Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American film actor, director, producer, composer, pianist, businessman, investor, and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide (1959--1966). 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 masculinity.[1][2] 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. 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".[305][306] 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.[307][308][309] He considers himself "too individualistic to be either right-wing or left-wing",[310] describing himself in 1974 as "a political nothing" and "a moderate"[305] and in 1997 as a "libertarian".[311] "I don't see myself as conservative," Eastwood has stated, while noting in the same breath that he isn't "ultra-leftist", either.[312] At times, he has supported Democrats in California, including Senator Dianne Feinstein in 1994,[313][314][315] liberal United States House of Representatives member Sam Farr in 2002,[316] and Governor Gray Davis, whom he voted for in 1998 and 2002 and hosted pricey fundraisers for in 2002 and 2003.[317] A self-professed "liberal on civil rights",[305] Eastwood has stated that he is pro-choice on abortion.[311] He has endorsed same-sex marriage[312][318][319] and contributed to groups supporting the Equal Rights Amendment for women, which failed to receive ratification in 1982.[320] In 1992, Eastwood acknowledged to writer David Breskin that his political views represented a fusion of Milton Friedman and Noam Chomsky and suggested that they would make for a worthwhile presidential ticket.[321] In 1999, Eastwood stated, "I guess I was a social liberal and fiscal conservative before it became fashionable."[322] Ten years later, in 2009, Eastwood said that he was now a registered Libertarian.[323] Despite being heavily associated with firearms in his Westerns and cop movies, Eastwood has publicly endorsed gun control since at least 1973. In the April 24, 1973, edition of the Washington Post, the star stated that "I'm for gun legislation myself. I don't hunt."[324] Two years later, in 1975, Eastwood told People magazine that he favors "gun control to some degree".[325] About a year later, Eastwood remarked that "All guns should be registered. I don't think legitimate gun owners would mind that kind of legislation. Right now the furor against a gun law is by gun owners who are overreacting. They're worried that all guns are going to be recalled. It's impossible to take guns out of circulation, and that's why firearms should be registered and mail-order delivery of guns halted."[326] In 1993, he noted that "I was always a backer" of the Brady Bill, with its federally mandated waiting period.[327] In 1995, Eastwood questioned the purpose of assault weapons. Larry King, the famous television host and newspaper columnist, wrote in the May 22, 1995, edition of USA Today that "My interview with Eastwood will air on 'Larry King Weekend' ... I asked him his thoughts on the NRA and gun control and he said that while people think of him as pro-gun, he has always been in favor of controls. 'Why would anyone need or want an assault weapon?' he said." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clint_eastwood Image By Army.mil cropped by Dr. Blofeld (Flickr) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

• published: 18 Oct 2013
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