Clint Eastwood

Director, Actor (1930 – Now ) 

 Eastwood  made his name as a popular TV and film actor, and went on to become the Academy Award-winning director of such features as 'Unforgiven' and 'Million Dollar Baby.'

Synopsis

 Born on May 31, 1930, in San Francisco, California, Clint Eastwood got his big break with a starring role on the television program Rawhide. He then became immensely popular by portraying tough characters in a string of Sergio Leone movie Westerns and the Dirty Harry franchise. Eastwood has since earned widespread praise for directing such Academy Award–winning films as Unforgiven, Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby.

Early Life and Career

Actor, director and producer Clint Eastwood was born Clinton Eastwood Jr. on May 31, 1930, to Clinton Sr. and Ruth Eastwood, in San Francisco, California. He has one younger sister, Jeanne. After traveling and looking for work throughout California during the Depression, the family settled in the Bay Area city of Piedmont. Eastwood attended Piedmont High School and then Oakland Technical High School, graduating in 1949.

Eastwood worked odd jobs during and after high school, with stints as a hay baler, logger, truck driver and steel-furnace stoker. In 1950, he was drafted into the U.S. Army and stationed at Fort Ord on the Monterey Peninsula, where he served as a swimming instructor.

 After his discharge in 1953, Eastwood wound his way down to Los Angeles, where he took classes at Los Angeles City College and worked at a gas station. Tall and handsome, he landed a screen test with Universal and signed a contract despite minimal acting experience. His first roles were bit parts in films like Revenge of the Creature and Francis in the Navy, both released in 1955.

In 1958, Eastwood scored his big break with a major part in the TV Western Rawhide. Playing Rowdy Yates, second in command to Eric Fleming's trail boss, Eastwood slid seamlessly into the role of a hotheaded young cowboy. His character matured over the course of the program's eight seasons, with Yates taking over as trail boss toward the end.

Personal Life

Married twice, Eastwood has also been involved in several high-profile affairs. He was married to Maggie Johnson from 1953 to 1984, with whom he had two children, Kyle (b. 1968) and Alison (1972). During that time, he also had daughter Kimber (1964) with Rawhide stuntwoman Roxanne Tunis.

Beginning in 1975, Eastwood became romantically involved with co-star Sondra Locke, a relationship that ended bitterly with a palimony suit in 1989. While still living with Locke, he had two children with Jacelyn Reeves, Scott (1986) and Kathryn (1988). He and actress Frances Fisher had a daughter, Francesca Ruth, in 1993. Around that time, reports surfaced of another Eastwood daughter, born just before the start of his Hollywood career.

In 1996, Eastwood married Dina Ruiz, a 30-year-old TV newscaster, who gave birth to daughter Morgan in December. The couple separated in 2013, and their divorce was finalized in late 2014. A few months later, Eastwood went public with his new girlfriend, restaurant hostess Christina Sandera.