Clint Eastwood - I'VE HAD AN Amazing Life

THE CELEBRATED ACTOR AND OSCAR-WINNING DIRECTOR HAS COME A VERY LONG WAY

- LOUISE A. BARILE

In 1958, Clint Eastwood threatened to stop acting after a screening of his movie Ambush at Cimarron Pass. “It was so bad I just kept sinking lower and lower in my seat,” he recalls. “I said to my wife, ‘I’m going to quit, I’m really going to quit.’”

Lucky for the world’s movie lovers, he hung in there. A short time later, CBS hired him to play Rowdy Yates on the western series Rawhide. Clint didn’t love his noble character, but the part brought him financial security, a chance to finetune his acting and the opportunity to observe the art of directing. “I’ve never had a plan, in my career as an actor or a director,” admits the fourtime Oscar winner. “Things would just pop up and I’d get a feeling about them.”

Clint’s instincts proved largely to be right (although he did turn down Martin Sheen’s role in 1979’s Apocalypse Now). The star, 93, is currently working on the courtroom thriller Juror #2. “They say this is probably his last film, but I wouldn’t hold my breath,” says a friend. “He’s older, he tires a little quicker than he used to, but he can still keep up with the rest of the cast and crew. Filming doesn’t stress him out, it actually relaxes him.”