Trivia
- On May 11, 2007, Clint was given an honourary doctorate degree of humane letters from the University of Southern California.
- Clint Eastwood is an anagram for 'old west action'.
- Clint’s mother, Francesca Ruth Eastwood, died on 7 February 2006 at the age of ninety-seven.
- In early 2005, Clint revealed that he would supply the voice for a Dirty Harry video game.
- At the 2005 National Board of Review awards dinner in New York City, Clint joked that he would kill filmmaker Michael Moore if Moore ever showed up at his home with a camera (an evident reference to Moore's controversial interview with Clint's friend, actor/Second Amendment advocate Charlton Heston, for the movie Bowling for Columbine (2002)). After the crowd laughed, Clint said, "I mean it." Moore's spokesman said, "Michael laughed along with everyone else, and took Mr Eastwood's comments in the light-hearted spirit in which they were given." Publicly, Clint has not commented further.
- The boots that Clint wore in Unforgiven are the same boots that he wore in the TV series Rawhide. These boots are now a part of Clint's private collection and were on loan to the 2005 Sergio Leone exhibit at the Gene Autry Museum of Western Heritage in Los Angeles, California. In essence, these boots have book-ended Clint's career in the Western genre.
- For two consecutive years, Clint directed two out of the four actors in performances that won them Oscars: Sean Penn (Best Actor for Mystic River (2003)) and Tim Robbins (Best Supporting Actor for Mystic River (2003)) in 2004, and Hilary Swank (Best Actress for Million Dollar Baby (2004)) and Morgan Freeman (Best Supporting Actor for Million Dollar Baby (2004)) in 2005.
- Clint whistles on the track Big Noise from his son Kyle's jazz CD Paris Blue which was released in 2004.
- Clint was sworn in as parks commissioner for the state of California at Big Basin Redwood Park, Santa Cruz, California, on 8th June 2002. Holding up his new commissioner's badge, he told the crowd, "You're all under arrest."
- Until his pride was displaced by discovery of a larger version of the same tree in 2002, Clint used to be the proud owner of the tree believed to be the nation's largest known hardwood - a blue gum eucalyptus.
- In 2000 Clint received the Career Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, received an honorary Doctorate from Wesleyan University in Connecticut and was the recipient of John F. Kennedy Center Honours.
- Clint was offered Al Pacino's role in Any Given Sunday (1999), but turned it down because Warner Bros. wouldn't let him direct it as well.
- In 1998, Clint received an honorary Cesar award in Paris, France for his body of work.
- In the late 1990s, Clint referenced Play Misty for Me (1971), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), Bronco Billy (1980), Honkytonk Man (1982), Unforgiven (1992) & A Perfect World (1993) as the favourites of the films he had made.
- Clint was appointed to serve on the National Council of the Arts by President Nixon in 1972. In 1994 he became President of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival.
- Clint declined an offer from President George Bush to campaign for him in the 1992 Presidential election.
- Clint appeared on T.G. Sheppard's hit single Make My Day, which reached #12 on 'Billboard's Hot Country Singles' chart in 1984 and also reached #62 on that magazine's 'Hot 100 singles' survey.
- Clint and former girlfriend, Sondra Locke, made six films together: Any Which Way You Can (1980), Bronco Billy (1980), Every Which Way But Loose (1978), The Gauntlet (1977), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) and Sudden Impact (1983). Clint was a partner with Sondra from 1975 thru 1988. They co-habitated from 1977-1988.
- Clint is mentioned in the theme song of the 1980s TV hit The Fall Guy.
- In 1973, at the 45th Annual Academy Awards, Clint presented the 1972 Best Picture Oscar to Albert S. Ruddy, the producer of The Godfather (1972). Thirty-two years later, they would jointly accept the 2004 Best Picture Oscar at the 77th Annual Academy Awards, along with fellow Million Dollar Baby (2004) co-producer Tom Rosenberg.
- When Don Siegel fell ill during production of Dirty Harry (1971), Clint stepped in as director during the attempted-suicide/jumper sequence.
- Clint’s production company is ‘Malpaso Productions', which he formed in 1968.
- Clint claims that he wound up getting the role in Sergio Leone's Per un pugno di dollari (1964) because James Coburn wanted $25,000. Clint accepted the role for $15,000.
- Clint's first screen appearance was an uncredited role in Revenge of the Creature (1955), as the goofy white coated lab assistant who does the silly mouse gag in the lab scene with the monkey. His only line in the film is: "I've lost my white mouse".
- Two of Clint's army pals convinced him to try acting. He took their advice and signed a contract with Universal Studios in 1954. He got his first acting role in 1959, with a role in Rawhide while visiting a friend at CBS, when a studio exec spotted him because he "looked like a cowboy".
- Family:
Clint has eight children: Kimber Eastwood (born 17 June 1964), Kyle Eastwood (born 19 May 1968), Alison Eastwood (born 22 May 1972), Scott Eastwood (born 21 March 1986), Kathryn Eastwood (2 February 1988), Heather Eastwood (born 19 July 1988), Francesca Fisher-Eastwood (born 7 August 1993) and Morgan Eastwood (born 12 December 1996). Clint's granddaughter, Graylen (Kyle's daughter) was born in 1994. - Clint is a partial owner of the Pebble Beach Golf Country Club in Monterey Peninsula, California. Every year the PGA tour plays at the golf club, for a celebrity golf tournament where celebrities team up with the professionals. Clint has participated in this every year from 1962-2002 and has been the longest running participant. He now serves as Host.
