| Revision as of 21:17, 11 January 2009 view source70.115.216.46 (talk) →Politics← Previous edit | Revision as of 21:18, 11 January 2009 view source Jake Wartenberg (talk | contribs)Administrators22,984 editsm Reverted edits by 70.115.216.46 to last version by Truthiness Jones (HG)Next edit → | ||
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| Eastwood has been registered as a ] since 1951 and supported ]'s 1968 presidential campaign. He describes himself as a |
Eastwood has been registered as a ] since 1951 and supported ]'s 1968 presidential campaign. He describes himself as a ].<ref></ref> He says his philosophy is "Everyone leaves everyone else alone".<ref></ref> | ||
| ] in the late 1980s]] | ] in the late 1980s]] | ||
| Eastwood made one successful foray into elected politics, becoming the ] of ] (population 4,000), a wealthy small town and artist community on the ], for one term. Allegedly frustrated with what he perceived to be the bureaucracy in Carmel's politics, he ran a campaign emphasizing better relations between the business and residential communities. However, many long-term residents were suspicious of the fact that Eastwood's decision to run came on the heels of a city decision not to grant him a permit for an underground parking garage for his restaurant. (Prior to the decision, residents were also polled by telephone about his candidacy, with heavy-handed questions such as "Who do you admire more, Ed Asner or Charlton Heston?" to identify the political sympathies of the respondent. The results of the poll were never made public.) | Eastwood made one successful foray into elected politics, becoming the ] of ] (population 4,000), a wealthy small town and artist community on the ], for one term. Allegedly frustrated with what he perceived to be the bureaucracy in Carmel's politics, he ran a campaign emphasizing better relations between the business and residential communities. However, many long-term residents were suspicious of the fact that Eastwood's decision to run came on the heels of a city decision not to grant him a permit for an underground parking garage for his restaurant. (Prior to the decision, residents were also polled by telephone about his candidacy, with heavy-handed questions such as "Who do you admire more, Ed Asner or Charlton Heston?" to identify the political sympathies of the respondent. The results of the poll were never made public.) | ||
Revision as of 21:18, 11 January 2009
For other uses, see Clint Eastwood (disambiguation).
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an Academy Award-winning American actor and filmmaker.
Eastwood is best-known as an actor for his tough guy, anti-hero acting roles in action and western films, particularly in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. His performances as the laconic Man with No Name in Sergio Leone's "Dollars trilogy" of spaghetti westerns which include A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), and as Inspector Harry Callahan in the Dirty Harry films have seen him become an enduring icon of masculinity, and a film legend.
Eastwood has won five Academy Awards—twice each as Best Director and as producer of the Best Picture and the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1995. He has also been nominated twice for Best Actor, for his performances in Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby. His recent films in particular, like Million Dollar Baby (2004) and Letters from Iwo Jima (2006), and his latest acting role Gran Torino (2008) as well as earlier Revisionist Western films such as High Plains Drifter (1973), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), Unforgiven (1992), have all received a significant degree of critical acclaim.
Eastwood also has an interest in politics; he was elected Mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, serving from 1986 to 1988.
Early life
Eastwood was born in San Francisco, California, to Clinton Eastwood, Sr., a steelworker and migrant worker, and Margaret Ruth Eastwood (née Runner), a factory worker. Clint was born a very large baby at 11 pounds. Eastwood has English, Scottish, Dutch and Irish ancestry. He was raised in a "middle class Protestant home" and moved often as his father worked at a variety of jobs along the West Coast. The family settled in Piedmont, California, during Eastwood's teens, and he graduated from Oakland Technical High School in 1949. He worked at a pulp mill in Springfield, Oregon when he was 18 or 19. Eastwood then worked as a gas station attendant, as a fireman, and played ragtime piano at a bar in Oakland. In 1950, during the Korean War, Eastwood was drafted into the US Army, and was aboard a military flight that crashed into the Pacific Ocean north of San Francisco (Drake's Bay). He escaped serious injury, but had to remain behind to testify at a hearing investigating the cause of the crash. This kept him from being shipped to Korea with the rest of his unit. During his military service, Eastwood became friends with fellow soldiers and future actors Martin Milner and David Janssen.
Film career
Eastwood began acting the mid-1950s, with brief appearances in B-films such as Revenge of the Creature, Tarantula and Francis in the Navy. His break came in 1958 when he won the role of Rowdy Yates in the TV series Rawhide. As Rowdy Yates (whom Eastwood privately described as "the idiot of the plains"), he became a household name across the United States throughout its seven year run from January 1959. While appearing in the series Eastwood also starred in several films, including Ambush at Cimarron Pass, which he has dismissed as "probably the lousiest Western ever made." In 1959, he fought James Garner in the "Duel at Sundown" episode of the western comedy television series Maverick. He then did not make another film until he was contacted by Sergio Leone.
