47 Fun Facts About Clint Eastwood

In which city was Clint Eastwood born on 31 May 1930?

Eastwood was born in San Francisco on 31 May 1930, at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital; the family moved around northern California during the Depression before settling in Piedmont.

As a young Army draftee in 1951, Eastwood survived what accident off the California coast?

Eastwood survived a bomber ditching in the Pacific: the Navy Douglas AD giving him a lift from Seattle ran out of fuel near Point Reyes, and he and the pilot swam ashore.

Eastwood made his 1955 film debut as a lab technician in which Universal monster film?

Revenge of the Creature, the 1955 follow-up to Creature from the Black Lagoon, gave Eastwood his uncredited screen debut as a lab technician; he also went uncredited in Tarantula that year.

Which character did Eastwood play in the CBS Western Rawhide from 1959?

Rowdy Yates was the ramrod under Eric Fleming's trail boss Gil Favor; when Fleming left after season seven, Rowdy took over as trail boss for the final season.

The cattle drovers of Rawhide were driving their herd from Texas to which town?

Rawhide's drovers were pushing the herd from San Antonio to Sedalia, Missouri, the railhead where cattle were shipped east; the series ran 217 black-and-white episodes.

A Fistful of Dollars (1964) was an unofficial remake of which Akira Kurosawa film, leading to a lawsuit?

Yojimbo (1961) was remade without permission; Kurosawa wrote 'it is a very fine film, but it is my film', and Toho settled for 15 percent of the receipts.

What was Eastwood paid for eleven weeks on A Fistful of Dollars, plus a Mercedes-Benz?

Eastwood took the part for $15,000 for eleven weeks' work; the director insisted he smoke cigars as part of the character's 'mask', and he was credited simply as Joe.

Under what pseudonym was Ennio Morricone credited on A Fistful of Dollars?

Morricone signed the score as 'Dan Savio' while the director hid behind 'Bob Robertson', Americanised names meant to pass the film off as a Hollywood product.

The Dollars Trilogy was mostly shot in the desert landscapes of which country?

Spain's Almería province, with its Tabernas desert, became the standard backdrop of the spaghetti Western; A Fistful of Dollars cost only about $200,000.

What was Eastwood's directorial debut, released in 1971?

Play Misty for Me (1971) cast Eastwood as a radio DJ stalked by an obsessive fan played by Jessica Walter; he dedicated his first film as director to Irving Leonard, his late business manager.

Who directed Dirty Harry (1971), the first of five films about Inspector Harry Callahan?

Siegel also directed Escape from Alcatraz, the last of their collaborations; Unforgiven is dedicated to him and Leone.

Which handgun did Dirty Harry make famous?

Harry carries a .44 Magnum Smith & Wesson Model 29, 'the most powerful handgun in the world' in his speech; the 'Do I feel lucky?' line ranks 51st on the AFI's movie-quotes list.

Dirty Harry's villain Scorpio was loosely inspired by which real Bay Area murderer?

Scorpio, played by Andy Robinson, was modelled on the Zodiac Killer, who murdered around the Bay Area in 1968-69 and taunted police with letters; Frank Sinatra and Paul Newman had both passed on Callahan.

Which US president quoted Dirty Harry's line 'Go ahead, make my day' from Sudden Impact?

Ronald Reagan borrowed 'Go ahead, make my day' in March 1985, daring Congress to send him a tax increase; the line comes from Sudden Impact (1983), the fourth Callahan film.

In Every Which Way but Loose (1978), Eastwood's brawler Philo Beddoe travels with a pet of what species?

Clyde, an orangutan, was Philo's sidekick and the film's scene-stealer; despite savage reviews it was among the top-grossing films of 1978, and the sequel Any Which Way You Can followed in 1980.

Which town elected Eastwood mayor in April 1986?

Carmel-by-the-Sea elected Eastwood mayor in April 1986 with about 72 percent of the vote; he served a single two-year term, until April 1988.

