Hugh O'Brian is an American actor, known for his starring role in the ABC television series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp .-Early years and career:...
; parts in Shakespeare and Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
works followed. George's career took off after he made a 60-second TV commercial for shaving cream, where he played the young man in the "Good morning, Mr. Gray" shaving spot, and won the New York Film Festival
New York Film Festival
The New York Film Festival has been a major film festival since it began in 1963 in New York. The films are selected by the Film Society of Lincoln Center...
Award for best actor in a commercial. During this 1962 shaving-cream commercial, George played a groom lathering up before his first honeymoon night, with a line where he said, "It's all for you." The commercial earned him over $30,000. He also appeared on TV in roles on Naked City
Naked City (TV series)
Naked City is a police drama series which aired from 1958 to 1963 on the ABC television network. It was inspired by the 1948 motion picture of the same name, and mimics its dramatic "semi-documentary" format....
and Bewitched
Bewitched
Bewitched is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for eight seasons on ABC from 1964 to 1972, starring Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York and Dick Sargent , Agnes Moorehead, and David White. The show is about a witch who marries a mortal and tries to lead the life of a typical suburban...
television series shows. While in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, George played in the Lemos Greek Repertory Theater because he could speak Greek fluently.
George first appeared on the screen when he landed a role in the 1965 film In Harm's Way
In Harm's Way
In Harm's Way is a 1965 American epic war film produced and directed by Otto Preminger and starring John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Patricia Neal, Tom Tryon, Paula Prentiss, Stanley Holloway, Burgess Meredith, Brandon De Wilde, Jill Haworth, Dana Andrews, and Henry Fonda.It was the last black-and-white...
, playing a dying sailor for 30 seconds. This gave him his first opportunity to meet and work with John Wayne, who had been his boyhood idol and who would become a lifelong friend.
George first rose to prominence in 1966 playing a supporting role in the Howard Hawks
Howard Hawks
Howard Winchester Hawks was an American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era...
-directed western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
film El Dorado, starring John Wayne. George and Wayne became friends while shooting the film and would co-star in additional westerns
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
, including Chisum
Chisum
Chisum is a 1970 Warner Bros. Technicolor western motion picture starring John Wayne, Forrest Tucker, Christopher George, Ben Johnson, Glenn Corbett, Geoffrey Deuel, Andrew Prine, Bruce Cabot, Patric Knowles, and Richard Jaeckel....
in 1970 and The Train Robbers
The Train Robbers
The Train Robbers is a 1973 Western film starring John Wayne, Ann-Margret, Rod Taylor, and Ben Johnson. The movie was written and directed by Burt Kennedy....
in 1973.
The Rat Patrol
From 1966 to 1968 over the course of two seasons and 58 episodes, George played the lead role of Sergeant Sam Troy in The Rat PatrolThe Rat Patrol
The Rat Patrol is an American television program that aired on ABC during the 1966–1968 seasons. The show follows the exploits of four Allied soldiers who are part of a long-range desert patrol group in the North African campaign during World War II...
. The television show followed the exploits of four Allied soldiers
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
who were part of a long range desert patrol group
Long Range Desert Group
The Long Range Desert Group was a reconnaissance and raiding unit of the British Army during the Second World War. The commander of the German Afrika Corps, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, admitted that the LRDG "caused us more damage than any other British unit of equal strength".Originally called...
in the North African campaign
North African campaign
During the Second World War, the North African Campaign took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943. It included campaigns fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts and in Morocco and Algeria and Tunisia .The campaign was fought between the Allies and Axis powers, many of whom had...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Along with fellow Rat Patrol members, George appeared in the April 1967 Cherry Blossom Festival
National Cherry Blossom Festival
The National Cherry Blossom Festival is a spring celebration in Washington, D.C., commemorating the March 27, 1912, gift of Japanese cherry trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo to the city of Washington...
and Parade in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
While filming a scene on January 4, 1967, George, as well as fellow cast members Justin Tarr and Gary Raymond
Gary Raymond
Gary Raymond is an English actor.He made his film debut as Cliff Lewis in Tony Richardson's film adaptation of John Osborne's Look Back in Anger , opposite Richard Burton and Claire Bloom...
