'Clint Eastwood' (born 'Clinton Eastwood, Jr.' on
May 31,
1930) is an
iconic American actor,
composer,
film director and
producer. While his work as a director, on recent films like ''
Letters from Iwo Jima'' and ''
Flags of Our Fathers'', have received a high degree of critical acclaim, Eastwood is best known for his
tough guy,
anti-hero acting roles typically in
western films, most notably as the
Man with No Name in
Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy of
Spaghetti Westerns of the 1960s, and Inspector
'Dirty' Harry Callahan in the ''
Dirty Harry'' series of the 1970s.
Biography
Early life
Eastwood was born in
San Francisco to ''Margaret Ruth'' (
nee Runner), a factory worker,
[1] and ''Clinton Eastwood, Sr.'',
[2] a steelworker and migratory worker. His father was of
Scottish and
English ancestry and his mother of
Dutch and
Irish descent
[3]. Eastwood was raised in a "middle class
Protestant home"
[4] and moved often as a child as his father worked a variety of jobs along the
West Coast.
[5] The family settled in
Piedmont, California during his teens, and he graduated from
Oakland Technical High School in 1949. After high school Eastwood worked as a
gas station attendant, a
firefighter, and played
jazz piano at a bar in
Oakland.
[6] He was drafted in 1950 but his plane crashed in the Pacific. Eastwood swam over three miles to shore, which propelled him to become a swim instructor at boot camps during the war.
Film career
Eastwood began work as an
actor, making brief appearances in
B-films such as ''
Revenge of the Creature'', ''
Tarantula'' and ''
Francis in the Navy''. In 1958, he got his first starring role in a feature film, ''
Ambush at Cimarron Pass'', which he has dismissed as "probably the lousiest Western ever made." In 1959, he got his first break with the long-running television series, ''
Rawhide''. As Rowdy Yates (whom Eastwood would later refer to in interviews as "the idiot of the plains"), he made the show his own and became a household name across the country.
1960s
Eastwood found lead roles as the mysterious ''
Man With No Name'' in
Sergio Leone's loose trilogy of
westerns ''
A Fistful of Dollars / Per un pugno di dollari'' (1964), ''
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). Although the first of these was evidently a tribute to
Akira Kurosawa's ''
Yojimbo'', 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 an instant international star, redefining the traditional image of the American
cowboy (though his character was actually a
gunslinger rather than a traditional hero).
Stardom brought more roles, though still in the "tough guy" mold. In ''
Where Eagles Dare'' (1968) 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 Eastwood was a lonely 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 series of films. In the next year Eastwood began to branch out. ''
Paint Your Wagon'' (1969) was a
musical, albeit a western musical.
1970s
''
Kelly's Heroes'', (1970) combined tough-guy action with offbeat humor. Eastwood made a western with
Shirley MacLaine in ''
Two Mules for Sister Sara'' (1970). In ''
The Beguiled'', directed again by Siegel, he played a cad, as close to a villain as he has come. However, 1971 proved to be a professional turning point for his career. His own production company, Malpaso, was new but gave Eastwood the control 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 and arguably established 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), as well as sparking numerous imitators such as Charles Bronson's ''
Death Wish'' (1974) and its four sequels.
Eastwood directed two important, allegorical westerns during the 1970s, ''
High Plains Drifter'' (1973) and ''
The Outlaw Josey Wales'' (1976).
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 only the Dirty Harry sequel ''Magnum Force'' (and would win an Oscar for directing ''
The Deer Hunter'' four years later).
In 1975, Eastwood brought another talent to the screen: rock climbing. In ''
The Eiger Sanction'', in which he directed and starred, Eastwood — a
5.9 climber — performed his own rock climbing stunts. This film has become a cult classic in the rock climbing community. This film was done before the advent of
CGI, so no digital manipulation was used in the film.
In 1978, he starred in ''
Every Which Way But Loose'' in an uncharacteristic and offbeat comedy role as Philo Beddoe, a trucker and brawler roaming the American West in search of a lost love while accompanying his brother/manager Orville and his pet
orangutan, Clyde. Panned by critics, the movie was an enormous success and spawned the 1980 sequel ''
Any Which Way You Can''. This film also spawned the country hit song "Bar Room Buddies", performed by Eastwood and Merle Haggard. Haggard also appeared in the film.
In 1979, Eastwood played yet another memorable role as the prison escapee
Frank Morris in the fact-based movie ''
Escape from Alcatraz''. 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. They were never seen again, and although the
FBI believes that the escapees drowned, to this day their actual fate is unknown.
1980s
It was the fourth Dirty Harry film, ''
Sudden Impact'' (1983), that made Eastwood a viable star for the 1980s.
