April 26, 2010

Clint Eastwood, legend of American cinema, turns 80

Clint Eastwood celebrates his 80th birthday next month. Here is a comprehensive portrait of his extraordinary life and career - in 80 glorious pictures. Words by Sarah Baldwin

Clint Eastwood in 2003 — Clint Eastwood in 2003 Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian

A cowboy is born ... Eastwood had his first audition in 1954, a bright-eyed 24-year-old. He got his first contract with Universal Studios, earning $100 a week — A cowboy is born ... Eastwood had his first audition in 1954, a bright-eyed 24-year-old. He got his first contract with Universal Studios, earning $100 a week
Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex

Clint Eastwood at 80: 'Rawhide' TV Series - 1950s — His big break came with the western series Rawhide, which he started filming in 1958. It took just three weeks for it to reach top 20 in the TV ratings Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood — Eastwood was cast as hot-headed Rowdy Yates in the TV series
Photograph: Ronald Grant

Clint Eastwood at 80: CLINT EASTWOOD — Eastwood quickly became a Hollywood pin-up
Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood — ... and like all good pin-ups, wasn’t shy about stripping off
Photograph: SNAP/Rex

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood — In fact, it is hard to find an image of young Clint with his clothes on
Photograph: SNAP/Rex

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood with Marianne Koch in Fistful of Dollars (1964) — He hit the big screen with the spaghetti western A Fistful of Dollars, in which he starred opposite Marianne Koch in 1964
Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar

Clint Eastwood at 80: CLINT EASTWOOD — His critics said that the young actor relied too much on his good looks and too little on his acting skills
Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex

Clint Eastwood at 80: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly — Eastwood acted opposite Eli Wallach in the third film in the Dollars trilogy – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, filmed in Italy and Spain in 1966 Photograph: United Artists/Allstar

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood in The Good, The Bad and the Ugly — Bad and brooding, his character, the Man With No Name, redefined the stereotype of the western hero
Photograph: Ronald Grant

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood — The trilogy made Eastwood into a household name
Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood in Hang Em High — Eastwood in Hang ‘Em High. The 1967 film became studio United Artists’ biggest opening in history, exceeding all of the Bond films at that time Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood in Hang Em High — Starring opposite Pat Hingle and Inger Stevens, Eastwood’s flash of flesh reminds us of his pin-up days Photograph: United Artists/Allstar

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood in Coogan's Bluff — ... which are not long forgotten, as he strips off again as Sheriff Walt Coogan, a lonely deputy sheriff in New York, in the 1968 film Coogan’s Bluff Photograph: Universal/Kobal/Shutterstock

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin — Eastwood starred in his first and only musical, Paint Your Wagon, in 1969. He and fellow non-singer Lee Marvin play gold miners who share the same wife. Although the film received mixed reviews, it was nominated for the Golden Globe for best motion picture (musical or comedy)
Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood in In the Line of Fire — Rough and always ready ...
Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood in Two Mules for Sister Sara — ... to play the tall, mysterious, gun-wielding stranger once again, this time in Two Mules for Sister Sara in 1968
Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood and Donna Mills in Play Misty for Me — His directorial debut came with pyscho-thriller Play Misty for Me in 1971. He stars as a DJ heart-throb whose jilted lover turns into an unhinged stalker
Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood with Geraldine Page in The Beguiled — Eastwood plays the victim in The Beguiled, 1971. The film was largely unsuccessful, which Eastwood blamed on his fans not warming to his emasculated role
Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar

Clint Eastwood at 80: Dirty Harry — Eastwood gets back to action in Dirty Harry, 1971, starring as a tough San Francisco cop. This was the first of five Harry Callahan movies, making it Eastwood’s signature role
Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry — His most famous lines: “But, being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya, punk?”
Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar

Clint Eastwood at 80: CLINT EASTWOOD — Released in 1971, Dirty Harry was a phenonemal success. The film has been credited with inventing the loose-cannon cop genre imitated to this day
Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex

Clint Eastwood at 80: High Plains Drifter — Topless once more in High Plains Drifter, 1973. This was his first foray into directing westerns Photograph: Universal/Kobal/Shutterstock

