He DID become several 'different' people in a certain sense, but inside he was very much still his core self. He went through a lot...and it had massive effects on his personality, spiritual views, attitudes, and his ego ( at times large, then at times very diminished). There was a lot of inner conflict within at times...mostly in his turbulent period ( late 60's through the mid 70's) but he held on to his core being and pulled through.
I would say most people here have had similar times in their lives, or will at some point...it is a natural phase we all must go through....but to have that increaded ten-fold by the added hysteria of being famous and a 'icon' of sorts..my God it is utterly inspiring he was able to survive all that and come out very sane and reletively calm.
I truly believe that he was a extremely complex character...all the more reason i find him interesting. He is SO much more then what most people label him as....SO MUCH MORE! It is frustrating when i find him constantly pigeonholed into that 'role' ...i can fully understand why he would sometimes become so irritated about it himself. It must have been very annoying at times, exspecially when you are trying to get on with your life or move onto something different or personal.
What Olivia stated during the Walk of Fame event said it all really...
Now you can see the difficulty i had in choosing the period i wanted to portray with my George marionette. Most would have probably gone for the 'Beatly' image but that was never a option in my mind. I even had serious issues at one point at dressing him as i eventually did ( black suit/white dress shirt) as it seemed far to reminiscent of 'Beatle George'. In the early stages of development, i actually had two other dress choices. He came very close to wearing jeans and a sweater...a 'at home relaxed' George. After much consideration i decided the suit was best, as he often wore similar attire when performing during the period i chose ( early 90s'). I wanted him to appear to be 'ready to perform' for a gathered crowd...and the causal but dressy attire fit nicely.
Deciding which era to choose for how he should appear was also a big debate. Originally as noted earlier, 'George' was to be modeled after his 'Cloud Nine' era appearence. This was chosen not only because i personally loved this look ( and the time period in general) the fuzzy chin would hide any gaps in his mouth mechanisim. When i finished the head, the mouth lined up perfectly and the lines were not too noticable. So it was decided to go for the clean shaven look from the early 90s.
For about 20 seconds i considered a longer haired version of 'George'...particularly the mid early 70's period ( Dark Horse release..etc..)but decided this would probably not be a wise choice. Also, since 'George' was being made to play his banjolele, having him play a uke while appearing as he did in 1974 would have not made any sense.
A few days ago i imagined having some fun and 'costuming' George to appear as he did in the late 70's ( ala 'Disco George'). Yes..with the curly hair and mustache and groovy fashionable shirt. I toyed with the idea of making a future video of him singing one of the songs off of his 79' 'GH' album looking the way he did at the time. Only George fans would really be able to appreciate it though..as no one else would probably recognize the character as being GH looking this way. It was humouros to consider, but i doubt i would ever do it.
I will say this - i LOVE that period. George seemed so happy and releived to be able to get on with his life, and the album (s)forthcoming from that joy speak volumes as to HOW VERY happy him seemed to be ( in my opinion..). That, and i absolutely love the 'GH' titled album. Every single song on it is a beautiful gem.
...If there were only more people in the world like him
