Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is a four-time Academy Award winning American actor and filmmaker.
Eastwood is best known for his tough guy, anti-hero acting roles in western films, particularly in the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. His performances as the laconic Man with No Name in Sergio Leone's "Dollars trilogy" of Spaghetti Westerns which include A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), and as Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan in the Dirty Harry films have seen him become an enduring icon of masculinity.
Eastwood has won five Academy Awards — twice each as Best Director and as producer of the Best Picture and the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1995. He has also been nominated twice for Best Actor, for his performances in Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby. His recent films in particular, like Million Dollar Baby (2004) and Letters from Iwo Jima (2006), and also earlier Revisionist Western films such as High Plains Drifter (1973), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) and Unforgiven (1992) have all received a significant degree of critical acclaim.
Eastwood also has an interest in politics and was elected Mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California in which he served from 1986 to 1988.
"Maybe my greatest contribution to cinema was not doing Fistful of Dollars, and recommending Clint for the part".
The film was to be shot in Spain, and although it wasn't the first western shot in such manner and the film itself was evidently a tribute to Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo (1961), the film would become a benchmark in the Spaghetti Western genre that evolved from the mid 1960s. Eastwood was instrumental in creating the Man With No Name character's distinctive visual style that would appear in the Dollars trilogy that followed. He bought the black jeans from a sport shop on Hollywood Boulevard, the hat came from a Santa Monica wardrobe firm and the trademark black cigars came from a Beverly Hills store, although Eastwood himself is a non-smoker. Because A Fistful of Dollars was an Italian/German/Spanish co-production, there was a significant language barrier on the set. Sergio Leone did not speak English, and Eastwood communicated with the Italian cast and crew which also included prominent actor Gian Maria Volontè mostly through stuntman Benito Stefanelli, who also acted as an unofficial interpreter for the production and would later appear in Leone's other pictures. Leone reportedly took to Eastwood's distinctive style soon, and in Italian commented that "I like Clint Eastwood because he has only two facial expressions: one with the hat, and one without it".
Leone would hire Eastwood to appear in his trilogy of westerns following on with For a Few Dollars More / Per qualche dollaro in più (1965), and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly / Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo (1966) many of which included the same actors. Leone used his innovative style to depict a wilder, more lawless and desolate world than traditional westerns. All three films were hits, particularly the third, and Eastwood became a star, redefining the traditional image of the American cowboy, though his character was actually a gunslinger and bounty hunter rather than a traditional hero.
Stardom brought more roles in the "tough guy" mold. In 1968's Where Eagles Dare, he had second billing to Richard Burton, but was paid $800,000. In the same year, he starred in Don Siegel's Coogan's Bluff, in which he played a lonely deputy sheriff who came to the big city of New York to enforce the law in his own way. The film was controversial for its straightforward portrayal of violence, but it launched a more than ten-year collaboration between Eastwood and Siegel, and set the prototype for the macho cop hero that Eastwood would play in the Dirty Harry films. He was scheduled to be cast as Two-Face on 1966-68 Batman television series, but the production ended. During production, Malachi Throne's portrayal of False-Face was substituted.
In 1969, Eastwood began to branch out. Paint Your Wagon was a musical starring Eastwood and top-billing fellow non-singer Lee Marvin.
1971 proved to be a professional turning point in Eastwood's career. His own production company, Malpaso, gave Eastwood the artistic control that he desired, allowing him to direct and star in the thriller, Play Misty for Me. But it was his portrayal of the hard-edged police inspector Harry Callahan in Dirty Harry that propelled Siegel's most successful movie at the box-office. Dirty Harry is arguably Eastwood's most memorable character. The film has been credited with inventing the "loose-cannon cop genre" that is imitated to this day. Eastwood's tough, no-nonsense cop touched a cultural nerve with many who were fed up with crime in the streets. Dirty Harry led to four sequels: Magnum Force (1973), The Enforcer (1976), Sudden Impact (1983), and The Dead Pool (1988).
