of course he found out that a smile makes you money. he adopted his demeanor from young when he approached football legend jimmy brown, and brown just glared at him. so george figured that's how you treat people, till he got old and became everybodys favorite uncle. much like mike tyson's act now.
George idolized Jim Brown? Well,he did play high school football in the 60's.
Though,it's said the man,who he most patterned himself on was the former World Champion Sonny Liston,for whom he was a sparring partner, in the late 60's . Maybe, the mean persona just appealed to him.
Sonny-like George-had a heavy structure.George has famously big hands and Sonny's seem to be slightly bigger.