« Bonnie and Clyde | Main | Richard Harris »
Clint Eastwood
Go ahead, make my day.
— Clint Eastwood
LIKE most superstars, Clint Eastwood’s success can be attributed to equal parts good fortune, tenacity, and talent. On leave as a G.I., his plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean: he swam three miles to shore, was made boot camp swimming instructor, and missed out on action in Korea. Encouraged to try acting by two of his Army buddies, David Janssen and Martin Milner, he landed a contract at Universal Studios in 1954, earning 75 dollars a week playing bit parts in movies like Revenge of the Creature and Tarantula. He was dropped when some execs decided his Adam’s apple was too big. He swallowed his pride and, over the next few years, he dug swimming pools between playing bit parts in movies and on TV.
While visiting a friend at CBS, Eastwood was spotted by a network exec who cast him as cattle driver Rowdy Yates in the long-running western series Rawhide. That, in turn, led to spaghetti stardom in a string of Sergio Leone westerns, beginning with A Fistful of Dollars. He made his directorial debut with Play Misty for Me in 1971, the same year he made his bow as Dirty Harry, the Magnum-toting cop who cemented his reputation as a superstar. Throughout the ’70s, he was the world’s biggest box-office draw, but his critical reputation didn’t begin to turn until 1980, when New York’s Museum of Modern Art honored him with a career retrospective. In 1985, he was decorated by the French, and, the year after that, he was elected mayor of a Northern California seaside community, Carmel.
In 1988, after a two-year hiatus, he returned to film: he starred in the fifth and seemingly final Dirty Harry adventure, The Dead Pool, and directed the critically acclaimed Charlie Parker biopic, Bird. In his sixties, Clint’s chiseled cheeks and rugged, thin-lipped charm seemed as sexy as ever, and coupled with decades of professional efficiency, he was ripe for enshrinement. In 1992, he won Best Picture and Best Director Oscars for Unforgiven, an artful, existential Western in which he starred with Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman. With In the Line of Fire, a 1993 thriller in which he plays an aging secret service agent, Eastwood proved that he was firmly on top of — not over — the hill. At 65, he earned the honorary Irving G. Thalberg Award from the Academy, and bit into the plum romantic role of photographer Robert Kincaid (opposite Meryl Streep) in The Bridges of Madison County.
While Eastwood has tried to keep his personal life largely private, choosing to live out of the Hollywood limelight, in Carmel, he has seen his fair share of scandal. Married in 1954 to Maggie Johnson, he fathered a daughter, Kimber, by actress Roxanne Tunis in 1964. He and Maggie later had two kids of their own, but the couple split in the late ’70s, when Eastwood took up with sometime co-star Sondra Locke. His split from Locke was even more traumatic, leading to multimillion-dollar lawsuits against Eastwood and his studio, Warner Bros. Eastwood and Locke finally settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. On a much happier note, Eastwood married television news journalist Dina Ruiz, 35 years his junior, and the couple had a baby daughter in December 1996.
Now closing in on 70, Eastwood shows little signs of slowing down: he produced, directed, and starred in the 1997 political thriller Absolute Power, and produced and directed an ambitious adaptation of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt’s best-selling non-fiction account of a murder trial in Savannah, Ga. 1999 witnessed the release of the suspenseful and satisfying thriller True Crime, which he produced, directed, and starred in. As for upcoming projects, Eastwood has been mentioned to star in Henry in Love, a drama about an older man who marries a young woman, fathers a child, and then discovers that he has a terminal illness; and to direct Golf in the Kingdom, the story of a man who finds enlightenment while playing golf in Scotland. Speaking of golf, Eastwood is moving forward, despite the objections of environmentalists, to develop a golf course, hotel, and several exclusive homes in Monterey County, south of San Francisco.
Occupation: Actor, Composer, Director, Musician, Politician, Producer
Date of Birth: May 31, 1930
Place of Birth: San Francisco, Calif., USA
Sign: Sun in Gemini, Moon in Leo
Relations: Wife: Dina Ruiz; ex-wife: Maggie Johnson; ex-girlfriends: Sondra Locke (actress), Frances Fisher (actress); kids: Kimber (with actress Roxanne Tunis), Kyle and Alison (both with Johnson), Francesca (with Fisher), Morgan (with Ruiz)
Education: Los Angeles City College; Honorary Ph.D., Wesleyan University
Fan Mail: C/O William Morris Agency
151 El Camino Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
USA.
