Clooneys set for a ‘grand’ time during Maysville Twilight Christmas Parade
December 3, 2008 by admin
Filed under Family, Friends and Co-Stars
Nick and Nina Clooney will be spreading good cheer through the streets of downtown Maysville Friday night while serving as grand marshals of this year’s Christmas parade.
The annual Maysville Twilight Christmas Parade will begin with line-up at 5:30 p.m. under the trestle on East Second Street with the parade getting under way at 6 p.m., Friday, to wind its way through the downtown area.
According to Nina Clooney, she and her husband, Nick were contacted by Maysville Tourism Director Duff Giffen and asked to serve as grand marshals.
“Duff called and asked if we’d be in town and like to be this year’s grand marshals,” said Nina Clooney. “We said we definitely would.”
“The Clooney’s have always had a huge impact on our community but especially this year,” said Giffen. “It’s a nice way to conclude the year.”
It’s been a big year for the Clooney family in Maysville. In the spring, the couple celebrated with their son, George as his movie “Leatherheads,” premiered during a red carpet event before the hometown crowd at the Washington Opera Theatre. The Rosemary Clooney Concert celebrated its 10th anniversary in the fall with an appearance by Michael Bolton.
“We love the community,” said Nina Clooney. “We really have two hometowns. We try to do the things we’re asked to do in the community.”
Last year’s parade had near record attendance and this year’s looks to be even bigger, according to officials.
“I think given Nick’s family history in Maysville the event will be wonderful to be a part of,” said Nina Clooney.
As grand marshals, the Clooneys will head up the parade before retiring to a reviewing area to watch the floats, bands, vehicles and other units which follow.
Giffen said to expect a variety of floats as well as members of the community participating in the parade.
“Everybody is included in the parade,” said Giffen.
Giffen said the tradition of illuminated floats will continue again this year.
“That’s what makes it so magical,” said Giffen.
In addition to the parade downtown, a holiday dessert smorgasbord will take place between 4-8 p.m., at 113 West Second Street, across from the Washington Opera Theater to benefit restoration of Russell Theatre.
Other events planned for the evening include a free family holiday performance at the Opera Theater, an open house at the Kentucky Gateway Museum Center, visits with Santa and the lighting on the Christmas tree on the Second Street Mall.
“The whole evening we are trying to get people to stay downtown,” said Giffen.
Wagon rides will also be available throughout the downtown area.
“It’s going to be a really nice night to be downtown,” said Giffen.
Source: By BARBARA GOLDMAN, Staff Writer
Nick Clooney Biography written by Nina Clooney
August 28, 2006 by admin
Filed under Family, Friends and Co-Stars
Nick Clooney, Kentuckian and newsman
Excerpt from The Encylopedia of Northern Kentucky
Nicholas Joseph Clooney was born Jan. 13, 1934, in Maysville, Ky. His parents, Andrew and Frances Guilfoyle Clooney, were near the end of the marital road when Nick was born. After reconciliation, they finally divorced when Nick was 4 years old. Due to the necessity for their mother to find work in Cincinnati, Nick and his sisters Rosemary Clooney and Betty stayed in Maysville with their Grandmother Guilfoyle most of the time.
The children listened to radio broadcasts on Cincinnati station WLW, as well as other radio stations, and fell in love with the wonderful radio voices that spoke and sang to them. In their teens, they followed their dreams: Rosemary and Betty left Maysville to pursue successful singing careers and Nick took a job at age 16 at Maysville radio station WFTM, which launched a long and distinguished career in broadcasting.
The consistent thread evident in the career of Nick Clooney is communication. As a television newsman, Nick has been reporter, anchor, managing editor and news director in Cincinnati, Salt Lake City, Buffalo and Los Angeles.
As a columnist, another pursuit he has undertaken, Nick has, since 1989, contributed three columns each week to The Cincinnati Post and The Kentucky Post dealing with subjects as varied as current politics, travel and American history. Many of his articles and op-ed pieces have appeared in newspapers around the country, including the Los Angeles Times and the Salt Lake Tribune.
As an author, Nick has published three books, including “The Movies That Changed Us” in November 2002. As a TV host, Nick was for five years a daily on-air spokesman and writer for American Movie Classics cable channel (AMC). He has made scores of personal appearances coast to coast on AMC’s behalf with special focus on film preservation.
Earlier, he hosted talk variety programs in Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio, and was guest host on programs in New York City, Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Indianapolis. Currently, he is host for the American Life TV cable channel.
Nick has also accumulated a number of awards including one that named him one of the “best in business of television news” by the Washington Review of Journalism. He has received a regional Emmy for commentary, was thrice nominated for national Emmys for his work on AMC, and has received nearly 300 other awards.