1960s
An executive saw Eastwood on the series Rawhide and thought he looked like a cowboy, and at 6 ft 4 inches (193cm) was a strong physical presence. Eastwood was invited to audition for Leone's A Fistful of Dollars (1964), though he was not the first actor approached to play the main character. Originally, the director intended James Coburn to play the "Man With No Name". However, the production company could not afford a major Hollywood star. Leone then offered the part to Charles Bronson,who declined the role arguing the script was too bad. (Bronson would later star in Leone's 1968 Once Upon a Time in the West.) Other actors who turned down the role included TV star Ty Hardin and James Coburn. Leone turned his attentions towards Richard Harrison, who had starred in the first Italian western, Gunfight at Red Sands (Duello nel Texas). Harrison had not been impressed with his experience on his previous film and also refused. The producers established a list of lesser-known American actors, and asked Harrison for advice. Harrison suggested Clint Eastwood, whom he knew could play a cowboy convincingly. Harrison later said:
"Maybe my greatest contribution to cinema was not doing Fistful of Dollars, and recommending Clint for the part".
The film was to be shot in Spain and was evidently a tribute to Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo (1961). A Fist Full of Dollars would become a benchmark in the development of the spaghetti westerns. Eastwood was instrumental in creating the Man With No Name character's distinctive visual style that would appear in throughout the Dollars trilogy. He bought the black jeans from a shop on Hollywood Boulevard, the hat from a Santa Monica wardrobe firm and the trademark black cigars came from a Beverly Hills shop, though Eastwood himself is a non-smoker. Since A Fistful of Dollars was an Italian/German/Spanish co-production, there was a major language barrier on the set. Leone did not speak English and Eastwood communicated with the Italian cast and crew mostly through stuntman Benito Stefanelli, who acted as an unofficial interpreter for the production. Leone reportedly took to Eastwood's distinctive style, and commented, "I like Clint Eastwood because he has only two facial expressions: one with the hat, and one without it".
Leone hired Eastwood to star in his trilogy, following with For a Few Dollars More / Per qualche dollaro in più (1965) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly / Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo (1966). Leone depicted a more lawless and desolate world than traditional westerns. All three films were hits, particularly the third, and Eastwood became a major star, redefining the image of the American cowboy, though his character was actually a gunslinger and bounty hunter.
Stardom brought more roles in the "tough guy" mold. In 1968's Where Eagles Dare, Eastwood had second billing to Richard Burton, but was paid $800,000. The same year, he starred in Don Siegel's Coogan's Bluff, in which he played a lonely deputy sheriff who came to the big city of New York. The film was controversial for its portrayal of violence, but it launched a more than ten-year collaboration between Eastwood and Siegel, and set the prototype for the macho hero that Eastwood would play in the Dirty Harry films. He was scheduled to be cast as Two-Face on 1966-68 Batman television series, but the production ended.
In 1969, Eastwood branched out. Paint Your Wagon was a musical starring Eastwood and fellow non-singer Lee Marvin.
1970s
In 1970, Eastwood appeared in the war movie, Kelly's Heroes, and in the Siegel-directed western, Two Mules for Sister Sara, co-starring Shirley MacLaine. Both movies combined tough-guy action with offbeat humor. In The Beguiled, another movie directed by Siegel, Eastwood played a wounded Union soldier held captive by the sexually repressed matron of a southern girls' school.
1971 proved to be a professional turning point in Eastwood's career. His own production company, Malpaso, gave Eastwood the artistic control that he desired, allowing him to direct his first film, Play Misty for Me. But it was his portrayal of the hard-edged police inspector Harry Callahan in Dirty Harry that propelled Siegel's most successful movie at the box-office. Dirty Harry is arguably Eastwood's most memorable character. The film has been credited with inventing the "loose-cannon cop genre" that is imitated to this day. Eastwood's tough, no-nonsense cop touched a cultural nerve with many who were fed up with crime in the streets. Dirty Harry led to four sequels: Magnum Force (1973), The Enforcer (1976), Sudden Impact (1983) and The Dead Pool (1988).
Eastwood directed two allegorical westerns during the 1970s: High Plains Drifter (1973) and The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976). Josey Wales would be the first of six movies he starred in with his then-girlfriend Sondra Locke.
In 1974, Eastwood teamed with a young Jeff Bridges in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot. The movie was written and directed by Michael Cimino, who had previously written the Dirty Harry sequel Magnum Force.
In 1975, Eastwood brought another talent to the screen: rock climbing. In The Eiger Sanction, which he directed and in which he starred, Eastwood — a 5.9 climber — performed his own rock climbing stunts. This film has become a cult classic among rock-climbers. This film was done before the advent of CGI, so no digital manipulation was used in the film.
In 1977, Eastwood directed and starred in The Gauntlet, in which he played a down-and-out cop assigned to escort a prostitute (played by Sondra Locke) from Las Vegas to Phoenix to testify against the mob.
