GEORGE CLOONEY - CLOONEY SR'S FEARS FOR DROP-OUT GEORGE

GEORGE CLOONEY's father NICK was terrified his college drop-out son had squandered everything when he turned to acting. George, who has since won an Academy Award for his role in oil thriller SYRIANA, quit university prematurely after using up his entire college allowance - and fled to Los Angeles to act instead. But father Nick, a US broadcaster, admits he feared his son would never succeed without finishing his schooling and begged him to return and become a newsman. He recalls, "I thought that was terrible. I wasn't worried about things like drugs. He knew those dangers. I didn't want him to be a failure. "I said, 'Finish college. There are only 3,000 actors in the United States who make more than $50,000 a year, but there are 50,000 broadcasters making a good living.' "But he was insistent he didn't want to be a broadcaster like me. I don't think it was my idealism that put him off. I think he didn't want to go into an industry where he would constantly be compared to me."