Latest news with #GeorgeLazenby
Forbes
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Why The Portuguese Riviera Should Be On Your Real Estate Radar
Glilttering, glamorous Cascais Bay. Rich in stories of intrigue, romance and, long before the 20th century served up Agent 007, fishermen's tales. Alexandre Rotenberg/Shutterstock. From exiled royals to double agents real and imagined, the elegant Portuguese Riviera town of Cascais and its near neighbor, Estoril, harbor stories galore. This wealthy municipality west of Lisbon was a turn-of-the-century haunt for aristocrats in search of its therapeutic thermal waters, before finding wartime fame in the 1940s as a den of espionage on both sides thanks to Portugal's neutrality. While holed up in the Palacio Estoril and working for British Intelligence, the writer Ian Fleming invented the world's most famous spy here. Played by George Lazenby in the 1969 film On Her Majesty's Secret Service , Agent 007 emerges from the waves on Estoril's golden shore after rescuing a drowning damsel in distress. It's also where Edward, Duke of Windsor, retreated to with his own distressed damsel, Wallis Simpson, after abdicating from his short-lived stint on the British throne. Tucked neatly between Cascais and Estoril, Monte Estoril was developed as a 19th-century resort for the well-heeled. For 21st-century wellness and pleasure-seekers, its riches lay in smart new developments. Alexandre Rotenberg/Shutterstock Indicative of the area's modern-day desirability, it's where among the secluded pines of Quinta da Marinha on the verdant headland that sits between Cascais and the Atlantic ocean, football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is building one of the most expensive houses in Portugal, reported to cost around €20 million (~$23.2m). His 300-square-meter (3,330 sq ft) primary suite alone could comfortably house a family mansion. For a century or more, this edge-of-Europe location has been a safe haven. An Eden to many. And so it's fitting that today, as global wealth seeks safe harbors in uncertain times, they are gravitating to this genteel spot whose new focus for development is Monte Estoril on Cascais Bay, where the old Hotel Eden once stood. Occupying prime position between sea and the famed Jardim dos Passarinhos, the luxury apartments—including the full-floor penthouse—at the new MyEden development sold out even before a sales brochure was produced Render courtesy Portugal Forbes Global Properties In its place, rising from the rubble, is the 12-story MyEden, designed by the award-winning Portuguese architect Pedro Reis. His vision for the building includes draping the new Eden in greenery, creating vertical gardens that provide a seamless link between the famous grounds of the Jardim dos Passarinhos behind the old hotel and the sea in front. Interiors and artistic direction come from the French designer with a suitably stellar name, Philippe Starck. This is his first Portuguese hotel—a five-star, boutique affair with 33 rooms. And above will be 32 apartments designed by Reis, including 'the crown jewel of Portugal,' according to Francisco Garcia, partner of Portugal Forbes Global Properties. He's referring to the penthouse that occupies the entire top floor of the building, with 500 square meters (around 5,380 sq ft) of open internal space all on one level. And the same size again in external space, where nothing but some softening foliage comes between you and the glistening ocean. 'At low tide, you can open the windows, smell the sea and hear the waves,' says Garcia. Key to architect Pedro Reis's design for MyEden is a lush drapery of greenery—a vertical garden worthy of the new building's name. Render courtesy Portugal Forbes Global Properties Starck—who has lived in Cascais, and works between Paris and Lisbon—is similarly mesmerized by the big blue. 'The waves. The waves. If I make a caricature, I shall say that I am here for the waves,' he rhapsodized in a speech about Cascais to a gathering of local Town Hall grandees a few years ago. 'When there is waves, there is happiness, which fills me. It's the real power of nature.' 'The demand for homes in frontline Estoril is there, but there is legislation that makes it impossible to build. Without that, we'd have a skyline like Miami to meet demand.' Francisco Garcia, Portugal Forbes Global Properties For Cascais, the MyEden project sets a new price benchmark for this part of the Lisbon coast. Prices have been rising consistently in Cascais for the past 10 years, with Vila de Cascais and Estoril recording the highest average apartment prices across the whole market, nudging €10,000 (~$11,600) per square meter), according to property market data from Confidencial Imobiliário. At MyEden, they average €25,000 ($29,000) per square meter, and elsewhere in prime Monte Estoril, large (upwards of 250 square meters/2,690 square feet) penthouses and duplexes with sea views can command €6 million-plus. Philippe Starck designed MyEden's lower three floors—a five-star-standard hotel with spa, indoor and outdoor pools, fitness facilities, restaurant and concierge. Render courtesy Portugal Forbes Global Properties Next to MyEden, the existing InterContinental Cascais-Estoril, which also has luxury residences above its hotel rooms, 'has proven to be the most exclusive and expensive real estate in Portugal, per square meter,' Garcia says. 