In 1978, Eastwood starred in Every Which Way But Loose in an uncharacteristic and offbeat comedy role. Eastwood played Philo Beddoe, a trucker and brawler who roamed the American West, searching for a lost love, while accompanying his best friend/manager Orville and his pet orangutan, Clyde. Arguably, Clyde stole the show. Panned by critics, the movie was a box office success, becoming the second-highest grossing film of 1978. The film co-starred Eastwood's frequent collaborators Sondra Locke, Geoffrey Lewis, Dan Vadis and Bill McKinney.
In 1979, Eastwood played yet another memorable role as the prison escapee Frank Morris in the fact-based movie Escape from Alcatraz, which was also his last collaboration with Don Siegel. Morris was an escape artist who was sent to Alcatraz in 1960 which was, at the time, one of the toughest prisons in America. Morris devised a meticulous plan to escape from "The Rock" and, in 1962, he and two other prisoners broke out of the prison and entered San Francisco Bay. The FBI maintains that the escapees drowned.
1980s
Eastwood starred in two films in 1980. He played the main attraction in a traveling circus show in Bronco Billy and reprised his role as Philo Beddoe in the box-office hit Any Which Way You Can, the sequel to Every Which Way But Loose.
In 1982, Eastwood directed, produced and starred in the Cold War-themed Firefox. The fourth Dirty Harry film Sudden Impact (1983) became the highest-grossing film of the Dirty Harry series and made Eastwood a viable star for the 1980s. This would be the last time he starred in a film with partner Sondra Locke. President Ronald Reagan referred to his famous "Go ahead, make my day." line in one of his speeches.
Three of Eastwood's films in the 1980s featured his real-life children. His son Kyle starred as his nephew in Honkytonk Man; daughter Alison had a small role as an orphan in Bronco Billy and a much bigger role in the thriller Tightrope.
Eastwood revisited the western genre directing and starring in Pale Rider (1985), an homage to the western film classic Shane, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. His fifth and final Dirty Harry film, The Dead Pool(1986),Heartbreak Ridge (1988), was a commercial success, but was generally panned by critics. Eastwood alternated between more mainstream comedic films (if not particularly successful), such as Pink Cadillac and The Rookie (1990), and more personal projects, such as directing Bird (1988), a biopic of jazz musician Charlie "Bird" Parker, a genre of music that Eastwood has always been personally interested in. The film earned him a Golden Palm nomination at the Cannes Film Festival. He also directed and starred, as an ersatz John Huston, in White Hunter, Black Heart (1990), an uneven adaptation of Peter Viertel's roman à clef about the making of the classic The African Queen. The film received some critical acclaim, although Katharine Hepburn contested the veracity of much of the material.
1990s
Eastwood rose to prominence yet again in the early 1990s. He revisited the western genre one final time in the self-directed 1992 film, Unforgiven, taking on the role of an aging ex-gunfighter long past his prime. The film, also starring such esteemed actors as Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman and Richard Harris, laid the groundwork for such later westerns as Deadwood by re-envisioning established genre conventions in a more ambiguous and unromantic light. A great success both in terms of box office and critical acclaim, it was nominated for nine Oscars, including Best Actor for Eastwood and Best Original Screenplay for David Webb Peoples. It won four, including Best Picture and Best Director for Eastwood.
The following year, Eastwood played a guilt-ridden Secret Service agent in the thriller In the Line of Fire (1993), directed by Wolfgang Petersen. This film was a blockbuster and among the top 10 box-office performers in that year. Eastwood directed and starred with Kevin Costner in A Perfect World the same year. He continued to expand his repertoire by playing opposite Meryl Streep in the love story The Bridges of Madison County (1995). Based on a best-selling novel, it was also a hit at the box-office. Afterward, Eastwood turned to more directing work — much of it well received — including Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997). He directed and starred in Absolute Power (1997), a political thriller co-starring Gene Hackman, Ed Harris and Dennis Haysbert.
2000s
In 2000, Eastwood directed and starred in Space Cowboys, which also starred Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland and James Garner. In the film, he plays Frank Corvin, a retired NASA engineer called upon to save a dying Russian satellite. After a string of less commercially successful films, Space Cowboys was his biggest commercial success in years, grossing nearly $130 million at the box office.
In 2002, Eastwood played an ex-FBI agent on the track of a sadistic killer in Blood Work, which was derived from a book by Michael Connelly. In 2003, he directed Mystic River and earned a Best Director Oscar nomination.
In 2005, Eastwood found critical and commercial success with Million Dollar Baby, which also starred Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman and won 4 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Eastwood won the Oscar for Best Director and was also nominated for Best Actor. Grossing more than $216 million at the box office, Million Dollar Baby became one of the biggest hits of Eastwood's career.
In 2006, Eastwood directed two movies about the battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. The first one, Flags of Our Fathers, focused on the men who raised the American Flag on top of Mount Suribachi. The second one, Letters from Iwo Jima, dealt with the tactics of the Japanese soldiers on the island and the letters they wrote to family members. Both films were highly praised by critics and garnered several Oscar Nominations, including Best Director and Best Picture for Letters from Iwo Jima. Director Spike Lee accused Eastwood of not including a single black person in the films. Eastwood responded that Lee "should shut his face."