President Reagan referenced his famous "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 was rehearsed at the
Cannes Film Festival. His fifth and final Dirty Harry movie, ''
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'' (1989) 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 starred in and directed ''
White Hunter, Black Heart'' (1990), an uneven, loose
biography of
John Huston, which received some critical acclaim, although
Katharine Hepburn contested the veracity of much of the material.
1990s
Eastwood rose to prominence yet again in the early 1990s. He revisited the western genre one final time in the self-directed ''
Unforgiven'' in 1992, taking on the role of an aging ex-
gunfighter long past his prime. The film, also starring such esteemed actors as
Gene Hackman,
Morgan Freeman, and
Richard Harris, laid the groundwork for such later westerns as ''
Deadwood'' by re-envisioning established genre conventions in a more ambiguous and unromantic light. A great success both in terms of box office and critical acclaim, it was nominated for nine
Oscars, including
Best Actor for Eastwood and Best Original Screenplay for
David Webb Peoples, and won four, including
Best Picture and
Best Director for Eastwood.
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'' in 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).
2000s
In 2002, Eastwood played an ex-FBI agent on the track of a sadistic killer in ''
Blood Work'', which was derived from a book by
Michael Connelly. In
2003 he directed ''
Mystic River'' for which he garnered a Best Director nomination. In ''
Space Cowboys'', which also stared ''
Tommy Lee Jones'', ''
Donald Sutherland'', ''
James Garner'', and ''
James Cromwell'', he plays Frank Corvin, a retired engineer NASA calls upon to save a dying Russian space satellite. But he found critical acclaim with ''
Million Dollar Baby'' in
2004. This movie won 4 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and Eastwood was nominated for Best Actor (but lost to
Jamie Foxx). In 2006, he directed two movies about the battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. The first one, ''
Flags of Our Fathers'', dealt with the men who raised the American Flag on top of Mount Suribachi. The second one, ''
Letters from Iwo Jima'', dealt with the tactics of the Japanese soldiers on the island and the letters they wrote to family members. Both films were highly praised by critics and garnered several Oscar Nominations, including Best Director and Picture for ''Letters from Iwo Jima.''
Eastwood has his own
Warner Bros. Records-distributed imprint, Malpaso Records, as part of his deal with Warner Bros. This deal was left intact 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''.
Directing
Eastwood has developed directing as a second career, and has generally received greater critical acclaim for his directing than he ever did for his acting. Eastwood's directorial debut occurred with
Play Misty For Me in
1971. He had tried for some time to direct an episode of
Rawhide, even being promised at one point the possibility of doing so. However, because of differences between the president of the studio and show producers, Eastwood's opportunity fell through. Eastwood has become known for directing high-quality but pessimistic dramas such as ''
Unforgiven'', ''
A Perfect World'', ''
Mystic River'', ''
Million Dollar Baby'', ''
Flags of Our Fathers'', and ''
Letters from Iwo Jima''. However, he has chosen a wide variety of films to direct, some clearly commercial, others highly personal. Articles about Eastwood often neglect to mention that he has directed 27 films (as of 2006). Many actors direct now and then, but Eastwood is as distinguished as many more famous directors. (See Awards.)
Eastwood also 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 (although, 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.
Awards and nominations
Eastwood has been nominated for the
Academy Award for directing and producing eight times, winning for ''
Unforgiven'' and ''
Million Dollar Baby'' (his other nominations come for ''
Mystic River'' and ''
Letters from Iwo Jima''), and twice for acting (''Unforgiven'' and ''Million Dollar Baby''), though he has not won an Academy Award for acting. He is one of only three living directors (along with
Miloš Forman and
Francis Ford Coppola) to have directed two Best Picture winners, ''Unforgiven'' and ''Million Dollar Baby'', the second of which earned him his second Best Director Oscar.
[7] At age 74, he was the oldest director to achieve this distinction.
Eastwood has received numerous other awards, including an
America Now TV Award as well as one of the 2000
Kennedy Center Honors. He also received an honorary degree from
University of the Pacific in 2006, and an honorary degree from
University of Southern California in 2007. In 1994 He received the honorary Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for lifetime achievement in acting.
[8] 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 will be 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. Eastwood will receive the award for his work on the 2006 films ''
Flags of Our Fathers'' and the Academy Award-nominated ''
Letters from Iwo Jima''.
[9]
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".
[10]
Two actors (
Tim Robbins and
Morgan Freeman) have won Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor in consecutive years for playing characters in Eastwood's movies. Robbins won in 2003 for ''
Mystic River'' while Freeman won in 2004 for his role in ''
Million Dollar Baby''.
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.
Current projects
Eastwood has been announced to direct
Universal Pictures' ''
The Changeling'', a period thriller from noted writer
J. Michael Straczynski and producers
Ron Howard and
Brian Grazer.
Angelina Jolie has been slated to star in the film, with production set to start later in 2007.
