Like most superstars, Clint Eastwood's success can be attributed to equal parts good fortune, tenacity, and talent. Eastwood may have been too young to fight in World War II, but he managed to miss out on action in Korea too. On leave as a G.I., his plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean and steely-eyed Clint swam three miles to shore. He later was made boot camp swimming instructor and missed out on action in Korea (confined to base). Encouraged to try acting by two of his Army buddies, David Janssen and Martin Milner, he landed a contract at Universal Studios in 1954, earning 75 USD a week playing bit parts in B-grade movies like Revenge of the Creature and Tarantula. He was dropped when some studio execs decided his Adam's apple was too big. The determined Eastwood swallowed his pride and, over the next few years, he dug swimming pools between playing bit parts in movies and on TV. While visiting a friend at CBS, Eastwood was spotted by a network exec who cast him as cattle driver Rowdy Yates in the long-running western series Rawhide. That, in turn, led to spaghetti stardom in a string of Sergio Leone westerns, beginning with A Fistful of Dollars ("A Fistful of Dollars").
Every Which Way But Loose (1978): $12,000,000 (15% of gross)
Paint Your Wagon (1969): $750,000
Where Eagles Dare (1968): $750,000
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966): $250,000 +10% of Western Hemisphere gross
For a Few Dollars More (1965): $50,000
A Fistful of Dollars (1964): $15,000
Francis in the Navy (1955): $100/week
Is a partial owner of the Pebble Beach Golf Country Club in Monterey Peninsula, California. Owns the inn Mission Ranch, Carmel, California, USA. Received an honorary Cesar award in Paris, France for his body of work. [1998] Ranked #2 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997] He wore the same poncho, without ever having washed it, in all three of his "Man with No Name" Westerns. When he first gained popularity with his first three major films A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Jolly Films (who produced A Fistful of Dollars) created a film called The Magnificent Stranger which was actually two episodes of Rawhide edited together. Eastwood sued and the film was withdrawn. Elected mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. It has often been claimed that Eastwood ran for office as a Republican. In fact, although he was registered as a Republican in California, the position of mayor is non-partisan. [1986] Clint was apparently such an organised director that he finished his movie Absolute Power days ahead of schedule. When Don Siegel fell ill during production of Dirty Harry, Eastwood stepped in as director during the attempted-suicide/jumper sequence. Got his first acting role in Rawhide while visiting a friend at the CBS lot when a studio exec spotted him because he "looked like a cowboy." Served in the United States Army. Partner with Sondra Locke from 1975 thru 1988 (co-habitated from 1977-1988). It's interesting, given his penchant towards directing or starring in westerns, that his name, Clint Eastwood, is an anagram for 'old west action.' His name is used as the title of the hit Gorillaz song and video "Clint Eastwood" (2001). Mentioned in the theme song of the 1980s TV hit The Fall Guy. Until his pride was displaced by discovery of a larger version of same tree in 2002, Eastwood used to be proud owner of tree believed to be the nation's largest known hardwood - a bluegum eucalyptus. Sworn in as parks commissioner for state of California at Big Basin Redwood Park, Santa Cruz, California, 8 June 2002. Holding up his new commissioner's badge, he told the crowd, "You're all under arrest." He was the 2000 recipient of John F. Kennedy Center Honors. Received the Career Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. [2000] Is of a mixed heritage that includes Dutch, Scottish, Irish and English blood. Redubbed his own dialogue for the American releases of A Fistful of Dollars ("A Fistful Of Dollars"), For a Few Dollars More ("For A Few Dollars More"), and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly ("The Good, The Bad and The Ugly"). When he directs, he insists that his actors wear as little makeup as possible and he likes to print first takes. As a result, his films consistently finish on schedule and on budget. When directing, he simply says "okay" instead of "action" and "cut." (source: "Sunday Morning Shootout"). Weighed 11 lbs 6 oz at birth. He was a contract player at Universal International. He and another young actor named Burt Reynolds were released from their contracts and left the studio on the same day. They were both fired by the same director. Eastwood was fired when the director didn't want to use him in a movie because "his Adam's Apple was too big." Reynolds, who was serving as a stunt man, was fired after he shoved the director into a water tank during an argument over how to do a stunt fall. Appeared on T.G. Sheppard's hit single "Make My Day," which in the first half of 1984 reached #12 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart and also reached #62 on that magazine's Hot 100 singles survey. Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume Two, 1945- 1985". Pages 294-302. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988. He was going to play the villain Two-Face on the Batman TV series, but the show was canceled before the project began. He was voted the 16th "Greatest Movie Star of All Time" by Entertainment Weekly. Eastwood was only two rankings behind his own all-time favorite film actor, James Cagney. Granddaughter, Graylen (Kyle's daughter) born 1994. Has 7 children: Kimber Eastwood (born 17 June 1964), Kyle Eastwood (born 19 May 1968), Alison Eastwood (born 22 May 1972), Scott Eastwood (born 21 March 1986), Kathryn Eastwood (2 February 1988), Francesca Fisher-Eastwood (born 7 August 1993) and Morgan Eastwood (born 12 December 1996). Father of Heather Eastwood (born July 19, 1988). Is owner of the exclusive golf club "Tehama" in Carmel Valley, California. He refused to have children with his wife at first (although he did have a daughter in 1964 from an affair), but then she became very ill. Once she recovered, he changed his mind, and almost 15 years after they married, their first child together was born. Although he has been associated with it throughout his career, he personally detests violence and has carefully shown the horrific consquences of violence in his more recent films such as _Unforgiven (1992)_ , A Perfect World, Absolute Power, Mystic River, and Million Dollar Baby. He has always disliked the reading of political and social agendas in his films, which has occurred from Dirty Harry to Million Dollar Baby. He has always maintained that all of his films are apolitical and what he has in mind when making a film is whether it's going to be entertaining and compelling. Has been named to Quigley Publications' annual Top 10 Poll of Money-Making Stars 21 times, making him #2 all-time for appearances in the top 10 list. Only John Wayne, with 25 appearances in the Top 10, has more. Eastwood, who first appeared in the Top Ten at #5 in 1968, finished #2 to Wayne at the box office in 1971 after finishing #2 to Paul Newman in 1970. After his first two consecutive #1 appearances in 1972 and 1973, he dropped back to #2 in 1974, trailing Robert Redford at the box office. Clint was again #2 in 1979, 1981 and 1982 (topped by Burt Reynolds all three years), before leading the charts in 1983 and '84. He last topped the poll in 1993. Was named the top box-office star of 1972 and again in 1973 by the Motion Picture Herald, based on an annual poll of exhibitors as to the drawing power of movie stars at the box-office, conducted by Quigley Publications. Clint Eastwood was the only nominee for the Best Actor Oscar in 2004 to play a fictitious character. All four other nominees portrayed real people in their respective films. A sample of his whistling can be heard on the track "Big Noise" from his son Kyle's jazz CD "Paris Blue" (2004) At the The 45th Annual Academy Awards, he presented the 1972 Best Picture Oscar to Albert S. Ruddy, the producer of The Godfather. Thirty-two years later, they would jointly accept the 2004 Best Picture Oscar at the The 77th Annual Academy Awards, along with fellow Million Dollar Baby co-producer Tom Rosenberg. At the The 72nd Annual Academy Awards in 2000, presented the Best Picture statuette to American Beauty. Was named the #1 top money-making star at the box office in Quigley Publications' annual poll of movie exhibitors five times between 1972 and 1993. Bing Crosby, Burt Reynolds and Tom Hanks also have been named #1 five times, while Tom Cruise holds the record for being named #1 six times. Daughter, Morgan Eastwood, with Dina Ruiz (Dina Eastwood), born. [12 December 1996] Current wife, Dina Ruiz (Dina Eastwood), is a former local television news anchor/reporter in California. [1999] At age 74, he became the oldest person to win the Best Director Oscar for Million Dollar Baby. He directed 8 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Gene Hackman, Meryl Streep, Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Marcia Gay Harden, Morgan Freeman, Hilary Swank and himself (in Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby). Hackman, Penn, Robbins, Freeman and Swank won Oscars for their performances