'The demand for homes in frontline Estoril is there, but there is legislation that makes it impossible to build. Without that, we'd have a skyline like Miami to meet demand.' By virtue of snaring an already-developed prime beach site, however, Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual (for whom this is their first Portuguese real estate venture) and local partner, asset managers Sostate, are creating something 'epic,' says Garcia. 'MyEden feels like a continuation of the InterContinental. It's taking that as its guide, upgrading it, making it more boutique with half the number of hotel rooms, and bringing in a internationally renowned brand in Starck.' Luiz Godinho Lopes, director at Sostate, adds: 'We've been working on MyEden, in partnership with hospitality developer Pedro Mendes Leal, for the past 18 years. I believe the outcome reflects our hard work—I couldn't be prouder.' "The crown jewel of Portugal" is how Francisco Garcia, partner at Portugal Forbes Global Properties, describes the 500sqm (5,382 sq ft)penthouse apartment at MyEden. Occupying the entire top floor, it has an equally generous outdoor footprint and panoramic Atlantic views. Render courtesy Portugal Forbes Global Properties BTG have pinned their colors to the Cascais mast by already working on their second project locally, Hotel Oitavos in Quinta da Marinha, where serviced apartments will be operated by the Brazilian brand Fasano. 'With Eden as our first project in Portugal, we have set a high bar for [Hotel Oitavos]' comments Rui Ruivo, partner at BTG Pactual. Luiz Godinho Lopes, director at Sostate, adds that 'we've been working on 'My Eden' for the last 18 years and I believe the outcome reflects our hard work. We couldn't be prouder.' The Oitavos Fasano at Quinta da Marinha is another hotel/residence answering the demand of luxury buyers and investors. Set to open in 2028, Brazil's Fasano Group will transform the current Oitavos hotel into 96 suites and 44 branded residences. Portugal Forbes Global Properties To Portugal's super-rich, Cascais need little introduction—all of the residences in MyEden sold off-plan, even before a sales brochure was produced. 'Cascais has the biggest concentration of wealth in Portugal. If you work in Lisbon and you're wealthy, you live in Cascais,' says Garcia. The same applies if you work in London for one globally mobile commuter who lives in the InterContinental. 'He arrives by private plane on Monday and returns on Wednesday,' Garcia comments, noting that the private airstrip is just a 15-minute drive away. A moneyed haven it may be, but this stretch of the Portuguese Riviera remains a relatively understated one (how else would it harbor all those spies?), devoid of Saint-Tropez or Marbella bling. You will need millions to live on the seafront here, but the greatest pleasures are free. 'Sunsets over Cascais Bay,' says Garcia. And the waves. The waves. Portugal Forbes Global Properties is a member of Forbes Global Properties, the invitation-only network of top-tier brokerages worldwide and the exclusive real estate partner of Forbes.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
James Bond legend, 85, clings to walker alongside nurse just days after famous ex-wife reveals dementia battle
The Australian actor who once stepped into the shoes of 007 was spotted out in Los Angeles on Friday—just days after his famous ex-wife revealed he's battling dementia. George Lazenby, 85, appeared frail as he relied on a walker during a sunny afternoon outing, with a nursing aide staying close by his side. It's been over 50 years since Lazenby suited up as James Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service — his lone turn as the iconic spy— but the former heartthrob still managed to flash that old-school charm with a quick smile. Dressed in a light blue polo and black pants, the Golden Globe-nominated actor kept a careful pace, even leaning on his nurse at one point as he made his way down the sidewalk. The rare sighting comes after Lazenby's ex-wife, Wimbledon champion Pam Shriver, 63—who divorced the actor in 2008 after six years of marriage—penned a deeply personal essay about reuniting with Lazenby and stepping in as his caregiver as he 'enters the last phase of his life.' 