Clint Eastwood: The Story Of A Great Actor | Full Biography (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly)

years.   Already then the

actor

's strengths appeared: a

good

sense of humor and an amazing influence on women, which he would use later in his career. But until now, Clint just couldn't transfer those qualities to his characters. Who is your favorite Eastwood movie character? Write in the comments. Eastwood went to a specialist in speech defects to correct a characteristic: he spoke in a whistling whisper. Despite efforts, it was not possible to correct the defect, but over time it will become a kind of feature of the

actor

.   Additionally, Clint received acting lessons from Jack Kosslyn and Jess Kimmel.

  The efforts produced the first success. The boy attracted attention and began to receive offers for leading roles in films. The handsome and impressive Clint became popular in the world of cinema as a positive hero of westerns. Among them was Keith Williams in the film Ambush at Cimarron Pass (1958). It was an adventure film about the union of soldiers and cowboys trying to survive after Indian attacks. Clint was very unhappy with the result. In a 1978 interview, he said, "It was so bad that I kept sinking deeper and deeper into my seat," considering the film to be one of the worst Westerns.

  In the next film, The First Traveling Saleswoman, he worked with Carol Channing and hoped to be successful, but it failed at the box office.  He only had a supporting role in the film Lafayette Escadrille, which was released in 1958. Clint later recalled: Inserted quote: “They did a lot of cheap stuff, I mean, B movies... I was always playing some young lieutenant or laboratory assistant, who would come and say: “He is there”, or “Such and such happened - then”, or “Doctor, here are the x-rays”, and in response, I heard something like: “Boy, get out of here!” here! I left and that was it." He received offers for leading roles so rarely that the actor began to lose hope for a better future.

Work with the studio was also short-lived. Universal terminated the contract with him after a year and a half. The bosses of the film studio argued that Clint had a "wrong" appearance. The producers especially did not like his teeth and his Adam's apple was not ready for it, but there was nothing he could do, train in the gym and. learn acting. When Eastwood finally landed his coveted lead role, it turned out to be a low-level western that was so bad that Eastwood decided to quit. To earn money, the young man did menial jobs and worked as a cleaner. furniture factory.

An accident saved him and Clint met one of the directors of the Rawhide series while visiting a friend at the CBS television studio, a young man suitable for the supporting role of cowboy Rowdy Yates. Rowdy defined the actor's roles for the coming years. The beautiful and

good

-natured one who has principles and sticks to them.   According to Clint, he didn't find that character very interesting. But the leaders of the television network discovered a new star from the first episodes. Clint brought a new cultural appeal to the show: strong, handsome, tough, and good at shooting and fighting, he instantly attracted a young audience to the series.

  Years later, the actor warmly recalled that period: Clint starred in the series for seven years, from the first to the last episode. By the end of the first season, his $600 salary had doubled. And at the end of the series, there were already six issues. The series did not become very popular but played a crucial role in the actor's life. There, Clint first focused on directing and began studying the film business from the inside. The young Eastwood was invited to film one of the episodes, but unfortunately it was never made. The contract with CBS meant that the actor could not participate in any third-party projects.  It wasn't until 1953 that the network loosened the reins a bit after season 4 of the series began to slowly slide downward.

To promote it, bosses decided to use their main star, Clint, elsewhere.   The company asked the actor to guest star in an episode of the popular sitcom Mister Ed, where he played himself. He agreed on the condition that he would not wear cowboy clothing.   But it wasn't the announcement Eastwood was counting on. The talking horse episode was as strange as anything on the show. But he passed the test proudly and took the money silently. At the same time, his personal life was in

full

swing. A tall and well-built Eastwood has always attracted the attention of many women.

And he didn't miss the opportunity to use it.   In the press, his name constantly appeared accompanied by the word "Mujeriego."   His relations with Maggie Johnson were impetuous. After finishing the service, Clint moved to Los Angeles, where a girl was waiting for him. They began seeing each other regularly and soon the question of marriage arose. For Maggie, who grew up in a very decent family, choosing a man for life was controversial.  She was nothing like the typical Eastwood ladies, not very well behaved. Therefore, Clint was forced to take the next step and get married. In 1953, Clinton Eastwood Jr. took Maggie Johnson as his wife from parish priest Henry David Gray.

  And everything would be fine, but. During the beginning of their relationship, another woman became pregnant by the young man.  She had a brief affair with her in Seattle when Clint was visiting her parents. The girl decided to keep the child but she gave the newborn girl up for adoption. While studying acting classes, Eastwood had affairs with local girls. One of them was Mamie Van Doren, who later claimed that "sex was ravaging" among the students. Years later she recalled that the first year of marriage was terrible for him. She insert quote: “If I had to go through this again, I think I would still be single for the rest of my days.