in one of Eastwood's movies. For two consecutive years he directed two out of the four actors in performances that won them Oscars: Sean Penn (Best Actor for Mystic River) and Tim Robbins (Best Supporting Actor for Mystic River) in 2004, and Hilary Swank (Best Actress for Million Dollar Baby) and Morgan Freeman (Best Supporting Actor for Million Dollar Baby) in 2005. Received an honorary Doctorate from Wesleyan University in Connecticut (2000). Wesleyan is also home to his personal archives. Every year the PGA tour comes to Pebble Beach, California, to host a celebrity golf tournament where celebrities team up with the professionals. Clint has participated in this every year from 1962-2002 and has been the longest running participant. He now serves as Host. In early 2005 he announced that he would supply the voice for a Dirty Harry video game. Premiere Magazine ranked him as #43 on a list of the Greatest Movie Stars of All Time in their Stars in Our Constellation feature (2005). Favorite actor is James Cagney. Some of his favorite movies are, The 39 Steps, Sergeant York, The Ox-Bow Incident & _Chariots of Fire (1981)_ . Some of his favorite actors are Gary Cooper, Humphrey Bogart, Robert Mitchum and James Stewart. In the late 1990s, he referenced Play Misty for Me, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Bronco Billy,_Honkytonk Man (1982)_ , Unforgiven & A Perfect World as the favorites of the films he had done. Has his look-alike puppet in the French show _"Guignols de l'info, Les" (1988)_ . He stood tall at 6' 4" at his peak, but due to recent back problems, the tallest he can stretch to is 6' 2". Along with Warren Beatty, Robert Redford, Mel Gibson, Richard Attenborough and Kevin Costner one of 7 people to win and Academy Award for "Best Director", though they are mainly known as actors. President of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1994. Claimed that the trait he most despised in others was racism. The boots that Clint Eastwood wore in Unforgiven are the same boots that he wore in the TV series Rawhide. These boots are now a part of Clint Eastwoods private collection and were on loan to the 2005 Sergio Leone exhibit at the Gene Autry Museum of Western Heritage in Los Angeles, California. In essence these boots have book-ended Clint Eastwood's career in the Western genre. He and former girlfriend Sondra Locke made six films together: Any Which Way You Can, Bronco Billy, Every Which Way But Loose, The Gauntlet, The Outlaw Josey Wales and Sudden Impact. As a director, he has always refused, and refuses to this day, to test screen his films before their release. He objected to the end of Dirty Harry when Harry throws his badge away after killing the Scorpio Killer, arguing with director Don Siegel that Harry knew that being a policeman was the only work he was suited to. Siegel explained and eventually convinced Eastwood that Harry threw his badge away as a symbol that he had lost faith in the police system. His production company is Malpaso Productions, which he formed in 1968. At the 2005 National Board of Review awards dinner in New York City, Eastwood joked that he would kill filmmaker Michael Moore if Moore ever showed up at his home with a camera (an evident reference to Moore's controversial interview with Eastwood's friend, actor/Second Amendment advocate Charlton Heston, for the movie Bowling for Columbine). After the crowd laughed, Eastwood said, "I mean it." Moore's spokesman said, "Michael laughed along with everyone else, and took Mr Eastwood's comments in the lighthearted spirit in which they were given." Publicly, Eastwood has not commented further. Took acting class from Michael Chekhov in Hollywood. Under his direction in 2003 and 2004 respectively, Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman both won Best Supporting Actor Oscars. They were both first time winners, and had previously starred alongside each other in The Shawshank Redemption. In 1972 Eastwood attended President Richard Nixon's landslide victory celebration in Los Angeles, along with John Wayne, Charlton Heston, and Glenn Ford. Was appointed to serve on the National Council of the Arts by President Nixon in 1972. Admitted to voting for Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956, Richard Nixon in 1968 and 1972, Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984, and Ross Perot in 1992. Has ruled out the possibility of playing Dirty Harry again, saying he has "outgrown him age-wise." His performance as "Dirty" Harry Callahan in Dirty Harry is ranked #92 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006). Is a vegetarian. At a press conference for his movie Mystic River, Eastwood condemned the