Back Story

I was in the library the day aftr I reviewed Alana Stewart's book on Farrah Fawcett and what popped up in the non-fiction shelves? George Hamilton's "Don't Mind if I Do." Snap! I pounced on it.

He doesnt get to Alana until page 209 when he saw her waterskiing in Acapulco Bay. She was a Ford model and a month later, he ran into her in New York, dancing with a playboy at Le Club. He abandoned hope and returned to LA where he was a partner in the Candy Store (disco of yore.) He saw her there, alone except for a girlfriend and made her acquaintance.

He discovered that she was 20, had grown up in Nacogdoches, TX (though born in San Diego). A former flight attendant for Trans-Texas Airways, she saved up for a ticket to New York and the Ford agency which happily accepted her. Hamilton said of her, 'I was captivated by Alana's spunk and drive, not to mention her precocious wit and sense of humor."

Items - She got hepatits from Mexican clams and as a result became "a health nut and walking food allergy. When the meal invariably failed to measure up, Alana would send the food back to the kitchen and the waiter back to his native land."

They'd had a back and forth relationship for some time. He gave up; she started dating the Earl of Litchfield, with the intention of marrying him. Sulking, Hamilton went to the Riviera and had an affair with Britt Eckland, who had just ended a relationship with Warren Beatty. (Ah, the Swingin' 70s)

They had a farewell dinner before her return to England in Palm Springs. Hamilton's dear friend (and neighbor) counseled him, "Marry her! She's smarter than you are!" and offered Elvis' plane but: for that night and that night only. He proposed, she accepted and they flew to Las Vegas. Alana's dog was the maid of honor.

Hamilton was 33; she was 27 (yes, a long courtship). They married in 1972, but were divorced in 1975. They had a son named Ashley.

George remarked that "and then there was the matter of Steve McQueen, then married to Ali McGraw. He and Alana hit it off. She insisted there was nothing between them. But Hamilton kept finding McQueen's favorite beer in the refrigerator (neither Hamilton nor Alana drank beer) and McQueen's motorcycle in their garage. He said, "Sherlock Holmess closed the case, but I'd rather have been wrong." So far he has never remarried.