George Clooney–the last of the great movie stars, as it turns out–is about to stop talking.

At the Toronto International Film Festival, promoting not one but two hits–”Up in the Air” and “The Men Who Stare At Goats“–he tells me he’s giving up the publicity circuit.

“After this, there’s no nore,” Clooney said, after the very full house at Roy Thomson Hall went crazy for “Goats” last night. “Goats” is a rocking dark comedy in the vein of “Dr. Strangelove” and “Wag the Dog,” directed by Clooney’s pal Grant Heslov. It was of such interest last night that a bunch of other actors–including Bill Murray and Woody Harrelson–turned up to see what all the fuss is about.

But it’s Clooney’s other film here at the Toronto Internantional Film Festival–Jason Retiman’s “Up in the Air”–that’s going to bring the actor his next Oscar nomination and lots of accolades as well as big box office. And that’s okay with him, but there will be no Oscar campaign.

No campaign? “Nope, I’m done, I have nothing to say. And I really liked not doing a campaign for ‘Michael Clayton,’” George said.

And it’s too bad because Clooney has a lot to say, generally. When Michael Moore came to congratulate him last night, the two reminisced about their mutual trips to Venice. “Oliver Stone brought Hugo Chavez,” Clooney said. “He invited me to a screening of their movie. I looked around and said, ‘I see what this is.’” He laughed. “At least this time, it wasn’t me getting in trouble.”

What– or rather wh0–Clooney is proudest of is his dad, Nick, who spoke so eloquently at Walter Cronkite’s memorial service this week. Clooney was not able to be there because of this last PR push. “I downloaded the whole thing from You Tube,” he said. “And you know he wrote the whole thing. Wasn’t he wonderful?” he asked, eyes sparkling.

Cronkite was a lifelong family friend, George said. “He and Walter had their last dinner together at Patsy’s,” he revealed, the famed Italian restaurant favored by Frank Sinatra, on West 56th St. in Manhattan.

Cronkite, in fact, had visited Clooney at his home in Lake Como, Italy–the same place where George recently had his hand smashed in a car door, hence the big white bandage he’s sporting–for the last four summers.

“The first time he came, he asked if we dressed for dinner. He came down in a blue blazer and a white hat, so we played a joke on him and’were all in robes! He was so angry, and we went in to change. When he came back, dressed casually, we were all in suits. He loved it. He had a great sense of humor.”

George got his start on TV, of course, in “ER,” most famously. He is an unexpected movie star. But once you’ve seen “Goats,” and “Up in the Air,” and then calculated them with “Michael Clayton,” you realize he’s a hybrid of Cary Grant and Jack Lemmon. In “Up in the Air,” he is Lemmon in “Save the Tiger,” a man who knows he is a dying breed–a 10-million-mile frequent flyer who’s more at home in the American Airlines Admirals Club than in his own, spare apartment.

The performance, I tell George, like everyone else who’s seen it, is extraordinary.

“It’s Jason Reitman, the director,” he replies, typically self-effacing. “He did it.”’ He’s not going to toot his own’horn. And that’s the Oscar campaign. He says, with a sheepish smile, “I have some pull, don’t I?” And then adds, quickly: “And you know, I didn’t even plan it.” We know.

P.S. Clooney’s two films will be boons to their respective studios even without publicity. ‘”Up in the Air” is a Paramount release, which needs a good hit after postponing Martin Scorsese’s “Shutter Island” until next February. Even more importantly, “Goats” comes from little Overture Films, only two years into business. Chris McGurk’s mini mini-studio also has Michael Moore’s “Capitalism.”’ Two hits–not bad.

Risky Business blog has more on Clooney’s Toronto press conference.

George Clooney’s having such a good time in Venice at the Film Festival, he’s forgotten to call home.

George, I had to tell your parents yesterday at Walter Cronkite’s memorial service that you have not one but two hits coming, with Oscar buzz on each.

Clooney’s got “Up in the Air” and “The Men Who Stare at Goats” knocking out critics and audiences. Next, the films and Clooney head to the Toronto Film Festival. George also is one of the voices in Wes Anderson’s whimsical children’s movie, “Fantastic Mr. Fox.”

Now, that’s a hat-trick.

Clooney also has a bandage on his hand after breaking it. He slammed it in a car door. “Don’t you know what a klutz he is?” Nick Clooney, George’s dad, asked with a laugh.

Nick Clooney, whose sister was the legendary and wonderful Rosemary Clooney, told me he’d been a pal of Walter Cronkite’s for fifty years. Nick ‘ who’s been a broaccaster and a politician ‘ was one of the speakers yesterday at the Cronkite memorial. He and his wife Nina look way too young, though, to be George’s parents. And they keep getting younger.

I do believe Nina said to me, joking, about the new films, “George doesn’t tell us anything.” It’s nice to know these are universal problems, right?

So George, do call home. Let your parents hear some good news, not just that you broke your hand! Tell them it will be healed in time to hold an Oscar.