Clinton Eastwood Jr. After achieving success in the Western TV series Rawhide , Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the " Man with No Name " in Sergio Leone 's Dollars Trilogy of spaghetti Westerns during the mids and as antihero cop Harry Callahan in the five Dirty Harry films throughout the s and s. These roles, among others, have made Eastwood an enduring cultural icon of masculinity. Since , Eastwood's company Malpaso Productions has produced all but four of his American films.
In addition to directing many of his own star vehicles , Eastwood has directed films in which he did not appear, such as the mystery drama Mystic River and the war film Letters from Iwo Jima , for which he received Academy Award nominations, as well as the legal thriller Juror 2 Bestowed two of France's highest civilian honors, he received the Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in , and the Legion of Honour in During her son's fame, Ruth was known by the surname of her second husband, John Belden Wood β , whom she married after the death of Clinton Sr.
Eastwood attended Piedmont Middle School , [ 23 ] where he was held back due to poor academic scores, and records indicate he also had to attend summer school.
Eastwood held a number of odd jobs, including lifeguard, paper carrier, grocery clerk, forest firefighter, and golf caddy. According to a CBS press release for Rawhide , Universal-International 's camera crew was shooting in Fort Ord when an enterprising assistant spotted Eastwood and invited him to meet the director, [ 34 ] although this is disputed by Eastwood's unauthorized biographer, Patrick McGilligan.
He didn't know which way to turn or which way to go or do anything. Eastwood joined the Marsh Agency, and although Lubin landed him his biggest role to date in The First Traveling Saleslady and later hired him for Escapade in Japan , without a formal contract, Eastwood was struggling. He landed several small roles in as a temperamental army officer for a segment of ABC 's Reader's Digest series, and as a motorcycle gang member on a Highway Patrol episode.
