George Santo Pietro may not be a familiar face or name for many, but the man who is best known as the ex-husband of television personality Vanna White, has also long made a name for himself in Hollywood, and has left his mark in numerous places where it would not be as obvious or easy to find. At the age of 73, George has had a successful career as a businessman, film producer, director and camera technician, which afforded him a well-known status among the inner circles of Beverly Hills’ most prominent residents.
Naturally, as can be expected from such a successful man, George has accumulated a massive fortune, and being married to Vanna White has only been one of his many accomplishments.
Born To Be King of The Hills
George John Santo Pietro III was born into an Italian family on 12 December 1946, in Beverly Hills, California, USA, where he had spent the greatest part of his life.
George was raised in what can be considered one of the most expensive places in California, and it would seem that he was destined for an affluent life in the richest hills of the US which could not have been closer to the truth.
Most of George’s early life remains a mystery, which includes his educational background.
George nonetheless started his career with humble beginnings, working at various odd jobs to get by, until in the late seventies and early eighties, shortly before reaching the age of forty, he was able to open his restaurant named Santopietro’s, in Bel-Air, California. It was a quaint little Italian restaurant that, as it grew in popularity, became the secret, hidden dinner getaway frequented by many of Hollywood’s celebrities.
Around the same time that his restaurant really took off, George had been dating his first wife, whom he married in 1981. As his first success grew, and George became a familiar name among the inner circles of the A-listers, he soon opened a second restaurant, which would become a famous and popular sushi bar named The Sushi-Ko Complex. The continuous success George enjoyed as a businessman in the culinary industry afforded him the chance to buy a house in Beverly Hills, which happened to be right next door to Jack Nicholson.
In the nineties, George began working in the filming industry. He starred as an extra in the Jack Nicholson film ‘Prizzi’s Honor’, as well as in ‘Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds In Love’.
Although he never made it big as an actor, George still lived his childhood dream of leaving his mark in Hollywood, gaining many credits as a dolly grip and camera technician. Some of his work includes plenty of famous shows and films including ‘They Came From Outer Space’, ‘Star Trek Voyager’, ‘Brooklyn South’, and ‘L.A. Doctors’.
In 1997 he also gained credit as a producer of the short film ‘Scratch Merchants’.
Following the nineties, as well as his marriage to Vanna White, George continued to work behind the scenes of many big titles, such as ‘Law and Order: Criminal Intent’, ‘The X-files’, ‘Cold Case’, and many others.
His most recent work includes ‘The Big Bang Theory’, ‘Agents of SHIELD’ and the film ‘Aquaman’. However, George has since expanded his interest to include real estate development, and has grown his net worth to an estimated $50 million.
As of mid-2020, it’s believed that George has retired from working behind the scenes and now mostly focuses on his real estate business. He remains a familiar name to many in the inner circles of Beverly Hills, despite living a conservative life away from the media, gossip and tabloids.
With a great fortune such as his, George can certainly be considered among the kings of Beverly Hills.
The Charmer and Family Man
George has been married several times in the course of his successful life.
He married his first wife, actress Lauren Evans, in 1981 and they had a daughter before their divorce in 1984, Andrea, born in 1982.
Following his first unsuccessful marriage, George began dating the television personality, Vanna White. They dated for some time before tying the knot in 1989, and George has two children with Vanna, a son and daughter, Nicholas born in 1994, and his second daughter, Giovanna in 1997. In 2002 George and Vanna divorced, and he has since married for the third time – there have been no reports of separation.
He married Melissa Mascari, a famous film producer, in 2005, following a romancing period of one year, and in 2007 George’s youngest child, Chiara was born from the union.
Despite the failed marriages that George has had through the years, it is evident from his Facebook page that the one thing that matters most to him is family. His page is captioned with an Italian phrase ‘La Famiglia e Tutto’, which translates to ‘Family is Everything’.