alt | A headshot of an older man is looking to the left while smiling |
---|
birth name | Clinton Eastwood, Jr. |
---|
birth date | May 31, 1930 |
---|
birth place | San Francisco, California, U.S. |
---|
nationality | American |
---|
occupation | Actor, director, producer, and composer |
---|
years active | 1955–present |
---|
spouse | Maggie Johnson (1953–84; two children)Dina Ruiz (1996–present; one child) |
---|
children | Kimber TunisKyle EastwoodAlison EastwoodScott ReevesKathryn ReevesFrancesca Fisher-EastwoodMorgan 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 1960s, and as
San Francisco Police Department Inspector
Harry Callahan in the ''
Dirty Harry'' films during the 1970s and 1980s. These roles, along with several others in which he plays tough-talking no-nonsense characters, have made him an enduring
cultural icon of
masculinity.
Eastwood won Academy Awards for Best Director and Producer of the Best Picture, as well as receiving nominations for Best Actor, for his work in the films ''Unforgiven'' (1992) and ''Million Dollar Baby'' (2004). These films in particular, as well as others including ''Play Misty for Me'' (1971), ''The Outlaw Josey Wales'' (1976), ''Pale Rider'' (1985), ''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), its sequel ''Any Which Way You Can'' (1980), and ''Bronco Billy'' (1980). Despite being less well received by critics, the ''Any Which Way'' films are his most commercially successful.
In addition to directing most 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, the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres medal, and in 2007 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.
Eastwood was born in
San Francisco to Clinton Eastwood, Sr. (1906–70), a steelworker and migrant worker, and Margaret Ruth (née Runner; 1909–2006), a factory worker. He was nicknamed "Samson" by the hospital nurses as he weighed at birth. After his father died in 1970, Eastwood's mother remarried to John Belden Wood (1913–2004) in 1972, and they remained married until his death 32 years later. Eastwood is of English, Irish, Scottish, and Dutch ancestry and was raised in a
middle class home with his younger sister, Jean (born 1934). His family relocated often as his father worked at different jobs along the
West Coast, including at a pulp mill. The family settled in
Piedmont, California, where Eastwood attended
Piedmont Junior High School and
Piedmont Senior High School, taking part in sports such as basketball, football, gymnastics, and competitive swimming. He later transferred to
Oakland Technical High School where the drama teachers encouraged him to enroll in school plays, but he was not interested. As his family moved to different areas he held a series of jobs including lifeguard, paper carrier, grocery clerk, forest firefighter, and golf caddy.
In 1950, Eastwood began a one-year stint as a lifeguard for the United States Army during the Korean War and was posted to Fort Ord in California. While on leave in 1951 Eastwood was a passenger onboard a Douglas AD bomber that ran out of fuel and crashed into the ocean near Point Reyes. After escaping from the sinking aircraft he and the pilot swam to safety.
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 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 $100 (US$}} in 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 life-long 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'', as well as a small speaking role in ''Francis in the Navy''. He also made a very brief appearance in the made-for-TV film ''Allen in Movieland'', which starred Tony Curtis and Benny Goodman. 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. Now aged 28, Eastwood 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 $750 (US$}} in dollars) an episode. At the time of ''Rawhide''’s cancellation, he received $119,000 (US$}} in dollars) in compensation.
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. Other actors, including
Charles Bronson,
Steve Reeves,
Richard Harrison,
Henry Fonda,
James Coburn, and
Ty Hardin, were also considered for the role. Knowing that he could play a cowboy convincingly Harrison suggested Eastwood, who in turn saw the film as an opportunity to escape from ''Rawhide''. He signed a contract for $15,000 (US$}} in 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 in traditional westerns, and challenging stereotypical American notions of a western hero by replacing him with a morally ambiguous antihero. The film's success meant Eastwood became a major star in Italy and he was re-hired by Leone to star in ''For a Few Dollars More'' (1965), the second film 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 approximately $900,000 (US$}} in dollars).
