Clint Eastwood

For other uses, see Clint Eastwood (disambiguation).

Clint Eastwood
Eastwood at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	Clinton Eastwood, Jr. (1930-05-31) May 31, 1930 San Francisco, California, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation(s)	Actor, director, producer, and composer
Years active	1955–present
Spouse(s)	Maggie Johnson (1953–84; two children) Dina Ruiz (1996–present; one child)
Children	Kimber Tunis Kyle Eastwood Alison Eastwood Scott Reeves Kathryn Reeves Francesca Fisher-Eastwood Morgan Eastwood

Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American film actor, director, producer, composer, and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide (1959–1965). He rose to fame for playing the Man with No Name in Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy of spaghetti westerns (A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) during the late 1960s, and as Harry Callahan in the Dirty Harry films (Dirty Harry, Magnum Force, The Enforcer, Sudden Impact, and The Dead Pool) throughout the 1970s and 1980s. These roles, among others, have made him an enduring cultural icon of a certain type of masculinity.

For his work in the films Unforgiven (1992) and Million Dollar Baby (2004), Eastwood won Academy Awards for Best Director and Producer of the Best Picture, as well as receiving nominations for Best Actor. These films in particular, as well as others including Play Misty for Me (1971), Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), Escape from Alcatraz (1979), Tightrope (1984), Pale Rider (1985), Heartbreak Ridge (1986), In the Line of Fire (1993), The Bridges of Madison County (1995), and Gran Torino (2008), have all received commercial success and critical acclaim. Eastwood's only comedies have been Every Which Way but Loose (1978) and its sequel Any Which Way You Can (1980), which are his two most commercially successful films after adjustment for inflation.

In addition to directing many of his own star vehicles, Eastwood has also directed films in which he did not appear, such as Mystic River (2003) and Letters from Iwo Jima (2006), for which he received Academy Award nominations, and Changeling (2008). He has received considerable critical praise in France, including for several films which were not well received in the United States, and he has been awarded two of France's highest honors: in 1994 he became a recipient of the French Republic's Commandeur of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and in 2007 he was awarded the Légion d'honneur medal. In 2000, he was awarded the Italian Venice Film Festival Golden Lion for lifetime achievement.

Since 1967, Eastwood has run his own production company, Malpaso, which has produced all except four of his American films. He also served as the nonpartisan mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California from 1986 to 1988. Eastwood has seven children by five different women, although he has only married twice.

Early life

Main article: Early life and work of Clint Eastwood

Eastwood was born in San Francisco to Clinton Eastwood, Sr. (1906–70), a steelworker and migrant worker, and Margaret Ruth (Runner) Eastwood (1909–2006), a factory worker. He was nicknamed "Samson" by the hospital nurses as he weighed 11 pounds 6 ounces (5.2 kg) at birth. Eastwood is of English, Irish, Scottish, and Dutch ancestry and was raised in a working class home with his younger sister, Jeanne (born 1934). His family moved often as his father worked at jobs along the West Coast. The family finally settled in Piedmont, California, where Eastwood attended Piedmont Junior High School. Shortly before he was to enter Piedmont High School, he rode his bike on the school's sports field and tore up the wet turf; this resulted in his being asked not to enroll. Instead, he attended Oakland Technical High School, where the drama teachers encouraged him to take part in school plays. However, Eastwood was not interested. He worked at a number of jobs, including lifeguard, paper carrier, grocery clerk, forest firefighter, and golf caddy.

In 1951, Eastwood entered the United States Army during the Korean War and was assigned to Fort Ord in California, where he worked as a lifeguard. While on leave in 1951, he was a passenger on a Douglas AD bomber that ran out of fuel and crashed into the ocean near Point Reyes. Escaping from the sinking aircraft, he and the pilot swam 3 miles (5 km) to safety.

Career

Early work

Publicity photo for Rawhide, 1961

According to the CBS press release for Rawhide, Universal Studios (then known as Universal-International) was shooting in Fort Ord when an assistant noticed Eastwood and arranged for him to meet the series' director. According to Eastwood's official biography, a man named Chuck Hill was instrumental in securing employment for Eastwood at Universal; Hill, who had contacts in Hollywood, managed to sneak Eastwood into one of Universal's studios, where he showed him to cameraman Irving Glassberg. Glassberg arranged for Eastwood to have an audition with Arthur Lubin who, although impressed with Eastwood's appearance and 6-foot-4-inch (1.93 m) frame, initially questioned his acting skills, remarking, "He was quite amateurish. He didn't know which way to turn or which way to go or do anything". Lubin suggested Eastwood attend drama classes, and arranged for his initial contract in April 1954 at $100 (US$1,135 in 2024 dollars) per week. After signing, Eastwood was criticized for his stiff manner, his squint, and for hissing his lines through his teeth, a feature that would become a lifelong trademark.

Eastwood's first acting role was an uncredited bit part as a laboratory assistant in the 1955 film Revenge of the Creature. He then had uncredited bit parts in several other films, such as Lady Godiva of Coventry and Never Say Goodbye (1956), as well as a small speaking role in Francis in the Navy. In 1959, he made a guest appearance on Maverick, opposite James Garner, as a cowardly villain intent on marrying a rich girl for money. Eastwood had a small part as an aviator in the French picture Lafayette Escadrille and took on a featured role as an ex-Confederate renegade in Ambush at Cimarron Pass, a film which Eastwood viewed as disastrous and the lowest point of his career.

In a long sought-after break, Eastwood was cast in the supporting role of Rowdy Yates for the CBS hour-long western series Rawhide in the summer of 1958, although he was not especially happy with his role. Eastwood, who was 28, felt his character Rowdy was too young and cloddish for him to feel comfortable with the part. Rawhide premiered in January 1959 and after its release took only three weeks to reach the top 20 in the TV ratings. Although the series never won an Emmy it was a major success for several years, reaching its peak at number six in the ratings between October 1960 and April 1961. The Rawhide years (1959–65) were some of the most grueling of Eastwood's career. He often filmed for six days a week at an average of twelve hours a day, yet some directors still criticized him for not working hard enough. By late 1963 Rawhide's popularity had declined. Lacking freshness in the scripts, it was canceled in the middle of the 1965–66 television season. Eastwood made his first attempt at directing when he filmed several trailers for the show, although he was unable to convince producers to let him direct an episode. In the show's first season Eastwood earned $750 (US$7,920 in 2024 dollars) an episode. At the time of Rawhide’s cancellation, he received $119,000 (US$1,150,543 in 2024 dollars) in compensation.

1960s

Main article: Clint Eastwood in the 1960s

In late 1963 Eastwood's co-star on Rawhide, Eric Fleming, rejected an offer to star in an Italian-made western called A Fistful of Dollars, to be directed in a remote region of Spain by the then relatively unknown Sergio Leone. Knowing that he could play a cowboy convincingly, Harrison suggested Eastwood, who in turn saw the film as an opportunity to escape from his Rawhide image. He signed a contract for $15,000 (US$147,361 in 2024 dollars) in wages for eleven weeks' work, with a bonus of a Mercedes automobile upon completion. Eastwood later spoke of the transition from a television western to A Fistful of Dollars: "In Rawhide I did get awfully tired of playing the conventional white hat. The hero who kisses old ladies and dogs and was kind to everybody. I decided it was time to be an anti-hero." Eastwood was instrumental in creating the Man with No Name character's distinctive visual style and, although a non-smoker, Leone insisted Eastwood smoke cigars as an essential ingredient of the "mask" he was attempting to create for the loner character.

A Fistful of Dollars proved a landmark in the development of spaghetti westerns, with Leone depicting a more lawless and desolate world than traditional westerns, and challenging American stereotypes of a western hero with a morally ambiguous antihero. The film's success made Eastwood a major star in Italy and he was re-hired to star in For a Few Dollars More (1965), the second of the trilogy. Through the efforts of screenwriter Luciano Vincenzoni, the rights to For a Few Dollars More and the final film of the trilogy (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) were sold to United Artists for about $900,000 (US$8.7 million in 2024 dollars).

"I wanted to play it with an economy of words and create this whole feeling through attitude and movement. It was just the kind of character I had envisioned for a long time, keep to the mystery and allude to what happened in the past. It came about after the frustration of doing Rawhide for so long. I felt the less he said, the stronger he became and the more he grew in the imagination of the audience."

