REPORTER:  David Brill

In this small Kentucky town lives one of America's most remarkable families.

REPORTER:How many people here?

NICK CLOONEY: In this town? About 1,200, which is about the same number as were here during the Civil War. It hasn't changed much

This area has been home to generations of the Clooney clan.

NICK CLOONEY: Everybody has to be from someplace. We're from here. We're from this dirt. There's the Catholic Church to your right now, and the little Catholic school.

Nick Clooney moved his family back here from Cincinnati in the '70s. He wanted to give his children, Ada and George, the same small-town upbringing that he enjoyed.

NICK CLOONEY: Both Ada and George graduated from Augusta High School. It's a very old school, going back to the 1870s. George, because of his travels, doesn't get back here much, but when he does it's great fun because on the front porch up there all of the kids who went to school with, graduated with him, the ones who are still round here, they all end up on the front porch and they talk 'til three in the morning, telling lies, you know.

For decades, one or other of the Clooneys has been at the forefront of America's popular culture.

REPORTER: This is where Rosemary lived? And now it's a museum?

NICK CLOONEY: She lived here for over twenty years, yes.

Nick's sister, and George's aunty, was Rosemary Clooney, the famous singer and actress.

NICK CLOONEY: So this is the family tree? It's my grandfather, grandmother, Dad and Mom. Over here is just a wall of pictures, including a picture from when Rosemary did the premiere of her first movie, in 1953.

While Rosemary is fondly remembered, it's their son George who brings out the most pride in Nick and his wife Nina.

NINA CLOONEY: These are posters of George up here and there's some of his awards that he got when he was in high school playing tennis. And magazine covers.

Across town is Nick and Nina's home. The Green Monster, as they like to call it.

NICK CLOONEY: That's George doing a caricature of me, about 20 years ago, 25 years ago, so I used it as the cover. He has a flair about anything he tries -puts his hand to.

Nick Clooney himself has carved out an impressive 60—year career in journalism.

REPORTER: What do you call this room here? You've got pictures on the wall, on the ceiling, behind the bar.

NICK CLOONEY: We call this the afterthought room. Here's a picture of an 18-year-old doing election returns. That was in 1952. The one on the right, that's me.

REPORTER: That's you there? With all that black hair?

NICK CLOONEY: Yes!

Nick started reporting way back during the Eisenhower administration and saw many presidents come and go.

REPORTER: There's Bill Clinton.

NICK CLOONEY: Yes, there's a conversation of prominent Irishmen.

REPORTER: What do we have on the ceiling here?

NICK CLOONEY: A little bit of everything - Nick MC-ing something, there's Nick talking, Nick interviewing, Nick gabbing and just ageing as we go.

In his prime, Nick was a news anchor in some of America's biggest cities. His work in television had the happy side-effect of introducing his son to the world of performance.

REPORTER: George used to come in and operate the autocue?

NICK CLOONEY: Oh, yes, absolutely. He knew television very well from the time he was tiny, he and his sister.

REPORTER: Live television too?

NICK CLOONEY: Absolutely, and he loved doing all of that, loved being around that. ..

Years later, George drew on those early experiences, making a film abouthis father's hero.

‘GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK’ MOVIE SCENE: Good evening. Last week Senator McCarthy appeared on this program to correct any errors you might have thought we made in our report of March 9. Goodnight and good luck.

'Good Night and Good Luck' told the story of newsman Ed Murrow. As a 7-year-old, Nick had been transfixed by Murrow's reporting from war-torn Europe.

NICK CLOONEY: Ed was in the middle of that and he was telling us about it and he was telling us about it and why it mattered, and he was telling us about it at the centre of everything, and at the risk of his life. And he was telling us something important. I was listening to that when I was seven years old. 'This is London'? Never, 'This is London', it is 'This is London'. That one pause made all the difference - he got that.

The Clooneys' shared passion for journalism is matched by a strong social conscience. For years their family has talked about the world's injustices, including Darfur.

NICK CLOONEY: George and I couldn't understand why this story wasn't getting any traction. Why wasn't it a bigger story? And we finally came to the conclusion at the end of the day that the only thing we could do was to go there, and because of George's celebrity we might be able to call more attention to what was going on over there.

So, at the age of 72, Nick Clooney travelled to war-torn Sudan with his famous son chipping in as cameraman.

NICK CLOONEY: Here's George sitting on, standing on top of our Land Rover.

REPORTER: Filming away? Now, you've worked with a lot of cinematographers over the years, how do you judge him as a cameraman?