What was an earlier working title of Unforgiven (1992), from David Webb Peoples' 1976 screenplay?

The William Munny Killings was one working title, alongside The Cut-Whore Killings; the finished film cost $14.4 million and grossed over $159 million worldwide.

Who won Best Supporting Actor for playing Sheriff 'Little Bill' Daggett in Unforgiven?

Gene Hackman's Little Bill Daggett won him his second Oscar; the film also took Best Picture, Best Director and Best Film Editing, and joined the National Film Registry in 2004.

Unforgiven's closing credits carry a dedication to which two directors and mentors?

The end credits read 'Dedicated to Sergio and Don': Sergio Leone and Don Siegel, the two directors Eastwood has always credited with shaping him as a filmmaker.

Mystic River (2003) was the first film on which Eastwood was credited with what?

Eastwood took his first credit for composing the score on Mystic River, adapted from Dennis Lehane's Boston novel; Sean Penn and Tim Robbins both won acting Oscars for it.

What was the day job of F.X. Toole, whose stories became Million Dollar Baby?

F.X. Toole was the pen name of Jerry Boyd, a boxing trainer and cutman; his collection Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner supplied the film, which won four Oscars including Best Picture.

Which actress won Best Actress for playing boxer Maggie Fitzgerald opposite Eastwood's Frankie Dunn?

Hilary Swank's Maggie Fitzgerald won her a second Best Actress Oscar, after Boys Don't Cry; Eastwood, at 74, took his second Best Director award the same night.

How is Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) unusual for a Hollywood war film?

It is almost entirely in Japanese, told from the defenders' side with Ken Watanabe as General Kuribayashi; the film won the Oscar for Sound Editing and was a Best Picture nominee.

Walt Kowalski, Eastwood's character in Gran Torino (2008), is a widowed veteran of which war?

Walt Kowalski is a veteran of the Korean War, haunted by what he did there; the film, set in Highland Park, Michigan, was the first mainstream American movie with a large Hmong cast.

Walt Kowalski's prized car in Eastwood's 2008 film is from which model year?

Walt's pride is a 1972 Ford Gran Torino Sport, which he says he helped build on the Ford assembly line; the film grossed about $270 million worldwide.

Which director dropped out of American Sniper in August 2013 before Eastwood took over?

Steven Spielberg left over budget disagreements with Warner Bros. in August 2013; Eastwood signed on within weeks, with Bradley Cooper already attached as Chris Kyle.

Roughly how much did American Sniper earn worldwide?

American Sniper earned about $547M worldwide, and its $350 million in North America topped every other 2014 release; it drew six Oscar nominations including Best Picture and Best Actor for Bradley Cooper.

Which 1968 war film paired Eastwood with Richard Burton?

Where Eagles Dare (1968), from Alistair MacLean's novel and script, sent Eastwood's Lieutenant Schaffer and Richard Burton's Major Smith into the Schloss Adler to free a captured American general.

In which 1969 musical did Eastwood sing, co-starring with Lee Marvin?

In Paint Your Wagon (1969), a Lerner and Loewe gold-rush musical, Eastwood sang 'I Talk to the Trees' opposite Lee Marvin, whose 'Wand'rin' Star' became a UK number one.

Which real inmate did Eastwood play in Escape from Alcatraz (1979)?

Eastwood played Frank Morris, the bank robber who led the June 1962 escape with the Anglin brothers on a raft made of raincoats; the three men were never found.

Which 1974 film paired Eastwood with a young Jeff Bridges as a pair of thieves?

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot was Michael Cimino's directing debut; Bridges earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination as the drifter Lightfoot to Eastwood's bank robber Thunderbolt.

What decoration did France award Eastwood in 2007, elevating him to Commander two years later?

Eastwood received the Legion of Honour as a Knight from President Chirac in February 2007; President Sarkozy promoted him to Commander of the order in 2009.

In which 1976 Western did Eastwood direct and star as a Missouri farmer avenging his murdered family?