—Eastwood, on playing the Man with No Name character

In January 1966 Eastwood met producer Dino De Laurentiis in New York City and agreed to star in a non-western five-part anthology production named Le Streghe ("The Witches") opposite De Laurentiis' wife, actress Silvana Mangano. Eastwood's nineteen-minute installment took only a few days to shoot, but his performance did not please the critics, one writing that "no other performance of his is quite so 'un-Clintlike' ". Two months later Eastwood began work on the third Dollars film, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, again playing the mysterious Man with No Name. Lee Van Cleef returned as a ruthless fortune seeker, with Eli Wallach portraying the cunning Mexican bandit Tuco Ramirez. The storyline involved the search for a cache of Confederate gold buried in a cemetery. During the filming of a scene in which a bridge was blown up, Eastwood urged Wallach to retreat to a hilltop. "I know about these things," he said. "Stay as far away from special effects and explosives as you can." Minutes later confusion among the crew over the word "Vaya!" resulted in a premature explosion that could have killed Wallach.

The Dollars trilogy was not released in the United States until 1967, when A Fistful of Dollars opened in January, followed by For a Few Dollars More in May, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly on December 29. All the films were commercially successful, particularly The Good, the Bad and the Ugly which eventually earned $8 million (US$73.1 million in 2024 dollars) in rental earnings and turned Eastwood into a major film star. All three films received bad reviews, and marked the beginning of a battle for Eastwood to win American film critics' respect. Judith Crist described A Fistful of Dollars as "cheapjack", while Newsweek considered For a Few Dollars More as "excruciatingly dopey". Renata Adler of The New York Times said The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (now widely considered one of the finest films in the history of cinema,) was "the most expensive, pious and repellent movie in the history of its peculiar genre". Time magazine drew attention to the film's wooden acting, especially on the part of Eastwood, though a few critics such as Vincent Canby and Bosley Crowther of The New York Times praised Eastwood's coolness in playing the tall, lone stranger. Leone's distinctive cinematography style was widely acclaimed, even by critics who disparaged the acting in the film.

Stardom brought more roles for Eastwood. He signed to star in the American revisionist western Hang 'Em High (1968), featuring alongside Inger Stevens, Pat Hingle, Dennis Hopper, Ed Begley, Bruce Dern, and James MacArthur, playing a man who seeks revenge after being lynched by vigilantes and left for dead. The film earned Eastwood a fee of $400,000 (US$3.5 million in 2024 dollars) and 25 percent of its net box-office takings. Using money earned from the Dollars trilogy, accountant and Eastwood advisor Irving Leonard helped establish Eastwood's own production company, Malpaso Productions, named after Malpaso Creek on Eastwood's property in Monterey County, California. Leonard arranged for Hang 'Em High to be a joint production with United Artists; when it opened in July 1968, it had an unprecedented opening weeked in United Artists' history. Hang 'Em High was widely praised by critics, including Archer Winsten of the New York Post who described it as, "a western of quality, courage, danger and excitement".

Before the release of Hang 'Em High Eastwood had already begun working on Coogan's Bluff, about an Arizona deputy sheriff tracking a wanted psychopathic criminal (Don Stroud) through the streets of New York City. He was reunited with Universal Studios for it after receiving an offer of $1 million (US$9.14 million in 2024 dollars) — more than double his previous salary. Jennings Lang arranged for Eastwood to meet Don Siegel, a Universal contract director who later became Eastwood's close friend, forming a partnership that would last more than ten years and produce five films. Shooting began in November 1967, before the script had been finalized. The film was controversial for its portrayal of violence, Eastwood's role creating the prototype for the macho cop of the Dirty Harry film series. Coogan's Bluff also became the first collaboration with Argentine composer Lalo Schifrin, who would later compose the jazzy score to several Eastwood films in the 1970s and 1980s, including the Dirty Harry films.

Eastwood was paid $750,000 (US$7.45 million in 2024 dollars) in 1968 for the war epic Where Eagles Dare, about a World War II squad parachuting into a Gestapo stronghold in the alpine mountains. Richard Burton played the squad's commander, with Eastwood as his right-hand man. Eastwood was also cast as Two-Face in the Batman television show, but the series was canceled before filming began.

Eastwood then branched out to star in the only musical of his career, Paint Your Wagon (1969). Eastwood and fellow non-singer Lee Marvin play gold miners who share the same wife (portrayed by Jean Seberg). Bad weather and delays plagued the production, while the film’s budget eventually exceeded $20 million (US$166 million in 2024 dollars), which was extremely expensive for the time. The film was not a critical or commercial success, although it was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.

1970s

Main article: Clint Eastwood in the 1970s

In 1970, Eastwood starred in the western Two Mules for Sister Sara with Shirley MacLaine and directed by Don Siegel. The film follows an American mercenary who gets mixed up with a whore disguised as a nun and ends up helping a group of Juarista rebels during the reign of Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico. Eastwood once again played a mysterious stranger—unshaven, wearing a serape-like vest, and smoking a cigar. Although the film received moderate reviews the film is listed in The New York Times Guide to the Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made. Later the same year Eastwood starred as one of a group of Americans who steal a fortune in gold from the Nazis in the World War II film Kelly's Heroes with Donald Sutherland and Telly Savalas. Kelly's Heroes was the last film in which Eastwood appeared that was not produced by his own Malpaso Productions. Filming commenced in July 1969 on location in Yugoslavia and in London. The film received mostly a positive reception and its anti-war sentiments were recognized. In the winter of 1969–70, Eastwood and Siegel began planning his next film, The Beguiled, a tale of a wounded Union soldier held captive by the sexually repressed matron of a southern girl's school. Upon release the film received major recognition in France and is considered one of Eastwood's finest works by the French. However, it grossed less than $1 million (US$7.85 million in 2024 dollars) and, according to Eastwood and Lang, flopped due to poor publicity and the "emasculated" role of Eastwood.

Eastwood with a fan circa 1970

Eastwood's career reached a turning point in 1971. Before Irving Leonard died he and Eastwood had discussed the idea of Malpaso producing Play Misty for Me, a film that was to give Eastwood the artistic control he desired and his debut as a director. The script was about a jazz disc jockey named Dave (Eastwood) who has a casual affair with Evelyn (Jessica Walter), a listener who had been calling the radio station repeatedly at night asking him to play her favorite song—Erroll Garner's "Misty". When Dave ends their relationship the fan becomes violent and murderous. Filming commenced in Monterey in September 1970 and included footage of that year's Monterey Jazz Festival. The film was highly acclaimed with critics such as Jay Cocks in Time, Andrew Sarris in the Village Voice, and Archer Winsten in the New York Post all praising the film, as well as Eastwood's directorial skills and performance. Walter was nominated for a Golden Globe Best Actress Award (Drama) for her performance in the film.

"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 as 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?"

—Eastwood, in Dirty Harry

Dirty Harry (1971), written by Harry Julian Fink and Rita M. Fink, centers around a hard-edged New York City (later changed to San Francisco) police inspector named Harry Callahan who is determined to stop a psychotic killer by any means. Dirty Harry has been described as being arguably Eastwood's most memorable character, and the film has been credited with inventing the "loose-cannon cop" genre. Author Eric Lichtenfeld argues that Eastwood's role as Dirty Harry established the "first true archetype" of the action film genre. His lines (quoted left) have been cited as among the most memorable in cinematic history and are regarded by firearms historians, such as Garry James and Richard Venola, as the force which catapulted the ownership of .44 Magnum pistols to unprecedented heights in the United States; specifically the Smith & Wesson Model 29 carried by Harry Callahan. Dirty Harry achieved huge success after its release in December 1971, earning $22 million (US$166 million in 2024 dollars) in the United States and Canada alone. It was Siegel's highest-grossing film and the start of a series of films featuring the character Harry Callahan. Although a number of critics praised Eastwood's performance as Dirty Harry, such as Jay Cocks of Time magazine who described him as "giving his best performance so far, tense, tough, full of implicit identification with his character", the film was also widely criticized and accused of being fascistic.

