Long before George Clooney was recognized as an Oscar-winning actor and one of Hollywood's sexiest men alive, the Kentucky native was just another unlucky cop patrolling a haunted high school in his awesomely awful '80s film debut, "Return to Horror High."
Back in 1987, Clooney was a fresh-faced, big-haired (but who wasn't) 26-year-old actor looking to make a name for himself on the big screen. After spending a few years at the University of Cincinnati where he majored in Broadcast Journalism, Clooney moved to Los Angeles and started scoring bit parts on television series like "E/R", a short-lived medical show (not to be mistaken with NBC's hit drama "ER" which made Clooney a star a decade later) and "The Facts of Life," where he played a hunky handyman.
After those minor jumping off points, Clooney was cast in his first feature film as Oliver, a beautifully coiffed cop in Bill Froehlich's horror-comedy "Horror High," which is best remembered today as, well, "George Clooney's first movie."
In the film, he's an unsuspecting policeman investigating some suspicious sounds in a high school hallway. Watch carefully as Clooney relies on all of the top crime-solving techniques like shouting, "Hey, wait up!" to a possible criminal and dipping his bare fingers in found blood. Sadly, those tactics didn't work out well for Clooney's character, who didn't make it past the 15-minute mark in the film.
Fortunately, Clooney's fame did pass the 15-minute mark after his post-"Horror High" career was boosted by a recurring part on "Roseanne," as the title character's foreman Booker Brooks and his breakout role of Dr. Doug Ross on "ER."
Even so, it wouldn't be until 1996's "From Dusk till Dawn" and "One Fine Day" -- after logging a few more horror duds like "Return of the Killer Tomatoes" -- that Clooney would become a full-blown movie star.
Fifteen years later, Clooney remains one of Hollywood's most bankable and dependable stars, returning this week for a leading role in "The Descendants" on the heels of his recent political thriller "The Ides of March." To think, a career this bright began with an onscreen role so "horrific."