In December 1998, Nick was presented an honorary doctorate of fine arts from Northern Kentucky University. In 2000, Nick received the President’s Medal from Thomas More College, was inducted into the Cincinnati Journalism Hall of Fame by the Society of Professional Journalists, and received the Distinguished Kentuckian Award from Kentucky Broadcasters Association. In April 2001, Nick was inducted into the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame. In October 2005, he was inducted into the Ohio Television Hall of Fame.
Nick is married to Nina Warren of Perryville, Ky., who is a writer, inventor and television host. Their oldest child Ada, also a writer, is the mother of Allison and Nick. The Clooneys’ younger child, son George Clooney, is a high-profile, Oscar-winning actor, and successful producer and director in film and television.
In the early 1970s, after several moves, Nick and Nina decided to establish a permanent home. It was clear that their work would continue to take them far afield, but they decided to establish a stable home base. At that time, Nick was hosting in Cincinnati both a daily television talk-variety show and a daily morning radio show. On weekends, he flew to New York City to tape “The Money Maze,” a daily network game show on ABC-TV. Within two years, Nick returned to his great love, news, anchoring and serving as managing editor for WKRC-TV news in Cincinnati. Three years later, it became the city’s most successful newscast.
Nick also was principal anchor at Channel 13 in Salt Lake City, Channel 4 in Buffalo, and on Channel 4 in Los Angeles, KNBC-TV. In the midst of this peripatetic lifestyle, Nick and Nina found their home. After much searching, they chose Augusta, Ky., not only for its beauty, but also to enable their children to experience the small-town life they had known, Nick in Maysville and Nina in Perryville. The move was everything they hoped. Both children excelled in school and gained confidence in their own abilities in many aspects of real life.
In time, other family members followed the lure of Augusta. In addition to aunts, uncles, and cousins, Nick’s sister Rosemary had a home on Riverside Drive in Augusta for 20 years. More recently, Nick’s younger sister Gail built a home overlooking the Ohio River in Augusta.
Each Monday The Post prints excerpts from the forthcoming “The Encyclopedia of Northern Kentucky,” edited by Paul A. Tenkotte and James C. Claypool. Visit www.nkyencyclopedia.org on the Web.
Source: The Cincinnati Post
George Clooney Biography written by Nina Clooney
August 22, 2006 by admin
Filed under Family, Friends and Co-Stars
George Clooney well-rooted in N. Ky.
Nina Clooney
707 words
21 August 2006
The Cincinnati Post
Cincinnati
George Timothy Clooney was born May 6, 1961, in Lexington, Ky. The Oscar-nominated writer, director and Oscar-winning actor is the son of Nick Clooney and Nina Warren Clooney. George is the nephew of Rosemary Clooney and has a sister, Ada, who is one year older.
George began first grade at Blessed Sacrament School in Ft. Mitchell, Ky. Later, St.
Michael’s School in Columbus, Ohio, and the Western Row and St. Susanna schools, both in Mason, Ohio, preceded the family’s move to Augusta, Ky., for his high school education.
Always a sports fan, George had hoped to play football. Augusta High School, where he graduated in 1979, only offered basketball and baseball. He participated in both, eventually trying out with the Cincinnati Reds to play professional baseball, but this did not materialize.
Although it would take several years, George’s livelihood would be in television and
motion pictures. First, he attended Northern Kentucky University and, very briefly, the
University of Cincinnati. In spring 1981, his cousins Miguel and Rafi Ferrer, two of his Aunt Rosemary’s sons, and their father, Jose Ferrer, came to Lexington, Ky., to do a movie and invited George to the set. For George, this exposure to acting was love at first sight, and he never looked back.
When his father, Nick, tried to convince George to stay in school by saying, “At least
with a diploma, you’ll have something to fall back on,” George replied, “If I have
something to fall back on, I’ll fall back.”
George cut tobacco, sold lemonade at the Labor Day festival in Augusta and drew
caricatures of people to get enough money together for his trip to Los Angeles, Calif., to become an actor. In fall 1981, he climbed into an old Monte Carlo automobile and three days later he was in his newly adopted hometown of Los Angeles, ready to do what was necessary to become an actor.
Odd jobs, “cattle calls” (highly competitive acting auditions), trading work for acting
lessons, auditioning, hopes dashed, showcases, readings and new friends all followed, but no acting jobs materialized for George for almost two years.
Slowly, small television appearances by George led to several unsuccessful television pilots — until 1984. That year, George was cast in a role on a new television program called “ER” that was soon cancelled. Ironically, George’s great TV success came with a second show also named “ER.” His engaging portrayal of Dr. Doug Ross, handsome children’s medical specialist, quickly transformed George Clooney into a household name.