, were injured when the jeep Tarr was driving overturned on a dry lakebed at Rosamond, California
Rosamond, California
Rosamond is a census-designated place in Kern County, California, USA, north of Palmdale, in the Antelope Valley, the westernmost desert valley of the Mojave Desert. Rosamond is also south of Mojave, , and north of Lancaster at an elevation of 2342 feet...
as they made a tight turn. George sustained a concussion, tearing something in his neck and injuring his back. Doctors at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Originally established as Kaspare Cohn Hospital in 1902, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a non-profit, tertiary 958-bed hospital and multi-specialty academic health science centre located in Los Angeles, California, US. Part of the Cedars-Sinai Health System, the hospital employs a staff of over...
in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
were able to determine that his back had been badly sprained, not fractured as they had initially feared. While starring in The Rat Patrol, Chris also served as an awards presenter at the 1966 Washington, D.C. local version of the Emmy Awards, hosted at the Washington, D.C. Sheraton Park Hotel.
USO Tour in 1967
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, which lasted for almost a month and which started on November 12, 1967 and went into December 1967. During the tour of Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, he visited III Corps
III Corps (South Vietnam)
III Corps was a corps of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam , the army of the nation state of South Vietnam that existed from 1955 to 1975...
Headquarters at Bien Hoa
Bien Hoa
Biên Hòa is a city in Dong Nai province, Vietnam, about east of Ho Chi Minh City , to which Bien Hoa is linked by Vietnam Highway 1.- Demographics :In 1989 the estimated population was over 300,000. In 2005, the population wss 541,495...
Army Base and used the III Corps signal switchboard to place a telephone call to his girlfriend and future wife, Lynda Day
Lynda Day George
For other entertainers with similar names, see Linda George .Lynda Day George is an American television and film actress whose career spanned three decades from the 1960s to the 1980s...
. While in Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, George did not confine himself to the rear echelon, but instead pressed his escorts to allow him to go as far out into the field as they would permit; at one time, they were even pinned down by the Viet Cong. In November 1967, the USO and the Air Force
Air force
An air force, also known in some countries as an air army, is in the broadest sense, the national military organization that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army, navy or...
sent Chris George and several other Hollywood celebrities to visit a military hospital in San Antonio, where military personnel returning from Vietnam with serious burns were being treated. The visit, to Brooke Army Medical Center
Brooke Army Medical Center
Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio is part of the United States Army Medical Command. It is a University of Texas Health Science Center and USUHS teaching hospital and contains the Army Burn Center....
in San Antonio, was arranged by Johnny Grant, a Hollywood radio personality who had taken troupes of performers to Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
; during the visit George and some of the actresses, including his future wife Lynda Day
Lynda Day George
For other entertainers with similar names, see Linda George .Lynda Day George is an American television and film actress whose career spanned three decades from the 1960s to the 1980s...
, spent over an hour with a wounded veteran who had been previously uncommunicative and got him to talk.
Post-Rat Patrol
Following cancellation of The Rat Patrol, George played the lead role in several genre films of the 1960s, including Tiger by the Tail (1968) co-starring Tippi HedrenTippi Hedren
Nathalie Kay "Tippi" Hedren is an American actress and former fashion model with a career spanning six decades. She is primarily known for her roles in two Alfred Hitchcock films, The Birds and Marnie, and her extensive efforts in animal rescue at Shambala Preserve, an wildlife habitat which she...
; Project X (1968), directed by William Castle
William Castle
William Castle was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. Castle was known for directing films with many gimmicks which were ambitiously promoted, despite being reasonably low budget B-movies....
; and The Devil’s 8 (1969) co-starring Fabian
Fabian (entertainer)
Fabiano Anthony Forte , known as Fabian, is an American teen idol of the late 1950s and early 1960s. He rose to national prominence after performing several times on American Bandstand. Eleven of his songs reached the Billboard Hot 100 listing.-Early life:Fabian was the son of Josephine and Domenic...