Following Sean Connery's announcement that he would not play James Bond again, Eastwood was offered the role but turned it down because he believed the character should be played by an English actor. He next starred in the loner Western Joe Kidd (1972), based on a character inspired by Reies Lopez Tijerina who stormed a courthouse in Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico, in June 1967. During filming, Eastwood suffered symptoms of a bronchial infection and several panic attacks. Joe Kidd received a mixed reception, with Roger Greenspun of The New York Times writing that it was unremarkable, with foolish symbolism and sloppy editing, although he praised Eastwood's performance.

In 1973, Eastwood directed his first western, High Plains Drifter, in which he starred alongside Verna Bloom, Marianna Hill, Billy Curtis, Rawhide's Paul Brinegar and Geoffrey Lewis. The film had a moral and supernatural theme, later emulated in Pale Rider. The plot follows a mysterious stranger (Eastwood) who arrives in a brooding Western town where the people hire him to protect them against three soon-to-be-released felons. There remains confusion during the film as to whether the stranger is the brother of the deputy, whom the felons lynched and murdered, or his ghost. Holes in the plot were filled with black humor and allegory, influenced by Leone. The revisionist film received a mixed reception, but was a major box office success. A number of critics thought Eastwood's directing was "as derivative as it was expressive", with Arthur Knight of the Saturday Review remarking that Eastwood had "absorbed the approaches of Siegel and Leone and fused them with his own paranoid vision of society". John Wayne, who had declined a role in the film, sent a letter to Eastwood soon after the film's release in which he complained that, "the townspeople did not represent the true spirit of the American pioneer, the spirit that made America great".

Eastwood directing William Holden in Breezy (1973)

Eastwood next turned his attention towards Breezy (1973), a film about love blossoming between a middle-aged man and a teenage girl. During casting for the film Eastwood met Sondra Locke, an actress who would play major roles in many of his films for the next ten years and would become an important figure in his life. Kay Lenz was awarded the part of Breezy because Locke, at 29, was considered too old. The film, shot very quickly and efficiently by Eastwood and Frank Stanley, came in $1 million (US$6.86 million in 2024 dollars) under budget and was finished three days ahead of schedule. Breezy was not a major critical or commercial success and it was only made available on video in 1998.

Once filming of Breezy had finished, Warner Brothers announced that Eastwood had agreed to reprise his role as Detective Harry Callahan in Magnum Force (1973), a sequel to Dirty Harry, about a group of rogue young officers (among them David Soul, Robert Urich and Tim Matheson) in the San Francisco Police Force who systematically exterminate the city's worst criminals. Although the film was a major success after release, grossing $58.1 million (US$399 million in 2024 dollars) in the United States (a record for Eastwood), it was not a critical success. The New York Times critic Nora Sayre panned the often contradictory moral themes of the film, while the paper's Frank Rich called it "the same old stuff".

In 1974, Eastwood teamed up with Jeff Bridges and George Kennedy in the buddy action caper Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, a road movie about a veteran bank robber Thunderbolt (Eastwood) and a young con man drifter, Lightfoot (Bridges). On its release, in spring 1974, the film was praised for its offbeat comedy mixed with high suspense and tragedy but was only a modest success at the box office, earning $32.4 million (US$200 million in 2024 dollars). Eastwood's acting was noted by critics, but was overshadowed by Bridges who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Eastwood reportedly fumed at the lack of Academy Award recognition for him and swore that he would never work for United Artists again.

Eastwood's next film The Eiger Sanction (1975) was based on Trevanian's critically acclaimed spy novel of the same name. Eastwood plays Jonathan Hemlock in a role originally intended for Paul Newman, an assassin turned college art professor who decides to return to his former profession for one last "sanction" in return for a rare Pissarro painting. In the process he must climb the north face of the Eiger in Switzerland under perilous conditions. Once again Eastwood starred alongside George Kennedy. Mike Hoover taught Eastwood how to climb during several weeks of preparation at Yosemite in the summer of 1974 before filming commenced in Grindelwald on August 12, 1974. Despite prior warnings about the perils of the Eiger the film crew suffered a number of accidents, including one fatality. Despite the danger, Eastwood insisted on doing all his own climbing and stunts. Upon release in May 1975 The Eiger Sanction was a commercial failure, receiving only $23.8 million (US$135 million in 2024 dollars) at the box office, and was poorly received by most critics. Joy Gould Boyum of the Wall Street Journal dismissed the film as "brutal fantasy". Eastwood blamed Universal Studios for the film's poor promotion and turned his back on them to make an agreement with Warner Brothers, through Frank Wells, that has lasted to the present day.

The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), a western inspired by Asa Carter's 1972 novel of the same name, has lead character Josey Wales (Eastwood) as a pro-Confederate guerilla who refuses to surrender his arms after the American Civil War and is chased across the old southwest by a group of enforcers. Eastwood cast his young son Kyle Eastwood, Chief Dan George, and Sondra Locke for the first time, against the wishes of director Philip Kaufman. Kaufman was fired by producer Bob Daley under Eastwood's command, resulting in a fine reported to be around $60,000 (US$321,263 in 2024 dollars) from the Directors Guild of America—who subsequently passed new legislation reserving the right to impose a major fine on a producer for discharging and replacing a director. The film was pre-screened at the Sun Valley Center for the Arts and Humanities in Idaho during a six-day conference entitled Western Movies: Myths and Images. Invited to the screening were a number of esteemed film critics, including Jay Cocks and Arthur Knight; directors such as King Vidor, William Wyler, and Howard Hawks; and a number of academics. Upon release in August 1976 The Outlaw Josey Wales was widely acclaimed, with many critics and viewers seeing Eastwood's role as an iconic one that related to America's ancestral past and the destiny of the nation after the American Civil War. Roger Ebert compared the nature and vulnerability of Eastwood's portrayal of Josey Wales with his Man with No Name character in the Dollars westerns and praised the film's atmosphere. The film would later appear in Time's "Top 10 Films of the Year".

Eastwood was then offered the role of Benjamin L. Willard in Francis Coppola's Apocalypse Now, but declined as he did not want to spend weeks on location in the Philippines. He also refused the part of a platoon leader in Ted Post's Vietnam War film Go Tell the Spartans and instead decided to make a third Dirty Harry film The Enforcer. The film had Harry partnered with a new female officer (Tyne Daly) to face a San Francisco Bay area group resembling the Symbionese Liberation Army. The film, culminating in a shootout on Alcatraz island, was considerably shorter than the previous Dirty Harry films at 95 minutes, but was a major commercial success grossing $100 million (US$535 million in 2024 dollars) worldwide to become Eastwood's highest-grossing film to date.

In 1977, he directed and starred in The Gauntlet opposite Locke, Pat Hingle, William Prince, Bill McKinney, and Mara Corday. Eastwood portrays a down-and-out cop who falls in love with a prostitute he is assigned to escort from Las Vegas to Phoenix, to testify against the mafia. Although a moderate hit with the viewing public, critics had mixed feelings about the film, with many believing it was overly violent. Eastwood's longtime nemesis Pauline Kael called it "a tale varnished with foul language and garnished with violence". Roger Ebert, in contrast, gave the film three stars and called it "...classic Clint Eastwood: fast, furious, and funny." In 1978 Eastwood starred in Every Which Way but Loose alongside Locke, Geoffrey Lewis, Ruth Gordon and John Quade. In an uncharacteristic offbeat comedy role, Eastwood played Philo Beddoe, a trucker and brawler who roams the American West searching for a lost love accompanied by his brother and an orangutan called Clyde. The film proved a surprising success upon its release and became Eastwood's most commercially successful film at the time. Panned by critics, it ranked high among the box office successes of his career and was the second-highest grossing film of 1978.

Eastwood starred in the thriller Escape from Alcatraz in 1979, the last of his films to be directed by Don Siegel. It was based on the true story of Frank Lee Morris who, along with John and Clarence Anglin, escaped from the notorious Alcatraz prison in 1962. The film was a major success; Stanley Kauffmann of The New Republic praised it as "crystalline cinema" and Frank Rich of Time described it as "cool, cinematic grace". The film marked the beginning of a critically acclaimed period for Eastwood.

