Lois Hamilton(1943-1999)
- Actress
Lois Hamilton (Areno) personified a new wave of actresses who built
careers on both beauty and brains. Lois attend Temple University in
Philadelphia, Pennslyvannia, and the University of Florence in
Florence, Italy, where she received degrees in Psychology and Fine
Arts. As a top Ford model in the late 1970s, Lois graced the covers and
pages of countless magazines, such as "Cosmopolitan", "Fortune",
"Mademoiselle", "Italian Vogue", "Prevue", "Neue Revue Illustrierte",
"Newsweek", "Paris Match", "Hello", "Redbook", "Ladies' Home Journal",
"Glamour", "Time", and many others. Some of her ad campaigns included
Chanel, Clarol, Halston, Pucci and Hermes, and she appeared in over 150
commercials worldwide. She was one of the pioneers who made the
successful transition from model to actress. When she came to Los
Angeles her career immediately took off and she found herself splashed
all over the television and movie screens. Within a year she landed
more TV stints than any other actress at ICM. She worked with such
luminaries as Ivan Reitman, Neil Simon, Sydney Pollack, Robert Redford, Ned Beatty, Burt Reynolds,
John Candy, John Larroquette, Dom DeLuise, Roger Moore, Bill Murray, Jane Fonda, Dean Martin, Carl Reiner,
David Carradine, Sammy Davis Jr., Steve Guttenberg, Howard W. Koch, Albert S. Ruddy, Hal Needham, and Thomas R. Bond II to
name a few. She was one of the privileged few to be photographed by
George Hurrell Sr. before his death. When she wasn't involved in a feature film or
television project, she took to the skies--she was a licensed private
pilot. She logged over 600 hours and was an accomplished aerobatic
pilot flying her 1936 German biplane. In addition, Lois was also a
titled Italian baroness with a family that lays claim to the most noble
of ancestries dating back to 11th-century Naples. Not one to be
typecast as just another pretty face, and in keeping with her artistic
talents, she was also an accomplished sculptress, painter and writer.
She exhibited her bronze sculptures and oil paintings in many one-woman
shows in Los Angeles. An author as well, she penned her first novel,
"Move Over Tarzan," a woman's guide on how to be as assertive as the
most aggressive, successful man using a woman's femininity. Lois
Hamilton was definitely a woman ahead of her time.