- Clint directed 8 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Gene Hackman, Meryl Streep, Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Marcia Gay Harden, Morgan Freeman, Hilary Swank and himself (in Unforgiven (1992) and Million Dollar Baby (2004)).
- Clint has been named to Quigley Publications' annual Top 10 Poll of Money-Making Stars 21 times, making him #2 all-time for appearances in the top 10 list. Only John Wayne, with 25 appearances in the Top 10, has more. Clint, who first appeared in the Top Ten at #5 in 1968, finished #2 to Wayne at the box office in 1971 after finishing #2 to Paul Newman in 1970. After his first two consecutive #1 appearances in 1972 and 1973, he dropped back to #2 in 1974, trailing Robert Redford at the box office. Clint was again #2 in 1979, 1981 and 1982 (topped by Burt Reynolds all three years), before leading the charts in 1983 and '84. He last topped the poll in 1993.
- Clint was scheduled to play the villain ‘Two-Face’ in an episode of the Batman series, but the show was cancelled before the project began.
- Clint weighed 11 lbs 6 oz at birth and is of a mixed heritage that includes Dutch, Scottish, Irish and English blood.
- At the end of movies Clint directs, during the credits the camera will move around the location it was filmed in, then freeze-frame for the rest of the credits.
- Clint was elected mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea in California.
- Clint owns the Mission Ranch Inn in California.
- When Clint was just starting out as an actor, he worked at digging swimming pools in between roles.
- Clint served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. He was stationed at Ft. Ord across from Monterey, California (over the hill from where he lives and served as mayor, Carmel-by-the-Sea) as a swimming instructor.
On leave as a G.I., his aeroplane crashed into the Pacific Ocean, forcing Clint to swim approx. three miles to shore. Following this, Clint was given the job as boot camp swimming instructor and therefore confined to base. - Clint is a vegetarian.
- Clint's appearances on various lists include:
Harris Poll
1993 - #1 position 'America's Favourite Movie Star'
1994 - #1 position 'America's Favourite Movie Star'
1997 - #1 position 'America's Favourite Movie Star'
2006 - #4 position 'Top ten favorite movie stars'
Premiere Magazine
2006 - #92 position '100 Greatest Performances of All Time' for Dirty Harry
1996 - #50 position '100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time' for Empire Magazine
1997 - #2 position 'Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time'
2005 - #43 position Greatest Movie Stars of All Time' - Some of Clint's favorite movies are, The 39 Steps (1935), Sergeant York (1941), The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), and Chariots of Fire (1981).
- Clint's favorite actors include Humphrey Bogart, Gary Cooper, James Stewart, James Cagney and Robert Mitchum.
- Clint became the oldest person to ever win an Oscar for 'Best Director'. He won the award for Million Dollar Baby at the age of 74.
Quotes
- Clint: When I was doing The Bridges of Madison County (1995), I said to myself, this romantic stuff is really tough. I can't wait to get back to shooting and killing.
- Clint: I always cry when I watch myself on screen.
- Clint: Most people who'll remember me, if at all, will remember me as an action guy, which is OK. There's nothing wrong with that. But there will be a certain group which will remember me for the other films, the ones where I took a few chances. At least, I like to think so.
- Clint: I've actually had people come up to me and ask me to autograph their guns.
- Clint: There's a rebel lying deep in my soul. Anytime anybody tells me the trend is such and such, I go the opposite direction. I hate the idea of trends. I hate imitation; I have a reverence for individuality. I got where I am by coming off the wall. I've always considered myself too individualistic to be either right-wing or left-wing.
- Clint: Plastic surgery used to be a thing where older people would try to go into this dream world of being 28 years old again. But now, in Hollywood, even people at 28 are having work done. Society has made us believe you should look like an 18-year-old model all your life. But I figure I might as well just be what I am.
- Clint: You have to trust your instincts. There's a moment when an actor has it, and he knows it. Behind the camera you can feel the moment even more clearly. And once you've got it, once you feel it, you can't second-guess yourself. You can find a million reasons why something didn't work. But if it feels right, and it looks right, it works. Without sounding like a pseudointellectual dipshit, it's my responsibility to be true to myself. If it works for me, it's right.
- Clint: As for me, I like being behind the camera instead of in front of it. I can wear what I want. Will I act again? I never say never. I like doing things where I can stretch and go in different directions. I'm not looking to take it easy. Like the Marines on Iwo Jima, I understand that if you really want something, you have to be ready to fight.
- Clint: I think kids are natural actors. You watch most kids; if they don't have a toy they'll pick up a stick and make a toy out of it. Kids will daydream all the time.
- Clint: I never considered myself a cowboy, because I wasn't. But I guess when I got into cowboy gear I looked enough like one to convince people that I was.
- Clint: I don't believe in pessimism. If something doesn't come up the way you want, forge ahead.
- Clint: My father used to say to me, 'Show 'em what you can do, and don't worry about what you're gonna get. Say you'll work for free and make yourself invaluable.'
- Clint: If you want a guarantee, buy a toaster.
- Clint: They say marriages are made in Heaven, but so is thunder and lightning.