'George is 85 now, and he has dementia, but he is still very much himself. A softer version of himself, perhaps – and this is the key,' she wrote for The Telegraph. George Lazenby was spotted out in Los Angeles on Friday—just days after his famous ex-wife revealed he's battling dementia The Australian actor, 85, appeared frail as he relied on a walker during a sunny afternoon outing, with a nursing aide staying close by his side Dressed in a light blue polo and black pants, the Golden Globe-nominated actor kept a careful pace, even leaning on his nurse at one point as he made his way down the sidewalk Pam and George first met at Wimbledon in 2000 and married two years later, when she was 40 and he was 63. They went on to have three children before finalizing their divorce in 2011, citing irreconcilable differences. However, their split was far from amicable. 'I won't pretend that it was anything less than horrific,' Pam admitted in the essay, adding, 'We didn't speak for two years.' But over time, the former couple managed to put their rocky past behind them, especially as they now co-parent their children and face George's health decline together. According to Shriver, the turning point came in January 2025, when the Los Angeles wildfires nearly trapped her ex. 'There was a moment, earlier this year, when he was caught up in the Los Angeles wildfires and only made it out by a whisker,''she wrote. 'That day, I realized how much he still means to me.' 'As George enters the last phase of his life,' she continued, 'I just want to extend this late period of reconciliation and renewal for as long as I can.' It's been over 50 years since Lazenby suited up as James Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service — his lone turn as the iconic spy— but the former heartthrob still managed to flash that old-school charm with a quick smile Lazenby played James Bond in the 1969 film On Her Majesty's Secret Service, stepping into the role after Sean Connery's initial departure Despite having no major acting experience, the Australian model landed the part with a bold audition — even wearing a Rolex and Savile Row suit to appear the part The film earned strong reviews and has since gained cult status, but Lazenby famously turned down a seven-film contract, walking away from the franchise 'I did the best I could,' he said in Mark Edlitz's 2019 book The Many Lives of James Bond. 'I felt that I had to copy Sean Connery in a sense' Now, the pair have settled into a quiet routine. 'We go for walks together, chatting about the kids and all the little anxieties which anyone with an older relative will recognise,' she shared. 'His dementia affects his short-term memory, but he tells stories about his younger days... climbing on to the boat to London in 1964 with just a few dollars in his pocket. Chasing the girl who left Canberra because her father did not want her associating with this guy from the wrong side of the tracks.' She added, 'Now we have settled into a routine where I try to spend at least an hour with George every day when I am at home. 'It does not matter if the Tennis Channel shows the same matches all the time because he doesn't remember the details.' Though his stint as Bond was short—just one film between Sean Connery's You Only Live Twice and Live and Let Die—Lazenby's impact as the only 007 to walk away from the role remains legendary. As Pam recalled, 'He enjoyed all the high jinks he got up to during the nine-month filming of On Her Majesty's Secret Service: the boozing, the weed-smoking, the assignations with various members of the cast.' But not everything about being Bond came easy. The rare sighting comes after Lazenby's ex-wife, Wimbledon champion Pam Shriver, 63—who divorced the actor in 2008 after six years of marriage—penned a deeply personal essay about reuniting with Lazenby and stepping in as his caregiver as he 'enters the last phase of his life' (Pam and George in 2006) Though his stint as Bond was short—just one film between Sean Connery's You Only Live Twice and Live and Let Die—Lazenby's impact as the only 007 to walk away from the role remains legendary As Pam recalled, 'He enjoyed all the high jinks he got up to during the nine-month filming of On Her Majesty's Secret Service: the boozing, the weed-smoking, the assignations with various members of the cast' 'He also found it difficult to deal with all the expectations that went with a role of that size,' she wrote. 'He grew a beard for the premiere, just to annoy his bosses. And then, when they offered him £1 million to sign up for another six movies, he walked away.' Looking back, Lazenby himself was modest about his 007 debut. 'I did the best I could,' he said in 2019's The Many Lives of James Bond. 'I felt that I had to copy Sean Connery in a sense.'
