CLAIM TO TOUGH GUY FAME:
Clint Eastwood has been contributing Tough Guys to the big screen for nearly 70 years! From stoic cowboys to renegade cops to grizzled old men, Eastwood’s got Tough Guy roles cornered.
WAS HE TOUGH IN REAL LIFE?
Mostly. Like many of the Tough Guys previously featured, Eastwood was a rough youth, expelled from his high school for numerous incidents of bad behavior.
In 1951, Eastwood was drafted to fight in the Korean War. There’s nothing tougher than a combat veteran, and Eastwood was known to frequently brag about his military service in the years following. The only problem is that he spent his entire stint in the military as a lifeguard on an Army base in California. Not so tough!
Around this time, however, he was a passenger on a plane that ran out of fuel and crashed in the Pacific Ocean. Clinging to a life raft, Eastwood paddled for hours, nearly drowning in the powerful undercurrent before finally reaching the shore in a state of shock. Staring down death and living to tell the tale is undeniably tough!
Also, he’s still actively directing and starring in mainstream films into his 90s. That takes next-level determination and toughness!
PATH TO GREATNESS:
After the war, Eastwood moved to Los Angeles to attend college, but was soon taken by the allure of Hollywood and dropped out to pursue acting. Raw and inexperienced, he endured many years of failed auditions and rejection while working as a garbage man, but he stubbornly refused to quit chasing his dream.
One day in 1958, he was visiting a friend on a studio lot when he stood out to an assistant producer on the new Western TV series Rawhide, who thought that Eastwood, with his rugged appearance and muscular 6’4” frame, looked just like a cowboy. An audition was arranged, but the producers found him to be a lousy actor. Still, they were enamored with Eastwood’s distinct look, physical presence, and attitude, and cast him for a major role on the condition that he attend acting classes on the side.
After Rawhide ended, Eastwood was ready to take his career to the big screen, and starred in a series of memorable Westerns. A late-bloomer, he was nearly 40 by the time he broke out as a major movie star in the late 1960s. He never stopped being a bankable star, playing memorable parts in hit movies for the next several decades, still favoring Tough Guy roles, but occasionally playing against type. Even today, well past his 90th birthday, he continues landing lead roles in major motion pictures.
His first love, however, has become directing. Always fascinated by filmmaking, he constantly begged the producers of Rawhide for the chance to direct an episode, which was always denied. After years of lobbying for creative control, he finally got his chance to direct in 1971 with the psychological thriller Play Misty for Me, contingent that he star in the film as well.
The film earned widespread acclaim, leading to more directing opportunities for Eastwood, who often also stars in the films he helms. His prolific career has seen him direct over 40 films, and he is widely regarded as one of the finest directors of all time.
NOTABLE ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
At the 1993 Academy Awards, his Western epic Unforgiven earned him nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor. In 2005, he repeated this incredible Oscar trifecta with his boxing drama Million Dollar Baby. For both films, he was snubbed for his acting but took home Best Picture and Best Director.
Has a total of 11 Oscar nominations, making him one of the Academy’s most recognized filmmakers. He’s cleaned up at the Golden Globes as well, with 13 nominations and four wins.
A gifted pianist, he has extended his creative control to composing the scores for a number of his films, earning a Grammy Award nomination in 2006 for creating the soundtrack to Million Dollar Baby.
He received the Cecil B. Demille Award for lifetime achievement in Hollywood all the way back in 1988, years before contributing many of his greatest films.
FUN TOUGH GUY FACTS:.
The oldest person to win a Best Director Oscar at age 74.
When Sean Connery retired from the role of James Bond in the early 1970s, Eastwood was the studio’s first choice to replace him. He declined, feeling miscast as an American actor.
“Clint Eastwood” is an anagram for “old west action”.
KEY FILMS:
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966), Dirty Harry (1971), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), Every Which Way but Loose (1978), Escape From Alcatraz (1979), Unforgiven (1992), Million Dollar Baby (2004)