In 2008, Eastwood directed Changeling, in which starred Angelina Jolie, playing Christine, a single mother living in the early 20th century who loses her child in mysterious circumstances. John Malkovich plays a pivotal role in the film as a supportive religious figure during Christine's struggle to reunite with her son.
In the same year, Eastwood ended his "self-imposed acting hiatus" with Gran Torino, which opened in December. Eastwood directed, starred, held a producer role and co-wrote the theme song for the film.. The film received a wide-release in early January, giving Eastwood the biggest box office weekend of his career, and making him the oldest leading man to have a movie earn nearly $30m in one weekend.
Eastwood has his own Warner Bros. Records-distributed imprint, Malpaso Records, as part of his deal with Warner Bros. This deal was unchanged when Warner Music Group was sold by Time Warner to private investors. Malpaso has released all of the scores of Eastwood's films from The Bridges of Madison County onward. It also released the album of a 1996 jazz concert he hosted, titled Eastwood after Hours — Live at Carnegie Hall.
Directing
Eastwood has redefined himself as a director and has generally received greater critical acclaim for his directing than he ever did for his acting. His directorial debut occurred with Play Misty For Me in 1971. He had tried for some time to direct an episode of Rawhide, even being promised at one point the possibility of doing so. However, because of differences between the president of the studio and show producers, Eastwood's opportunity fell through. In 1985, he made his only foray into TV direction to date with the "Amazing Stories" episode "Vanessa In The Garden," starring Harvey Keitel and Sondra Locke; this was his first collaboration with writer/executive producer Steven Spielberg (Spielberg later produced A Perfect World, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima). Eastwood has become known for directing high-quality but bleak dramas such as Unforgiven, A Perfect World, Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima. However, he has chosen a wide variety of films to direct, some clearly commercial, others highly personal.
Eastwood produces many of his movies, and is well known in the industry for his efficient, low-cost approach to making films; he has said that "everything I do as a director is based upon what I prefer as an actor." Over the years, he has developed relationships with many other filmmakers, working over and over with the same crew, production designers, cinematographers, editors and other technical people. Similarly, he has a long-term relationship with the Warner Bros. studio, which finances and releases most of his films. However, in a 2004 interview appearing in The New York Times, Eastwood noted that he still sometimes has difficulty convincing the studio to back his films. In the 2000s, Eastwood also began composing music for some of his films. He is one of the subjects profiled in the documentary Fog City Mavericks, which interviews Eastwood alongside other fellow San Francisco Bay Area filmmakers such as George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola.
Eastwood completed in December 2007 directing Universal Pictures' Changeling, a period thriller from noted writer J. Michael Straczynski and producers Ron Howard and Brian Grazer. Angelina Jolie is starring in the film, with a fall 2008 release date. Clint Eastwood is the director and star of the Warner Brothers film, Gran Torino, released in December 2008.
Eastwood will be directing the Nelson Mandela bio-pic The Human Factor, a film based on a 2008 book by John Carlin (Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation - ISBN 9781594201745), starring Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as rugby team captain Francois Pienaar. Carlin sold the film rights to Morgan Freeman.
Eastwood and Warner Bros. have purchased the movie rights to James R. Hansen's First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong, the authorized biography of astronaut Neil Armstrong. No production date has been announced. As of November 2008, he is in talks to direct Peter Morgan's Hereafter for DreamWorks. Eastwood recently announced that he has all but retired from acting, although maintains that "if a good western script turns up, you never know..."
Eastwood currently donates funds toward the new CSUMB campus library. In early 2007, Eastwood announced that he will produce a Bruce Ricker documentary about jazz legend Dave Brubeck. The film is tentatively titled Dave Brubeck – In His Own Sweet Way. It will trace the development of Brubeck's latest composition, the Cannery Row Suite. This work was commissioned by the Monterey Jazz Festival and premiered at the 2006 festival. Eastwood's film crews captured early rehearsals, sound checks and the final performance. Ricker and Eastwood are currently working on a documentary about Tony Bennett, as well, titled The Music Never Ends.
Awards
Eastwood has had a total of ten Academy Award nominations: Eight for Best Director and Best Picture, winning in both categories for Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby, and not winning for Mystic River and Letters from Iwo Jima; and two Best Actor nominations for Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby. He is one of two people to have been twice nominated for Best Actor and Best Director for the same film (Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby) the other being Warren Beatty (Heaven Can Wait and Reds).
Eastwood is one of only three living directors (along with Miloš Forman and Francis Ford Coppola) to have directed two Best Picture winners. At age 74, he was the oldest director to achieve this distinction.