Eastwood directed two allegorical westerns during the 1970s: High Plains Drifter (1973) and The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976). Josey Wales would be the first of six movies he starred in with his then-girlfriend Sondra Locke.
Breezy (1973) was the first film directed by Eastwood in which he did not also appear. It starred William Holden.
In 1974, Eastwood teamed with a young Jeff Bridges in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot. The movie was written and directed by Michael Cimino, who had previously written the Dirty Harry sequel Magnum Force.
In 1975, Eastwood brought another talent to the screen: rock climbing. In The Eiger Sanction, which he directed and in which he starred, Eastwood — a 5.9 climber — performed his own rock climbing stunts. This film has become a cult classic among rock-climbers. This film was done before the advent of CGI, so no digital manipulation was used in the film.
In 1977, Eastwood starred in The Gauntlet, in which he played a down and out cop assigned to escort a prostitute from Las Vegas to Phoenix to testify against the mob.
In 1978, he starred in Every Which Way But Loose in an uncharacteristic and offbeat comedy role. Eastwood played Philo Beddoe, a trucker and brawler who roamed the American West, searching for a lost love, while accompanying his best friend/manager Orville and his pet orangutan, Clyde. Arguably, Clyde stole the show. Panned by critics, the movie was a box office success, and it spawned the 1980 sequel, Any Which Way You Can. Between these two flicks, he played the main attraction in a traveling circus show in Bronco Billy, which sparked collaboration between country music star Merle Haggard and Eastwood on the song "Bar Room Buddies." The song became a hit on country music stations. (Haggard also appeared in the movie).
In 1979, Eastwood played yet another memorable role as the prison escapee Frank Morris in the fact-based movie Escape from Alcatraz, which was also his last collaboration with Don Siegel. Morris was an escape artist who was sent to Alcatraz in 1960, which was, at the time, one of the toughest prisons in America. Morris devised a meticulous plan to escape from "The Rock" and, in 1962, he and two other prisoners broke out of the prison and entered San Francisco Bay. The FBI maintains that the escapees drowned.
In 1982 Eastwood directed, produced, and starred in the Cold War-themed Firefox. The fourth Dirty Harry film Sudden Impact (1983) made Eastwood a viable star for the 1980s. President Ronald Reagan referred to his famous "Go ahead, make my day." line in one of his speeches.
Eastwood revisited the western genre directing and starring in Pale Rider (1985), a homage to the western film classic Shane, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. His fifth and final Dirty Harry film, The Dead Pool (1988), was a success overall, but it lacked the box office punch his previous films had achieved. Eastwood alternated between more mainstream comedic films (if not particularly successful), such as Pink Cadillac and The Rookie (1990), and more personal projects, such as directing Bird (1988), a biopic of Charlie "Bird" Parker which gave him the nomination for the Golden Palm in the Cannes Film Festival. He also directed and starred, as an ersatz John Huston, in White Hunter, Black Heart (1990), an uneven adaptation of Peter Viertel's roman à clef about the making of the classic The African Queen. The film received some critical acclaim, although Katharine Hepburn contested the veracity of much of the material.
The following year, Eastwood played a guilt-ridden Secret Service agent in the thriller In the Line of Fire (1993) directed by Wolfgang Petersen. This film was a blockbuster and among the top 10 box-office performers in that year. Eastwood directed and starred with Kevin Costner in A Perfect World the same year. He continued to expand his repertoire by playing opposite Meryl Streep in the love story The Bridges of Madison County (1995). Based on a best-selling novel, it was also a hit at the box-office. Afterward, Eastwood turned to more directing work — much of it well received — including Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997). He directed and starred in Absolute Power (1997), a political thriller co-starring Gene Hackman, Ed Harris, and Dennis Haysbert.
