(1930– )
a US film actor who also directs and produces films. He began in television but then became internationally famous through a series of spaghetti westerns , including A Fistful of Dollars (1964). He often plays strong and good but violent characters, as in Dirty Harry (1971). He won an Oscar in 1992 for directing the Western Unforgiven and a special Oscar in 1995. His more recent films include The Bridges of Madison County (1995), Absolute Power (1997) and, as director, Mystic River (2003).