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 only took a few days to shoot but his performance did not go down well with critics, with one writing "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'', in which he again played the mysterious Man with No Name. Lee Van Cleef returned to play a ruthless fortune seeker, while Eli Wallach portrayed the cunning Mexican bandit Tuco Ramirez. The storyline involves the search for a cache of Confederate gold buried in a cemetery. During the filming of one scene in which a bridge was to be dynamited, Eastwood urged Wallach to retreat to a hilltop saying, "I know about these things. 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 shown in the United States until 1967 when ''A Fistful of Dollars'' opened in January, ''For a Few Dollars More'' in May, and ''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'' in December. All the films were commercially successful, particularly ''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'' which eventually earned $8 million (US$}} in dollars) in rental earnings and turned Eastwood into a major film star. All three films received generally bad reviews, and marked the beginning of a battle for Eastwood to win the respect of American film critics. 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'' opined that ''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, although 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 "tough guy" roles for Eastwood. He signed up to star in the American revisionist western ''Hang 'Em High'' (1968), in which he featured 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. A cross between ''Rawhide'' and Leone's westerns, the film earned Eastwood a fee of $400,000 (US$}} in dollars) and 25 percent of its net box-office takings. Using money earned from the ''Dollars'' trilogy, Leonard helped establish Eastwood's production company, Malpaso Productions, named after the Malpaso Creek on Eastwood's property in Monterey County, California. Leonard arranged for ''Hang 'Em High'' to be a joint production with United Artists and, when it opened in July 1968, the film became the biggest United Artists opening in history — its box office receipts exceeding all the James Bond films of the time. ''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 work on the film ''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 the project after receiving an offer of $1 million (US$}} in dollars)—more than double his previous salary. Jennings Lang arranged for Eastwood to meet Don Siegel, a Universal contract director who later became one of Eastwood's close friends, with the two forming a partnership that would last more than ten years and comprise five films. Filming began in November 1967, before the script had been finalized. The film was controversial for its portrayal of violence, with Eastwood's role creating the prototype for what would later become 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 $850,000 (US$}} in 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 $20 million (US$}} in 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.
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 $1 million (US$}} in dollars) and, according to Eastwood and Lang, flopped due to poor publicity and the "emasculated" role of Eastwood.
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.
''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 $22 million (US$}} in 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 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 28, was considered too old. The film, shot very quickly and efficiently by Eastwood and Frank Stanley, came in $1 million (US$}} in 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 $58.1 million (US$}} in 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 $32.4 million (US$}} in 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 $23.8 million (US$}} in 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 eponymous 1972 novel, 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 $60,000 (US$}} in 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'' "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 $100 million (US$}} in 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.
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.
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 $20 million, (US$}} in 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 $70 million (US$}} in 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 $50 million (US$}} in dollars) domestically, but was overshadowed by Eddie Murphy's ''Beverly Hills Cop''.
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 become to be viewed more favorably in recent times. The film and grossed $70 million (US$}}) domestically.
Eastwood starred in ''The Dead Pool'' (1988), the fifth and final film in the ''Dirty Harry'' series. It co-starred Liam Neeson, Patricia Clarkson, 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 $38 million (US$}}), 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.
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 $8.4 million (US$}} in 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.
}}
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.
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 $200 million (US$}} in dollars) in the United States alone. , ''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 unfavourable 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.
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 $55 million (US$}} in dollars) budget and was Eastwood's worst-performing film of the 1990s aside from ''White Hunter Black Heart'', which had a limited release.
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 $26.2 million (US$}} in dollars) on an estimated budget of $50 million (US$}} in 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.
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 $90 million (US$}} in dollars) domestically on a budget of $30 million (US$}} in 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 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 $110 million (US$}} in 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." Eastwood has said that the role will most likely be the last time he acts in a film. ''Gran Torino'' grossed almost $30 million (US$}} in dollars) during its opening weekend release in January 2009, the highest of his career as an actor or director. ''Gran Torino'' eventually grossed over $268 million (US$}} in 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 and Matt Damon as rugby team captain François Pienaar. 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'' 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.