Eastwood directed two actors, Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, in Academy Award winning roles as Best Supporting Actor in consecutive years. Robbins won in 2003 for Mystic River while Freeman won in 2004 for his role in Million Dollar Baby. He also directed Sean Penn in his Academy Award winning role as Best Actor in Mystic River, as well as Hilary Swank in her second win for Best Actress in Million Dollar Baby and Gene Hackman in Unforgiven.
Eastwood has received numerous other awards, including an America Now TV Award as well as one of the 2000 Kennedy Center Honors. He received an honorary degree from University of the Pacific in 2006, and an honorary degree from University of Southern California in 2007. In 1995 he received the honorary Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for lifetime achievement in film producing. In 2006, he received a nomination for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Score Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media for Million Dollar Baby. In 2007, Eastwood was the first recipient of the Jack Valenti Humanitarian Award, an annual award presented by the MPAA to individuals in the motion picture industry whose work has reached out positively and respectfully to the world. He received the award for his work on the 2006 films Flags of Our Fathers and the Academy Award-Winning Letters from Iwo Jima.
On December 6, 2006, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Eastwood into the California Hall of Fame located at The California Museum for History, Women, and the Arts.
In early 2007, Eastwood was presented with the highest civilian distinction in France, Légion d'honneur, at a ceremony in Paris. French President Jacques Chirac told Eastwood that he embodied "the best of Hollywood".
On September 22, 2007, Eastwood was awarded an honorary Doctor of Music degree from the Berklee College of Music at the Monterey Jazz Festival, on which he serves as an active board member. Upon receiving the award he gave a speech, claiming, "It's one of the great honors I’ll cherish in this lifetime." He was also honored with the "Cinema for Peace Award 2007 for Most Valuable Movie of the Year" for "Flags of our Fathers" and "Letters from Iwo Jima".
Eastwood received the 2008 Best Actor award from the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures for his performance in Gran Torino.
Politics
Eastwood has been registered as a Republican since 1951 and supported Richard Nixon's 1968 presidential campaign. He describes himself as a libertarian. He says his philosophy is "Everyone leaves everyone else alone".
Eastwood made one successful foray into elected politics, becoming the Mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California (population 4,000), a wealthy small town and artist community on the Monterey Peninsula, for one term. Allegedly frustrated with what he perceived to be the bureaucracy in Carmel's politics, he ran a campaign emphasizing better relations between the business and residential communities. However, many long-term residents were suspicious of the fact that Eastwood's decision to run came on the heels of a city decision not to grant him a permit for an underground parking garage for his restaurant. (Prior to the decision, residents were also polled by telephone about his candidacy, with heavy-handed questions such as "Who do you admire more, Ed Asner or Charlton Heston?" to identify the political sympathies of the respondent. The results of the poll were never made public.)
During the campaign, many were shocked by Eastwood's inarticulateness and his lack of familiarity with important issues on the Monterey Peninsula such as education and conservation of the area's natural beauty. In one of the many coffees sponsored by the candidate to discuss the issues, he was asked by a professor from one of the local university-level educational institutions about suggestions that the institution's plans for expansion might best be realized by moving to Carmel; obviously caught off guard and unfamiliar with either the institution or its plans, he fumbled for a moment and then responded, "Got any money, kid?" Audible groans came from several people in the audience.
Nonetheless, on election day, April 8, 1986, with double the usual voter turnout, Eastwood obtained 72.5% of the vote and was elected to a position that paid $200 per month. (The media and fan circus surrounding the celebrity's election turned Carmel into a major police headache for several days before and after the election.) During his tenure, he tried to weigh the rights of preservationists against development of the town for local business, often accused of leaning heavily in favor of the latter. There was also a controversy over the fact that he carried a loaded, concealed pistol weapon in city council meetings.
Eastwood decided not to run for a second term, allegedly owing to the number of trivial decisions required of the mayor in such a small town. Many felt he had accomplished his work by getting approval for his parking lot and had never had real interest in public service. During his tenure, he completed Heartbreak Ridge and Bird.
In 2001 he was appointed to the California State Park and Recreation Commission, by Governor Gray Davis. He was reappointed in 2004 by governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, whom he supported in the elections of 2003 and 2006.
Eastwood, the vice chairman of the commission, and commission chairman, Bobby Shriver, Schwarzenegger's brother-in-law, led a California State Park and Recreation Commission panel in its unanimous opposition in 2005 to a six-lane, 16-mile (26 km), toll road that would cut through San Onofre State Beach, north of San Diego, and one of Southern California's most cherished surfing beaches. Eastwood and Shriver also supported a 2006 lawsuit to block the toll road and urged the California Coastal Commission to reject the project, which it did in February 2008.
In March 2008, Eastwood and Shriver, whose terms had expired, were not reappointed. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) ask for a legislative investigation into the decision to not re-appoint Eastwood and Shriver, citing their opposition to the toll road extension. According to the NRDC and The New Republic, Eastwood and Shriver were not reappointed again in 2008 because both Eastwood and Shriver opposed the freeway extension of California State Route 241, that would cut through the San Onofre State Beach. This extension is likewise supported by Governor Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger's press release appointing Alice Huffman and Lindy DeKoven to replace Eastwood and Shriver makes no mention of a reason for the commission change.