George had appeared in a half-dozen small films before his portrayal of Dr. Ross on television brought him to the attention of major movie producers and directors. Never one to shrink from an opportunity or his responsibility, George lived up to his five-year contract with Warner Brothers for “ER,” while, with their help in scheduling, he also made six movies. Half of them were filmed during summer hiatus of “ER,” and the others during regular tapings of the successful hospital drama.
George was Dr. Doug Ross in scrubs in the mornings; then in the afternoons, he would jump on his bicycle and pedal across the Warner production lot to various sound stages where he made “From Dusk to Dawn” (1996), “Batman & Robin” (1997), and “The Peacemaker” (1997).
George has proven his versatility with success in far-ranging movies that include: “Three Kings” (1999); “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” (2000); “The Perfect Storm” (2000); “Oceans Eleven” (2001); “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” (2002); “Intolerable Cruelty” (2003); “Ocean’s Twelve” (2004); “Good Night, and Good Luck” (2005); “Syriana” (2005); “Michael Clayton” (2006), and “The Good German” (2006).
Each Monday The Post prints excerpts from the forthcoming “The Encyclopedia of Northern Kentucky,” edited by Paul A. Tenkotte and James C. Claypool. Visit www.nkyencyclopedia.org on the Web.
Source:
Clooney Family News
August 21, 2006 by admin
Filed under Family, Friends and Co-Stars
Nick and Nina are scheduled to appear at a screening of “The Seneca Falls Documentary Project” which follows nine diverse teenage girls from San Francisco to Seneca Falls, N.Y., where they travel to take part in the 150th anniversary of the birth of the women’s rights movement in America. The screening, an event the Clooney’s helped sponsor will be held at The Frazier International History Museum.
More details at the source: The Courier-Journal
Clooney Family News
August 12, 2006 by admin
Filed under Family, Friends and Co-Stars
There was a nice little write up online at Glasgow Daily Times about Nina’s addition to Nick Clooney’s Column entitled “Beautiful Bunny was, and is one of a kind.”
Former friends enjoy reunion
By JOEL WILSON, Editor emeritus
Glasgow Daily Times
GLASGOW — “Beautiful Bunny was, and is one of a kind.”
That’s the headline atop a copyrighted column in the Aug. 2 edition of the Cincinnati Post.
The writer is Nina Clooney, who sometimes subs for her husband Nick Clooney, a regular columnist for the newspaper. Nick and Nina are also known as the parents of actor George Clooney.
The subject of Nina’s column last week was Bunny Wells, a raven-haired beauty who grew up in Temple Hill in my generation. Nina and Bunny became teenage friends and the column in the Post describes a recent reunion of the two.
Nina and Bunny became acquainted at the Miss Kentucky REA contest in 1956. Both were contestants. Bunny not only won the Kentucky pageant, but also went on to claim the national title. In the days leading up to the Kentucky contest, the two 17-year-olds became fast friends.
That fall of 1956, Nina and her
mother visited Bunny and her parents, Gene and Clifton Wells, at their home in Temple Hill and later after Nina enrolled at UK, she invited Bunny for a weekend dance. In her column, Nina described how Bunny walked in wearing a red gown and immediately captured the room.
Nina also described Bunny as one of the most beautiful girls she had ever laid eyes on, like a young Elizabeth Taylor but with a better figure. But what really endeared Bunny to Nina was Bunny’s sparkling personality.
This is how Nina described Bunny in the column. “The really wonderful thing about Bunny was her hometown sense of humor and unique spirit that said ‘I am who I am; take it or leave it.’ And when she opened her mouth, she was pure country. But even back then it was an enlightened kind of country. She was not narrow-minded about herself or anyone else.”
The teenage friends lost touch with one another, like many of us unfortunately do.
When Nick and Nina visited Mammoth Cave recently with two of their grandchildren, Nick asked Nina if she wanted to go to Temple Hill. With the help of some friendly Temple Hill environs, they found Bunny’s aunt, Marie Miller, and to their great surprise, learned that Bunny had moved back to Glasgow after more than 40 years.
The two old friends met for breakfast the next morning and caught up with each other’s lives. Bunny went on to a successful modeling career and later into residential development. She has lived in Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.
Bunny moved back home two years ago. Now happily single, she enjoys shopping with friends from her teen years at Temple Hill and being with family, including her 86-year-old mother (who is a story herself).
After all these years, Nina and Bunny have reconnected and both hope the friendship continues forever. Bunny has accepted an invitation to visit the Clooneys in a few weeks. Her unmarried daughter, Christina, is beside herself. “I can’t believe you’re going to visit George Clooney’s parents,” she said to her mom.
