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Did not speak English until he was six years old, because his family only spoke Greek at home.
During the Korean War he skippered a Marine Corps crash boat and served as a gunner aboard the type of rescue aircraft used to fly wounded out of Korea. He completed a three-year enlistment with the Marines and stayed for an additional fourth year of service before being discharged and returning home to Miami.
Often described as the uncle of Vanna White. Vanna has said that, although he was not a biological relation of hers, "my mother grew up with his family. Years later in L.A., he and his wife took me under their wing".
Even though he was a heavy drinker and frequent smoker of cigars both on and off camera, his fatal 1983 heart attack stemmed from a mishap on the set of The Rat Patrol (1966) on January 4, 1967. While filming a chase scene, George's jeep flipped over, pinning him beneath the vehicle. He sustained a concussion as well as a muscle tear to his neck and chest which included a cardiac contusion. The injury to his heart never properly healed and scar tissue subsequently developed on his heart.
Enlisted in the US Marine Corps on October 13, 1948, in Jacksonville, FL, at age 17. He lied about his age on his recruitment form by giving his year of birth as 1929, which then stuck with him for most of his adult life.

Sam Troy doesn't like authority. He doesn't want anyone trying to control his life. He wants to guide his own destiny -- and in that desert patrol, he's found a way to do it. That desert patrol is Sam Troy's world. Anything that comes near it, that will endanger it, he destroys. He's absolutely dedicated to his own values. He'll shoot an enemy cold-bloodedly if it's necessary, to protect these values. {Christpher George on "Sam Troy" in The Rat Patrol (1966)].
"The first time I met John Wayne, I addressed him as Mr. Wayne. "The name is Duke," he said. We were about to do a scene together and he showed me first how to act in the scene. When the take was over, he liked it so much, he ran up to me and gave me a bear hug and lifted me clean off my feet!" - on co-starring with John Wayne in the films El Dorado (1966), Chisum (1970), and The Train Robbers (1973).