1980s

Main article: Clint Eastwood in the 1980s

Eastwood directed and played the lead role in the 1980 comedy Bronco Billy alongside Locke, Scatman Crothers, and Sam Bottoms. His children, Kyle and Alison, also had small roles as orphans. Eastwood has cited Bronco Billy as being one of the most relaxed shoots of his career and biographer Richard Schickel has argued that Bronco Billy is Eastwood's most self-referential character. The film was a commercial failure, but was liked by critics. Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote that film was "the best and funniest Clint Eastwood movie in quite a while", and praised Eastwood's directing and the way he intricately juxtaposes the old West and the new. Later in 1980, Eastwood starred in Any Which Way You Can, the sequel to Every Which Way but Loose. The film received a number of bad reviews from critics, although Maslin described it as "funnier and even better than its predecessor". The film became another box office success and was among the top five highest-grossing films of the year.

Eastwood in 1981

In 1982, Eastwood directed and starred alongside his son Kyle in Honkytonk Man, based on the eponymous Clancy Carlile's depression-era novel. Eastwood portrays a struggling western singer Red Stovall who suffers from tuberculosis, but has finally been given an opportunity to make it big at the Grand Ole Opry. He is accompanied by his young nephew (Kyle) to Nashville, Tennessee, where he is supposed to record a song. Only Time gave the film a good review in the United States, with most reviewers criticizing its blend of muted humor and tragedy. Nevertheless the film received critical acclaim in France, where it was compared to John Ford's The Grapes of Wrath, and it has since acquired the very high rating of 93 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. In the same year Eastwood directed, produced, and starred in the Cold War-themed Firefox alongside Freddie Jones, David Huffman, Warren Clarke and Ronald Lacey. Based on a 1977 novel with the same name written by Craig Thomas, the film was shot before but released after Honkeytonk Man. Russian filming locations were not possible due to the Cold War, and the film had to be shot in Vienna and other locations in Austria to simulate many of the Eurasian story locations. With a production cost of $20 million, (US$63.1 million in 2024 dollars) it was Eastwood's highest budget film to date. People magazine likened Eastwood's performance to "Luke Skywalker trapped in Dirty Harry's Soul".

Eastwood directed and starred in the fourth Dirty Harry film, Sudden Impact, which was shot in the spring and summer of 1983 and is considered the darkest and most violent of the series. By this time Eastwood received 60 percent of all profits from films he starred in and directed, with the rest going to the studio. Sudden Impact was the last film which he starred in with Locke. She plays a woman raped, along with her sister, by a ruthless gang at a fairground and seeks revenge for her sister's now vegetative state by systematically murdering her rapists. The line "Go ahead, make my day" (uttered by Eastwood during an early scene in a coffee shop) is often cited as one of cinema's immortal lines. It was quoted by President Ronald Reagan in a speech to Congress, and used during the 1984 presidential elections. The film was the most commercially successful of the Dirty Harry films, earning $70 million (US$214 million in 2024 dollars). It received very positive reviews, with many critics praising the feminist aspects of the film through its explorations of the physical and psychological consequences of rape.

Tightrope (1984) had Eastwood starring opposite his daughter Alison, Geneviève Bujold, and Jamie Rose in a provocative thriller, inspired by newspaper articles about an elusive Bay Area rapist. Set in New Orleans to avoid confusion with the Dirty Harry films, Eastwood played a single-parent cop drawn into his target's tortured psychology and fascination for sadomasochism. Eastwood next starred in the period comedy City Heat (1984) alongside Burt Reynolds, a film about a private eye and his partner who get mixed up with gangsters in the prohibition era of the 1930s. The film grossed around $50 million (US$147 million in 2024 dollars) domestically, but was overshadowed by Eddie Murphy's Beverly Hills Cop.

"Westerns. A period gone by, the pioneer, the loner operating by himself, without benefit of society. It usually has something to do with some sort of vengeance; he takes care of the vengeance himself, doesn't call the police. Like Robin Hood. It's the last masculine frontier. Romantic myth, I guess, though it's hard to think about anything romantic today. In a Western you can think, Jesus, there was a time when man was alone, on horseback, out there where man hasn't spoiled the land yet."

—Eastwood, on the philosophical allure of portraying western loners

Eastwood made his only foray into TV direction with the 1985 Amazing Stories episode "Vanessa In The Garden", which starred Harvey Keitel and Sondra Locke. This was his first collaboration with Steven Spielberg, who later co-produced Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima. Eastwood revisited the western genre when he directed and starred in Pale Rider (1985) opposite Michael Moriarty and Carrie Snodgress. The film is based on the classic 1953 western Shane and follows a preacher descending from the mists of the Sierras to side with the miners during the California Gold Rush of 1850. The title is a reference to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, as the rider of the pale horse is Death, and shows similarities to Eastwood's 1973 western High Plains Drifter in its themes of morality and justice as well as its exploration of the supernatural. Pale Rider became one of Eastwood's most successful films to date. It was hailed as one of the best films of 1985 and the best western to appear for a considerable period, with Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune remarking, "This year (1985) will go down in film history as the moment Clint Eastwood finally earned respect as an artist".

In 1986, Eastwood co-starred with Marsha Mason in the military drama Heartbreak Ridge, about the 1983 United States invasion of Grenada. He portrays an aging United States Marine Gunnery Sergeant and Korean War veteran. Production and filming were marred by internal disagreements between Eastwood and long-time friend and producer Fritz Manes, as well as between Eastwood and the United States Department of Defense who expressed contempt for the film. At the time the film was a commercial rather than a critical success, and has only come to be viewed more favorably in recent times. The film grossed $70 million (US$195 million) domestically.

Eastwood starred in The Dead Pool (1988), the fifth and final film in the Dirty Harry series. It co-starred Patricia Clarkson, Liam Neeson, and a young Jim Carrey who plays Johnny Squares, a drug-addled rock star and the first of the victims on a list of celebrities drawn up by horror film director Peter Swan (Neeson) who are deemed most likely to die, the so-called "Dead Pool". The list is stolen by an obsessed fan who, in mimicking his favorite director, makes his way through the list killing off celebrities, of which Dirty Harry is also included. The Dead Pool grossed nearly $38 million (US$97.9 million), relatively low receipts for a Dirty Harry film and it is generally viewed as the weakest film of the series, although Roger Ebert perceived it to be as good as the original.

Eastwood began working on smaller, more personal projects and experienced a lull in his career between 1988 and 1992. Always interested in jazz, he directed Bird (1988), a biopic starring Forest Whitaker as jazz musician Charlie "Bird" Parker. Alto saxophonist Jackie McLean and Spike Lee, son of jazz bassist Bill Lee and a long time critic of Eastwood, criticized the characterization of Charlie Parker remarking that it did not capture his true essence and sense of humor. Eastwood received two Golden Globes for the film, the Cecil B. DeMille Award for his lifelong contribution, and the Best Director award. However, Bird was a commercial failure, earning just $11 million, which Eastwood attributed to the declining interest in jazz among black people.

Carrey would again appear with Eastwood in the poorly received comedy Pink Cadillac (1989) alongside Bernadette Peters. The film is about a bounty hunter and a group of white supremacists chasing an innocent woman who tries to outrun everyone in her husband's prized pink Cadillac. The film failed both critically and commercially, earning barely more than Bird and marking a low point in Eastwood's career.

1990s

Main article: Clint Eastwood in the 1990s

Eastwood directed and starred in White Hunter Black Heart (1990), an adaptation of Peter Viertel's roman à clef, about John Huston and the making of the classic film The African Queen. Shot on location in Zimbabwe in the summer of 1989, the film received some critical attention but with only a limited release earned just $8.4 million (US$19.6 million in 2024 dollars). Later in 1990, Eastwood directed and co-starred with Charlie Sheen in The Rookie, a buddy cop action film. Critics found the film’s plot and characterization unconvincing, but praised its action sequences. An ongoing lawsuit, in response to Eastwood allegedly ramming a woman’s car, resulted in no Eastwood films being shown in cinemas in 1991. Eastwood won the suit and agreed to pay the complainant’s legal fees if she did not appeal.

"...if possible, he looks even taller, leaner and more mysteriously possessed than he did in Sergio Leone's seminal Fistful of Dollars a quarter of a century ago. The years haven't softened him. They have given him the presence of some fierce force of nature, which may be why the landscapes of the mythic, late 19th-century West become him, never more so than in his new Unforgiven. ... This is his richest, most satisfying performance since the underrated, politically lunatic Heartbreak Ridge. There's no one like him."

