Happy 93rd Birthday, Clint Eastwood

Today is Clint Eastwood’s 93rd birthday! I felt compelled to read a little about his life and post some of it here. This is not a eulogy…Clint is still alive.

The following is cobbled from Wiki and other sources.

Clint was born this day in 1930 in San Francisco, weighing 11 pounds 6 ounces. He is descended from Mayflower passenger William Bradford (a signatory to the Mayflower Compact and intermittent governor of Governor of the Plymouth Colony), and through this line is the 12th generation born in North America. His father was an executive at Georgia Pacific.

There are conflicting reports as to whether Eastwood ever graduated high school. He was held back a year, and later asked to leave for writing an obscene suggestion to a school official on the athletic field scoreboard and for burning an effigy on the school lawn…on top of other school infractions. Classmates said that at some point, Eastwood just went off and started enjoying life rather than worrying about school. Details are somewhat sketchy, as school officials understandably would not disclose details of Eastwood’s records to his unauthorized biographer in 2015.

Eastwood was drafted during the Korean War but not deployed, instead working as a lifeguard at Fort Ord in northern California (where disputed legend has it he was later “discovered” when the TV western Rawhide was shooting on base.) Reportedly, romancing an officer’s daughter may have helped shield Eastwood from drawing the less desirable duties on base. While returning from a prearranged tryst in Seattle, Washington, he was a passenger on a Douglas AD bomber that ran out of fuel and crashed into the ocean near Point Reyes. Using a life raft, he and the pilot swam 2 miles to safety.

His journey through Hollywood was typical of many others…early rejections, uncredited bit parts, criticized for “delivering lines through his teeth.” His break came in 1958 when he was cast in the role of Rowdy Yates on Rawhide. Being nearly 30 years old, Eastwood was not enamored with the “young & cloddish” character. The work was 12 hours a day/6 days a week, but some directors still criticized him for not working hard enough (there are no details as to why they said this.) He directed a number of trailers for the show, but was never allowed to direct an episode.

His big career launch (A Fistful of Dollars) came in 1963 when a Rawhide co-star rejected the leading role and recommended Eastwood for the part (which Eastwood accepted against the advice of his agent.) He signed a contract for $15,000 in wages for eleven weeks' work ($150,000 in today's dollars), with a bonus of a Mercedes-Benz upon completion. For A Few Dollars More was shot in 1965, and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly was shot in 1966. Regarding that character, Eastwood said “I wanted to play it with an economy of words and create this whole feeling through attitude and movement. It was just the kind of character I had envisioned for a long time, keep to the mystery and allude to what happened in the past. It came about after the frustration of doing Rawhide for so long. I felt the less he said, the stronger he became and the more he grew in the imagination of the audience.”

Hang ‘Em High (1968) brought Eastwood his first real fame and riches. When it opened in August 1968, it had the largest opening weekend in United Artists' 50 year history. The film earned Eastwood $400,000 plus 25% of its net box office. By this point, Eastwood has already launched his own production company.

As we know, that was just the beginning. There’s another 55 years of his life & works. He has appeared in over 60 films, acted in 12 different TV series, and directed over 30 films. He was married twice (1953-1984 and 1996-2014) and reportedly has “at least” 8 children, one of whom was born to another woman while he was dating his first wife and another born to a flight attendant during the marriage. He and his first wife had an open marriage…apparently he sired other children during it. Eastwood and Sandra Locke lived together (1975–1989), overlapping the last 9 years of his first marriage. When asked about his faith, Eastwood said he did not believe in God, but nature moves him spiritually. "It would be wonderful to talk with my parents again, who are, of course, deceased. It makes the idea of death much less scary. But then again, if you think that nothing happens after you die, maybe it makes you live life better. Maybe you're supposed to do the best you can by the gift you're given of life and that alone."

 

Yeh, his spaghetti westerns seem to form the core of GRIT TV. A member on another forum I'm on created a poll: Who's the actual star of "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly"...Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef or Eli Wallach?



Or as one member said: Tuco Benedicto Pacífico Juan María Ramírez

I feel bad posting this on Clint's birthday, but it's kind of interesting. And it is only one movie.

 

Here's a one year old article that references interviews as far back as 1991 on that very subject.

Excerpts
"Eastwood's body fat is less than 10% based on an underwater-weighing analysis," said Dr. Harry Demopoulos. And Eastwood commented, saying, "I've never carried much body fat, but I've always been pretty good about watching my diet."

"Eastwood maintains a low-fat, high protein diet. He also pays close attention to his cholesterol levels (his father, a meat and potatoes man, died at an early age of cardiovascular disease)."

"Stay away from carbohydrates, especially rich desserts. Keep a scale in your bathroom. Get proper rest. Try to be optimistic. Eat fruits and raw vegetables. Take vitamins. Skip beverages loaded with sugars. Avoid alcohol in excess," says Eastwood.

"My dad does not eat for pleasure," Scott [his son] tells Men's Health, "He eats salmon and brown rice for breakfast. I guess I'm the same way. If I could take a pill that gave me all the right nutrients so I could give up food, I would."

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So ya gotta ask yourself, Punk. Is it worth it?

 

Yeh, my blood sugar really spiked on a recent test because of jelly beans. It freaked me out enough to stop eating them.

That article I linked ended with "Everybody's different, and lots of cultures eat for pleasure and enjoy longevity." Cowardly bastards refuse to take a stand. Or maybe they want to avoid getting "cancelled."

 

It's interesting that Eastwood said “I wanted to play it with an economy of words and create this whole feeling through attitude and movement. [snip] I felt the less he said, the stronger he became and the more he grew in the imagination of the audience.”

Maybe that's why so many of his lines are so memorable.