Daily Mail
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE James Bond legend, 85, clings to walker alongside nurse just days after famous ex-wife reveals dementia battle
The Australian actor who once stepped into the shoes of 007 was spotted out in Los Angeles on Friday—just days after his famous ex-wife revealed he's battling dementia. George Lazenby, 85, appeared frail as he relied on a walker during a sunny afternoon outing, with a nursing aide staying close by his side. It's been over 50 years since Lazenby suited up as James Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service — his lone turn as the iconic spy— but the former heartthrob still managed to flash that old-school charm with a quick smile. Dressed in a light blue polo and black pants, the Golden Globe-nominated actor kept a careful pace, even leaning on his nurse at one point as he made his way down the sidewalk. The rare sighting comes after Lazenby's ex-wife, Wimbledon champion Pam Shriver, 63—who divorced the actor in 2008 after six years of marriage—penned a deeply personal essay about reuniting with Lazenby and stepping in as his caregiver as he 'enters the last phase of his life.' 'George is 85 now, and he has dementia, but he is still very much himself. A softer version of himself, perhaps – and this is the key,' she wrote for The Telegraph. Dressed in a light blue polo and black pants, the Golden Globe-nominated actor kept a careful pace, even leaning on his nurse at one point as he made his way down the sidewalk Pam and George first met at Wimbledon in 2000 and married two years later, when she was 40 and he was 63. They went on to have three children before finalizing their divorce in 2011, citing irreconcilable differences. However, their split was far from amicable. 'I won't pretend that it was anything less than horrific,' Pam admitted in the essay, adding, 'We didn't speak for two years.' But over time, the former couple managed to put their rocky past behind them, especially as they now co-parent their children and face George's health decline together. According to Shriver, the turning point came in January 2025, when the Los Angeles wildfires nearly trapped her ex. 'There was a moment, earlier this year, when he was caught up in the Los Angeles wildfires and only made it out by a whisker,''she wrote. 'That day, I realized how much he still means to me.' 'As George enters the last phase of his life,' she continued, 'I just want to extend this late period of reconciliation and renewal for as long as I can.' Despite having no major acting experience, the Australian model landed the part with a bold audition — even wearing a Rolex and Savile Row suit to appear the part Now, the pair have settled into a quiet routine. 'We go for walks together, chatting about the kids and all the little anxieties which anyone with an older relative will recognise,' she shared. 'His dementia affects his short-term memory, but he tells stories about his younger days... climbing on to the boat to London in 1964 with just a few dollars in his pocket. Chasing the girl who left Canberra because her father did not want her associating with this guy from the wrong side of the tracks.' She added, 'Now we have settled into a routine where I try to spend at least an hour with George every day when I am at home. 'It does not matter if the Tennis Channel shows the same matches all the time because he doesn't remember the details.' Though his stint as Bond was short—just one film between Sean Connery's You Only Live Twice and Live and Let Die—Lazenby's impact as the only 007 to walk away from the role remains legendary. As Pam recalled, 'He enjoyed all the high jinks he got up to during the nine-month filming of On Her Majesty's Secret Service: the boozing, the weed-smoking, the assignations with various members of the cast.' But not everything about being Bond came easy. 'He also found it difficult to deal with all the expectations that went with a role of that size,' she wrote. 'He grew a beard for the premiere, just to annoy his bosses. And then, when they offered him £1 million to sign up for another six movies, he walked away.' Looking back, Lazenby himself was modest about his 007 debut.