—Vincent Canby of The New York Times, on Eastwood's performance in Unforgiven

In 1992, Eastwood revisited the western genre in the self-directed film Unforgiven, in which he played an aging ex-gunfighter long past his prime. Scripts existed for the film as early as 1976 under titles such as The Cut-Whore Killings and The William Munny Killings but Eastwood delayed the project because he wanted to wait until he was old enough to play his character and to savor it as the last of his western films. Unforgiven was a major commercial and critical success; Jack Methews of the Los Angeles Times described it as "the finest classical western to come along since perhaps John Ford's 1956 The Searchers. The film was nominated for nine Academy Awards, (including Best Actor for Eastwood and Best Original Screenplay for David Webb Peoples) and won four, including Best Picture and Best Director for Eastwood. In June 2008 Unforgiven was ranked as the fourth-best American western, behind Shane, High Noon, and The Searchers, in the American Film Institute's "AFI's 10 Top 10" list.

Clint Eastwood at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival

Eastwood played Frank Horrigan in the Secret Service thriller In the Line of Fire (1993) directed by Wolfgang Petersen and co-starring John Malkovich and Rene Russo. Horrigan is a guilt-ridden Secret Service agent haunted by his failure to save John F. Kennedy's life. The film was among the top 10 box office performers in that year, earning a reported $200 million (US$422 million in 2024 dollars) in the United States alone. As of 2012, In the Line of Fire was the last film Eastwood acted in that he did not direct. Later in 1993, Eastwood directed and co-starred with Kevin Costner in A Perfect World. Set in the 1960s, Eastwood plays a Texas Ranger in pursuit of an escaped convict (Costner) who hits the road with a young boy (T.J. Lowther). Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote that the film marked the highest point of Eastwood's directing career, and the film has since been cited as one of his most underrated directorial achievements.

At the May 1994 Cannes Film Festival Eastwood received France's Ordre des Arts et des Lettres medal then on March 27, 1995, he was awarded the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award at the 67th Academy Awards. His next film appearance was in a cameo role as himself in the 1995 children's film Casper. Later in the same year he continued to expand his repertoire by playing opposite Meryl Streep in the romantic picture The Bridges of Madison County. Based on the novel by Robert James Waller, the film relates the story of Robert Kincaid (Eastwood), a photographer working for National Geographic, who has an affair with a middle-aged Italian farm wife, Francesca (Streep). Despite the novel receiving unfavorable reviews and a subject deemed potentially unsuitable for film, The Bridges of Madison County was a commercial and critical success. Roger Ebert wrote, "Streep and Eastwood weave a spell, and it is based on that particular knowledge of love and self that comes with middle age." The film was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Picture and won a César Award in France for Best Foreign Film. Streep was also nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe.

In 1997 Eastwood directed and starred in the political thriller Absolute Power, alongside Gene Hackman (with whom he had appeared in Unforgiven). Eastwood played the role of a veteran thief who witnesses the Secret Service cover up of a murder. The film received a mixed reception from critics. Later in 1997, Eastwood directed Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, based on the novel by John Berendt and starring John Cusack, Kevin Spacey, and Jude Law. The film again met with a mixed critical response.

"The roles that Eastwood has played, and the films that he has directed, cannot be disentangled from the nature of the American culture of the last quarter century, its fantasies and its realities."

—Author Edward Gallafent, commenting on Eastwood's impact on film from the 1970s to 1990s

Eastwood directed and starred in True Crime (1999), which also featured his young daughter Francesca Fisher-Eastwood. He plays Steve Everett, a journalist and recovering alcoholic, who has to cover the execution of murderer Frank Beechum (played by Isaiah Washington). The film received a mixed reception, with Janet Maslin of The New York Times writing, "his direction is galvanized by a sense of second chances and tragic misunderstandings, and by contrasting a larger sense of justice with the peculiar minutiae of crime. Perhaps he goes a shade too far in the latter direction, though." The film was a box office failure, earning less than half its $55 million (US$101 million in 2024 dollars) budget and was Eastwood's worst-performing film of the 1990s aside from White Hunter Black Heart, which had a limited release.

2000s

Main article: Clint Eastwood in the 2000s

In 2000 Eastwood directed and starred in Space Cowboys alongside Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, and James Garner. Eastwood played one of a group of veteran ex-test pilots sent into space to repair an old Soviet satellite. The original music score was composed by Eastwood and Lennie Niehaus. Space Cowboys was critically well received and holds a 79 percent rating at Rotten Tomatoes, although Roger Ebert wrote that the film was, "too secure within its traditional story structure to make much seem at risk." The film grossed more than $90 million in its United States release, more than Eastwood's two previous films combined. The following year Eastwood played an ex-FBI agent chasing a sadistic killer (Jeff Daniels) in the thriller Blood Work, loosely based on the 1998 novel of the same name by Michael Connelly. The film was a commercial failure, grossing just $26.2 million (US$44.4 million in 2024 dollars) on an estimated budget of $50 million (US$84.7 million in 2024 dollars) and received mixed reviews, with Rotten Tomatoes describing it as, "well-made but marred by lethargic pacing". Eastwood did, however, win the Future Film Festival Digital Award at the Venice Film Festival for the film.

"Clint is a true artist in every respect. Despite his years of being at the top of his game and the legendary movies he has made, he always made us feel comfortable and valued on the set, treating us as equals."

—Tim Robbins, on working with Eastwood.

Eastwood directed and scored the crime drama Mystic River (2003), a film dealing with themes of murder, vigilantism, and sexual abuse and starring Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, and Tim Robbins. Mystic River was praised by critics and won two Academy Awards – Best Actor for Penn and Best Supporting Actor for Robbins – with Eastwood garnering nominations for Best Director and Best Picture. The film grossed $90 million (US$149 million in 2024 dollars) domestically on a budget of $30 million (US$49.7 million in 2024 dollars). In 2003 Eastwood was named Best Director of the Year by the London Film Critics Circle and the National Society of Film Critics.

The following year Eastwood found further critical and commercial success when he directed, produced, scored, and starred in the boxing drama Million Dollar Baby, playing a cantankerous trainer who forms a bond with female boxer (Hilary Swank), who he is persuaded to train by his lifelong friend (Morgan Freeman). The film won four Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Swank), and Best Supporting Actor (Freeman). At age 74 Eastwood became the oldest of eighteen directors to have directed two or more Best Picture winners. He also received a nomination for Best Actor and a Grammy nomination for his score. A. O. Scott of The New York Times lauded the film as a "masterpiece" and the best film of the year.

In 2006 Eastwood directed two films about World War II's Battle of Iwo Jima. The first, Flags of Our Fathers, focused on the men who raised the American flag on top of Mount Suribachi. This was followed by Letters from Iwo Jima, which dealt with the tactics of the Japanese soldiers on the island and the letters they wrote home to family members. Letters from Iwo Jima was the first American film to depict a war issue completely from the view of an American enemy. Both films received praise from critics and garnered several nominations at the 79th Academy Awards, including Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Original Screenplay for Letters from Iwo Jima. At the 64th Golden Globe Awards Eastwood received nominations for Best Director in both films. Letters from Iwo Jima won the award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Eastwood in 2008

Eastwood next directed Changeling (2008), based on a true story set in the late 1920s. Angelina Jolie stars as a woman reunited with her missing son only to realize he is an impostor. After its release at several film festivals the film grossed over $110 million (US$156 million in 2024 dollars), the majority of which came from foreign markets. The film was highly acclaimed, with Damon Wise of Empire describing Changeling as "flawless". Todd McCarthy of Variety described it as "emotionally powerful and stylistically sure-handed" and that the film’s characters and social commentary were brought into the story with an "almost breathtaking deliberation". For the film Eastwood received nominations for Best Original Score at the 66th Golden Globe Awards, Best Direction at the 62nd British Academy Film Awards and director of the year from the London Film Critics' Circle.

Eastwood ended a four-year "self-imposed acting hiatus" by appearing in Gran Torino, which he also directed, produced, and partly scored with his son Kyle and Jamie Cullum. Biographer Marc Eliot called Eastwood's role "an amalgam of the Man with No Name, Dirty Harry, and William Munny, here aged and cynical but willing and able to fight on whenever the need arose". Gran Torino grossed almost $30 million (US$42.5 million in 2024 dollars) during its opening weekend release in January 2009, the highest of his career as an actor or director. Gran Torino eventually grossed over $268 million (US$379 million in 2024 dollars) in theaters worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film of Eastwood's career so far (without adjustment for inflation).