. He narrated a documentary about the careers of Craig Breedlove
Craig Breedlove
Craig Breedlove is a five-time world land speed record holder. He was the first to reach , , and , using several turbojet-powered vehicles, all named Spirit of America.-Land vehicle speed records :...
and Lee Breedlove, a husband-and-wife auto racing team, titled "The Racers: Craig and Lee Breedlove", in 1968.
Then, in 1969, George portrayed Ben Richards in the pilot movie for The Immortal
The Immortal (TV series)
The Immortal is an American television series, which aired on ABC from September 1970 to January 1971. The series is based on a pilot movie of the same name, which aired in September 1969. The pilot is based on the science fiction novel The Immortals, by James Gunn. Although the series was canceled...
which ran on ABC Movie of the Week
ABC Movie of the Week
The ABC Movie of the Week is a weekly television anthology series, featuring made-for-TV movies, that aired on the ABC network in various permutations from 1969 to 1975.-History:...
. The film was picked up as a TV series and ran for 15 episodes from 1970-1971.
The Thousand Plane Raid
The Thousand Plane Raid
The Thousand Plane Raid is a 1969 film directed by Boris Sagal. It stars Christopher George and Laraine Stephens...
(1969)- The biggest air-borne armada of the war - a thousand bombers on a secret mission to destroy the Nazi dream of a Thousand Year Reich!
Christopher George... Col. Greg Brandon / Laraine Stephens...Gabrielle
During this time, he also portrayed Dan August in the television film House on Greenapple Road (1970), which evolved into the 1970-71 series Dan August
Dan August
Dan August is a short-lived 1970-1971 crime drama television series, which starred Burt Reynolds as the title character: a police lieutenant who investigated homicide cases in his hometown of Santa Luisa, California...
starring Burt Reynolds
Burt Reynolds
Burton Leon "Burt" Reynolds, Jr. is an American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Bobby "Gator" McCluskey in White Lightning and sequel Gator, Paul Crewe and Coach Nate Scarborough in The Longest Yard and its...
. In addition, he starred in an unsold TV series pilot, "Escape" with Avery Schreiber and Huntz Hall, which ABC released in 1971 as a TV movie. In it, he portrayed Robin-Hood-like escapologist and nightclub owner Cammeron Steele. George continued his television work throughout the 1970s with guest roles on many popular series including Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law
Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law
Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law is an American legal drama, jointly created by David Victor and former law professor Jerry McNeely, that starred actor Arthur Hill. The series was broadcast on ABC from 1971 to 1974...
, Police Story, S.W.A.T.
S.W.A.T. (TV series)
----S.W.A.T. is a 1970s American television series about the adventures of the WCPD's Olympic Division Special Weapons And Tactics team operating in an unidentified California city....
, Charlie's Angels
Charlie's Angels
Charlie's Angels is a television series about three women who work for a private investigation agency, and is one of the first shows to showcase women in roles traditionally reserved for men...
. and Fantasy Island
Fantasy Island
Fantasy Island is the title of two separate but related American fantasy television series, both originally airing on the ABC television network.-Original series:...
. In 1973, George starred opposite of Jim Brown
Jim Brown
James Nathaniel "Jim" Brown is an American former professional football player who has also made his mark as an actor. He is best known for his exceptional and record-setting nine-year career as a running back for the NFL Cleveland Browns from 1957 to 1965. In 2002, he was named by Sporting News...
in I Escaped from Devil's Island. He also surprised fans by posing nude for Playgirl
Playgirl
Playgirl is a print quarterly adult magazine published in the United States that is marketed mainly to heterosexual women, but has also gained a considerable gay following...
magazine in the June, 1974 issue. In 1976, George played a supporting role as Lieutenant Commander Wade McClusky in the all-star World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
epic Midway
Midway (film)
Midway is a 1976 war film directed by Jack Smight and produced byWalter Mirisch from a screenplay by Donald S. Sanford. The music score was by John Williams and the cinematography by Harry Stradling, Jr...