Metro
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
James Bond star George Lazenby living with 'early stages of dementia'
James Bond actor George Lazenby's ex-wife has opened up about caring for the 85-year-old, who has been diagnosed with dementia. The retired Australian actor is best known for his time playing 007 after he took over the role from Sean Connery. He played the suave MI6 agent in 1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service. In a column for The Telegraph, his former partner Pam Shriver, 63, whom he met 25 years ago and shares three children with – Kait, Sam and George – has spoken about his life now after confirming he is in the 'early stages of dementia.' The pair divorced in 2008 but have remained in one another's lives since then. More Trending 'He has dementia, but he is still very much himself. A softer version of himself, perhaps – and this is the key,' she wrote in the publication. In 2023, Lazenby was moved to sheltered housing in Pacific Palisades, but the care home was burned down in the fires which ripped through Los Angeles earlier this year. He has since relocated to Santa Monica in an 'assisted living set up'. 'We go for walks together, chatting about the kids and all the little anxieties which anyone with an older relative will recognise. His dementia affects his short-term memory but he tells stories about his younger days,' she recalled. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Amazon's James Bond casting wishlist revealed including major breakout star MORE: British actor claims stepping into James Bond role is a 'nightmare' MORE: Hollywood actor said James Bond should be a drug addict who hates women
Telegraph
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
I divorced James Bond actor George Lazenby – now I care for him
When Pam Shriver was introduced to James Bond actor George Lazenby at Wimbledon 25 years ago this summer, she had no idea what would come next: an intense and sometimes infuriating marriage that produced three children before foundering in 2008. Relations grew hostile for a time after the split, but now that Lazenby has developed the early stages of dementia, the pair have rediscovered the mutual admiration that originally drew them together. Here, Shriver tells her moving story. It was after my former husband George Lazenby's care home burned down that I had a moment of clarity. I realised that we were approaching an anniversary: 25 years since our first meeting, in the All England Club tea room during the Wimbledon Championships of 2000. Ours has been a turbulent relationship: sometimes tender, sometimes toxic. There were times, after our divorce, when we could not bear speaking to each other. But in George's later years, everything has come full circle. We see each other every day, unless I am commentating or coaching at a tennis event. We say 'I love you' every time we hang up the phone and look forward to the time we spend together. George is 85 now, and he has dementia, but he is still very much himself. A softer version of himself, perhaps – and this is the key. Growing up in 1950s small-town Australia, he learnt to be independent, to be resourceful and to be witheringly direct. He was never encouraged to speak about his emotions or to seek help. Only recently – as he has been forced to accept the limitations of age – has he truly mellowed. If I have a lesson here, it is that relationships can recover. We might never have stayed in touch but for the three children that we share. Now, as George enters the last phase of his life, I just want to extend this late period of reconciliation and renewal for as long as I can. There was a moment, earlier this year, when he was caught up in the Los Angeles wildfires and only made it out by a whisker. That day, I realised how much he still means to me. Our story starts at Wimbledon on a rainy day in the summer of 2000. I was 37 years old and not long retired from the tour, a junior broadcaster competing in the Legends event for former champions. I was talking to Liz Smylie, a great pal who I played doubles with, and her husband Pete. And that's when they introduced me to George. I had always had this fondness for Australians. If you read my last article in The Telegraph, three years ago, you'll know I had a five-year love affair with my Australian coach when I was a teenager. You might think that such an inappropriate experience would have put me off. But no. I've always been drawn to unfiltered, larger-than-life characters – and, more often than not, that's how I've found Aussies to be. George loved golf and tennis, like me. He was pals with all the Aussie legends: Rod Laver, Tony Roche and, especially, John Newcombe, who was one of his best friends throughout his life. I can remember story after story that George would tell about big nights out with those guys. And so even though he was only a recreational player – albeit one who hit seven bells out of the ball – I felt from the start that he was familiar with my strange and often unnatural world. It also helped that George lived in Brentwood, west Los Angeles, just a couple of blocks away from my place. He didn't call me for seven months after that initial five-minute chat. But when he did, we started dating. It became serious pretty quickly and we were married the following summer. It was the second marriage for both of us. And I must admit that my misgivings began relatively early. Our honeymoon consisted of a golfing trip to the UK, where we indulged our love of Open