}}
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.
Beginning with the thriller ''Play Misty for Me'', Eastwood has directed over 30 films in his career; including westerns, action films, and dramas. From the very early days of his career, Eastwood had been frustrated by directors insisting that scenes be re-shot multiple times and perfected, and when he began as a director in 1971, 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. Eastwood usually avoids actors rehearsing and prefers most scenes to be completed on the first take. 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.
Eastwood registered as a
Republican to vote for
Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952, and supported
Richard Nixon's
1968 and
1972 presidential campaigns. He later criticized Nixon's handling of the
Vietnam War and his morality during
Watergate. He has disapproved of America's wars in
Korea (1950–1953), Vietnam (1964–1973), 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 "moderate" and in 1997 as a "
libertarian". Eastwood has stated that he does not see himself as conservative or "ultra-leftist". At times, he has supported
Democrats in California, including Representative
Sam Farr in 2002, and Governor
Gray Davis, whom he voted for in 1998, and hosted a $5,000 per ticket fundraiser for in 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.
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 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, whom he has known since 1973, but nevertheless wished Barack Obama well upon his subsequent victory. 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. When asked his opinion of the 2012 Republican presidential candidates in February 2012, Eastwood replied that Texas Congressman Ron Paul was "'as good as anybody else' in the race but that he will decide on a candidate in another month or two after 'listening to all that crap on television.'"
Although reported as being happily married to his second wife since 1996, Eastwood previously fathered at least seven children by five different women and has been described as a "serial womanizer". According to biographers, Eastwood has always had a strong sexual appetite and particularly so during the 1970s. He allegedly engaged in affairs with many women, including actresses
Catherine Deneuve,
Peggy Lipton,
Jean Seberg,
Jamie Rose,
Inger Stevens,
Jo Ann Harris,
Jill Banner, script analyst Megan Rose, and swimming champion Anita Lhoest.
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 (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 a long separation, but the $25 million (US$}} in dollars) divorce settlement was not finalized until May 1984.
Eastwood entered a relationship with actress Sondra Locke in 1975 and they lived together for fourteen years despite the fact that she remained married (in name only) to her gay husband, Gordon Anderson. They co-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''. Early on in the relationship, Locke had two abortions and a subsequent tubal ligation. The couple separated acrimoniously in 1989; Locke filed a palimony suit against Eastwood after he changed the locks on the home they shared. She sued him a second time, for fraud, regarding an alleged phony directing contract he gave her in settlement of the first lawsuit. Locke and Eastwood went on to resolve the dispute with a non-public settlement in 1999. Her memoir ''The Good, the Bad, and the Very Ugly'' includes a harrowing account of their years together. Although Locke settled her cases with Eastwood which meant they never went up on appeal, the trial court improperly disclosed part of the September 1996 trial of one of Locke's cases to the public. The Supreme Court of California agreed to review ''that'' issue because of the importance of the constitutional issues at stake, and ultimately held in 1999, that there is a constitutional right of public access to judicial proceedings.
During his cohabitation with Locke, Eastwood had an affair with flight attendant Jacelyn Reeves. According to biographers they met at the premiere of ''Pale Rider'' where they conceived a son, Scott Reeves (born March 21, 1986). They also had a daughter, Kathryn Reeves (born February 2, 1988), although neither of them were publicly acknowledged until years later. 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 appeared together in ''True Crime''.
Eastwood subsequently began dating Dina Ruiz, an anchorwoman 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 his 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 has one daughter, Morgan Eastwood (born December 12, 1996).
Eastwood has two grandchildren: Clinton (born 1984) and Graylen (born 1994), by Kimber and Kyle respectively.
Despite smoking in some of his films, Eastwood is a life-long 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.