The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) followed Forrest Carter's novel; Eastwood took over directing from Philip Kaufman early in the shoot, a dispute that produced the Directors Guild's 'Eastwood rule'.

In The Mule (2018), Eastwood plays a horticulturalist in his eighties who becomes a courier for whom?

Earl Stone drives shipments for a Mexican drug cartel, a story drawn from Leo Sharp, the real octogenarian courier for the Sinaloa cartel; it was Eastwood's first acting role since Trouble with the Curve (2012).

Rawhide peaked at what position in the US TV ratings, from October 1960 to April 1961?

Rawhide's 1960-61 season ranked sixth in the Nielsen ratings, the show's best finish; it ran eight seasons on CBS before cancellation in late 1965.

Which Malpaso film starred Eastwood as a rodeo showman opposite Sondra Locke in 1980?

Bronco Billy (1980) cast Eastwood as the sharpshooting boss of a struggling Wild West show, with Locke as a runaway heiress; it was the fourth of her six films with him.

The Enforcer (1976), the third Dirty Harry film, earned how much worldwide?

The Enforcer took about $100M worldwide, pairing Harry with Tyne Daly's rookie Inspector Kate Moore against a terrorist gang; the original Dirty Harry had grossed about $36 million domestically.

Which 1995 romance cast Eastwood opposite Meryl Streep as a National Geographic photographer?

The Bridges of Madison County (1995), from Robert James Waller's bestseller, paired Eastwood's photographer Robert Kincaid with Streep's Iowa farm wife Francesca; Streep earned a Best Actress nomination.

In Space Cowboys (2000), four ageing ex-test pilots are sent into orbit to repair what?

The crew is sent up to fix IKON, an old Soviet satellite whose guidance system Eastwood's character designed decades earlier; he directed and co-starred with Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland and James Garner.

Who played Nelson Mandela in Eastwood's rugby drama Invictus (2009)?

Morgan Freeman's Mandela earned a Best Actor nomination in the third Eastwood-Freeman collaboration after Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby; Matt Damon played Springboks captain Francois Pienaar.

Sully (2016) dramatises the Hudson River landing of which airliner?

US Airways Flight 1549 ditched in the Hudson on 15 January 2009 after bird strikes knocked out both engines; Tom Hanks played Chesley Sullenberger, and the film drew fire for portraying the NTSB as prosecutorial.

Who played Mitch Leary, the assassin taunting Eastwood's agent in In the Line of Fire?

John Malkovich earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination as Mitch Leary, the ex-CIA killer who taunts Eastwood's agent Frank Horrigan by phone while plotting to shoot the president.

Cry Macho (2021), with Eastwood as an ex-rodeo star, was filmed in which US state?

New Mexico stood in for Texas and Mexico during a shoot in November and December 2020; the 90-year-old Eastwood played a former rodeo star fetching a boy home from Mexico.

High Plains Drifter (1973) was shot on the shores of which California lake?

Lago, the supernatural Western's mining town, was built on the southern shore of Mono Lake and torn down after the shoot; Ernest Tidyman, who wrote Shaft, supplied the screenplay.

In Pale Rider, what do the miners call Eastwood's stranger once he dons a clerical collar?

The miners simply call him Preacher after he appears in a clerical collar; the title nods to Death on a pale horse in Revelation, and it was Eastwood's only Western of the 1980s.

Who starred as Christine Collins, the mother handed the wrong boy, in Eastwood's Changeling (2008)?

Angelina Jolie earned a Best Actress nomination as Christine Collins; Eastwood felt her face suited the 1920s setting, and Ron Howard had originally planned to direct the true story of the Wineville Chicken Coop murders.

Eastwood's 1988 film Bird was a biopic of which jazz musician?

Forest Whitaker played Charlie Parker and won Best Actor at Cannes for it; Eastwood took the Golden Globe for Best Director, though the film was a box-office disappointment.