Clint Eastwood rose to fame with his ‘Man with no Name’ character in Sergio Leone’s popular Spaghetti Westerns, the Dollars trilogy. Eastwood starred in three films that made him a breakout star and has since been a part of many Westers, both as an actor and a director.
While Eastwood’s role as the Man with no Name made him a household name, the actor initially did not want to go to Italy and Spain to make Westerns and had reportedly rejected the offer.
Clint Eastwood’s Penchant For Westerns
Actor-director Clint Eastwood owes his entire career to the Western genre. Even before his breakout role in the Dollars trilogy, Eastwood starred in the Western TV series Rawhide, in which he played the role of Rowdy Yates. The show lasted eight seasons and Eastwood starred along with actor Eric Fleming in the series.
Eastwood mentioned that he got the role in Rawhide by accident. Talking about it in an interview with Parade, Eastwood spoke about the luck factor in his career and how he came to work in the legendary show,
“I was at CBS Studios having tea with a friend, and a man came up to me and said, ‘Are you an actor?’ All of a sudden, I’m doing a series. I could make a living. You have to work hard and develop yourself in the acting profession—but a lot of outside things have to happen at the right time too.”
Clint Eastwood went on to star in multiple Westerns after the show and gained international stardom for starring in Sergio Leone’s Dollars trilogy. When he started directing, he again went for Westerns such as High Planes Drifter, Pale Rider, Bronco Billy, and The Outlaw Josey Wales.
Eastwood received his first Academy Award for the Western Unforgiven. He also acted in the film, playing the role of William Munny, and starred along with Morgan Freeman, Richard Harris, and Gene Hackman. Eastwood won the Oscar for Best Director for the film and was also nominated for Best Actor.
Clint Eastwood Initially Rejected His Breakout Role
With such a close relationship with the genre, it is surprising to know that Clint Eastwood was initially apprehensive about starring in Sergio Leone’s first film in the Dollars trilogy, A Fistful of Dollars. The Spaghetti Western genre was quite popular in the ’60s, with many international co-productions coming together to make Westerns with an Italian touch.
The cast would usually consist of Italian or Spanish actors, with an Italian director taking over the reigns. The films were shot in Italy, Spain, and sometimes Germany. Clint Eastwood mentioned that he did not want to do the film but was convinced by his agent to read the script. He said,
“I said no way. But the woman at [his talent agency] William Morris said that she had promised the Rome office that I would at least read the script…I realized the story was Yojimbo by Akira Kurosawa, which I was a big fan of. And I was going to make $10,000 to work in Spain and Italy, and I’d never been to Europe. So I figured that I would go and have a good trip.”
The actor’s seemingly unplanned decision to make these films as a way to earn good money and travel to Europe launched him as a leading star in Hollywood. Eastwood would later credit Sergio Leone as his mentor while accepting his Oscar for Best Director for Unforgiven.