Clint Eastwood: Credits
MOVIES
Actor
Space Cowboys — 2000
True Crime — 1999
Absolute Power — 1997
The Bridges of Madison County — 1995
A Century of Cinema — 1994
In the Line of Fire — 1993
A Perfect World — 1993
Unforgiven — 1992
White Hunter, Black Heart — 1990
The Rookie — 1990
Pink Cadillac — 1989
The Dead Pool — 1988
Heartbreak Ridge — 1986
Pale Rider — 1985
City Heat — 1984
Tightrope — 1984
Sudden Impact — 1983
Honkytonk Man — 1983
Firefox — 1982
Any Which Way You Can — 1980
Bronco Billy — 1980
Escape From Alcatraz — 1979
Every Which Way but Loose — 1978
The Gauntlet — 1977
The Enforcer — 1976
The Outlaw Josey Wales — 1976
The Eiger Sanction — 1975
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot — 1974
High Plains Drifter — 1973
Magnum Force — 1973
Joe Kidd — 1972
The Beguiled — 1971
Dirty Harry — 1971
Play Misty for Me — 1971
Kelly’s Heroes — 1970
Two Mules for Sister Sara — 1970
Where Eagles Dare — 1969
Paint Your Wagon — 1969
Hang ‘Em High — 1968
Coogan’s Bluff — 1968
For a Few Dollars More — 1967
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly — 1966
A Fistful of Dollars — 1964
Ambush at Cimarron Pass — 1958
Lafayette Escadrille — 1958
Escapade in Japan — 1957
The First Traveling Saleslady — 1956
Away All Boats — 1956
Never Say Goodbye — 1956
Star in the Dust — 1956
Tarantula — 1955
Lady Godiva — 1955
Francis in the Navy — 1955
Revenge of the Creature — 1955
Director
Space Cowboys — 2000
True Crime — 1999
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil — 1997
The Bridges of Madison County — 1995
A Perfect World — 1993
Unforgiven — 1992
White Hunter, Black Heart — 1990
The Rookie — 1990
Pink Cadillac — 1989
Bird — 1988
Heartbreak Ridge — 1986
Pale Rider — 1985
Sudden Impact — 1983
Honkytonk Man — 1983
Firefox — 1982
The Gauntlet — 1977
The Outlaw Josey Wales — 1976
The Eiger Sanction — 1975
High Plains Drifter — 1973
Breezy — 1973
Play Misty for Me — 1971
Executive Producer
Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser — 1989
Producer
True Crime — 1999
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil — 1997
Absolute Power — 1997
The Stars Fell on Henrietta — 1995
The Bridges of Madison County — 1995
A Perfect World — 1993
Unforgiven — 1992
White Hunter, Black Heart — 1990
Pink Cadillac — 1989
Bird — 1988
Heartbreak Ridge — 1986
Pale Rider — 1985
Sudden Impact — 1983
Honkytonk Man — 1983
Firefox — 1982
Other Movie Credits
Casper — 1995 (Voice only)
Heartbreak Ridge — 1986 (Music)
City Heat — 1984 (Music)
Tightrope — 1984 (Co-Producer)
Any Which Way You Can — 1980 (Music)
MUSIC
Eastwood After Hours: Live at Carnegie Hall — 1997
TV
Big Guns Talk: The Story of the Western — 1997 (Documentary)
Here’s Looking at You, Warner Bros. — 1993 (Special; host)
Clint Eastwood–The Man From Malpaso — 1993 (Special)
Clint Eastwood’s Favorite Films — 1993 (Special)
Clint Eastwood Talking With David Frost — 1993 (Guest)
Eastwood & Co. Making Unforgiven — 1992 (Special)
Gary Cooper: American Life, American Legend — 1989 (Host, Narrator)
All-Star Party for Joan Collins — 1987 (Host)
Fame, Fortune & Romance — 1986 (Series)
All-Star Party for Clint Eastwood — 1986 (Special)
Amazing Stories: Vanessa in the Garden — 1985 (Series; episode director)
Rawhide — 1959 - 1966 (Series)
Photo Gallery:
Topics: Actor, Celebrities, Director, Musician, Producer
Tags: 'Pale Rider', Absolute Power, Actor, Black Heart, Bronco Billy, City Heat, Composer, Director, Firefox, Heartbreak Ridge, Honkytonk Man, Musician, Pink Cadillac, Politician, Producer, Space Cowboys, Sudden Impact, Tightrope, True Crime, Unforgiven, White Hunter
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.
