Q 13

PLAYBOY: In many ways, you are the epitome of the PLAYBOY man, in that you possess the great masculine graces. Do you have any tips on being a bachelor with style?

George Hamilton: Well, the hard thing is to be married with style. Being single is a breeze. Nowadays, you can have a head-on collision on Sunset Boulevard and end up going home with the girl you hit. The biggest problem facing men is being too laid back. Men now are shunning money, sex, responsibility. They're laying back and saying, I'd like to have children, but I don't want to say they're mine, or I'll admit it, but I don't want to marry the girl. Meanwhile, women are saying, Someone has to make a decision, so it better be me. If I'm not going to find Mr. Right on Friday night, I better go to the office on Monday morning and make a life there. This, to me, is a terrible shift. Since cave days, men have been the protectors, and I'm a throwback to male chauvinism. If I go out with a woman, I open the door. Here are my tips to young men. I don't see a woman unless I'm taking her to dinner, I ask her what she wants and then I order it for her. I don't like a woman saying, "Well, let's eat at Nick's tonight, and then dancing afterward...." I'll say, "You want to see this car make a U turn? This car makes beautiful U turns. I've made reservations somewhere else. If you invited me to dinner in your home, would I bring a steak and say I didn't want your chicken? Would I tell you I want to eat on the terrace instead of the patio?" If that makes me a chauvinist pig, OK.

Q 14

PLAYBOY: How about getting divorced with style? When your wife Alana divorced you and took up with Rod Stewart, you handled the situation with charm and friendly remarks. How did you manage that?

George Hamilton: You have to spend a lot of nights alone with yourself when a relationship ends and you realize no man ever takes a woman away from another man. The relationship was over before that man arrived. It's absurd to love someone and then hate her. It shows your lack of judgment and taste. Now, my ex-wife Alana is the kind of person who could stand on a street corner and there'd be a party in 15 minutes. If she drives your car, there's an accident. She's a catalyst. She could take people to Delores' Drive-in on skates and everybody would think he lived that night. But before I met her, she was negative. If it rained, it rained only on her, as though she were God's personal guinea pig and He had opened His laboratory of tricks on her. I told her she could have anything she wanted. She just had to decide what it was, take a deep breath and, without stepping on anyone, go out and get it. I see something in a woman, not so much what she is but what she could be, and I try to bring that out. Now, when other men discover it, it doesn't make me unhappy. I knew it all along.

Q 15

PLAYBOY: What is the worst thing that can happen to a man?

George Hamilton: Hearing someone committed suicide over you or ended up a drunk.

Q 16

PLAYBOY: Is it true that you get your blood "cleaned," or was that hype for the Dracula film?

George Hamilton: It's true. You get an antitoxin shot and it cleans out all the impurities, like an oil filter in a car. The big problem of life is not a major organ failing. It's the stress put on the other organs when it fails. People would live longer if the ailing organ were detected early and supported by the right diet, blood cleansing--whatever means available. Diet has so much to do with it. I follow Pritikin's method: no fats, high carbohydrates and lots of jogging. The worst drug today is not smack or pot; it's refined sugar. Sugar kills.

Q 17

PLAYBOY: How many cars and homes do you own?

George Hamilton: Cars? I'm down to almost nothing. Sold the Porsche Turbo Carrera and the Rolls Corniche yesterday--I like to keep my assets liquid; I'll sell anything on any day. So I have a station wagon and a truck in Mississippi, a jeep in Aspen--that's about it. Homes? Let's see, I have six in Mississippi and two plantations and I sold a few mansions in Beverly Hills. I don't think California real estate is a safe investment anymore. Too many foreign investors who want a secure political situation. If these speculators decide to dump, the market will be glutted. I'm going to sit it out in Mississippi. Gone with the Wind plantations are still standing there, because after the Civil War, no one had the money to modernize them. Their value can only increase.

Q 18

PLAYBOY: Do you ever dress down? Do you ever wear, say, ripped jeans?

George Hamilton: In Aspen, I lived ripped, in jeans.

Q 19

PLAYBOY: How many suits do you own?

George Hamilton: Enough to fill the Polo Lounge. Hundreds. I make a deal with the studios; I keep the suits. I get doubles, triples. Sometimes I rent them back for pictures. I've kept everything from the day I started. Sixties stuff. And I've had guys who wanted to buy it, too; they say they've never seen such a "period" wardrobe.

Q 20

PLAYBOY: Do you have a philosophy of dressing?

George Hamilton: Yes. Everyone looks better in black tie.