Clint Eastwood

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Clint Eastwood

Clinton Eastwood, Jr. (born May 31, 1930,) is an American actor, Academy Award winning film director, film producer and composer. Eastwood is famous for his "tough guy" roles, including Dirty Harry and the Man with No Name in Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Westerns. As a director, Eastwood has become known for high-quality dramas imbued with a pessimistic tone, such as Unforgiven, Mystic River, and Million Dollar Baby.

Contents

Early life

Born in San Francisco, California on May 31, 1930, as the son of a steel worker, Eastwood did a stint in the United States Army before moving to Los Angeles to study at Los Angeles College. He studied primarily business administration, but eventually dropped out.

Film career

Eastwood began work as an actor, appearing in B-films such as Tarantula and Francis in the Navy. In 1959, he got his first break with the long-running Television series, Rawhide. As Rowdy Yates, he made the show his own and became a household name across the country. But Eastwood found bigger roles with Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars (Per un pugno di dollari) in 1964, and soon followed it with For a Few Dollars More (Per qualche dollaro in più) (1965). In these and his third film with Leone, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo) (1966) he found one of his trademark roles, the mysterious "man with no name". All three films were hits, particularly the third, and Eastwood became an instant international star, redefining the traditional image of the American cowboy.

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. However, he also began to branch out. Paint Your Wagon (1969) was a Western, but a musical. Kelly's Heroes (1970) combined tough guy action with offbeat humor. 1971 proved to be one of his best years in films. He starred in the thriller Play Misty for Me (1971), and The Beguiled (1971). But it was his role that year as the hard-edged police inspector Harry Callahan in Dirty Harry that gave Eastwood one of his most memorable roles. The film has been credited with inventing the "loose-cannon cop genre" that remains imitated to this day. Many have said that Eastwood's portrayal of the tough, no-nonsense cop touched a nerve with many who were just plain fed up with crime in the streets.

Eastwood continued to take cop, western and thriller roles, including sequels to Dirty Harry: Magnum Force (1973), The Enforcer (1976), Sudden Impact (1983), and The Dead Pool (1988). The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) was an important contribution to the western genre. As the late '70s approached, he found more solid work in comedies such as Every Which Way But Loose (1978).

It was the fourth Dirty Harry film, Sudden Impact (1983), that made Eastwood a viable star for the '80s. President Reagan even used his famous "make my day" line in one of his speeches. He did make his fifth and final Dirty Harry movie, The Dead Pool (1988). Although it was a success overall, it did not have the box office punch his previous films had achieved. After much less successful films such as Pink Cadillac (1989), and The Rookie (1990), Eastwood started taking on more personal projects such as directing Bird (1988), a biopic of Charlie "Bird" Parker, and starring in and directing White Hunter, Black Heart (1990), an uneven, loose biography of John Huston.

Eastwood rose to stardom yet again in the 1990s. He starred in and directed the gritty, cynical western, Unforgiven in 1992, taking on the role of an aging ex-gunfighter, long past his prime. The film was nominated for nine Oscars, including Best Actor for Eastwood, and won four, including Best Picture and Best Director for Eastwood. The following year, Eastwood gave a fine performance as a guilt-ridden Secret Service agent in the thriller In the Line of Fire. He expanded his repertoire again with the love story, The Bridges of Madison County (1995), and took on more work as director, much of it well received, including Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997), Mystic River (2003), and Million Dollar Baby (2004), for which he won a rare second Best Director award -- at 74 the oldest active director to do so.

Eastwood developed directing as a second career, and has, indeed, generally received greater critical acclaim for his directing than for his acting. He has chosen a wide variety of films to direct, some clearly commercial, others highly personal. Unlike many actors who also direct, Eastwood frequently directs films in which he does not appear. Eastwood has become a highly respected American director. 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 Warner Bros. studio, which finances and releases most of his films. In more recent years, Eastwood also has started to write music for some of his films.

Eastwood received Kennedy Center Honors in 2000.

Personal life

Eastwood, who has been married twice, has four daughters and two sons by five different women: Kimberly, 40, with actress Roxanne Tunis; and Kyle, 36, and Alison 32, with his ex-wife Maggie Johnson. He has an 11-year-old daughter Francesca with Frances Fisher, his co-star in Unforgiven, and 7-year-old Morgan with his new wife Dina Ruiz. He also has an older son, Lesly (born February 13, 1959), to Rosina Mary Glen (born September 1, 1940). He was adopted after spending six months in a Salvation Army Home for young unmarried mothers. Clint and his wife Maggie (Maggie was pregnant at the time) found and introduced themselves to him in the late summer of 1967 (he was 8). He was living in a small village in Fife, Scotland, called Kinghorn. Although they never made contact with him in any way again, Clint would regularly vacation at the secluded Kingswood Hotel on the road between Kinghorn and Burntisland. He was seen on many occasions, playing golf at Burntisland golf course. His autographed picture still hangs in the Penny Farthing Bar in Kirkaldy, which he donated personally.

"I like to joke that since my children weren't giving me any grandchildren, I had two of my own. It's 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."