Governor Schwarzenegger appointed Eastwood (along with actor and director Danny DeVito, actor and director Bill Duke, producer Tom Werner and producer and director Lili Zanuck) to the California Film Commission in April 2004. Eastwood supported John McCain in the 2008 Presidential Election
Personal life
Relationships
Eastwood has been married twice and has five daughters and two sons by five different women.
Eastwood married model Maggie Johnson on December 19, 1953, just six months after being set up on a blind date. According to the unauthorized biography, Clint: The Life and Legend, Eastwood was unfaithful to her the entire time they were married, and that he had affairs with many women including Barbra Streisand, Peggy Lipton, Jean Seberg and James Brolin's ex-wife Jane.
In the early 1960s, Eastwood began a secret affair with Roxanne Tunis, an extra on Rawhide. They had a daughter, Kimber, born on June 17, 1964. Over the years, Eastwood financially supported Kimber and her mother and would secretly visit them every 3–4 months. Kimber's existence was not made public until 1989. She had a small role in her father's film, Absolute Power in 1997.
Eastwood refused to have children with his wife at first, then she became very ill with hepatitis. After she recovered, he changed his mind. They went on to have two children: Kyle Eastwood (born May 19, 1968) and Alison Eastwood, (born May 22, 1972). They split when she became aware that he had been carrying on a long-term affair with Sondra Locke. Clint was ordered to pay Maggie $25 million, $1 million for each year they were married. Though they had filed for a legal separation in 1978, their divorce was not finalized until May 1984.
Eastwood and Sondra Locke starred together in six films: The Outlaw Josey Wales, The Gauntlet, Every Which Way but Loose, Bronco Billy, Any Which Way You Can, and Sudden Impact. They first met in 1972 and began a romantic relationship during the filming of Josey Wales. They lived together for 14 years. When their relationship ended in 1989, Locke filed a palimony suit against him, asking for $1.3 million. Locke claimed that Eastwood changed the locks on their home and put all of her belongings in storage. She also claimed that he persuaded her to have two abortions and a tubal ligation. Eastwood has adamantly denied the allegations. His reputation was damaged again when it was discovered he fathered two children, Scott Eastwood (b. March 21, 1986) and Kathryn Eastwood (b. Feb 2, 1988), with airline hostess Jacelyn Reeves while he was still involved with Locke. In 1991, they reached an amicable agreement that consisted of Eastwood giving Locke a directing deal with Warner Bros., but the studio never produced her proposed films nor hired her to direct. In 1996, they were back in court with Locke filing another lawsuit, this time against Warner Bros., alleging that the company had never intended to make any films with her, and that Eastwood had compensated Warner Bros. for the contract. On September 10, 1996, not long after the trial began, the trial judge issued an order ejecting the media from all hearings in the trial held outside of the presence of the jury; the order was eventually overturned by the Supreme Court of California in 1999. Locke's autobiography The Good, the Bad, and the Very Ugly includes a harrowing account of her years with Eastwood. In 1999, they settled out of court for a reportedly large settlement, details of which were not publicly disclosed.
During the filming of Pink Cadillac, Eastwood began an affair with costar Frances Fisher. They went on to co-star together in the blockbuster Unforgiven. They had a daughter, Francesca Fisher-Eastwood, born on August 7, 1993. Their relationship ended in 1995, but they remained friends and have since costarred in another film, True Crime.
Eastwood met wife Dina Ruiz, an anchorwoman, when she interviewed him in 1993. They became good friends, and began a romantic relationship two years later. They married on March 31, 1996 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Clint's son, Kyle, served as best man. Their daughter, Morgan Eastwood, was born on December 12, 1996. Dina maintains a friendly relationship with all of her husband's children and their mothers, and often brings the whole family together at their ranch.
Eastwood, speaking in 2008 said of his fatherhood in his late seventies; "I'm a much better father now than when I was younger because then I was working all around the world and I was desperate to find the brass ring, so I worked constantly," he reflected. "Now my daughter takes precedence over everything and even though I've done a lot of work in the past year, it's not because I've ignored her or not been involved in her school activities. I go to all the softball games and look ridiculous out there because almost everybody's got a much younger father than me. But it's fun. I think you appreciate everything a lot more when you get to my age. I never started out thinking I would have a big family but now it's very important to me and family relationships take precedence over work".
Eastwood has two grandchildren, Clinton (Kimber's son, born February 21, 1984) and Graylen (Kyle's daughter, born March 28, 1994).
Leisure
Eastwood owns the exclusive Tehàma Golf Club, located in Carmel within Monterey County. The invitation-only club reportedly has around 300 members and a joining price of $500,000. He is a co-owner of the world famous Pebble Beach Golf Club. Eastwood is also the owner of both the Hogsbreath Inn and the Mission Ranch Hotel and Restaurant, both located in Carmel. He is an experienced pilot and sometimes flies his own helicopter to the studio to avoid traffic.