Eastwood has his own Warner Bros. Records-distributed imprint, Malpaso Records, as part of his deal with Warner Bros. This deal was unchanged when Warner Music Group was sold by Time Warner to private investors. Malpaso has released all of the scores of Eastwood's films from The Bridges of Madison County onward. It also released the album of a 1996 jazz concert he hosted, titled Eastwood after Hours — Live at Carnegie Hall.
Eastwood produces many of his movies, and is well known in the industry for his efficient, low-cost approach to making films. Over the years, he has developed relationships with many other filmmakers, working over and over with the same crew, production designers, cinematographers, editors and other technical people. Similarly, he has a long-term relationship with the Warner Bros. studio, which finances and releases most of his films. However, in a 2004 interview appearing in The New York Times, Eastwood noted that he still sometimes has difficulty convincing the studio to back his films. In more recent years, Eastwood also has begun composing music for some of his films.
Eastwood completed in December 2007 directing Universal Pictures' Changeling, a period thriller from noted writer J. Michael Straczynski and producers Ron Howard and Brian Grazer. Angelina Jolie is starring in the film, with a fall 2008 release date.
He is rumored to be directing the Nelson Mandela bio-pic The Human Factor, with Morgan Freeman playing Mandela. No confirmation has been released to date. Eastwood and Warner Bros. have purchased the movie rights to James R. Hansen's First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong, the authorized biography of astronaut Neil Armstrong. No production date has been announced. Eastwood recently announced that he has all but retired from acting, although maintains that "if a good western script turns up, you never know..."
Clint Eastwood has been announced as director and star of the upcoming Warner Brothers film, "Gran Torino".
He currently donates funds toward the new CSUMB campus library. In early 2007, Eastwood announced that he will produce a Bruce Ricker documentary about jazz legend Dave Brubeck. The film is tentatively titled Dave Brubeck – In His Own Sweet Way. It will trace the development of Brubeck's latest composition, the Cannery Row Suite. This work was commissioned by the Monterey Jazz Festival and premiered at the 2006 festival. Eastwood's film crews captured early rehearsals, sound checks and the final performance. Ricker and Eastwood are currently working on a documentary about Tony Bennett, as well, titled The Music Never Ends.
He is one of only three living directors (along with Miloš Forman and Francis Ford Coppola) to have directed two Best Picture winners. At age 74, he was the oldest director to achieve this distinction. He directed two actors, Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, in Academy Award winning roles as Best Supporting Actor in consecutive years. Robbins won in 2003 for Mystic River while Freeman won in 2004 for his role in Million Dollar Baby. He also directed Sean Penn in his Academy Award winning role as Best Actor in Mystic River, as well as Hilary Swank in her second win for Best Actress in Million Dollar Baby and Gene Hackman in Unforgiven.
Eastwood has received numerous other awards, including an America Now TV Award as well as one of the 2000 Kennedy Center Honors. He received an honorary degree from University of the Pacific in 2006, and an honorary degree from University of Southern California in 2007. In 1995 he received the honorary Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for lifetime achievement in film producing. In 2006, he received a nomination for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Score Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media for Million Dollar Baby. In 2007, Eastwood was the first recipient of the Jack Valenti Humanitarian Award, an annual award presented by the MPAA to individuals in the motion picture industry whose work has reached out positively and respectfully to the world. He received the award for his work on the 2006 films Flags of Our Fathers and the Academy Award-Winning Letters from Iwo Jima.
On December 6, 2006, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Clint Eastwood into the California Hall of Fame located at The California Museum for History, Women, and the Arts.
In early 2007, Eastwood was presented with the highest civilian distinction in France, Légion d'honneur, at a ceremony in Paris. French President Jacques Chirac told Eastwood that he embodied "the best of Hollywood".
