Superstar dentist is real-life celebrity

George Hardy as Texas Cotton (left) and Judd Lormand as his high-strung deputy (right) question a suspect in this frame grab from Hardy’s most recent fi lm project.

Submitted / The Outlook

By WILLIAM MARLOW Multimedia Reporter

Dr. George Hardy is regarded as a superstar dentist by many of his patients but most might not know that Hardy is also a real-life celebrity due to another one of his favorite passions, filmmaking.

The 67-year-old has called the Lake Martin area home for much of his life, being born and raised in Alexander City and later attending Benjamin Russell High School. Much of Hardy’s family roots in fact extend far and wide throughout Tallapoosa County. For instance, Hardy’s current dentist office on Church Street was converted from his great-grandmother’s house.

“What's unique about my dental office is that the house and the house next door, where I lived temporarily, are going to be 100 years old next year. The houses were relocated from Lake Martin to Alexander City so that is kind of neat to have a lot of memories and meaning to practicing there,”Hardy noted.

However, Hardy’s career path to dentistry initially took an unusual path. In 1981, he attended Auburn University and graduated from the University of Alabama School of Dentistry. He then completed a practice residency in Birmingham, Alabama and spent the next several years traveling the world. Throughout his career, he has practiced dentistry in Cambridge, New Zealand and a general practice residency at UAB in Birmingham.

After finishing school, Hardy then began to experiment with an unlikely job position for his career as in 1990 he starred in the film ‘Troll 2’.

“I really enjoy acting and getting to work with great actors because I love watching films. It's really great to have had that experience because life's too short not to,” Hardy said.

Hardy has dabbled in filmmaking since high school and has gone on to most recently produce and act in several films, with most recent being: Best Worst Movie (2009), Texas Cotten (2018) and Under ConTroll (2019).

His documentary Best Worst Movie (2009) has won several awards, including being nearly nominated for an Academy Award. During the shooting of the film, Hardy traveled to 28 cities and across eight countries.

He has also collaborated with the likes of Gene Jones, most famous for ‘No Country for Old Men’ and Lew Temple from ‘The Walking Dead.’Hardy added that he particularly enjoys the coin tossing scenes from ‘No Country for Old Men.’

Even with a passion for working in Hollywood, Hardy wanted to return to his roots and in 1991 moved back to Alexander City to develop his dentistry practice.

“Somebody asked me ‘Would you want to be buried in the sands of Utah here?’ With no trees I thought and the beauty of Lake Martin and the pine trees were starting to call me back home,” Hardy explained. “It's great to have experienced living in other parts of the United States and world but you know, there's nothing quite like home, especially here, in the Lake Martin region.”

Hardy said he particularly enjoys the small-town feel of Alexander City and that he can approach his patient care with a more personal touch.

“A little logo we have is that ‘If you come in without a smile, we'll give you one of ours’ and I feel that our patients are like family to us,” Hardy noted “We have real close relationships with patients, and they're just like friends, and so if they need us for anything, we're here for them.”

Hardy plans to reside in Alexander City for years to come and said he is excited for what awaits his hometown as it continues to grow and expand.

“I love living here. I just think there's so much potential for our town with all the things that are happening here in town. We have a lot of positive things here, especially one of the most beautiful lakes in the United States. We want to keep this place our little hidden secret,” he added.

Hardy's next film ‘Cyst”, a Twilightinspired comedy, is scheduled to debut later this year.

Submitted / The Outlook

George Hardy’s dental offi ce, pictured above, is turning 100 years old next year, as is his house which sits beside his dental offi ce. The houses were relocated from Lake Martin to Alexander City.

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Article courtesy of StatePoint Media.

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