Clint Eastwood

Clinton Eastwood Jr. was born May 31, 1930 in San Francisco, to Clinton Eastwood Sr., a bond salesman and later manufacturing executive for Georgia-Pacific Corporation, andRuth Wood(née Margret Ruth Runner), a housewife turned IBM clerk. He grew up in nearby Piedmont. At school Clint took interest in music and mechanics, but was an otherwise bored student; this resulted in being held back a grade. In 1949, the year he graduated from high school, his parents and younger sister Jeanne moved to Seattle. Clint spent a couple years in the Pacific Northwest himself, operating log broncs in Springfield, Oregon, with summer gigs life-guarding in Renton, Washington. Returning to California in 1951, he did a two-year stint at Fort Ord Military Reservation and later enrolled at L.A. City College, but dropped out to pursue acting.

During the mid-1950s he landed uncredited bit parts in such B-films asRevenge of the Creature (1955)andTarantula (1955)while digging swimming pools and driving a garbage truck to supplement his income. In 1958, he landed his first consequential acting role in the long-running TV showRawhide (1959)withEric Fleming.Although only a secondary player the first seven seasons, he was promoted to series star when Fleming departed--both literally and figuratively--in its final year, along the way becoming a recognizable face to television viewers around the country.

Eastwood's big-screen breakthrough came as The Man with No Name inSergio Leone's trilogy of excellent spaghetti westerns:Per un pugno di dollari (1964),Per qualche dollaro in più (1965),andThe Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966).The movies were shown exclusively in Italy during their respective copyright years withEnrico Maria Salernoproviding the voice of Eastwood's character, finally getting American distribution in 1967-68. As the last film racked up respectable grosses, Eastwood, 37, rose from a barely registering actor to sought-after commodity in just a matter of months. Again a success was the late-blooming star's first U.S.-made western,Hang 'Em High (1968).He followed that up with the lead role inCoogan's Bluff (1968)(the loose inspiration for the TV seriesMcCloud (1970)), before playing second fiddle toRichard Burtonin the World War II epicWhere Eagles Dare (1968)andLee Marvinin the bizarre musicalPaint Your Wagon (1969).InTwo Mules for Sister Sara (1970)andKelly's Heroes (1970),Eastwood leaned in an experimental direction by combining tough-guy action with offbeat humor.

1971 proved to be his busiest year in film. He starred as a sleazy Union soldier inThe Beguiled (1971)to critical acclaim, and made his directorial debut with the classic erotic thrillerPlay Misty for Me (1971).His role as the hard edge police inspector inDirty Harry (1971),meanwhile, boosted him to cultural icon status and helped popularize the loose-cannon cop genre. Eastwood put out a steady stream of entertaining movies thereafter: the westernsJoe Kidd (1972),High Plains Drifter (1973)andThe Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)(his first of six onscreen collaborations with then live-in loveSondra Locke), the Dirty Harry sequelsMagnum Force (1973)andThe Enforcer (1976),the action-packed road adventuresThunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)andThe Gauntlet (1977),and the prison filmEscape from Alcatraz (1979).He branched out into the comedy genre in 1978 withEvery Which Way But Loose (1978),which became the biggest hit of his career up to that time; taking inflation into account, it still is. In short,The Eiger Sanction (1975)notwithstanding, the 1970s were nonstop success for Eastwood.

Eastwood kicked off the 1980s withAny Which Way You Can (1980),the blockbuster sequel to Every Which Way but Loose. The fourth Dirty Harry film,Sudden Impact (1983),was the highest-grossing film of the franchise and spawned his trademark catchphrase: "Make my day." He also starred inBronco Billy (1980),Firefox (1982),Tightrope (1984),City Heat (1984),Pale Rider (1985)andHeartbreak Ridge (1986),all of which were solid hits, withHonkytonk Man (1982)being his only commercial failure of the period. In 1988, he did his fifth and final Dirty Harry movie,The Dead Pool (1988).Although it was a success overall, it did not have the box office punch the previous films had. About this time, with outright bombs likePink Cadillac (1989)andThe Rookie (1990),it seemed Eastwood's star was declining as it never had before. He then started taking on low-key projects, directingBird (1988),a biopic ofCharlie Parkerthat earned him a Golden Globe, and starring in and directingWhite Hunter Black Heart (1990),an uneven, loose biopic ofJohn Huston(both films had a limited release).