[11]
Eastwood and Warner Bros. have also purchased the movie rights to
James Hansen's ''
First Man'', the authorized biography of astronaut
Neil Armstrong. No production date has been announced.
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 have already captured early rehearsals, sound checks and the final performance. Ricker and Eastwood are currently working on a documentary about
Tony Bennett titled "
The Music Never Ends."
[12]
Political life
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 residential and business communities. On election day,
April 8,
1986, with double the voter turnout, Eastwood garnered 72.5% of the vote and was elected to a position that paid $200 per month. During his tenure, he tried to balance the rights of preservationists and develop the town for local business. Eastwood decided not to run for a second term due to the number of small scale decisions required of the mayor in such a small town. During his tenure, he completed
Heartbreak Ridge and ''Bird''.
[13] On a lighter note, as mayor he repealed a municipal law that forbade anyone to eat ice cream on the sidewalk.
Although Eastwood has been registered as a
Republican since 1951, and supported
Richard Nixon's 1968 presidential campaign, he describes himself as a
libertarian, saying his philosophy is "Everyone leaves everyone else alone".
[14] He voted for
Arnold Schwarzenegger as
Governor of
California in 2003 and 2006.
Eastwood jokingly threatened to kill Michael Moore at the National Board of Review awards dinner in January 2005. Eastwood was quoted as saying "Michael Moore and I actually have a lot in common, we both appreciate living in a country where there's free expression... but, Michael, if you ever show up at my front door with a camera - I'll kill you." This was presumably in reference to Moore's controversial interview with Eastwood's friend
Charlton Heston in the movie ''
Bowling for Columbine''.
Personal life
Eastwood, who has been married twice, has five daughters and two sons by five different women: Kimber (born 1964), with Roxanne Tunis;
Kyle (born in 1968) and
Alison (born on
May 22,
1972), with ex-wife Maggie Johnson; Scott (born
March 21,
1986) and Kathryn (born
February 2,
1988), with airline hostess Jacelyn Reeves; Francesca Ruth (born
August 7,
1993), with
Frances Fisher, his co-star in ''
Unforgiven''; and Morgan (born
December 12,
1996), with current wife
Dina Ruiz. Clint Eastwood lived with actress
Sondra Locke from 1976 to 1988. The relationship produced no children.
Eastwood remains a popular
sex symbol. He once said, "I like to joke that since my children weren't making me any grandchildren, I had two of my own. It is a terrific feeling being a dad again at my age. I am very fortunate. I realize how unfair a thing it is that men can have children at a much older age than women." He now has two grandchildren, Clinton (born 1984) and Graylen (born 1994) of Kimber and Kyle, respectively.
Eastwood owns the exclusive
Tehama Golf Club located in
Carmel within
Monterey County. The invitation-only club reportedly has around 300 members and a joining price of $500,000. Eastwood is also the owner of the
Mission Ranch Hotel and Restaurant, located in Carmel as well.
Eastwood is also 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.
A physical fitness fanatic, he has never smoked, except in some of his movies. He also maintains a vegan diet "heavy on fruit, vegetables, tofu, and other soy products."
[15]
Eastwood in popular culture
''Clint Eastwood'' is the name used by
Marty McFly in ''
Back to the Future Part III'' (1990), which parodies a western, though the other characters do not find it intimidating; their reactions range from quizzical to insulting ("What kind of a stupid name is that?"). Marty also used a piece of metal as a bulletproof vest in a duel with Buford (as foreshadowed in Part II when Biff is watching ''
A Fistful of Dollars'' in his hot tub).
Stephen King has stated in interviews, as well as in forewords and afterwords for the respective books, that one of the inspirations for
Roland Deschain, a.k.a.
Roland of Gilead, the
Gunslinger in his popular ''
The Dark Tower'' opus, is Clint Eastwood. He also says that Roland is meant to embody a gritty, melancholy persona, like that of Eastwood's "The Man With No Name" in ''
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly''.
Reggae/dub musician
Lee Perry recorded a song entitled "Clint Eastwood" in 1969.
Virtual band Gorillaz has recorded two songs called "
Clint Eastwood" and "
Dirty Harry" both on Track 5. Gorillaz' frontman Damon Albarn also released an album called
The Good, the Bad and the Queen with the help of Paul Simonon, Simon Tong, Tony Allen, and Dangermouse. Rock band "The Transplants" make references to ''Hang em High'' and ''A Few Dollars More'' in some of their songs. The
theme song to the television show ''
The Fall Guy'', "
The Unknown Stuntman", references Eastwood with the line "I'm the unknown stuntman that makes Eastwood look so fine."
Eastwood, in cybernetic form, is the main character/driver in the game
Nitro for the Commodore Amiga and Atari-ST computers, by Psygnosis (1990).
Eastwood's portrayal of the Man With No Name is also stated as an inspiration for the character
Master Chief in the popular
Halo video game series.
