With a career spanning 70 years, American actor, director and producer Clint Eastwood has had a remarkable career. Not only has he appeared in more than 70 films, but he has also directed around forty films, making him considered a true legend of American cinema. The 93-year-old filmmaker is still not thinking about retirement.
In a new biography, author Ian Nathan, brimming with admiration for his subject, analyzes his entire filmography, drawing parallels to the actor's eventful life.
Photo provided by Éditions Gallimard
Luck is on his side
Nothing predestined Clint Eastwood to become a monument of cinema. He was born in San Francisco in 1930 and grew up in a modest environment. His childhood was marked by the Great Depression and a father who frequently lost his job, forcing the family to constantly move. Young Clint changes schools about ten times and his academic performance is mediocre.
As a teenager, in addition to mowing lawns, he also worked as a street vendor. He then got jobs, most notably at Boeing, while living with his parents in Seattle and earning a lifeguard diploma from the Red Cross.
His mother passed on her passion for jazz to him, while his father, a guitarist, inspired him to take piano and music lessons at Seattle University in addition to photography courses.
He was then called up for military service in Korea. Thanks to his lifeguard diploma, he escaped from the front and instead became a swimming instructor for the army at the Fort Ord military camp in California. Luckily, a Universal Studio employee visiting the camp notices Clint's impressive physique and invites him to stop by the studio.
It therefore starts with a supplement of $75 per week. He is handsome, tall and thin, but doesn't know how to play.
Having difficulty making a living in Hollywood and only getting small roles, he accepted an offer from Sergio Leone and traveled to Italy, where he wrote the trilogy A Fistful of Dollars, and for a Few Dollars More and The Good , the bad and the evil”. ugly.
In a short time he achieved fame. He returns to California and sees that the doors are open to him.
In 1970 he took his first steps as a director with A Shower in the Night and then with Inspector Harry. He also founded his own production company.
His career is marked by several successes, including “On the Road to Madison”, in which he shares the screen with Meryl Streep. Follow Mystic River, The Million Dollar Girl and J. Edgar with Leonardo DiCaprio.
Narrowly escaped death
A defining moment in his personal life was taking part in an emergency landing in 1951 while serving in the military. On a flight to Fort Ord, he begins to suffer from hypoxia due to a poorly locked door. Added to this is terrible weather and a communication breakdown that goes so far that the pilot decides to turn around. Unfortunately, the plane ran out of fuel and had to make an emergency landing in the Pacific Ocean near the coast.
Shocked, Clint has no choice but to swim against the current in the dark to reach shore, guided by a swarm of glowing jellyfish.
“I became acutely aware of the fragility of life,” said Eastwood, then 21. After this mishap, he avoided flying for several years.
Dear family
Clint had many romantic relationships at the same time. He officially has seven children, mostly from different women. At the age of 88, he learned that he had an eighth illegitimate child.
Today Clint Eastwood lives most of the time on his ranch in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.
Clint Eastwood in brief
- Clint Eastwood has been nominated 93 times and won 16 awards, including four Oscars, five Golden Globes, three Césars and the Palme of Honor at the Cannes Film Festival.
- He himself composed the music for several of his films, including “The Exchange” with Angelina Jolie in the lead role.
- From 1986 to 1988 he was mayor of the city of Carmel.
- He owns several restaurants, a clothing line – Eastwood Séduction – and an eau de parfum, Clint.
- His net worth is estimated at $375 million, or more than $500 million Canadian.
- He is working on his 41st feature film, Juror No. 2.