Eastwood has had a passion for music all his life. He particularly favors jazz, classic rhythm-and-blues, and country-and-western music. 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."
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''.
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 22 July 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 – U.S. relations.
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.
Clint Eastwood collected news and commentary at the ''Los Angeles Times''
Category:1930 births
Category:Actors from California
Category:Akira Kurosawa Award winners
Category:American actor–politicians
Category:American aviators
Category:American composers
Category:American film actors
Category:American film directors
Category:American film producers
Category:American firefighters
Category:American libertarians
Category:American people of Dutch descent
Category:American people of English descent
Category:American people of Irish descent
Category:American people of Scottish descent
Category:American restaurateurs
Category:American television actors
Category:Best Director Academy Award winners
Category:Best Director Golden Globe winners
Category:California Republicans
Category:César Award winners
Category:Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur
Category:Eastwood family
Category:English-language film directors
Category:Fellini Gold Medalists
Category:Film directors from California
Category:Film producers from California
Category:Helicopter pilots
Category:Kennedy Center honorees
Category:Living people
Category:Mayors of places in California
Category:People from Oakland, California
Category:People from Piedmont, California
Category:People from San Francisco, California
Category:Producers who won the Best Picture Academy Award
Category:Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun, 3rd class
Category:Spaghetti Western actors
Category:Transcendental Meditation practitioners
Category:United States Army soldiers
Category:United States National Medal of Arts recipients
Category:Western (genre) film actors
Category:Western (genre) film directors
ar:كلينت إيستوود
an:Clint Eastwood
ast:Clint Eastwood
az:Klint İstvud
bn:ক্লিন্ট ইস্টউড
zh-min-nan:Clint Eastwood
be:Клінт Іствуд
be-x-old:Клінт Іствуд
bg:Клинт Истууд
bar:Eastwood Clint
bs:Clint Eastwood
br:Clint Eastwood
ca:Clint Eastwood
cv:Клинт Иствут
cs:Clint Eastwood
cy:Clint Eastwood
da:Clint Eastwood
de:Clint Eastwood
et:Clint Eastwood
el:Κλιντ Ίστγουντ
es:Clint Eastwood
eo:Clint Eastwood
eu:Clint Eastwood
fa:کلینت ایستوود
fr:Clint Eastwood
fy:Clint Eastwood
ga:Clint Eastwood
gd:Clint Eastwood
gl:Clint Eastwood
ko:클린트 이스트우드
hy:Քլինթ Իսթվուդ
hi:क्लिंट ईस्टवुड
hr:Clint Eastwood
io:Clint Eastwood
id:Clint Eastwood
it:Clint Eastwood
he:קלינט איסטווד
sw:Clint Eastwood
ht:Clint Eastwood
la:Clint Eastwood
lv:Klints Īstvuds
lb:Clint Eastwood
lt:Clint Eastwood
hu:Clint Eastwood
mk:Клинт Иствуд
ml:ക്ലിന്റ് ഈസ്റ്റ്വുഡ്
mr:क्लिंट ईस्टवूड
nl:Clint Eastwood
ja:クリント・イーストウッド
no:Clint Eastwood
nn:Clint Eastwood
pa:ਕਲਿੰਟਨ ਕਲਿੰਟ ਈਸਟਵੁਡ
nds:Clint Eastwood
pl:Clint Eastwood
pt:Clint Eastwood
ro:Clint Eastwood
ru:Иствуд, Клинт
sq:Clint Eastwood
simple:Clint Eastwood
sk:Clint Eastwood
sl:Clint Eastwood
sr:Клинт Иствуд
sh:Clint Eastwood
fi:Clint Eastwood
sv:Clint Eastwood
tl:Clint Eastwood
ta:கிளின்ட் ஈஸ்ட்வுட்
th:คลินต์ อีสต์วูด
tr:Clint Eastwood
uk:Клінт Іствуд
vi:Clint Eastwood
zh:克林·伊斯威特