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot — Eastwood teamed up with Jeff Bridges in action flick Thunderbolt and Lightfoot in 1974
Photograph: Ronald Grant

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood in The Eiger Sanction — Eastwood plays an assassin turned art professor in The Eiger Sanction, 1975. The actor insisted on doing all his own climbing and stunts despite conditions so dangerous that a professional climber was killed during filming
Photograph: Ronald Grant

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood in The Gauntlet — In 1977 Eastwood directed and starred in The Gauntlet, in which he plays a down-and-out cop who falls in love with a prostitute Photograph: Warner Bros/Allstar

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood in Every Which Way But Loose — Monkey business ... Eastwood starred in Every Which Way But Loose in 1978, going against type to play a comic character. An orangutan named Manis was brought in to play Clyde
Photograph: Ronald Grant

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood in Every Which Way But Loose — The film was Eastwood’s most commercially successful picture yet. Naturally, it is not without some of his classic nudity ...
Photograph: Ronald Grant

Clint Eastwood at 80: Escape from Alcatraz — Eastwood in Escape from Alcatraz, 1979. The film dramatises the story of Frank Morris’s breakout from the notorious island prison
Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood in Every Which Way You Can — Clint and Manis reunited in Any Which Way You Can, 1980. Despite bad reviews from critics, the film was another box-office blockbuster
Photograph: Ronald Grant

Clint Eastwood at 80 — And it’s no surprise that his familiar sixpack gets another airing
Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood: Al Hirschfeld cartoon — Cool customers ... Eastwood with his City Heat co-star Burt Reynolds are caricatured by Al Hirschfeld Photograph: AP

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood in Tightrope — The family business ... Eastwood’s daughter Alison (left) acts alongside dad in the provocative thriller Tightrope in 1984. Eastwood plays a single-father cop led astray by the promise of sex
Photograph: Ronald Grant

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood in The Dead Pool — The Dead Pool, 1988, is the fifth and final Dirty Harry film
Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood in The Dead Pool — A smash ... although it was panned by critics, The Dead Pool was a commercial success. The film also starred Liam Neeson and a young Jim Carrey
Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven — You can’t teach an old dog new tricks ... 62-year-old Eastwood revisits the western in the self-directed film, Unforgiven, 1992. He plays an ageing ex-gunfighter long past his prime ... Photograph: Warner Bros/Kobal/Shutterstock

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven — The film, also starring Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman and Richard Harris, won four Academy Awards, including best picture and best director
Photograph: Universal

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood in In the Line of Fire — Eastwood plays Frank Horrigan, a guilt-ridden secret service agent in the thriller In the Line of Fire, 1993, co-starring John Malkovich and Rene Russo
Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood and Laura Dern in A Perfect World — That same year Eastwood directed and co-starred with Kevin Costner in A Perfect World. Met with a mixed reception at its release, the film is now seen as one of Eastwood’s most underrated directorial achievements
Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar

Clint Eastwood at 80: Princess Diana and Clint Eastwood — In royal company ... Eastwood meets Princess Diana at the London premiere of The Fugitive in 1993
Photograph: Rex

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood — As dashing as ever, the actor-director looks sharp for a 64-year-old
Photograph: Allstar

Clint Eastwood at 80: 'The Bridges of Madison County' Film - 1995 — ... and shows his versatility as he stars opposite Meryl Streep in The Bridges of Madison County, 1995 Photograph: Warner Bros/Everett/Rex

Clint Eastwood at 80: John Cusack and Clint Eastwood in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil — Back in the director’s chair, Eastwood made Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil in 1997, loosely based on the non-fiction bestseller by John Berendt. Eastwood made several changes to the text and wrote in a love interest for reporter John Cusack, a role that was played by Eastwood’s daughter Alison
Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar

Clint Eastwood at 80: Kevin Spacey and Clint Eastwood in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil — The film also stars Kevin Spacey and Jude Law
Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood — All roses ... 1997 was a successful year with Eastwood also directing, producing and starring in political thriller Absolute Power
Photograph: Jim Cooper/AP