I visited Bunny briefly this week to pick up a photo and was met at the door by the same attractive beauty I knew as a teen myself. Nina described her as “now a sophisticated woman with grown children,” and I would have to add, the years have been most kind to Bunny.
The thing that has always impressed me about Bunny was how unassuming she was and is. Some with that kind of beauty become stuck on themselves. That was never the case with Bunny. She was too fun-loving and active to even think about how really pretty she was. If there is such a thing as an All-American girl, Bunny would have to fit the mold.
I am indebted to one of Bunny’s close friends, Rene Coe Jones, for letting me know about the Clooney piece.
Anyone who would like to read the column in its entirety can find it on the newspaper’s Web site. The Clooney’s can be reached at nickclooney@cincypost.com.
Column by Nina Clooney
August 2, 2006 by admin
Filed under Family, Friends and Co-Stars
Beautiful Bunny was, and is, one of a kind
Nick returned to the car where our grandchildren Allison and Nick and I were waiting in the comfort of the air-conditioning on this hot July afternoon.
It was a typical grandparent trip, I suppose. We were taking the kids for their first look at Mammoth Cave, and we would throw in side trips to Lincoln’s birthplace and My Old Kentucky Home for good measure.
When Nick came back from the hotel lobby, he said, “Only one room is ready. Do you want to take that ride to Temple Hill?”
I sure did.
It had been 50 years since I had been there. Temple Hill, Ky., is a wide space in the road a short distance from Glasgow, which is a few miles from the town of Horse Cave, which is where we were at the moment.
And Temple Hill was the hometown of Bunny Wells, one of the most beautiful girls I had ever laid eyes on. Her face was similar to a teenage Elizabeth Taylor, and while Miss Taylor had a very good figure, Bunny’s was better.
I know all of this because she and I met as 17-year-olds in the “Miss Kentucky Rural Electrification” beauty contest in 1956. No, I am not kidding you. That was the name of the pageant. For all I know, it still is.
Bunny not only won the contest, she went on to win the national title, too. Competition aside, we became friends.
My mother and I had visited Bunny and her family in Temple Hill, and the following fall, when I went to the University of Kentucky, I invited her to visit for a weekend.
We had dates for a dance. Bunny walked in wearing a red velveteen dress. Every guy in the place seemed to be frozen in place with their mouths open.
But the really wonderful thing about Bunny was her hometown sense of humor and a unique spirit that said, “I am who I am; take it or leave it.” And when she opened her mouth, she was pure country. But, even back then, it was an enlightened kind of country. She was not narrow-minded about herself or anyone else.
She was by no means sedate. Later that night at the dance, after she charmed everyone in the room, she announced to the table that she would be right back, “As soon as I drain my radiator.”
Bunny Wells was one of a kind.
Life went on. Bunny married. So did I. We lost touch. You know how it is.
My hope was to find someone in Temple Hill who might have her address or phone number. We stopped at the combination gas station and market. No one remembered Bunny, but a man getting his grandson a snack took time to make a couple of phone calls for us. Eventually, he found Bunny’s aunt, Marie Miller.
Marie told us some startling news. Bunny had moved back to the area two years ago! She tried to call her, with no success, but she gave us the phone number.
Back at the hotel, I called, but didn’t get an answer. This time I left a message.
When the four of us got back from dinner, our message light in the room was flashing. It was Bunny. I called back and, just like that, five decades melted away. We made a date for breakfast the next day.
When Bunny opened the front door, that gorgeous girl was now a gorgeous woman with the same dark hair and the same classic face.
We hugged, we talked thirteen to the dozen; we laughed; we told stories; we giggled; we caught up on major chunks of our lives; we looked at old pictures; we took new pictures.
Bunny is now a sophisticated woman with grown children. She had lived in Dayton, Philadelphia, North Carolina and elsewhere. She had a successful modeling career. Her country accent is gone, but the ups and downs of life have not scarred her.
Now, single again, she says with real joy, “I’m so happy to be home again.” Her relatives are near. She goes shopping with friends who were cheerleaders with her half a century ago.
I felt so lucky to have reconnected. We promised visits back and forth. I hope we keep our promise.
Nina Clooney occasionally pinch-hits for her husband, Nick, who writes for The Post every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mails sent to the Clooneys at nickclooney@cincypost.com will be forwarded to them via regular mail. Or write them at The Cincinnati Post, 125 E. Court St., Cincinnati, Ohio 45202.
/thumb_00_(27).jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Burn After Reading
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
Men Who Stare at Goats
Up in The Air