Eastwood's 30th directorial outing came with Invictus, a film based on the story of the South African team at the 1995 Rugby World Cup, with Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela, Matt Damon as rugby team captain François Pienaar and Grant L. Roberts as Ruben Kruger. The film met with generally positive reviews; Roger Ebert gave it three and a half stars and described it as a "very good film... with moments evoking great emotion", while Variety's Todd McCarthy wrote, "Inspirational on the face of it, Clint Eastwood's film has a predictable trajectory, but every scene brims with surprising details that accumulate into a rich fabric of history, cultural impressions and emotion." For the film Eastwood was nominated for Best Director at the 67th Golden Globe Awards.

2010s

"Everybody wonders why I continue working at this stage. I keep working because there's always new stories. ... And as long as people want me to tell them, I'll be there doing them."

—Eastwood, reflecting on his later career

In 2010, Eastwood directed the drama Hereafter, again working with Matt Damon, who portrayed a psychic. The film had its world premiere on September 12, 2010 at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival and had a limited release later in October. Hereafter received mixed reviews from critics, with the consensus at Rotten Tomatoes being, "Despite a thought-provoking premise and Clint Eastwood's typical flair as director, Hereafter fails to generate much compelling drama, straddling the line between poignant sentimentality and hokey tedium." In the same year, Eastwood served as executive producer for a Turner Classic Movies (TCM) documentary about jazz pianist Dave Brubeck, Dave Brubeck: In His Own Sweet Way, to commemorate Brubeck's 90th birthday.

In 2011 Eastwood directed J. Edgar, a biopic of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, with Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role. The film received mixed reviews, although DiCaprio's performance as Hoover was widely praised. The Rotten Tomatoes consensus was, "Leonardo DiCaprio gives a predictably powerhouse performance, but J. Edgar stumbles in all other departments". Roger Ebert wrote that the film is "fascinating," "masterful," and praised DiCaprio's performance. David Edelstein of New York Magazine, while also praising DiCaprio, wrote, "It's too bad J. Edgar is so shapeless and turgid and ham-handed, so rich in bad lines and worse readings". In January 2011, it was announced that Eastwood was in talks to direct Beyoncé Knowles in a third remake of the 1937 film A Star Is Born; however, the project was delayed due to Beyoncé’s pregnancy. In October 2011, Entertainment Weekly announced that Eastwood was in talks to star in the baseball drama Trouble with the Curve, as a veteran baseball scout who travels with his daughter for a final scouting trip. Robert Lorenz, who worked with Eastwood as an assistant director on several films, is in talks to direct the film.

During the Super Bowl XLVI Eastwood narrated a half-time advertisement for Chrysler titled "Half Time in America". The advertisement was criticized by several leading US conservatives, who claimed it implied that President Barack Obama deserved a second term. In response to the criticism, Eastwood stated "I am certainly not politically affiliated with Mr. Obama. It was meant to be a message about job growth and the spirit of America."

Directing style

Beginning with the thriller Play Misty for Me, Eastwood has directed over 30 films in his career, including westerns, action films, and dramas. He is the only top Hollywood actor to have also become a critically and commercially successful director. The New Yorker wrote that, unlike Eastwood,

John Ford appeared in just a few silent films; Howard Hawks never acted in movies. Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, Spencer Tracy, James Stewart, Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart, William Holden, Steve McQueen, and Sean Connery never directed a feature. John Wayne directed only twice, and badly; ditto Burt Lancaster. Paul Newman, Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Robert Redford, Robert De Niro, and Sean Penn have directed a few movies each, with mixed commercial and artistic success.

From the very early days of his career Eastwood was frustrated by directors' insistence that scenes be re-shot multiple times and perfected, and when he began directing in 1970, he made a conscious attempt to avoid any aspects of directing he had been indifferent to as an actor. As a result, Eastwood is renowned for his efficient film directing and ability to reduce filming time and to keep budgets under control. He usually avoids actors' rehearsing and prefers most scenes to be completed on the first take; Eastwood's rapid filmmaking has been compared to Woody Allen, Ingmar Bergman, Jean-Luc Godard, and the Coen brothers. When acting in others' films he sometimes takes over directing, such as for The Outlaw Josey Wales, if he believes production is too slow. In preparation for filming Eastwood rarely uses storyboards for developing the layout of a shooting schedule. He also attempts to reduce script background details on characters to allow the audience to become more involved in the film, considering their imagination a requirement for a film that connects with viewers. Eastwood has indicated that he lays out a film's plot to provide the audience with necessary details, but not "so much that it insults their intelligence."

According to Life magazine, "Eastwood's style is to shoot first and act afterward. He etches his characters virtually without words. He has developed the art of underplaying to the point that anyone around him who so much as flinches looks hammily histrionic." Interviewers Richard Thompson and Tim Hunter note that Eastwood's films are "superbly paced: unhurried; cool; and [give] a strong sense of real time, regardless of the speed of the narrative" while Ric Gentry considers Eastwood's pacing to be "unrushed and relaxed". Eastwood is fond of low-key lighting and back-lighting to give his movies a "noir-ish" feel.

Eastwood's frequent exploration of ethical values has drawn the attention of scholars, who have explored Eastwood's work from ethical and theological perspectives, including his portrayal of justice, mercy, suicide, and the angel of death.

Personal life

Main article: Personal life of Clint Eastwood

Relationships

Eastwood has fathered at least seven children by five different women and been described as a "serial womanizer". He has had affairs with actresses Catherine Deneuve, Jill Banner, Jamie Rose, Inger Stevens, Jo Ann Harris, Jean Seberg, script analyst Megan Rose, James Brolin's former wife Jane, columnist Bridget Byrne, and swimming champion Anita Lhoest. One relationship that could not be classified as an "affair" was with Barbra Streisand, whom he briefly dated.

Eastwood married Maggie Johnson on December 19, 1953, six months after they met on a blind date. While separated from Johnson, Eastwood had an affair with dancer Roxanne Tunis, with whom he had his first child, Kimber Tunis (born June 17, 1964); he did not publicly acknowledge her until 1996. After a reconciliation, he had two children with Johnson: Kyle Eastwood (born May 19, 1968) and Alison Eastwood (born May 22, 1972). Eastwood filed for divorce in 1979 after another long separation, but the $25 million divorce settlement was not finalized until May 1984.

Eastwood entered a relationship with actress Sondra Locke in 1975. They lived together for fourteen years, despite the fact that Locke remained married (in name only) to her gay husband, Gordon Anderson. Locke had two abortions and a tubal ligation within the first four years of the relationship. The couple starred in six films together: The Outlaw Josey Wales, The Gauntlet, Every Which Way but Loose, Bronco Billy, Any Which Way You Can, and Sudden Impact. On April 10, 1989, while Locke was directing the film Impulse, Eastwood changed the locks on their Bel Air home, had many of her possessions removed and placed in storage. Locke filed a palimony suit against Eastwood, then sued him a second time for fraud, regarding a phony directing contract he set up for her in settlement of the first lawsuit. Eastwood and Locke finally resolved the dispute with a non-public settlement in 1999. Her autobiography, The Good, the Bad, and the Very Ugly, includes a harrowing account of Eastwood's treatment of her during the events surrounding their separation.

During the last four years of his cohabitation with Locke, Eastwood had an intermittent, hidden affair with flight attendant Jacelyn Reeves. According to biographers, the two met at a pub in Carmel, and conceived a son, Scott Reeves (born March 21, 1986), at the premiere of Pale Rider. They also had a daughter, Kathryn Reeves (born February 2, 1988). The birth certificates for both children stated "Father declined." Although they were mentioned in exposé articles as early as 1997, Eastwood did not present his and Reeves' children to the public until 2002. Kathryn served as Miss Golden Globe at the 2005 ceremony where she presented Eastwood with an award for Million Dollar Baby.

In 1990, Eastwood began living with actress Frances Fisher, whom he had met on the set of Pink Cadillac (1989). They co-starred in Unforgiven, and had a daughter, Francesca Fisher-Eastwood (born August 7, 1993). The couple ended their relationship in early 1995, but remain friends and later acted together in True Crime.

