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Clint Eastwood: the story on HearLore | HearLore
Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood was born on the 31st of May 1930 at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco, weighing enough to earn him the nickname Samson from the hospital nurses. His early life was marked by instability and movement, as his family relocated three times during the 1930s while his father worked as a manufacturing executive at Georgia-Pacific. Despite living in an affluent part of Piedmont, California, with a swimming pool and country club membership, Eastwood's academic record was poor, leading to him being held back and eventually expelled from Piedmont High School for writing an obscene suggestion on a scoreboard and burning an effigy on the lawn. He transferred to Oakland Technical High School, graduating on the 2nd of February 1949, and spent his youth working odd jobs ranging from lifeguard to forest firefighter. His path to Hollywood was nearly derailed when he attempted to enroll at Seattle University in 1951 but was instead drafted into the United States Army during the Korean War. A prearranged tryst with an officer's daughter led to a harrowing experience when the Douglas AD bomber he was piloting ran out of fuel and crashed into the ocean near Point Reyes, forcing him and the pilot to swim to safety using a life raft before he was discharged in February 1953.
From Rawhide To The Dollars Trilogy
Eastwood's entry into the entertainment industry began in 1954 when an assistant spotted him at Fort Ord and introduced him to Universal Studios, though the exact details of this discovery remain disputed. He signed a contract for $100 a week but was initially criticized for his stiff manner and delivering lines through his teeth, a trait that would become his trademark. After a series of minor roles and a rejected audition for Six Bridges to Cross, he landed a part in Revenge of the Creature in 1955, followed by uncredited appearances in Tarantula and Star in the Dust. His big break came in 1958 when he was cast as Rowdy Yates in the CBS western series Rawhide, a role he found cloddish and unsuitable for his nearly thirty-year-old self. The show became a ratings success, peaking at number six from October 1960 to April 1961, but the grueling schedule of six days a week for twelve hours a day left him exhausted. By late 1963, the series was declining, and Eastwood was eager to escape the conventional white hat image he had cultivated. In late 1963, his Rawhide co-star Eric Fleming rejected an offer to star in an Italian-made western called A Fistful of Dollars, leading Sergio Leone to cast Eastwood. He signed a contract for $15,000 and a Mercedes-Benz bonus, marking the beginning of his transformation into the Man with No Name. Leone insisted Eastwood smoke cigars to create a mask, noting that Eastwood had only two facial expressions: with the hat and without the hat. The Dollars Trilogy, including A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, revolutionized the western genre by depicting a lawless, morally ambiguous world, though American critics initially dismissed them as cheapjack or excruciatingly dopey.
Clint Eastwood was born on the 31st of May 1930 at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco. He weighed enough at birth to earn the nickname Samson from the hospital nurses.
What high school did Clint Eastwood graduate from and when?
Clint Eastwood graduated from Oakland Technical High School on the 2nd of February 1949. He had previously been expelled from Piedmont High School for writing an obscene suggestion on a scoreboard and burning an effigy on the lawn.
Which film series established Clint Eastwood as the Man with No Name?
The Dollars Trilogy established Clint Eastwood as the Man with No Name. The trilogy includes A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
When did Clint Eastwood serve as mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea?
Clint Eastwood served as the nonpartisan mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, from April 1986 for two years. He earned $200 per month during his tenure and donated the salary to the Carmel Youth Center.
What is the highest-grossing film in Clint Eastwood's career?
Gran Torino is the highest-grossing film in Clint Eastwood's career. The film grossed over $268 million worldwide upon its release in 2008.
The success of the Dollars Trilogy turned Eastwood into a major film star, ranking fifth on Quigley's Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll in 1968, but he faced a battle to win American critics' respect. He signed to star in Hang 'Em High in 1968, earning $400,000 and 25 percent of the net box office, and used the profits to establish Malpaso Productions, named after Malpaso Creek on his property in Monterey County. This company would produce all but four of his American films from 1967 onward. Eastwood's transition to directing began with Play Misty for Me in 1971, a thriller about a jazz disc jockey stalked by an unhinged listener, which he shot in Monterey and which received high praise for his directorial skills. His career reached a turning point with Dirty Harry in 1971, a film that invented the loose-cannon cop genre and featured the Smith & Wesson Model 29 revolver, which saw ownership skyrocket in the United States following the film's release. While Dirty Harry was widely criticized as fascistic, it established Eastwood as the first true archetype of the action film genre. He continued to explore the western genre with High Plains Drifter in 1973, a film with moral and supernatural themes that confused critics but succeeded at the box office. John Wayne sent a letter complaining that the townspeople did not represent the true spirit of the American pioneer, highlighting the tension between Eastwood's revisionist vision and traditional western ideals. He also directed Breezy in 1973, a film about a love affair between a middle-aged man and a teenage girl, which was shot quickly and efficiently but failed to achieve major commercial success.
