Clint Eastwood

One of today’s living legends was born on this day in 1930. Clint Eastwood began acting circa 1955, performing in B movies for Universal. A year and a half later, the studio dropped him (rumor being because a studio executive thought his Adam’s Apple was too big). Eastwood rebounded with a part on the long-running CBS western “Rawhide,” which led to his Man With No Name role in 1964 in Sergio Leone’s classic spaghetti western trilogy–A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Eastwood cemented his star status with the title role in Dirty Harry, a part he would reprise in its four sequels. Today he is equally well known as a talented director, having been nominated for three directing Oscars in the past four years and winning once. He has also served as producer on several of his films, accepting a Best Picture Academy Award in 2004 for Million Dollar Baby.

Factoid: On “Inside the Actor’s Studio,” Clint recounted how surprised he was to find himself starring in the hit film A Fistful of Dollars in 1964. The title had been The Magnificent Stranger up until days before the premiere and no one had clued him in.