Eastwood with wife Dina in 2007

Eastwood subsequently began dating Dina Ruiz, a television news anchor 35 years his junior, whom he had first met when she interviewed him in 1993. They married on March 31, 1996, when Eastwood surprised her with a private ceremony at a home on the Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas. After their wedding, Dina commented "The fact that I am only the second woman he has married really touches me." The couple have one daughter, Morgan Eastwood (born December 12, 1996).

Johnson, Tunis and Reeves have never publicly discussed their time with Eastwood, while Fisher said of their relationship "If the other person is not willing to grow and work on it, you can't do it by yourself." When asked to comment on the news of Eastwood's marriage to Dina Ruiz in 1996, Sondra Locke told People magazine "The only thing that's sad is that there are several women in his life who are the mothers of his children, and he chose to marry one who is not."

Leisure

Despite smoking in some of his films, Eastwood is a lifelong non-smoker, has been conscious of his health and fitness since he was a teenager, and practices healthy eating and daily Transcendental Meditation. He opened an old English-inspired pub called the Hog's Breath Inn in Carmel-by-the-Sea in 1971. Eastwood eventually sold the pub and now owns the Mission Ranch Hotel and Restaurant, also located in Carmel-by-the-Sea.

Eastwood is a keen golfer and owns the Tehàma Golf Club. He is also an investor in the world-renowned Pebble Beach Golf Links and donates his time every year to charitable causes at major tournaments. Eastwood is a licensed pilot and often flies his helicopter to the studios to avoid traffic.

Politics

Main article: Political life of Clint Eastwood

Eastwood registered as a Republican to vote for Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952 and endorsed Richard Nixon's 1968 and 1972 presidential campaigns. However, during the subsequent Watergate scandal, Eastwood criticized Nixon's morality and later his handling of the Vietnam War, calling it "immoral". He has disapproved of America's wars in Korea (1950–1953), Vietnam (1964–1973), Afghanistan (2001–present), and Iraq (2003–2011), believing that the United States should not be overly militaristic or play the role of global policeman. He considers himself "too individualistic to be either right-wing or left-wing", describing himself in 1974 as "a political nothing" and "a moderate" and in 1997 as a "libertarian". "I don't see myself as conservative," Eastwood has stated, while noting in the same breath that he isn't "ultra-leftist" either. At times, he has supported Democrats in California, including liberal Representative Sam Farr in 2002 and Governor Gray Davis, whom he voted for in 1998 and hosted pricey fundraisers for in 2002 and 2003. A self-professed "liberal on civil rights", Eastwood has stated that he is pro-choice on abortion. He has endorsed same-sex marriage and contributed to groups supporting the Equal Rights Amendment for women, which failed to receive ratification in 1982. In 1992, Eastwood acknowledged to writer David Breskin that his political views represented a fusion of Milton Friedman and Noam Chomsky. As a politician, Eastwood has made successful forays into both local and state government. In April 1986 he was elected mayor for one term in his home town of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California – a small, wealthy town and artist community on the Monterey Peninsula. During his term he tended towards supporting small business interests and advocating environmental protection. In 2001 Eastwood was appointed to the California State Park and Recreation Commission by Governor Davis, then reappointed in 2004 by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. As the vice chairman of the commission, in 2005 along with chairman Bobby Shriver, he led the movement opposed to a six-lane 16-mile (26 km) extension of California State Route 241, a toll road that would cut through San Onofre State Beach. Eastwood and Shriver supported a 2006 lawsuit to block the toll road and urged the California Coastal Commission to reject the project, which it duly did in February 2008. In March 2008 Eastwood and Shriver's non-reappointment to the commission on the expiry of their terms prompted the Natural Resources Defense Council (NDRC) to request a legislative investigation into the decision. Governor Schwarzenegger appointed Eastwood to the California Film Commission in April 2004. He has also acted as a spokesman for Take Pride in America, an agency of the United States Department of the Interior which advocates taking responsibility for natural, cultural, and historic resources. During the 2008 United States presidential election, Eastwood endorsed John McCain, citing the fact that he had known McCain since he returned to America in 1973 as a recently released POW. Saying of the famous war veteran, "I met him years ago when he first came back from Vietnam. This was back when (Ronald) Reagan was the governor of California and he had a big function for all of the prisoners of war who were released. I thought he was a terrific guy, a real American hero." Nevertheless, Eastwood, in an expression of patriotism, wished Barack Obama well upon his subsequent victory saying, "Obama is my president now and I am going to be wishing him the very best because it is what is best for all of us." However, Eastwood has seemed to want stronger leadership from President Obama, stating in 2010, "I think he's a nice fella and I enjoyed watching him come along and I enjoyed watching him campaign and win the job. But I'm not a fan of what he's doing at the moment. ... I just don't think he's governing. I don't think he's surrounded himself with the people he could have surrounded himself with." In January 2011, Eastwood told the UK's Daily Mail that "I loved the fact that Obama is multi-racial. I thought that was terrific, as my wife is the same racial make-up. But I felt he was a greenhorn, and it turned out he didn’t have experience in decision-making." As for McCain, Eastwood reflected, "I voted for McCain, not because he was a Republican, but because he had been through war (in Vietnam) and I thought he might understand the war in Iraq better than somebody who hadn't. I didn't agree with him on a lot of stuff."

In August 2010, Eastwood wrote to the British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne to protest the decision to close the UK Film Council, warning that the closure could result in fewer foreign production companies choosing to work in the UK.

On August 3, 2012, Eastwood attended a fundraiser for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, stating that Romney would boost the country and "restore a decent tax system" to create "fairness". Eastwood received wide media coverage for a speech he gave at the 2012 Republican National Convention during which he mockingly spoke to an empty chair as if President Obama was sitting in it.

Music

Eastwood has possessed a passion for music all his life. He favors jazz (especially bebop), blues, classic rhythm-and-blues, classical, and country-and-western music; his favorite musicians include saxophonists Charlie Parker and Lester Young, pianists Thelonious Monk, Oscar Peterson, Dave Brubeck, and Fats Waller, and Delta bluesman Robert Johnson. He is also a pianist and composer. Jazz has played an important role in Eastwood's life from a young age and, although he never made it as a professional musician, he passed on the influence to his son Kyle Eastwood, a successful jazz bassist and composer. Eastwood developed as a boogie-woogie pianist early on and had originally intended to pursue a career in music by studying for a music theory degree after graduating from high school. In late 1959 he produced the album Cowboy Favorites, released on the Cameo label.

Eastwood has his own Warner Bros. Records-distributed imprint Malpaso Records, as part of his deal with Warner Brothers, which has released all of the scores of Eastwood's films from The Bridges of Madison County onward. Eastwood co-wrote "Why Should I Care" with Linda Thompson and Carole Bayer Sager, which was recorded by Diana Krall. Eastwood composed the film scores of Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby, Flags of Our Fathers, Grace Is Gone, Changeling, Hereafter, J. Edgar, and the original piano compositions for In the Line of Fire. He also wrote and performed the song heard over the credits of Gran Torino. The music in Grace Is Gone received two Golden Globe nominations by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for the 65th Golden Globe Awards. Eastwood was nominated for Best Original Score, while the song "Grace is Gone" with music by Eastwood and lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager was nominated for Best Original Song. It won the Satellite Award for Best Song at the 12th Satellite Awards. Changeling was nominated for Best Score at the 14th Critics' Choice Awards, Best Original Score at the 66th Golden Globe Awards, and Best Music at the 35th Saturn Awards. On September 22, 2007, 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."

Awards and honors

Main articles: List of awards and nominations received by Clint Eastwood and List of awards and nominations received by Clint Eastwood by film

Academy Awards

Year	Award	Film	Result
1992	Best Director	Unforgiven	Won
	Best Picture	Unforgiven	Won
	Best Actor	Unforgiven	Nominated
1994	Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award		Won
2003	Best Director	Mystic River	Nominated
	Best Picture	Mystic River	Nominated
2004	Best Director	Million Dollar Baby	Won
	Best Picture	Million Dollar Baby	Won
	Best Actor	Million Dollar Baby	Nominated
2006	Best Director	Letters from Iwo Jima	Nominated
	Best Picture	Letters from Iwo Jima	Nominated

Eastwood has been recognized with multiple awards and nominations for his work in film, television, and music. His widest reception has been in film work, for which he has received Academy Awards, Directors Guild of America Awards, Golden Globe Awards, and People's Choice Awards, among others. Eastwood is one of only two people to have been twice nominated for Best Actor and Best Director for the same film (Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby) the other being Warren Beatty (Heaven Can Wait and Reds). Along with Beatty, Robert Redford, Richard Attenborough, Kevin Costner, and Mel Gibson, he is one of the few directors best known as an actor to win an Academy Award for directing. On February 27, 2005, he became 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 also the oldest recipient of the Academy Award for Best Director. Eastwood has directed five actors in Academy Award–winning performances: Gene Hackman in Unforgiven, Tim Robbins and Sean Penn in Mystic River, and Morgan Freeman and Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby.