The Golden Age Of Action And Comedy
Eastwood's career in the 1970s and 1980s was defined by a series of commercially successful films that showcased his versatility as both an actor and director. He starred in The Eiger Sanction in 1975, where he insisted on performing his own climbing stunts on the north face of the Eiger in Switzerland, despite warnings about the perils and a fatality that occurred during filming. The Outlaw Josey Wales in 1976 was a major critical and commercial success, with Roger Ebert comparing Eastwood's portrayal to his Man with No Name character. He then directed and starred in The Gauntlet in 1977, a film that critics found overly violent but which Ebert called classic Clint Eastwood. His most commercially successful film up to that time was Every Which Way but Loose in 1978, an offbeat comedy about a trucker and his orangutan friend Clyde that was panned by critics but ranked high among box-office successes. The sequel, Any Which Way You Can, was a major box office success in 1980, ranking among the year's top five highest-grossing films. Eastwood's Dirty Harry series continued with The Enforcer in 1976, which grossed $100 million worldwide, and Sudden Impact in 1983, which featured the immortal line Go ahead, make my day, quoted by President Ronald Reagan in a speech to Congress. The series concluded with The Dead Pool in 1988, which was generally viewed as the weakest film of the series but still grossed nearly $38 million. Eastwood also directed Bird in 1988, a biopic about jazz musician Charlie Parker that won him two Golden Globes but was a commercial failure, earning just $11 million.
The Master Of The Western And The Drama
Eastwood's later career has been marked by a continued focus on directing and a diverse range of films, including Gran Torino in 2008, which became the highest-grossing film of his career so far, grossing over $268 million worldwide. He directed Invictus in 2009, a film about the 1995 Rugby World Cup that received generally positive reviews, and Hereafter in 2010, which received mixed reviews. Eastwood's political life began with his election as the nonpartisan mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, in April 1986, where he earned $200 per month, which he donated to the Carmel Youth Center. While in office, he helped to make ice cream legal to consume on city streets and added public restrooms to the public beach. He served for two years and declined to run for a second term. In 2001, Governor Gray Davis appointed him to the California State Park and Recreation Commission, and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger re-appointed him in 2009. Eastwood's political views have evolved over time, from being a former Republican to currently being a registered Libertarian. He endorsed Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election and delivered a primetime address at the 2012 Republican National Convention, where he drew attention for a speech he delivered to an empty chair representing President Barack Obama, which he later regretted. In 2020, he announced that he would be endorsing Democrat Michael Bloomberg, stating that he wished that Trump would act in a more genteel way, without tweeting and calling people names.
Eastwood's directorial style is renowned for its efficiency and ability to reduce filming time and control
The Later Years And Political Life
budgets. He usually avoids actors' rehearsing and prefers to complete most scenes on the first take, a practice that has been compared to those of Woody Allen, Ingmar Bergman, and Jean-Luc Godard. When acting in others' films, he has sometimes taken over directing if he believes production is too slow. Eastwood rarely uses storyboards for developing the layout of a shooting schedule and attempts to reduce script background details on characters to allow the audience to become more involved in the film. His style is to shoot first and act afterward, etching his characters virtually without words and developing the art of underplaying to the point that anyone around him who so much as flinches looks hammily histrionic. Eastwood is fond of low-key lighting and back-lighting to give his films a noir-ish feel, and his films are superbly paced, unhurried, cool, and give a strong sense of real time. His frequent exploration of ethical values has drawn the attention of scholars, who have researched his work from ethical and theological perspectives, including his portrayal of justice, mercy, suicide, and the angel of death. Eastwood's legacy is that of one of the few top Hollywood actors to have also become a critically and commercially successful director, with a career spanning over five decades and a body of work that includes Westerns, action films, musicals, and dramas.