Championship courses by playing at Lytham St Annes, Turnberry and Prestwick. I'm a big believer that sport provides a window into someone's character and temperament, and George always used to criticise me for my habits on the golf course, which included taking two clubs out of my bag if I wasn't sure which one to use. One time he made me so mad that I took my club and whacked it on the front of the golf cart. That critical streak – which extended off the golf course as well – was probably the most difficult part of George's character to live with. But there was a lot to like as well. He is a contradictory soul: a tough-nut Aussie from a hardscrabble background, who can also be surprisingly soft and sensitive. He used to meditate for hours, looking for a peace he never quite found. You could see the complexity of George's character in Becoming Bond, the film he made about his experience of playing 007. He enjoyed all the high jinks he got up to during the nine-month filming of On Her Majesty's Secret Service: the boozing, the weed-smoking, the assignations with various members of the cast. But he also found it difficult to deal with all the expectations that went with a role of that size. He grew a beard for the premiere, just to annoy his bosses. And then, when they offered him £1 million to sign up for another six movies, he walked away. The Bond casting means that George is better known in Great Britain than anywhere else. In LA, the odd person would recognise him. But at Wimbledon, when I was playing in Legends events, he would find all these autograph hunters clustering around him. Our three young kids were amused. I began to understand him better when he showed me his home town, Goulburn, which is a couple of hours' drive from Sydney. It was a rough start to life. His father was a drinker and he struggled so much at school that he was the only kid in his year who didn't earn a graduation certificate. From where he began, it's astonishing that he found his way to fame, even if he didn't like it that much when he got there. There had been real trauma in George's first marriage as well. He and his wife Chris had two children: a son and a daughter. But the boy – who was called Zach – was diagnosed with a brain tumour when he was 12. They spent seven years looking for an answer before Zach passed away. The whole experience was so painful that their marriage never recovered. It was that loss which drove George to want to start a new family, even though he was 62 when we married. I was also running late, family-wise. These days, it's become almost commonplace for players on the women's tour to have babies in their late 20s or early 30s, before coming back for another crack at professional tennis. But in the 1990s, the only person in the locker room with a child was my matchmaker-in-chief Smylie, the woman who introduced me to both my husbands. When I married Joe Shapiro, an executive at the Walt Disney Company, in 1998, I had just retired from the tour and I thought we would live the dream: 2.4 children and a house in the country. But I was wrong. Joe suffered a recurrence of his Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and I lost him only nine months after the wedding. By the time George and I started talking about kids, I was in my early 40s, so we had to go through IVF treatment. We were lucky: we had our first son George in 2004, then ended up having twins – Kait and Sam – which made it three babies in the space of 15 months. You can imagine that with an older father, and a mother also trying to learn these new skills late in life, it was a challenging period for us both. We were spending a lot of time in Australia, and even bought a house in Mosman – a beautiful North Sydney suburb – where we were planning on moving and raising our family. But even at this early stage, I was beginning to realise that there were some pretty major issues with the marriage. It wasn't easy for George around this time. He wasn't working much because the film industry had decided that anyone who walks away from a big Bond contract isn't to be trusted. He would retreat into his obsessions. He had his golf, and he had a ranch in the San Bernardino mountains where he would go and ride his motocross bike. He adored the children, even if he tended to be quite an authoritarian parent as that was what he had grown up with in Goulburn. George is a resilient fellow. He tells a story about how, soon after the hullabaloo over his rejection of the Bond contract, he bought a small catamaran and sailed around the Mediterranean with Chris, the girlfriend who would become his first wife. This enormous storm blew up and Chris went below and slept for 20 hours with the boat rocking to and fro. George just had to keep it on course as best he could so it wouldn't capsize. And he got through the storm. I see it as a metaphor. He's gotten through a few storms. George still likes to tell stories about the many crises he has navigated. One of them was our divorce, which I initiated in 2008. I won't pretend that it was anything less than horrific. We didn't speak for two years, even when I went to pick up the kids from his house. It was expensive and emotionally traumatic. The fact that we both had a public profile made it even worse. But what gives this story meaning to me is the rebuilding. It has been the slowest of brick-by-brick processes, beginning at a Thanksgiving dinner in 2011. We both had intermediaries who helped us agree to sit down together for turkey and all the holiday