. That same year, he would play the lead role of Ranger Michael Kelly in the Film Ventures International
Film Ventures International
Film Ventures International is an independent movie production and distribution company originally situated in Atlanta, Georgia during the 1970s. FVI garnered a notorious reputation within the industry for producing films which were highly derivative of many blockbusters of the era...
independent film Grizzly
Grizzly (film)
Grizzly is a 1976 horror film directed by William Girdler. The film is about an 18-foot man-eating Grizzly bear that terrorizes a National Forest. The film stars Christopher George, Andrew Prine and Richard Jaeckel...
. A thinly-veiled Jaws
Jaws (film)
Jaws is a 1975 American horror-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. In the story, the police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant man-eating great white shark by closing the beach,...
clone, the animal horror thriller became one of the most popular films of George's career earning more than $39 million at the box office.
George followed that success with a busy string of horror, action
Action film
Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...
, splatter
Splatter film
A splatter film or gore film is a subgenre of horror film that deliberately focuses on graphic portrayals of gore and graphic violence. These films, through the use of special effects and excessive blood and guts, tend to display an overt interest in the vulnerability of the human body and the...
and slasher
Slasher film
A slasher film is a type of horror film typically involving a psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims in a graphically violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a knife or axe...
B-movies over the next seven years including Dixie Dynamite (1976) co-starring Warren Oates
Warren Oates
Warren Mercer Oates was an American actor best known for his performances in several films directed by Sam Peckinpah including The Wild Bunch and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia...
; Day of the Animals
Day of the Animals
The Day of the Animals is a 1977 American horror film thriller directed by William Girdler and based on a story written by Edward L. Montoro...
(1977) co-starring Lynda Day George
Lynda Day George
For other entertainers with similar names, see Linda George .Lynda Day George is an American television and film actress whose career spanned three decades from the 1960s to the 1980s...
and Leslie Nielsen
Leslie Nielsen
Leslie William Nielsen, OC was a Canadian and naturalized American actor and comedian. Nielsen appeared in more than one hundred films and 1,500 television programs over the span of his career, portraying more than 220 characters...
; Whiskey Mountain (1977); Filippo Ottoni's Last Night Of Christmas aka Questo sì che è amore with Sven Valsecchi and Gay Hamilton
Gay Hamilton
Gay Hamilton is a Scottish actress. Her filmography notably includes Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon and Ridley Scott's The Duellists. In the late 1960s/early 1970s, she was love interest and later wife of Detective Chief Superintendent John Watt in the TV series Softly, Softly and its Taskforce...
(1978); City of the Living Dead
City of the Living Dead
City of the Living Dead is an Italian horror film from director Lucio Fulci. It has numerous alternate titles, such as Gates of Hell. It is the first installment of the unofficial Gates of Hell trilogy which also includes The Beyond and The House by the Cemetery. Fulci makes an uncredited cameo...
(1980) directed by Lucio Fulci
Lucio Fulci
Lucio Fulci was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is perhaps best known for his directorial work on gore films, including Zombie and The Beyond , although he made films in genres as diverse as giallo, western, and comedy...
; The Exterminator
The Exterminator
The Exterminator is a 1980 action film written, produced and directed by James Glickenhaus and starring Robert Ginty as Vietnam veteran vigilante John Eastland, also known as "The Exterminator", who takes out the street punks and those involved in organized crime when the law fails to do justice.-...
(1980); Graduation Day
Graduation Day (film)
-Plot:It's just weeks before high school graduation and members of the track team are being mysteriously and gruesomely murdered, one by one. When the team's star runner, Laura Ramstead, falls dead from a heart attack at the championship meet, her U.S...
(1981); Enter the Ninja
Enter the Ninja
Enter the Ninja is a 1981 martial arts film directed by Menahem Golan and starring Franco Nero, Susan George and Shô Kosugi. Production was started in the Philippines with Emmett Alston directing, but when Charles Bronson refused to allow Menahem Golan to direct Death Wish II, Golan, a co-principal...
