He also co-wrote, directed and starred in Good Night, and Good Luck, a portrait of the McCarthy communist witch-hunts that acts as a modern-day warning of American civil liberties under attack.

Both movies have been touted as genuine Oscar contenders.

Critics - almost unanimously right-wing and Christian - claim la-la land's latest batch of award winners symbolise an out-of-control Hollywood obsessed with a leftist and homosexual agenda.

And Gorgeous George is the poster boy of this intolerable cruelty. Warren Beatty's subversive successor, it seems, has been anointed. But unlike the previous leading man, the one-time daytime soapy actor who got his big screen break in Attack of the Killer Tomatoes insists he is not interested in running for political office.

David O. Russell, his director in Three Kings, the 1999 movie highly critical of America's involvement in the first Gulf war in which Clooney's political public persona first got an airing, is not so sure. 'He's a super political, extremely manipulative guy, and he's not an artist,' Russell told Vanity Fair. 'George is super-invested in making himself look like a good guy all the time. I think George will be president.'

Fast forward to the beginning of its sequel in 2003 - the second Gulf war that is - and you could be forgiven for thinking that Clooney had, in George W. Bush's America, become Public Enemy No1.

He was one of several Hollywood stars who criticised the Bush administration over Iraq, but Tinseltown's most eligible bachelor was singled out for particular venom. Right-wing talk-show hosts and Republicans not only branded him ignorant of the issues, but also claimed he was somehow jeopardising national security.

'All I had done at this point was say, 'well, I think we have some questions to ask before we send 150,000 kids to get shot at',' Clooney told The Times. 'Suddenly I was on the cover of one magazine: they called me a traitor. They had packs of 'traitor' playing cards ... and I was the Queen of Hearts.'

It was the kind of political pressure under which some would fold, but Clooney kept fighting and his movies became his forum. Although the 44-year-old insists Syriana is not anti-Bush, but an indictment of generations of flawed Middle East policies, its content is provocative and very relevant to the 'war on terror'.

In 2003, Clooney was widely criticised in the US for arguing that it was important to understand the terrorists' motivations. It seems no coincidence that one of Syriana's central themes is the sympathetic story of how two Pakistani boys become suicide bombers. 'I thought it was important to say that you can't just call them evil,' he says. 'You need to understand what creates those elements and what parts we are responsible for. Obviously, I'm not condoning or defending horrible, heinous acts, but there's a reason these things happen.'

Clooney's performance in Syriana earned him a Best Supporting Actor award at the Golden Globes last week, but many movie critics view Good Night, and Good Luck as his most accomplished work.

Shot in black and white, it records the 1950s battle between the legendary American broadcaster Ed Murrow and Senator Joseph McCarthy, the fanatical communist hunter. For Clooney it was a 'tip of the hat' to his father, Nick, a former army helicopter pilot and television newscaster who recently, and unsuccessfully, ran as a Democrat for the US Congress.

Clooney clearly hopes parallels will be drawn between the subject matter of Good Night and issues in America. In particular, he wanted to promote the idea that it was not unpatriotic to dissent and question. 'The questions about the government using fear to attack civil liberties still exist,' he adds.

It is all a world away from the doctor on the hospital television series ER. That success propelled Clooney into blockbusters like Batman and Robin.

Super-smooth characters like Danny Ocean have continued to fill the bank account, allowing him to concentrate on his true passions through projects like Syriana.

Clooney's determination to get both new movies on the big screen is evident. He received US$1 to act in and produce Syriana, and another US$1 to co-write, direct and act in Good Night. The leading man normally commands US$20 million per film. He also put up his villa on Italy's Lake Como as collateral for Good Night.

In the US, he drives an electric car. 'I figured I can't do a film about oil consumption and corruption and drive a Bronco. It seems a little ridiculous.'

These days gossip about Clooney's love life still thrives (he remains single and linked to many), but most questions cover political themes like Iraq, or last year's Make Poverty History campaign. Then there are the Oscars, which right-wing and Christian groups claim will be hijacked this year by 'leftist' movies like his, or films with gay and transsexual themes that were a hit at the Globes. Winners included gay cowboy romance Brokeback Mountain, the portrayal of homosexual writer Truman Capote, and Transamerica, the story of a transsexual and her gay prostitute son.

'Hollywood has exposed its own corrupt agenda,' seethed Straight Talk Radio's Stephen Bennett. 'It is no doubt on a mission to homosexualise America.' Such pundits claim movies like these are responsible for the biggest decline in US cinema audiences in more than two decades.

But Clooney strongly disagrees.

'My feeling is Hollywood has had sort of a tougher time of it lately because they haven't done very challenging films,' he said. 'If you make some challenging films then maybe some people will show up.'