EASTWOOD, CLINT

born May 31, 1930, San Francisco, Calif., U.S. in full Clinton Eastwood, Jr. American motion-picture actor who emerged as one of the most popular Hollywood stars in the 1970s and eventually became a prolific and respected director-producer as well. After graduating from high school in California, Eastwood held various jobs and served in the U.S. Army before becoming a bit player in Hollywood. He first attracted notice as the second lead in the television western series Rawhide (195966). His international stardom was established when he played The Man With No Namea laconic, fearless gunfighterin three popular Spanish-Italian westerns (spaghetti westerns) directed by Sergio Leone: A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966). With the release of these films in the United States, Eastwood began playing starring roles in Hollywood pictures, most notably under the direction of Don Siegel, with whom he made Coogan's Bluff (1968), Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970), The Beguiled (1971), and Escape from Alcatraz (1979). Their best-known collaboration was Dirty Harry (1971), in which Eastwood portrayed the murderously effective police inspector Harry Callahan. Eastwood capably directed himself in such films as Play Misty for Me (1971), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), Bronco Billy (1980), Pale Rider (1985), and White Hunter, Black Heart (1990). A lifelong devotee of jazz music, Eastwood directed Bird (1988), a film biography of saxophonist Charlie Parker, and produced the documentary Thelonius Monk: Straight, No Chaser (1989). Eastwood's style of acting was minimally expressive, and his films initially drew little praise from critics, but he had a strong, resonant screen presence that earned him success at the box office. His standard role was that of a tough, competent loner whose violent behaviour nevertheless conforms to his own understated moral principles. Eastwood's willingness to demythologize that character and his lean, crisp directorial style eventually brought him critical acclaim. His revisionist western Unforgiven (1992) won the Academy Award for best picture and the best director award for Eastwood.