(1981); Pieces
Pieces (film)
Pieces is a 1983 cult classic slasher horror film and "drive-in favorite".-Plot:...
(1982) co-starring Lynda Day George
Lynda Day George
For other entertainers with similar names, see Linda George .Lynda Day George is an American television and film actress whose career spanned three decades from the 1960s to the 1980s...
; and Mortuary
Mortuary (1983 film)
Mortuary was a 1983 slasher film/horror movie which starred Bill Paxton, Mary Beth McDonough, David Wallace, Lynda Day George, with Michael Berryman and Christopher George in one of his final roles...
(1983) co-starring Lynda Day George
Lynda Day George
For other entertainers with similar names, see Linda George .Lynda Day George is an American television and film actress whose career spanned three decades from the 1960s to the 1980s...
and Bill Paxton
Bill Paxton
William "Bill" Paxton is an American actor and film director. He gained popularity after starring roles in the films Apollo 13, Twister, Aliens, True Lies, and Titanic...
. Many of these works have since achieved cult film
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
status.
Recruiting film for the United States Marine Corps Reserve
In the summer of 1976, prior to returning to MCAS Quantico for a visit, George traveled to Andrews Air Force BaseAndrews Air Force Base
Joint Base Andrews is a United States military facility located in Prince George's County, Maryland. The facility is under the jurisdiction of the United States Air Force 11th Wing, Air Force District of Washington ....
in Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
to appear in a recruiting video for the US Marine Corps Air Reserves
United States Marine Corps Reserve
The Marine Forces Reserve is the reserve force of the United States Marine Corps. It is the largest command in the U.S...
. This video featured Marines assigned to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 321
VMFA-321
Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 321 was a United States Marine Corps fighter squadron consisting of F/A-18 Hornets . Known as "Hell’s Angels”, the squadron participated in action during World War II and was then transferred to the Marine Forces Reserve...
and they had just returned from their annual training
Annual training
Annual training refers to the yearly training period conducted by all National Guard and Reserve components of the United States military. Usually advertised as two weeks each year that personnel must attend, annual training periods have increased to as much as month-long events during the Iraq...
tour as reservists. The commander of the unit at the time was LtCol Charles McLeran. It was filmed by the J. Walter Thompson advertising company
JWT
JWT is one of the largest advertising agencies in the United States and the fourth-largest in the world. It is one of the key companies of Sir Martin Sorrell's WPP Group and is headquartered in New York. The global agency is led by Worldwide Chairman and Global CEO Bob Jeffrey who took over the...
and provided to recruiters in 1978. Archive records show that George was on contract with J. Walter Thompson
JWT
JWT is one of the largest advertising agencies in the United States and the fourth-largest in the world. It is one of the key companies of Sir Martin Sorrell's WPP Group and is headquartered in New York. The global agency is led by Worldwide Chairman and Global CEO Bob Jeffrey who took over the...
for this work.
Marriage and later work
George first met actress Lynda Day in New York where they were doing a fashion layout; prophetically, she was modeling the bride's outfit and he was the groom. They met again later when they starred together in the 1966 independent filmIndependent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
The Gentle Rain. They would star together again four years later in Chisum, where they fell in love and soon married. In May 1970, they were married in an Episcopal
Episcopal Church (United States)
The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
ceremony in a judge's chamber in Palm Beach, Florida
Palm Beach, Florida
The Town of Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The Intracoastal Waterway separates it from the neighboring cities of West Palm Beach and Lake Worth...
. The following day, they left for their honeymoon in St. Croix the Virgin Islands
Virgin Islands
The Virgin Islands are the western island group of the Leeward Islands, which are the northern part of the Lesser Antilles, which form the border between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean...
. They had a son and a daughter.
Lynda Day George
Lynda Day George
For other entertainers with similar names, see Linda George .Lynda Day George is an American television and film actress whose career spanned three decades from the 1960s to the 1980s...
co-starred with her husband in multiple television films over the next 10 years, including Mayday at 40,000 Feet (1976) and Cruise Into Terror (1978). They also worked together in episodes of The F.B.I. (1970), Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...