Iraq war as a "big mistake" and defended Sean Penn's visit to Baghdad, saying he might have done the same thing but for his age. His mother, Francesca Ruth Eastwood, died on 7 February 2006 at the age of ninety-seven. Eastwood declined an offer from President George Bush to campaign for him in the 1992 Presidential election. He told an interviewer the next year, "I think what the ultra-right wing conservatives did to the Republicans is really self- destructive, absolutely stupid." His performance as Blondie in "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" (1966) is ranked #50 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time. His performance as "Dirty" Harry Callahan in "Dirty Harry" (1971) is ranked #42 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time. Was friends with Robert Donner. He claims that he wound up getting the role in Sergio Leone's "Per un pugno di dollari" (1964) because James Coburn wanted $25,000. Eastwood accepted the role for $15,000. Was offered Al Pacino's role in Any Given Sunday, but turned it down because Warner Bros. wouldn't let him direct it also. Is a patron of the arts, notably as an avid collector of western art. Presented the Golden Globe Award for Best Director to Ang Lee for Brokeback Mountain. His "Fistful" mannerisms was imitated in Canada, by the Tim Horton's restaurant chain, to promote the 2005 Southwest chicken sub. Served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. The athletic Eastwood was stationed at Ft. Ord across from Monterey, California (over the hill from where he lives and served as mayor, Carmel-by-the-Sea) as a swimming instructor. Whenever asked if he would do a Dirty Harry 6, he often joked that he can imagined Dirty Harry now longed retired, and fly-fishing with his .44 magnum. His his first screen appearance was an uncredited role in Revenge of the Creature, as the goofy white coated lab assistant who does the silly mouse gag in the lab scene with the monkey. His only line in the film is: "I've lost my white mouse". Cited as America's Favorite Movie Star by the Harris Polls conducted in 1993, 1994 and 1997. Tom Hanks and Harrison Ford are the only other actors to be cited as the #1 Movie Star as many times. He was not nominated for an Academy Award, either as an actor or as a director, until he was sixty-two. His favorite movie is John Ford's How Green Was My Valley. Met John Wayne for the first time at the Republican National Convention in 1968. He is "Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur", a high French distinction that has been conferred on him by President Jacques Chirac on February 17, 2007, as a tribute to his career as an actor and a filmmaker. Voted for Arnold Schwarzenegger as Governor of California in 2003 and 2006. Son of Clinton Eastwood and wife Margaret Ruth Runner. In 1969 he attended a celebration of John Wayne's 40-year career at Paramount Studios, along with Lee Marvin, Rock Hudson, 'Fred Macmurray' , James Stewart, Ernest Borgnine, Michael Caine and Laurence Harvey. Fluent in Italian. Had to fill in for Charlton Heston at the The 44th Annual Academy Awards, until Heston arrived. Was offered Gregory Peck's role in Mackenna's Gold, but turned it down to make Hang 'Em High instead. The producers of Dirty Harry originally didn't want Eastwood, since they felt he was too young at 41. After older stars like John Wayne, Frank Sinatra and Robert Mitchum turned the film down, Eastwood was cast. He last played Harry Callahan aged 57 in The Dead Pool, which was the age the character was supposed to be in the first film according to the original screenplay. William Friedkin tried to get him star in Sorcerer, but Eastwood didn't want travel anywhere at that time. Jack Nicholson turned the film down for the same reason. Used to shop at Market Basket a lot when it was still open. Mentioned in theme song in The Adventures of George the Projectionist. Received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Southern California. (11 May 2007). Has retired from acting, according to director Paul Haggis, who offered him the role in his movie In the Valley of Elah played by Tommy Lee Jones. Eastwood declined the part, telling Haggis that he had come out of retirement at the request of producer Albert S. Ruddy to appear in Million Dollar Baby (2004), which he also directed. (Eastwood won the Oscar for his direction of the film, which also won Best Picture honors at the 2005 Academy Awards.) According to Haggis in an interview with "Entertainment Weekly", Eastwood -- who was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in "Million Dollar Baby" -- thinks his last performance is a fitting way to end his career: Going out on top.