Legend of America
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His "Million Dollar Baby" has got him Oscar nominations for Best Actor, Director and Picture. Actor, director, producer and composer, Clint Eastwood at 75 is still going strong, says RANDOR GUY.
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With the nominations, Clint Eastwood (seen here in "Million Dollar Baby") creates history of sorts.
``STARDOM DID not go to his head and he remains the same, that big little boy and every time he's in town, (Los Angeles) he never fails to call me. That's him!'' So observed the noted Hollywood screenwriter and former president of the Writer's Guild of America (WGA) West, Del Reisman.
Del was referring to his favourite disciple, now the American Icon who is in the news again after the recent Oscar nominations ... Clint Eastwood.
Del played a major role in Eastwood's life during the late 1950s-early 1960s when he was a struggling TV actor in the popular TV series "Rawhide," which Del wrote and produced in part.
A `Best Director' Oscar winner, he has also received prestigious Life Achievement Awards like the Irving Thalberg Award from the American Film Institute, and the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
No other American in the history of Hollywood has won so much recognition as actor, director, producer and also music composer.
With the recent Oscar nominations, Eastwood created a history of sorts by becoming the first person to be nominated in the same year for three separate categories, Best Actor, Best Director and Best Picture. (Eastwood is also the producer of the nominated movie "Million Dollar Baby").
The journey to the top has not been easy. But Eastwood has survived gloriously winning more and more laurels, making movies on his own terms. Many critics very rightly compare him to the all-time great and legend of the movies, the great Gary Cooper. (Indeed, Eastwood has in his proud possession, a gun belonging to Cooper, which was willed in the last testament to him by the brilliant African-American entertainer and movie star Sammy Davis .Jr.) Age (75) has not withered his talent or charm and he continues to surprise the world with his creations.
The Great Depression that rocked America to its roots following the Wall Street Crash of 1929, forced his father, a successful businessman, to move the family from town to town while he looked for work. Finally he reached Los Angeles where he pumped gas to keep the home fire burning.
It was under such circumstances that Clint Eastwood was born in Los Angeles on May 31, 1930.
As a growing lad, Eastwood experienced the struggles for survival in a world of deprivation and depression, and the rage began to build inside him.
This rage still persists and finds expression in his performances. After completing school, Eastwood began to look for work. He moved logs, cut grass, pumped gas and dug swimming pools. Such physical activity gave him a strong, sturdy frame and enormous physical energy, which he exudes on screen. With hope for the future, he appeared in several movies in many minor and barely noticed roles like "Tarantula," "Lady Godiva" and "Francis in the Navy" (`The talking mule' picture with Donald O'Connor).
Then television beckoned and he had a profitable break when he was chosen to play Rowdy Yates in "Rawhide" (1957-1964). Then his luck turned.
An Italian filmmaker, Sergio Leone, was working hard to make a Western without moving out of Italy and on a shoestring budget. He was totally sold on the Western genre and Hollywood.
His film was inspired by Japanese moviemaker, Akira Kurosawa's `Yojimbo.' Leone worked on the screenplay to adapt it to an Italian-Western. He did not know a word of English and everything was done in his lingo.
He decided to cast an American actor in the lead role. He offered the part to several top stars like Henry Fonda, James Coburn, Charles Bronson and even Frank Sinatra, but all of them threw the script out as trash!
Finally, the offer came to Eastwood, who was a mere name to Sergio Leone and vice-versa! Eastwood, who wanted a break in movies, took a flight to Rome and signed for it.
Originally named "The Magnificent Stranger," it was renamed "A Fistful of Dollars" (1964). Itbecame a major hit in Italy and Europe, and later in America (1967).
Interestingly, Eastwood, who was in Hollywood, had no idea that he had become a celebrity in Europe and the news reached him through the Italian star, Sophia Loren! The three `Dollar' movies, "A Fistful of Dollars," "For a Few Dollars More" and "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" created a new Western genre, giving it a new direction and thrust in a different format and matrix.
The distinctive photographic style, stunning close-ups of Eastwood's face-map, the sensational melodious music of Ennio Morricone, the seamless direction of Leone, all combined to make them major hits. It also ushered in a sub-genre of the Western, known as `spaghetti Western.'
More hits followed like "Coogan's Bluff" and "The Beguiled." In 1971, Eastwood turned director (which had been his ambition since his "Rawhide" days) with his major hit, "Play Misty For Me."
This movie star and filmmaker then turned producer with the company, Malpaso, named after the famous creek near his hometown, Carmel. He has been elected mayor twice from this town. He was tipped for the governorship of California but had no interest in politics.
Eastwood is also a musician, and in the days before he became a star he cut discs. Later he also composed the background music for movies like "Mystic River."
Memorable movies
The list of his movies is somewhat long but mention must be made of the milestones in his career like "Play Misty For Me," "Dirty Harry" (a mega hit, its Indian version "Zanjeer" set Amitabh Bachchan on the road to superstardom!), "Honky-Tonk Man," "Unforgiven" (considered as the greatest Western ever made), "The Bridges of Madison County," "Mystic River" and his latest offering, "Million Dollar Baby."
He has proved himself as a director and actor. Some actors, who have worked with him, like Morgan Freeman consider him a better director than actor. Eastwood creates the right atmosphere for an actor and lets him do the scene his way.
Soft-spoken, he is an intensely private person. The man in person talks the same way he does in his movies!
Hollywood and Cinema have not remained the same after Clint Eastwood carved a niche for himself and he is still going great guns.
An unforgettable legend not only of the movies but of America.
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