(1971), McCloud (1975), Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman (TV series)
Wonder Woman is an American television series based on the DC Comics comic book superhero of the same name. Starring Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman/Diana Prince and Lyle Waggoner as Steve Trevor, the show originally aired from 1975 to 1979....
(1976), Love Boat
Love Boat
The Overseas Compatriot Youth Formosa Study Tour to Taiwan, informally known as the Love Boat, is currently a four-week summer program for about 400–600 college-aged Overseas Chinese. In Chinese, it is also colloquially referred to as mei-jia-ying - America and Canada Camp, a reference to where...
(1977) and Vega$
Vega$
Vega$ is an American detective television drama series that aired on ABC between 1978 and 1981. It was produced by Aaron Spelling. The series, was filmed in its entirety in Las Vegas, Nevada, which is believed to be the first television series produced entirely in Las Vegas...
(1978).
Death
Two months after MortuaryMortuary (1983 film)
Mortuary was a 1983 slasher film/horror movie which starred Bill Paxton, Mary Beth McDonough, David Wallace, Lynda Day George, with Michael Berryman and Christopher George in one of his final roles...
was released, George died of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
on the evening of November 28, 1983. He died at Westside Hospital in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, while under the care of his cardiologist
Cardiology
Cardiology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the heart . The field includes diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular heart disease and electrophysiology...
, Dr. Pearl McBroom. A contributing factor in his death is believed to have been the 1967 Rat Patrol mishap, which had left George with a bad heart.
A Greek Orthodox rosary service was conducted at Westwood Memorial Park and a private funeral was held at Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Northridge, California. At his funeral, the Marine Corps provided an honor guard
Honor guard
An honor guard, or ceremonial guard, is a ceremonial unit, usually military in nature and composed of volunteers who are carefully screened for their physical ability and dexterity...
to render military honors. The non-commissioned officer in charge of the military detail for the funeral, Gunnery Sergeant (retired) Ron Paschall, stated that the military honor guard included pallbearers, a color guard and riflemen that came from the nearby Marine Corps Air Station El Toro
Marine Corps Air Station El Toro
Marine Corps Air Station El Toro was a United States Marine Corps Air Station located near Irvine, California.Before it was decommissioned in 1999, it was the home of Marine Corps aviation on the West Coast. Designated as a Master Jet Station, its four runways could handle the largest aircraft...
. He is interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
The Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery is a cemetery in the Westwood Village area of Los Angeles, California. It is located at 1218 Glendon Avenue in Westwood....
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
.
He was survived by his wife, a daughter and a son. His death devastated his wife; she never recovered from the shock. Afterward, she only worked sporadically in television guest roles until her retirement in the early 1990s.
On May 5, 2009, the Marine Corps flew a flag over the Iwo Jima Memorial in honor of his service in the Corps.
George's niece is Wheel of Fortune hostess Vanna White
Vanna White
Vanna White is an American television personality and film actress best known as the hostess of Wheel of Fortune since 1982.-Early life:...
.
External links
- Christopher George biography
- The Rat Patrol Classified Dossier
- Review of Grizzly by Scott Weinberg
- Review of City of the Living Dead by Troy Howarth
- Review of The Day of the Animals by William Simmons
- Independent Star News TV Week article: Christopher George- Rat Patroller Par Excellence by Marian Dern
- Christopher George in Vietnam during USO tour on website for Co A44/36th Signal Bn, 1st Signal Bde Bien Hoa Army Base, Vietnam - 1967/70
- Christopher George photo from Grizzly review article
- A Tribute to Christopher George
- Video of Christopher George in Bewitched as "George the Warlock", aired 22 April 1965
- Video of Christopher George in The Love Boat as Bill Wainwright, 13 May 1978 (Season 1, Episode 24)
- Video of Christopher George in Charlie's Angels episode "Terror on Skis" season 3, episode 16
- After the location shooting for the film "Enter the Ninja" Christopher George shops with colleagues and Amapola in Manila, the Philippines
- Aircraft Engineering Squadron-12 (AES-12) website
