There's a 1977 photograph by Slim Aarons that held pride of place on our 'mood wall' in the early days of The Rake, an image that verily embodies the concept of rakishness. It depicts George Hamilton, sporting his signature bronze tan and a broad, cat-that-got-the-cream grin, aboard a speedboat off St Tropez, accompanied by two comely, happily topless blondes (one of whom incidentally, according to the caption, bears the delightfully Bond-esque moniker Ruth Luthi). An inspiration to us in carving out the very concept of rakishness as defined by this publication, how could we fail to include Mr Hamilton on our list of the 100 Greatest Rakes Ever?
George indubitably ticks all the boxes for the title of rake incarnate. Charming the ladies from his earliest days (he confessed to having been deflowered by his step-mother, with whom he had an affair aged 12), though married just once - to Alana Stewart, later the spouse of rockstar Rod - Hamilton's abridged list of conquests includes Lynda Bird Johnson, the daughter of the US president at the time, LBJ; Betty Benson, the inspiration for Capote's Holly Golightly; starlets Tuesday Weld and Britt Ekland; the saucy novelist Danielle Steel; Elizabeth Taylor; and no less than four Miss Worlds.