NICK CLOONEY: He's quite good, he's quite good. Actually he has a union card as a cinematographer.
VOICEOVER: “Darfur - more than 2 million lives hanging on a thread.”

The result of their trip was this short film about the refugees' plight.

NICK CLOONEY, DOCUMENTARY: I'm Nick Clooney. I'm a reporter. After reading shocking news stories coming out of Darfur my son George and I decided to do whatever we could to get this story on the front page.

What the father and son saw in Darfur shocked both of them.

NICK CLOONEY: Well, it changed me in many ways. Professionally, it changed me from a reporter to an advocate. I did not consider myself an advocate. As a matter of fact, I disapproved of those reporters who became advocates, and I never did that, until I saw this.

Since returning from Sudan, Nick and George have thrown themselves into lobbying for the people of Darfur.

GEORGE CLOONEY: And the world's policy on Sudan is failing.

They use their film to help raise awareness at rallies large and small.

GEORGE CLOONEY: Between George and me, we say, George does wholesale Darfur, I do retail.

GEORGE CLOONEY: The US has called it genocide, for you, it's called ethnic cleansing, but make no mistake, it is the first genocide of the 21st century, and if it continues unchecked it will not be the last.

Three years ago George Clooney addressed the UN Security Council, trying to get urgent action to protect the innocent.

NICK CLOONEY: So that was our hope. We failed. We continue to fail, but that is not reason enough to quit. You have to keep doing this.

REPORTER: What do you mean you failed?

NICK CLOONEY: Those people are still in danger they're still dying every day. They are still being burned out of whatever remains of their small villages. Everything that they have has been stolen or slaughtered - their animals, their homes have been burned down, their men have been killed, their children, sometimes, dismembered, thrown into wells just to foul them. It was... It is an ongoing horror story. It's been called a slow-motion genocide.

REPORTER: So you're packing up to go to Washington?

NINA CLOONEY: We are indeed.

On top of his Darfur campaign, Nick is taking on yet another challenge.

NICK CLOONEY: These are my textbooks for the class. I didn't think that I should require the kids to buy my book.

Nick has just started teaching journalism and film at the American University in Washington and he and Nina are packing up for their weekly 7-hour commute.

NICK CLOONEY: We have all the full-winter gear, honey.

NINA CLOONEY: It's all in the back then?

NICK CLOONEY: Yes, I pushed it up into the far recesses of the back to try to give us a little more room.

In Washington DC, Nick and Nina show me around the Museum of News.

NICK CLOONEY: This is the Edward R. Murrow corner. It has a great deal about Ed and people who knew him, talking about Ed.

Nick Clooney also has a role here, presenting programs on the history of journalism. Despite the rise of the Internet, he still believes TV news has a vital part to play.

NICK CLOONEY: I know we need to have a central place where we can go and get the information we trust. That all of us, at one level or another, trust. If you've got a little Internet blog, there's no resource, there's nothing behind it. You have no way to sustain a long effort in finding out what's going on in the world.

Over at the American University, Nick's first lecture of the year is on movies that changed history. In many ways, this course is a culmination of the Clooney family's achievements. It draws on Nick's knowledge of film-making and journalism as well as their passion for social justice.

NICK CLOONEY, LECTURING: What we're looking for is two pages, and we're looking for a film that you believe had a negative impact on whatever, on society, on yourself, on whatever.

STUDENT: It's impressive, how much he brings with it, his journalism experience and also just his connections, how much he can relate to us is great.

REPORTER: Did you expect to be doing this at this stage of your life?

NICK CLOONEY: No, had no idea that these kinds of opportunities would still be available. I'm 75 years old. That's usually... Today.

REPORTER: Today? Happy Birthday.

NICK CLOONEY: That is usually the time when one is settled in front of the fire with a pipe and a good bourbon and reading book, and instead here I am meandering around as if I knew what I was doing. My real talent is my having outlived my more talented compatriots. But I will try to do them honour and I will try to remind people what their great work was and why it was important.

But for Nick Clooney, the most important work still lies ahead. He and George are hoping to return to Sudan soon. And he says he'll keep fighting for the people of Darfur until his last breath.

NICK CLOONEY: We're going to keep at this. We're not going to stop, you know. We're going to keep at this until those folks are allowed to go home and live their lives out in peace.

Reporter/Camera
DAVID BRILL

Researcher
VICTORIA STROBL

Editors
DAVID POTTS
MICAH McGOWN

Producer
AARON THOMAS


Original Music composed by
VICKI HANSEN