On September 22, 2007, Clint Eastwood was awarded an honorary Doctor of Music degree from the Berklee College of Music at the Monterey Jazz Festival, on which he serves as an active board member. Upon receiving the award he gave a speech, claiming, "It's one of the great honors I’ll cherish in this lifetime." He was also honored with the "Cinema for Peace Award 2007 for Most Valuable Movie of the Year" for "Flags of our Fathers" and "Letters from Iwo Jima".
Eastwood made one successful foray into elected politics, becoming the Mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California (usually abbreviated to Carmel; population 4,000), a wealthy small town and artist community on the Monterey Peninsula, for one term. Frustrated with what he perceived to be the bureaucracy in Carmel's politics, he ran a last-minute, small-scale campaign emphasizing better relations between the business and residential communities. On election day, April 8, 1986, with double the usual voter turnout, Eastwood obtained 72.5% of the vote and was elected to a position that paid $200 per month. During his tenure, he tried to weigh the rights of preservationists against development of the town for local business. Eastwood decided not to run for a second term owing to the number of trivial decisions required of the mayor in such a small town. During his tenure, he completed Heartbreak Ridge and Bird.
Eastwood has been registered as a Republican since 1951 and supported Richard Nixon's 1968 presidential campaign, he describes himself as a libertarian. He says his philosophy is "Everyone leaves everyone else alone". He says he voted for Arnold Schwarzenegger as Governor of California in the 2003 recall election, and again in 2006.
In 2001 he was appointed to the California State Park and Recreation Commission, by Gray Davis. He was reappointed in 2004 by Schwarzenegger.
Eastwood, the vice chairman of the commission, and commission chairman, Bobby Shriver, Schwarzenegger's brother-in-law, led a California State Park and Recreation Commission panel in its unanimous opposition in 2005 to a six-lane, , toll road that would cut through San Onofre State Beach, north of San Diego, and one of Southern California's most cherished surfing beaches. Eastwood and Shriver also supported a 2006 lawsuit to block the toll road and urged the California Coastal Commission to reject the project, which it did in February 2008.
In March 2008 Eastwood and Shriver, whose terms had expired, were not reappointed. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) ask for a legislative investigation into the decision to not re-appoint Eastwood and Shriver, citing their opposition to the toll road extension. According to the NRDC and The New Republic, Eastwood and Shriver were not reappointed again in 2008 because both Eastwood and Shriver opposed the freeway extension of California State Route 241, that would cut through the San Onofre State Beach. An extension that Governor Schwarzenegger supports. Governor Schwarzenegger press release appointing Alice Huffman and Lindy DeKoven to replace Eastwood and Shriver makes no mention of a reason for the commission change.
Governor Schwarzenegger appointed Eastwood (along with actor and director Danny DeVito, actor and director Bill Duke, producer Tom Werner and producer and director Lili Zanuck) to the California Film Commission in April 2004.
His first wife was model Maggie Johnson. They married on December 19, 1953, just six months after they met. According to the unauthorized biography, Clint: The Life and Legend, Eastwood was unfaithful to her the entire time they were married. In the early 1960s, Eastwood began a secret affair with Roxanne Tunis, an extra on Rawhide. They had a daughter, Kimber, born on June 17, 1964. Over the years, Eastwood financially supported Kimber and her mother and would secretly visit them every 3–4 months. Kimber's existence was not made public until 1989. She is now a makeup artist and part time actress. She had a small role in her father's film, Absolute Power. Eastwood allegedly had affairs with Barbra Streisand, Peggy Lipton, Jean Seberg (his co-star in Paint Your Wagon), and Jane Brolin, former wife of actor James Brolin.
Clint and Maggie went on to have two children, Kyle Eastwood (born May 19, 1968) and Alison Eastwood, (born May 22, 1972). They split in 1978 when she became aware that he had been carrying on a long-term affair with Sondra Locke. Clint was ordered to pay Maggie $25 million, $1 million for each year they were married. Though they had filed for a legal separation in 1978, their divorce was not finalized until May 1984.