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood in True Crime — Eastwood directed and starred in True Crime in 1999, playing Steve Everett, a journalist recovering from alcoholism. The film was a box-office bomb
Photograph: Ronald Grant

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood — The boys ... Eastwood and his co-stars Donald Sutherland, Tommy Lee Jones and James Garner pose for a photo prior to a screening of his 2000 film Space Cowboys
Photograph: Franck Prevel/AP

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood with daughters at the premiere of Blood Work — True blood ... Clint Eastwood with his daughters Morgan and Francesca at the premiere of Blood Work, 2002
Photograph: Chris Pizzello/AP

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood at the National Film Theatre (NFT) Guardian interview — Eastwood addresses an audience at the National Film Theatre, London, ahead of the release of his Oscar-tipped film Mystic River Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood arrives for the 76th Academy Awards (2004) — And the tipsters were right ... Mystic River won two Oscars at the 76th Academy Awards in 2004, although Eastwood missed out on the best director statuette
Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood in Million Dollar Baby — Back in the ring ... Eastwood directed, produced, scored, and starred in the boxing drama Million Dollar Baby, 2005, with Hilary Swank
Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood — The film won Eastwood his second Oscar for best director, which he accepts here. Million Dollar Baby also won best picture, best supporting actor for Morgan Freeman …
Photograph: Kevork Djansezian/AP

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood and Hilary Swank — ... and best actress for Hilary Swank. The tearful actor is congratulated by Eastwood
Photograph: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Clint Eastwood at 80: 'MILLION DOLLAR BABY' FILM - 2004 — Eastwood himself also received a best supporting actor nomination for the film
Photograph: Warner Bros/Everett/Rex

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood and Dina Eastwood arrive at 62nd annual Golden Globe Awards — And if the Oscars weren’t enough, here’s Eastwood and his wife Dina Ruiz at the Golden Globes in 2005
Photograph: Robert Galbraith/Reuters

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood at the Golden Globes 2005 — ... where Eastwood won the award for best director
Photograph: Peter Brooker/guardian.co.uk

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood in Flags of our Fathers. — Back in his natural habitat ... Eastwood calling the shots on the set of Flags of Our Fathers, 2006, the first of his brace of films about one of the bloodiest battles in the second world war Photograph: Dreamworks/Allstar

Clint Eastwood at 80: US director Clint Eastwood — Eastwood in Tokyo, where he was promoting Flag of Our Fathers and its Japanese companion piece Letters from Iwo Jima
Photograph: Toru Yamanaka/AFP/Getty Images

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood in Carmel — Eastwood looks dapper at his restaurant Mission Ranch Inn, a former dairy farm in Carmel, California
Photograph: Axel Koester/Corbis

Clint Eastwood at 80: Clint Eastwood and Philip French — In 2007, Eastwood tells the Observer’s film critic Philip French that he intends to “retire gradually, just ride off into the sunset” in a chat at the Ritz Hotel in Paris
Photograph: Karen Robinson/The Observer

Clint Eastwood at 80: 2008 Cannes Film Festival - — Stylish in the south of France ... Eastwood at the premiere of Changeling at the Cannes film festival, 2008. The film is a Depression-era drama with Angelina Jolie as a mother searching for her missing son
Photograph: Dominique Charriau/Getty Images

Clint Eastwood at 80: -Clint Eastwood leaves the France Television headquarters — Back in the thick of it, here’s Eastwood working in France on his forthcoming thriller Hereafter
Photograph: Patrick Kovarick/AFP/Getty Images

Clint Eastwood at 80: 24th Annual American Cinematheque Honors Matt Damon - Show — He might be 80, but Eastwood still looks sharp and captivates the audience at yet another awards ceremony, this time at the 24th annual American Cinematheque awards
Photograph: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Clint Eastwood at 80: A wax figure of actor Clint Eastwood — And what’s better than eternal youth? A wax model of young Clint can now be seen at Madame Tussauds in California. Of course, he has a gun
Photograph: Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images

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