Eastwood is an audiophile, known for his love of jazz. He owns an extensive collection of LPs which he plays on a Rockport turntable. His interest in music was passed on to his son Kyle, now a jazz musician. Eastwood co-wrote "Why should I care" with Linda Thompson and Carole Bayer Sager which was recorded by Diana Krall. Despite starring in 'shoot 'em up' films, he has voiced criticism of hunters, saying, "I don't go for hunting. I just don't like killing creatures. Unless they're trying to kill me. Then that would be fine." He loves to golf and donates his time every year to charitable causes at major tournaments.
Filmography
Further information: Clint Eastwood filmographyAwards and honors
Academy Award nominations
- 1992 — Best Actor in a Leading Role — Unforgiven
- 1992 — Best Director — Unforgiven
- 1992 — Best Picture — Unforgiven
- 1995 — Irving G. Thalberg Lifetime Achievement Award
- 2003 — Best Director — Mystic River
- 2003 — Best Picture — Mystic River
- 2004 — Best Actor in a Leading Role — Million Dollar Baby
- 2004 — Best Director — Million Dollar Baby
- 2004 — Best Picture — Million Dollar Baby
- 2006 — Best Director — Letters from Iwo Jima
- 2006 — Best Picture — Letters from Iwo Jima
Golden Globe nominations
- 1971 — Henrietta Award
- 1988 — Cecil B. DeMille Award
- 1989 — Best Director — Bird
- 1993 — Best Director — Unforgiven
- 1993 — Best Motion Picture Drama — Unforgiven
- 1996 — Best Motion Picture Drama — The Bridges of Madison County
- 2004 — Best Director — Mystic River
- 2004 — Best Motion Picture Drama — Mystic River
- 2005 — Best Original Score — Million Dollar Baby
- 2005 — Best Director — Million Dollar Baby
- 2007 — Best Director — Flags of Our Fathers
- 2007 — Best Director — Letters from Iwo Jima
- 2008 — Best Original Score — Grace is Gone
- 2008 — Best Original Song — Grace is Gone
- 2008 — Best Original Song — Gran Torino
Discography
Eastwood is also a musician, pianist and composer. He composed the film score to the 2007 film Grace is Gone and original piano compositions for In the Line of Fire.
Albums
- Rawhide's Clint Eastwood Sings Cowboy Favorites (LP)
- Eastwood After Hours
Singles
- "Unknown Girl" (single, 1961)
- "Rowdy" (single, 1962)
- "For You, For Me, For Evermore" (single)
- "Barroom Buddies" (single, 1980) with Merle Haggard
- "Cowboy in a Three Piece Suit" (single, 1981)
- "Make My Day" (single, 1984) with T.G. Sheppard
References
- Fischer, Lucy, Landy, Marcia, Smith, Paul (2004) Stars: The Film Reader:Action Movie Hysteria of Eastwood Bound, p.43, Routledge, ISBN 0415278937
- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/3507352/Clint-Eastwood-to-retire-from-acting.html
- guardian.co.uk Gentle man Clint, November 2, 2008
- Smith, Paul (1993). Clint Eastwood a Cultural Production. Minnesota: University of Minnesota
Press. ISBN 0816619581.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters:|coauthors=and|month=(help); line feed character in|publisher=at position 24 (help) - adherents.com The Religious Affiliation of actor/director Clint Eastwood
- CBS Evening News interview, February 6, 2005
- The King of Western Swing - Bob Wills Remembered. Rosetta Wills. 1998. page 165 ISBN 0-8230-7744-6.
- Career
- sammonsays.com John Sammon interview of Eastwood
- Reader's Digest Australia: RD Face to Face: Clint Eastwood
- Christopher Frayling, Spaghetti Westerns: Cowboys and Europeans from Karl May to Sergio Leone (Tauris, 1998).
- Relive the thrilling days of the Old West in film | TahoeBonanza.com
- A Fistful of Dollars
- Richard Harrison interview
- (italian only) http://www.cinemadelsilenzio.it/index.php?mod=interview&id=17
- http://the-numbers.com/movies/2000/SPCOW.php
- http://the-numbers.com/movies/2004/MDBAB.php
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2008/sep/30/spikelee.racism
- http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/reviews/la-et-torino12-2008dec12,0,2314630.story
- http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/grantorino?q=gran%20torino
- John Hiscock (2008-11-13). "Clint Eastwood on Changeling: Angelina Jolie 'a fine actress hampered by beauty'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2008-11-15.
- "Filmography as composer". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2008-11-07.
- Garrett, Diane; Fleming, Michael (2007-03-08). "Eastwood, Jolie catch '[[Changeling]]' — Grazer, Howard to produce pic". Variety. Retrieved 2007-03-09.