File:CAHoF Entrance.jpg

Clint Eastwood display in the entrance to the California Hall of Fame

On August 22, 1984, Eastwood was honored at a ceremony at Grauman's Chinese theater to record his hand and footprints in cement. Eastwood received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1996, and received an honorary degree from AFI in 2009. On December 6, 2006, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver inducted 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". In October 2009, he was honored by the Lumière Award (in honor of the Lumière Brothers, inventors of the Cinematograph) during the first edition of the Lumière Film Festival in Lyon, France. This award honors his entire career and his major contribution to the 7th Art. In February 2010, Eastwood was recognized by President Barack Obama with an arts and humanities award. Obama described Eastwood's films as "essays in individuality, hard truths and the essence of what it means to be American."

Eastwood has also been awarded at least three honorary degrees from universities and colleges, including an honorary degree from the University of the Pacific in 2006, an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Southern California on May 27, 2007, and an honorary Doctor of Music degree from the Berklee College of Music at the Monterey Jazz Festival on September 22, 2007.

On July 22, 2009, Eastwood was bestowed by Emperor Akihito of Japan with the Order of the Rising Sun, 3rd class, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon for his notable contributions to the enhancement of Japan–United States relations.

Filmography

Main article: Clint Eastwood filmography

Eastwood has contributed to over 50 films over his career as actor, director, producer, and composer. He has acted in several television series, most notably starring in Rawhide. He started directing in 1971, and made his debut as a producer in 1982, with Firefox, though he had been functioning as uncredited producer on all of his Malpaso Company films since Hang 'Em High in 1968. Eastwood also has contributed music to his films, either through performing, writing, or composing. He has mainly starred in western, action, and drama films. According to the box office-revenue tracking website, Box Office Mojo, films featuring Eastwood have grossed a total of more than US$1.68 billion domestically, with an average of $37 million per film.

Bibliography

• Baker, Brian (2006). Masculinity in Fiction and Film: Representing Men in Popular Genres, 1945–2000. Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-8264-8652-3.
• Baldwin, Louis (1999). Turning Points: Pivotal Moments in the Careers of 83 Famous Figures. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-0626-5.
• The New York Times Guide to the Best 1000 Movies Ever Made. New York: Times Books. 1999. ISBN 0-8129-3001-0. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
• Cardullo, Bert (2010). Screen Writings: Genres, Classics, and Aesthetics. Anthem Press. ISBN 978-1-84331-837-8.
• Eliot, Marc (2009). American Rebel: The Life of Clint Eastwood. New York: Harmony Books. ISBN 978-0-307-33688-0.
• Emery, Robert J. (2003). The Directors: Take 3. Allworth Press. ISBN 1-58115-245-0.
• Stars: The Film Reader: Action Movie Hysteria of Eastwood Bound. London: Routledge. 2004. ISBN 0-415-27893-7. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
• Fitzgerald, Michael G.; Magers, Boyd (2002). Ladies of the Western: Interviews With Fifty-One More Actresses from the Silent Era to the Television Westerns of the 1950s and 1960s. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-1140-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Frank, Alan (1982). Clint Eastwood: Screen Greats. New York: Exeter. ISBN 0-89673-135-9.
• Frayling, Christopher (1992). Clint Eastwood. London: Virgin. ISBN 0-86369-307-5.
• Gallafent, Edward (1994). Clint Eastwood. New York: Continuum. ISBN 0-8264-0665-3.
• Hughes, Howard (2009). Aim for the Heart. London: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-84511-902-7.
• Johnston, Robert K. (2007). Reframing Theology and Film: New Focus for an Emerging Discipline. Baker Academic. ISBN 978-0-8010-3240-0.
• Kapsis, Robert E.; Coblentz, Kathie, ed. (1999). Clint Eastwood: Interviews. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 1-57806-070-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
• Kitses, Jim (2004). Horizons West. British Film Institute. ISBN 1-84457-050-9.
• Lichtenfeld, Eric (2007). Action Speaks Louder. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press. ISBN 0-8195-6801-5.
• The Illustrated History of the Cinema. New York: Macmillan. 1987. ISBN 0-02-919241-2. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
• Mathijs, Ernest; Mendik, Xavier (July 7, 2004). Alternative Europe: Eurotrash and Exploitation Cinema Since 1945. Wallflower Press. ISBN 978-1-903364-93-2. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• McGilligan, Patrick (1999). Clint: The Life and Legend. London: Harper Collins. ISBN 0-00-638354-8.
• Mercer, Jane (1975). Great Lovers of the Movies. New York: Crescent Books. ISBN 0-517-13126-9.
• Munn, Michael (1992). Clint Eastwood: Hollywood's Loner. London: Robson. ISBN 978-0-86051-790-0.
• Oates, Bob (1976). Celebrating the Dawn: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and the TM Technique. New York: Putnam. ISBN 0-399-11815-2.
• O'Brien, Daniel (1996). Clint Eastwood: Film-Maker. London: B. T. Batsford. ISBN 0-7134-7839-X.
• Ivy Press (November 1, 2005). Heritage Vintage Movie Poster Signature Auction 2005 Catalog #624. Heritage Capital Corporation. ISBN 978-1-59967-004-1. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Roberts, James B.; Skutt, Alexander (2006). The Boxing Register: International Boxing Hall of Fame Official Record Book. Ithaca, N.Y.: McBooks Press. ISBN 1-59013-121-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Rogin, Michael Paul (1988). Ronald Reagan, the Movie and Other Episodes in Political Demonology. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-06469-0.
• Schickel, Richard (1996). Clint Eastwood: A Biography. New York: Knopf. ISBN 978-0-679-42974-6.
• Slocum, J. David (2001). Violence and American Cinema. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-92810-9. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
• Smith, Paul (1993). Clint Eastwood: A Cultural Production: Volume 8 of American Culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 0-8166-1960-3.
• Stillman, Deanne (1981). Getting Back at Dad. Wideview Books. ISBN 978-0-87223-725-4.
• Sweeney, Patrick (December 13, 2004). The Gun Digest Book of Smith & Wesson. Gun Digest Books. ISBN 978-0-87349-792-3. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Verlhac, Pierre-Henri; Bogdanovich, Peter (September 1, 2008). Clint Eastwood: A Life in Pictures. Chronicle Books. ISBN 978-0-8118-6154-0. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Zmijewsky, Boris (1982). The Films of Clint Eastwood. Secaucus, New Jersey: Citadel Press. ISBN 0-8065-0863-9. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthor= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

Further reading

• Cornell, Drucilla (2009). Clint Eastwood and Issues of American Masculinity. Fordham University Press. ISBN 978-0-82323-013-6.
• Engel, Leonard (2007). Clint Eastwood, Actor and Director: New Perspectives. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. ISBN 0-87480-900-2.
• Gabbard, Glen O. (2001). Psychoanalysis and Film. London; New York: Karnac Books. ISBN 1-85575-275-1. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
• Johnstone, Iain (2007). The Man with No Name: The Biography of Clint Eastwood. London: Plexus. ISBN 0-85965-026-X.
• Thompson, Douglas (2005). Clint Eastwood: Billion Dollar Man. London: John Blake. ISBN 978-1-85782-572-5.

External links

• Clint Eastwood at IMDb
• Clint Eastwood at the TCM Movie Database
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• Clint Eastwood at Rotten Tomatoes
• Clint Eastwood on Charlie Rose
• Appearances on C-SPAN
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• Clint Eastwood collected news and commentary at The Guardian
• Clint Eastwood collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Clint Eastwood collected news and commentary at the Los Angeles Times