Eastwood co-starred with Sondra Locke in six films: The Outlaw Josey Wales, The Gauntlet, Every Which Way but Loose, Bronco Billy, Any Which Way You Can, and Sudden Impact. They first met in 1972 and began a romantic relationship during the filming of Josey Wales. They lived together for 14 years before their bitter break-up in 1989. Locke claimed that Eastwood changed the locks on their home and put all of her belongings in storage. She also claimed that he persuaded her to have two abortions and a tubal ligation. Eastwood has adamantly denied the allegations. His reputation was damaged again when it was discovered he fathered two children, Scott Eastwood (b. March 21, 1986) and Kathryn Eastwood (b. Feb 2, 1988), with airline hostess Jacelyn Reeves while he was still involved with Locke. She filed a palimony suit against him asking for $1.3 million. In 1990, they reached an amicable agreement that consisted of Eastwood giving her a directing deal with Warner Bros., but the studio never produced her proposed films nor hired her to direct. In 1996, they were back in court with Locke filing another lawsuit, this time against Warner Bros., alleging that the company had never intended to make any films with her, and that Eastwood had compensated Warner Bros. for the contract. On September 10, 1996, not long after the trial began, the trial judge issued an order ejecting the media from all hearings in the trial held outside of the presence of the jury; the order was eventually overturned by the Supreme Court of California in 1999. In 1997, Locke published an autobiography The Good, the Bad, and the Very Ugly that included a harrowing account of her years with Eastwood. In 1999, they settled out of court for a reportedly large settlement, details of which were not publicly disclosed.
During the filming of Pink Cadillac, Eastwood began an affair with costar Frances Fisher. They went on to co-star together in the blockbuster Unforgiven. They had a daughter, Francesca Fisher-Eastwood, born on August 7, 1993. Their relationship ended in 1995, but they remained friends and have since costarred in another film, True Crime.
Eastwood met Dina Ruiz, an anchorwoman, when she interviewed him in 1993. They became good friends, and began a romantic relationship two years later. They married on March 31, 1996. Their daughter, Morgan Eastwood, was born on December 12, 1996. Dina maintains a friendly relationship with all of her husband's children and their mothers, and often brings the whole family together at their ranch.
Eastwood has two grandchildren, Clinton (Kimber's son, born 1984) and Graylen (Kyle's daughter, born March 28, 1994).
Eastwood remains a popular sex symbol.
Eastwood is an audiophile, known for his love of jazz. He owns an extensive collection of LPs which he plays on a Rockport turntable. His interest in music was passed on to his son Kyle, now a jazz musician. Eastwood co-wrote "Why should I care" with Linda Thompson and Carole Bayer Sager which was recorded by Diana Krall. He is a longtime animal rights activist and maintains a vegan diet "heavy on fruit, vegetables, tofu, and other soy products. Despite starring in 'shoot 'em up' films, he has voiced criticism of hunters, saying, "I don't go for hunting. I just don't like killing creatures. Unless they're trying to kill me. Then that would be fine. He loves to golf and donates his time every year to charitable causes at major tournaments.
