George Clooney recalls being yelled at by Frank Sinatra during early Hollywood career

Clooney says iconic singer ‘was great’ as he reflects on formative experience

George Clooney has said that the legendary singer Frank Sinatra once scolded him during his surreal early days in Hollywood.

The 64-year-old Oscar winner has recalled his brief encounters with stars of a bygone era, such as Sinatra and Tony Bennett, while he was still trying to get a foothold in the acting world.

Clooney said that he worked as a driver for his aunt Rosemary, who was a famous singer and actor in the 1950s. “ I hadn’t known her much when I was young because I lived in Kentucky,” he told People. “She was the Hollywood aunt. So I came out to make a living and I was her driver.”

The job helped him brush shoulders with the likes of Bennett and Sinatra, which gave him “a really good life lesson in success and failure, and handling it.”

However, this led to an unusual encounter with Sinatra, who wasn’t happy about a press boycott that Clooney was involved in.

“I remember he was mad at me once because I led this boycott about […] some press freedoms, and he called me because people thought he was sick and there were helicopters flying over his [home],” Clooney said. “And he called me, going: ‘It’s not working what you’re doing!’”

Sinatra was an icon throughout the 20th century, until his death in 1998 (Getty)

“He was great,” Clooney jovially added. “I got yelled at by Frank Sinatra!”

Clooney continued by saying that his decades-long friendships in the acting industry, as well as these formative experiences, have helped keep his career grounded.

“Well, I mean, most of my friends, we've been friends for 40 years. I slept on their couch when I was broke. And so they're always around when things and people are giving you too much credit,” he explained.

He added, “They're the first people to remind you that they're full of crap. That's always helpful. It's helpful to have people that know you long before you were defined by something else, by movies you've done or work you've done and that kind of thing.”

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George Clooney says his formative experiences in Hollywood have helped keep him grounded (Getty)

Clooney is currently promoting his new movie, Jay Kelly, from Frances Ha director Noah Baumbach. In the film, Clooney plays the title role of an ageing actor who travels through Europe with his longtime manager Ron Sukenick (Adam Sandler), while reflecting on their life choices.

In a four-star review, The Independent’s Geoffrey McNab wrote that the movie was “Clooney’s show” but that he was “aided by very lively cameos from an eclectic cast”.

“There’s Stacy Keach as Jay’s obnoxious father, Billy Crudup as an embittered figure from Jay’s past, Riley Keough as the older daughter he’s never spent much time with, Greta Gerwig as Ron’s wife, and flamboyant German actor Lars Eidinger as a tourist on a cycling trip who crosses paths with Jay in bizarre circumstances.”