A
Swedish metal band from the 1980s was named after him:
The Clint Eastwood Experience. The band featured members of
Dismember and
Entombed. In the
computer game '', one of the characters in the second allied mission (which is set in Hollywood) is named Flint Westwood. The character is also named for the game's produced,
Westwood Studios.
Eastwood appears as an
audio-animatronic in the
Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park at
Walt Disney World on one of the park's most iconic attractions,
The Great Movie Ride, along with other classic actors. In the computer game '', there is a mention of the "East Clintwood Institute, named after the famous movie star". The final boss in the computer game ''
Fallout 2'' is called
Frank Horrigan, a reference to Clint Eastwood's character in the movie ''
In the Line of Fire''. There are several references to Eastwood the Polish post-apocalyptic
role-playing game Neuroshima.
Eastwood is the name used by popular Reggae musician and D.J. Robert Brammer.
Adam and the Ants chant Clint Eastwood's name as part of the chorus of "Los Rancheros", which appears on their 1980 album titled ''
Kings of the Wild Frontier''.
Big Audio Dynamite inserted several audio samples from Eastwood's
spaghetti western movies into their song "Medicine Show", which appears on ''
This is Big Audio Dynamite'', released in 1985.
''
Something Awful'' featured a four part article titled "Four Days in Winter, focused on a mercenary hired to protect teenagers on an MTV series. There are overt references to Eastwood, such as the main character carrying a .44 Magnum and yelling "Do you feel lucky?". An MTV cast member also says to him "We hear you have a famous grandfather". At the conclusion he reveals his identity saying "My name is Eastwood" before being gunned down.
Two Japanese people in the film ''
Crocodile Dundee II'' mistook the main character, Mick Dundee, as Clint Eastwood.
One persistent rumor has it that Eastwood is the son (legitimate or otherwise) of British comic actor
Stan Laurel. This is untrue, although a passing facial resemblance to the comedian (plus the fact that Eastwood was born on the same day as one of Laurel's children) has ensured that the legend often resurfaces.
[16]
As a Final Jeopardy question on ''
Jeopardy!'', it was pointed out that his name is an anagram for "Old West Action".
Eastwood is set to voice Harry Callahan for the Dirty Harry video game scheduled for a 2007 release.
Filmography
Discography
★ "Unknown Girl" (single, 1961)
★ "Rowdy" (single)
★ "For You, For Me, For Evermore" (single)
★ ''
Rawhide's Clint Eastwood Sings Cowboy Favorites'' (LP)
★ ''
Paint Your Wagon''
★ ''
Kelly's Heroes''
★ "Barroom Buddies" (single, 1980) with
Merle Haggard
★ "Cowboy in a Three Piece Suit" (single, 1981)
★ "Make My Day" (single, 1984) with
T.G. Sheppard
★ '' Live At
Carnegie Hall''
References
1. http://www.saga.co.uk/magazine/people/celebrities/clinteastwood.asp
2. http://www.filmreference.com/film/78/Clint-Eastwood.html
3. "Clint Eastwood's Genealogy">[1]
4. http://www.adherents.com/people/pe/Clint_Eastwood.html
5. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/03/sunday/main671541.shtml
6. http://www.vault.com/nr/main_article_detail.jsp?article_id=19109&cat_id=0&ht_type=2
7. Clint Eastwood Awards uk.movies.yahoo.com. Retrieved 6 January 2007.
8. Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 6 January 2007.
9. Eastwood tapped first recipient of MPAA's Valenti honor news.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2 February 2007
10. Eastwood Receives French Honor news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 17 February 2007.
11. Eastwood, Jolie catch 'Changeling' — Grazer, Howard to produce pic Garrett, Diane; Fleming, Michael
12. Clint Eastwood and Other Illustrious Artists Honor Jazz Legend Dave Brubeck University of the Pacific Media Relations
13. http://www.clinteastwood.net/welcome2.html
14. http://www.libertarianrock.com/clint.html
15. http://www.goveg.com/celebs_famous2.asp
16. http://www.snopes.com/movies/actors/eastwood.asp
★
Michael Goad, "Clint Eastwood", "Stellar One" (
July 18 2003). Retrieved
January 17 2006.
★
Limbacher, Carl. 'Clint Eastwood: I'll Kill Michael Moore', ''NewsMax'' (January 13 2005). Retrieved
January 17 2006.
★
'Watergate: The Conspiracy Crumbles', ''The Discovery Channel'' (1994).
External links
★
★
Charlie Rose show: An hour with Clint Eastwood
★
2007 In-depth interview with Clint Eastwood from The Observer
★
Entertainment Weekly Photo Gallery: Clint Eastwood
★
Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database
★
Clint Eastwood Forums
★
Clint Eastwood.NET
★
The Directors: Clint Eastwood discusses ''Unforgiven''
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