| Year | Film | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1955 | Revenge of the Creature | Lab Technician (uncredited) |
| 1955 | Francis in the Navy | Jonesey |
| 1955 | Lady Godiva | First Saxon (uncredited) |
| 1955 | Tarantula | Jet Squadron Leader (uncredited) |
| 1956 | Never Say Goodbye | Will (uncredited) |
| 1956 | Star in the Dust | Tom (ranch hand; uncredited) |
| 1956 | Away All Boats | Marine (Medic; uncredited) |
| 1956 | The First Traveling Saleslady | Lieutenant Jack Rice, Roughrider |
| 1957 | Escapade in Japan | Dumbo Pilot (uncredited) |
| 1958 | Lafayette Escadrille | George Moseley |
| 1958 | Ambush at Cimarron Pass | Keith Williams |
| 1959 | Rawhide (TV) | Rowdy Yates (1959-1966) |
| 1964 | A Fistful Of Dollars | Joe (The Man with No Name) |
| 1965 | For a Few Dollars More | Manco (The Man with No Name) |
| 1966 | The Good, the Bad and the Ugly | Blondie (The Man with No Name) |
| 1967 | The Witches | Charlie (segment "Una sera come le altre") |
| 1968 | Hang 'Em High | Marshal Jed Cooper |
| 1968 | Coogan's Bluff | Deputy Sheriff Walt Coogan |
| 1968 | Where Eagles Dare | Lieutenant Morris Schaffer |
| 1969 | Paint Your Wagon | Sylvester 'Pardner' Newel |
| 1970 | Two Mules for Sister Sara | Hogan |
| 1970 | Kelly's Heroes | Private Kelly |
| 1971 | The Beguiled | Cpl. John McBurney |
| 1971 | Play Misty for Me | David 'Dave' Garver (also directed) |
| 1971 | Dirty Harry | Inspector 'Dirty' Harry Callahan |
| 1972 | Joe Kidd | Joe Kidd |
| 1973 | High Plains Drifter | The Stranger (also directed) |
| 1973 | Magnum Force | Harry Callahan |
| 1973 | Breezy | Director |
| 1974 | Thunderbolt and Lightfoot | Thunderbolt |
| 1975 | The Eiger Sanction | Dr. Jonathan Hemlock (also directed) |
| 1976 | The Outlaw Josey Wales | Josey Wales (also directed) |
| 1976 | The Enforcer | Harry Callahan |
| 1977 | The Gauntlet | Ben Shockley (also directed) |
| 1978 | Every Which Way But Loose | Philo Beddoe |
| 1979 | Escape from Alcatraz | Frank Morris |
| 1980 | Bronco Billy | Bronco Billy McCoy (also directed) |
| 1980 | Any Which Way You Can | Philo Beddoe |
| 1982 | Firefox | Mitchell Gant (also directed and produced) |
| 1982 | Honkytonk Man | Red Stovall (also directed and produced) |
| 1983 | Sudden Impact | Harry Callahan (also directed and produced) |
| 1984 | Tightrope | Wes Block (also produced) |
| 1984 | City Heat | Lieutenant Speer |
| 1985 | Pale Rider | Preacher (also directed and produced) |
| 1986 | Heartbreak Ridge | Gunnery Sergent Tom 'Gunny' Highway (also directed and produced) |
| 1988 | The Dead Pool | Harry Callahan |
| 1988 | Bird | Director and producer |
| 1989 | Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser | Executive producer |
| 1989 | Pink Cadillac | Tommy Nowak |
| 1990 | White Hunter Black Heart | John Wilson (also directed and produced) |
| 1990 | The Rookie | Nick Pulovski (also directed) |
| 1992 | Unforgiven | William Munny (also directed and produced) |
| 1993 | In the Line of Fire | Secret Service Agent Frank Horrigan |
| 1993 | A Perfect World | Chief Red Garnett (also directed and produced) |
| 1995 | The Bridges of Madison County | Robert Kincaid (also directed and produced) |
| 1995 | The Stars Fell on Henrietta | Producer |
| 1997 | Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil | Director and producer |
| 1997 | Absolute Power | Luther Whitney (also directed and produced) |
| 1999 | True Crime | Steve Everett (also directed and produced) |
| 2000 | Space Cowboys | Dr. Frank Corvin (also directed and produced) |
| 2002 | Blood Work | Terry McCaleb (also directed and produced) |
| 2003 | Mystic River | Director and producer |
| 2004 | Million Dollar Baby | Frankie Dunn (also directed and produced) |
| 2006 | Flags of Our Fathers | Director and producer |
| 2006 | Letters from Iwo Jima | Director and producer |
| 2008 | Changeling | Director |
| 2009 | The Human Factor (film) | Director |