trimmings. To everyone's great surprise, it turned out to be a lovely day. The children were old enough to travel now, and to engage with what they were seeing, so we started to go on road trips together. We went to San Francisco, to Alcatraz, and even took three weeks out for a big motor-home trip around New South Wales in Australia. When we went to school productions, we would sit together as if we were still married. It was not as if George had reformed himself completely. He could still be the same blunt and unreconstructed Aussie chauvinist, blurting out stinging remarks with that same lack of filter that could be charming, in the right context. There were times when I found myself cancelling work trips because things were rocky within the family. The children were supposed to spend a couple of nights a week at his town house in Santa Monica, but in practice they were not always keen to go, especially as he often had loud parties there that went on late into the night. This was classic George. He has always been an alpha male with traditional masculine tastes. One of his great passions was cars and motorbikes: he was a competitive motocross rider through his 40s and 50s. So it was a big deal for him when he lost his driving licence four years ago. In a sign of his dedication to his children, he bought an electric bike and he would make the five-mile ride from Santa Monica to my house in the Canyons to see them, whatever the weather. As he moved into his early 80s, George was frustrated to find himself losing that independent spirit that had carried him out of Goulburn and into international fame. This is where our relationship changed again. Fortunately, we had long since come to an agreement that if he lost capacity, I would have power of attorney. I have had my work cut out at times, especially because George has a habit of firing his doctors. Every time he hears something he doesn't like, he moves on. Even so, he has proved remarkably robust. This is a guy who underwent operation after operation when he was a small child because his waterworks were malfunctioning. He only has half a kidney, and he attributes his go-getting approach to life to the early medical advice that he might not be here for long. My role became particularly important when he reached the point where his four-level town house was no longer safe for him to move around in on his own. At the end of 2023, we moved George to sheltered housing, known as assisted living, in Pacific Palisades – the area of Los Angeles that was ravaged by wildfires in January. He would be out of danger there, I thought. Little did I know. January 7 was a panicky day for me. As the fires closed in on the Palisades, I tried to reach him but became hopelessly gridlocked amid the chaos. The facility itself did not have transport for residents organised early enough, so thank goodness for the independent caregiver who comes every day to take him for walks. She was able to evacuate him, shortly before the Palisades fire had crept up to the doorstep of the facility. And then, even more miraculously, she found a bed for George at her parents' house for the fortnight it took me to find him a new assisted-living set-up in Santa Monica. Now we have settled into a routine where I try to spend at least an hour with George every day when I am at home. We watch his favourite sports, and it does not matter if the Tennis Channel shows the same matches all the time because he doesn't remember the details. We go for walks together, chatting about the kids and all the little anxieties which anyone with an older relative will recognise. His dementia affects his short-term memory but he tells stories about his younger days. Climbing on to the boat to London in 1964 with just a few dollars in his pocket. Chasing the girl who left Canberra because her father did not want her associating with this guy from the wrong side of the tracks. It has been a tangled history, my life with George, and perhaps I was naive to sign up to this relationship so eagerly. If I had been a little older, a little wiser, and a little more worldly, I might have spotted some of the potential downsides. I know now how hard it is for people to escape the shadow of their upbringing. As a child, George was constantly on the wrong end of the belt or the cane. The lifestyle – in what I always felt was Australia's answer to the Wild West – was uncompromising. When he was riding his bike around as a kid, his family would be strapping bottles of booze in the panniers so that he could deliver them to his uncles. But as we move into his latter years, I find myself marvelling at what George achieved in his life. Here was a guy who probably had some neuro-diversity, even though there was not an official diagnosis for it at the time, but still made a successful career as a car salesman and then became an international celebrity. A guy who uprooted himself more than once to seek out the big chance, and who then decided to walk away from the world's biggest movie franchise on his own terms. George has always had a great life force and it still burns brightly, even now that he is slowing down. One thing he says to me often is: 'Do you think I could have a car again?' He has loved cars ever since he first drove his uncle's vintage Plymouth down the country road in Goulburn as a small boy. I always equivocate and say: 'Maybe, you never know, but I don't think so.' And then he'll look at me with a spark of his old wilfulness. And he'll say: 'I can still drive better than anybody.'