Political career

In addition to his career as an actor, Eastwood was elected mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California on April 8, 1986. Running on a Republican ticket, he received 72% of the vote (voter turnout was also doubled over the previous mayoral election). He served a two-year term before declining to run for re-election. Though Eastwood ran as a republican, he has recently offended many conservatives with his movie Million Dollar Baby but Eastwood has described the movie as simply a "What If" story.

Neither a conservative or a liberal, Eastwood charactorizes himself in interviews as a libertarian. He has become one of the most prominent opponents of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the disability rights movement, after his restaurant in Carmel was hit with an ADA enforcement lawsuit. In May 2000, he testified before Congress in support of a bill that would have added procedural protections for small-business owners. A few disability rights activists have alleged that his decision to make Million Dollar Baby may have been motivated by this earlier experience.

In 2005 Eastwood threatened to kill the liberal filmmaker Michael Moore if ever Moore showed up at his home with a camera. This appears to have been a jesting reference to Moore's controversial interview with legendary movie star and conservative activist Charlton Heston for the movie Bowling for Columbine.

Filmography

Eastwood also has directed a number of films, including many that he starred in.

Year Film Role
2004 Million Dollar Baby Frankie Dunn
2002 Blood Work Terry McCaleb
2000 Space Cowboys Dr. Frank Corvin
1999 True Crime Steve Everett
1997 Absolute Power Luther Whitney
1995 The Bridges of Madison County Robert Kincaid
1993 A Perfect World Chief Red Garnett
1993 In the Line of Fire Secret Service Agent Frank Horrigan
1992 Unforgiven William 'Bill' Munny
1990 The Rookie Nick Pulovski
1990 White Hunter Black Heart John Wilson
1989 Pink Cadillac Tommy Nowak
1988 The Dead Pool Inspector 'Dirty' Harry Callahan
1986 Heartbreak Ridge Gunnery Sergent Tom 'Gunny' Highway
1985 Pale Rider Preacher
1984 City Heat Lieutenant Speer
1984 Tightrope Wes Block
1983 Sudden Impact Inspector 'Dirty' Harry Callahan
1982 Honkytonk Man Red Stovall
1982 Firefox Mitchell Gant
1980 Any Which Way You Can Philo Beddoe
1980 Bronco Billy Bronco Billy McCoy
1979 Escape from Alcatraz Frank Morris
1978 Every Which Way But Loose Philo Beddoe
1977 The Gauntlet Ben Shockley
1976 The Enforcer Inspector 'Dirty' Harry Callahan
1976 The Outlaw Josey Wales Josey Wales
1975 The Eiger Sanction Dr. Jonathan Hemlock
1974 Thunderbolt and Lightfoot Thunderbolt
1973 Magnum Force Inspector 'Dirty' Harry Callahan
1973 High Plains Drifter The Stranger
1972 Joe Kidd Joe Kidd
1971 Dirty Harry Inspector 'Dirty' Harry Callahan
1971 Play Misty for Me David 'Dave' Garver
1971 The Beguiled Cpl. John McBurney
1970 Kelly's Heroes Private Kelly
1970 Two Mules for Sister Sara Hogan
1969 Paint Your Wagon Sylvester 'Pardner' Newel
1968 Where Eagles Dare Lieutenant Morris Schaffer
1968 Coogan's Bluff Deputy Sheriff Walt Coogan
1968 Hang 'Em High Marshal Jed Cooper
1967 Le Streghe Charlie (segment "Sera come le altre, Una")
1966 Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, Il Blondie (The Man with No Name)
1965 Per qualche dollaro in più Monco (The Man with No Name)
1964 Per un pugno di dollari Joe (The Man with No Name)
1959 Rawhide (TV) Rowdy Yates (1959-1966)
1958 Ambush at Cimarron Pass Keith Williams
1958 Lafayette Escadrille George Moseley
1957 Escapade in Japan Dumbo Pilot (uncredited)
1956 The First Traveling Saleslady Lieutenant Jack Rice, Roughrider
1956 Away All Boats Marine (Medic; uncredited)
1956 Star in the Dust Tom (ranch hand; uncredited)
1956 Never Say Goodbye Will (uncredited)
1955 Tarantula Jet Squadron Leader (uncredited)
1955 Lady Godiva First Saxon (uncredited)
1955 Francis in the Navy Jonesey
1955 Revenge of the Creature Lab Technician (uncredited)

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" (soundtrack)
  • "Kelly's Heroes" (soundtrack)
  • "Cowboy in a Three Piece Suit" (single, 1981)

Quotations

Some of Eastwood's lines are among the best-known movie quotations of all time. (Remembering, of course, that Eastwood himself did not write any of these lines. Eastwood has never taken a writing credit on a film.)

From Dirty Harry:

Harry Callahan: "I know what you're thinking: 'Did he fire six shots or only five?' Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I've kinda lost track myself. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?"

From Sudden Impact:

Harry Callahan: "Go ahead, make my day."

From Bronco Billy:

Bronco Billy: "Dyin's too good for ya."

From Million Dollar Baby:

Frankie Dunn: "Girlie, tough ain't enough."

External links

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