I liked doing what I wanted. I did not tolerate any interference in my life... Meg had to immediately learn the following about me: I will always do what I want. And she had to accept it because if not, we would never have gotten married.   For the first seven years, the couple had a big problem. Clint and Meg did not have children. The reason for this was the actor's desire. He admitted to his biographer Richard Schickel that he was still a child of the Depression period and that he did not want to repeat his parents' experience. Another reason was the disagreement in the marriage due to the actor's excessive sexual appetite and betrayal.

Information can be found in the monographs that Eastwood's agents had two sets of accounting books. One was for the tax office and the second was for his wife, who shouldn't have known how much Clint spent on women.   As a result, in marriage with Maggie, the actor still has two children: his son Kyle, born in 1968, and his daughter Alison, who was born four years later. For Meg, that step was a confirmation of the existence of her unusual marriage. But the marriage could hardly be considered happy.   According to biographers, the concept of marital fidelity never made much sense to Clint.

Maggie was happy with the fact that he came home at night.   Clint had affairs with other women whenever possible, especially on film sets. Friends and colleagues said his marriage was open, although it was unclear whether he suited Maggie or whether she was resigned to what was happening.   She would later say of her husband: "He is a cowboy, a real 20th century cowboy... We are not supporters of the complete unit theory."   While filming Rawhide, the actor began a relationship with dancer and stuntwoman Roxanne Tunis. Biographers call their romance intense and "very sexy." Roxanne did not hide the relationship from her and in every possible way she paid attention to Clint on the set.

But at the same time, she didn't demand more than she had. Everyone involved in the filming of Rawhide knew about her affair, but the actor paid no attention to it.   Their relationship lasted 14 years, during which she gave birth to a daughter named Kimber. He gave birth to her in 1964 at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Hollywood and, to save Clint, she registered the baby with her last name. The actor promised Tunisia to support them financially, but they should keep everything a secret. The girl was hidden from the press until the 80s. But despite that, she became Clint's first officially recognized illegitimate daughter.

Maggie knew of Roxanne's existence, and even one day she suddenly appeared on the set, where she met her personally.   But that didn't change the situation. RISING STAR   True success was waiting for Clint ahead. And he again became associated with "cowboy" movies in the cinema. His works of the following decades would form a unique image of a laconic hero of westerns and action films. Italian director Sergio Leone noticed the Rawhide actor. He invited Clint to his new project, A Fistful of Dollars, which was inspired by Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo and became the beginning of the famous "dollar trilogy." Leone was looking for a textured guy for the lead role and he liked Eastwood.

  His filming partners were supposed to be Eli Wallack and Lee Van Cleef.   Clint was so displeased with Rawhide's good-guy role that he accepted Leone's offer. Even with the condition that the filming had to go to Italy and Spain, and he also had to work on the series. Inserted quote: I realized that the

story

was Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo, of which he was a big fan. And I was going to earn $10,000 to work in Spain and Italy, and I had never been to Europe. So I thought I would go and have a good trip. …It's another example of how things in life are built around something else.

  Many years later, director Sergio Leone noted that he approved Clint for the lead role in his films only because the actor had two suitable facial expressions: "with a hat" and "without a hat." The director was impressed by the slowness with which the actor moved. "I thought Clint looked a lot like a cat," he recalled. During filming, the actor wore the same poncho, forbidding everyone to wash it during the entire production period of the trilogy. It was a kind of talisman for the actor. The first film, A Fistful of Dollars, was released in 1964. And although the film was accused of plagiarism in Asian countries, it was a

great

success in Europe and the United States.

With a budget of 200 thousand dollars, it raised 14 million dollars and gave rise to a subgenre: the "spaghetti western." During the same period, Clint woke up famous.   Therefore, it is not surprising that a few years later they made two sequels: For a Few Dollars More in 1965 and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in 1966. The three films were united by the figure of the protagonist - mute, in a poncho , cowboy boots, a cigarette in his mouth and ambiguous morals. The main theme of the film is considered one of the most recognizable melodies in film hi

story

. This experience became important in the actor's life.

The film was so similar to the original source that Leone later received a lawsuit. And no wonder, the precision of the coincidence in details is striking: the image of a lone warrior, a similar montage rhythm and structure of action. Thus, the fights begin with a long and tense wait, when the camera focuses on every movement and look of the opponents. By the way, Kurosawa won the case in court and received $100,000 and 15% of the box office.   But it was worth it. Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood made a breakthrough in the image of the Western genre, which by the early 1960s had almost died.

They created a classic Puritan hero in a hat and on a horse, who is a complex of unambiguous positive qualities and well-established clichés. Other characters throughout the trilogy propose different names for Eastwood's character. That's why he is known as "The Man With No Name" in the film.   In 2008, Empire voted him the 43rd

great

est movie character of all time.