{{cite web}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Eastwood to direct 'Gran Torino' - Entertainment News, Film News, Media. - Variety.
- Keller, Bill. - "Entering the Scrum". - The New York Times Book Review. - August 17, 2008.
- Siegel, Tatiana (13 November 2008). "Eastwood, Spielberg talking thriller". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved 2008-11-18.
- University of the Pacific Media Relations (2007-03-14). "Clint Eastwood and Other Illustrious Artists Honor Jazz Legend Dave Brubeck". University of the Pacific. Retrieved 2007-03-15.
- Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
- Eastwood tapped first recipient of MPAA's Valenti honor news.yahoo.com
- Eastwood Receives French Honor news.bbc.co.uk
- "Clint Eastwood Receives Berklee Degree at Monterey Jazz Festival (news release)". Berklee College of Music. 2007-09-24. Retrieved 2008-04-23.
- "NBR names 'Slumdog' best of year". Variety. 12/4/2008.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - Clint Eastwood talks to Jeff Dawson
- Libertarian website
- Eastwood website
- "Governor Schwarzenegger Appointments to the State Park and Recreation Commission" - California State Park and Recreation Commission. - Retrieved: 2008-05-28
- Press Release: "Governor Schwarzenegger Announces Appointments to the State Park and Recreation Commission" - Office of the Governor - State of California - March 4, 2004. - Retrieved: 2008-05-28
- ^ Young, Samantha. - "Schwarzenegger removes his brother-in-law and Clint Eastwood from Calif. parks panel". - Associated Press. - ( San Diego Union-Tribune). - March 20, 2008. - Retrieved: 2008-05-28
- Group wants probe into governor's removal of Eastwood, Shriver". - San Diego Union-Tribune. - March 22, 2008. - Retrieved: 2008-05-28
- ^ Patashnik, Josh. - "It's Not a Tumor". - The New Republic. - April 23, 2008. - Retrieved: 2008-05-28
- ^ "California Rejects Superhighway in State Park". - Natural Resources Defense Council. - Retrieved: 2008-05-28
- Press Release: "Governor Schwarzenegger Announces Appointments" - Office of the Governor - State of California - May 23, 2008. - Retrieved: 2008-05-28
- "Schwarzenegger names replacements for parks panel". - Associated Press. (c/o Yahoo! News). - May 23, 2008. - Retrieved: 2008-05-28
- Press Release: "Governor Schwarzenegger Appoints DeVito, Duke, Eastwood, Werner and Zanuck to Film Commission". - Office of the Governor - State of California - April 15, 2004. - Retrieved: 2008-05-28
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2008/nov/02/clint-eastwood-drama
- NBC Subsidiary (KNBC-TV), Inc. v. Superior Court, (1999).
- Hiscock, John (December 14, 2008). "Go ahead, offer Clint Eastwood another good script". The Toronto Star. Retrieved December 16.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - California rejects Clint Eastwood's Monterey golf course - Travel - LATimes.com
- Krall, Eastwood Team For 'crime' | Entertainment & Arts > Music Industry from AllBusiness.com
- Clint Eastwood targets the legacy of Dirty Harry - Los Angeles Times
Further reading
- Engel, Leonard (2007). Clint Eastwood, Actor and Director: New Perspectives. University of Utah Press. ISBN 9780874809008, ISBN 0874809002.
{{cite book}}: Check|isbn=value: invalid character (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|month=(help) - Johnstone, Iain (2007). The Man with No Name: The Biography of Clint Eastwood. Plexus Publishing, Limited. ISBN 9780859653879, ISBN 0859653870.
{{cite book}}: Check|isbn=value: invalid character (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|month=(help) - McGilligan, Patrick (2001). Clint: The Life and Legend. Perseus Books Group. ISBN 9780786708437, ISBN 0786708433.
{{cite book}}: Check|isbn=value: invalid character (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|month=(help) - Schickel, Richard (1996). Clint Eastwood: A Biography. Knopf. ISBN 9780679429746, ISBN 0679429743.
{{cite book}}: Check|isbn=value: invalid character (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|month=(help) - Thompson, Douglas (2005). Clint Eastwood: Billion Dollar Man. John Blake. ISBN 1857825721, ISBN 9781857825725.
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External links
- Clint Eastwood at IMDb
- Clint Eastwood Icon Photo Gallery at AMCTV.com
- Clint Eastwood Polish Website
- Clint Eastwood French site
- Charlie Rose show: An hour with Clint Eastwood
- 2007 In-depth interview with Clint Eastwood from The Observer
- Entertainment Weekly Photo Gallery: Clint Eastwood
- Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database
- Clint Eastwood Forums
- Clint Eastwood.NET
- Berkley makes Eastwood's day at MJF
- Clint Eastwood - Libertarian
- Classic unedited interview on First Full of Dollars from 1960s
- Michael Goad, "Clint Eastwood", "Stellar One" (July 18, 2003). Retrieved January 17, 2006.
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