Eastwood bounced back big time with his dark westernUnforgiven (1992),which garnered the then 62-year-old his first ever Academy Award nomination (Best Actor), and an Oscar win for Best Director. Churning out a quick follow-up hit, he took on the secret service inIn the Line of Fire (1993),then accepted second billing for the first time since 1970 in the interesting but poorly receivedA Perfect World (1993)withKevin Costner.Next was a love story,The Bridges of Madison County (1995),where Eastwood surprised audiences with a sensitive performance alongside none other thanMeryl Streep.But it soon became apparent he was going backwards after his brief revival. Subsequent films were credible, but nothing really stuck out.Absolute Power (1997)andSpace Cowboys (2000)did well enough, whileTrue Crime (1999)andBlood Work (2002)were received badly, as wasMidnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997),which he directed but didn't appear in.

Eastwood surprised again in the mid-2000s, returning to the top of the A-list withMillion Dollar Baby (2004).Also starringHilary SwankandMorgan Freeman,the hugely successful drama won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Eastwood. He scored his second Best Actor nomination, too. His next starring vehicle,Gran Torino (2008),earned almost $30 million in its opening weekend and was his highest grosser unadjusted for inflation. 2012 saw him in a rare lighthearted movie,Trouble with the Curve (2012),as well as a reality show,Mrs. Eastwood & Company (2012).

Between acting jobs, he chalked up an impressive list of credits behind the camera. He directedMystic River (2003)(in whichSean PennandTim Robbinsgave Oscar-winning performances),Flags of Our Fathers (2006),Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)(nominated for the Best Picture Oscar),Changeling (2008)(a vehicle forAngelina Jolie),Invictus (2009)(again with Freeman),Hereafter (2010),J. Edgar (2011),Jersey Boys (2014),American Sniper (2014)(2014's top box office champ),Sully (2016)(starringTom Hanksas hero pilotChesley Sullenberger) andThe 15:17 to Paris (2018).Back on screens after a considerable absence, he played an unlikely drug courier inThe Mule (2018),which reached the top of the box office with a nine-figure gross, then directedRichard Jewell (2019).At age 91, Eastwood made history as the oldest actor to star above the title in a movie with the release ofCry Macho (2021).

Away from the limelight, Eastwood has led an aberrant existence and is described by biographerPatrick McGilliganas a cunning manipulator of the media. His convoluted slew of partners and children are now somewhat factually acknowledged, but for the first three decades of his celebrity, his personal life was kept top secret, and several of his families were left out of the official narrative. The actor refuses to disclose his exact number of offspring even to this day. He had a longtime relationship with similarly abstruse co-star Locke (who died aged 74 in 2018, though for her entire public life she masqueraded about being younger), and has fathered at least eight children by at least six different women in an unending string of liaisons, many of which overlapped. He has been married only twice, however, with a mere three of his progeny coming from those unions.

His known children are:Laurie Murray(b. 1954), whose mother is unidentified;Kimber Eastwood(b. 1964) with stuntwomanRoxanne Tunis;Kyle Eastwood(b. 1968) andAlison Eastwood(b. 1972) with his first ex-wife,Margaret Neville Johnson;Scott Eastwood(b. 1986) andKathryn Eastwood(b. 1988) with stewardess Jacelyn Reeves;Francesca Eastwood(b. 1993) with actressFrances Fisher;andMorgan Eastwood(b. 1996) with his second ex-wife,Dina Eastwood.The entire time that he lived with Locke she was legally married to sculptorGordon Anderson.

Eastwood has real estate holdings in Bel-Air, La Quinta, Carmel-by-the-Sea, Cassel (in remote northern California), Idaho's Sun Valley and Kihei, Hawaii.