HAPPY BIRTHDAY EASTWOOD AS ACTING LEGEND TURNS 80
Movie legend CLINT EASTWOOD celebrates his 80th birthday on Monday (31May 10) with an iconic career spanning more than five decades.
The California-born actor, director, producer and composer has set the standard for Hollywood newcomers with a slew of awards and honours that h as already earned him a place in movie history as one of the most prolifi c stars of his generation.
WENN would like to wish Eastwood the very best as he enters life as an octogenarian.
To mark the occasion, WENN has trawled through the archives and dug out 10 fascinating facts about the Dirty Harry star: - The actor is a junior - his father is Clinton Eastwood, Sr.
- He lost his virginity at the age of 14.
- Eastwood was drafted into the U.S
. Army in 1950 for the Korean War bu t never got a chance to fight for his country.
- His acting breakthrough came in 1959 when he landed a starring role o n TV western Rawhide
. The series ended in 1965.
- Eastwood served as the mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea in his native Calif ornia for two years from 1986.
- So far in his career, he has won five Academy Awards, five Golden Glo be Awards and has been honoured with the Screen Actors Guild Life Achieve ment Award.
- As vigilante Inspector Harry Callahan in the Dirty Harry franchise, E astwood never said what is perhaps his most attributed quote, "Do you fee l lucky, punk?" Instead, while pointing his gun at a bank robber in the o pening sequence of the 1971 movie, he said, "Being as this is a .44 Magnu m, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, d o ya punk?" - Eastwood was approached by 007 bosses to take over the role of James Bond when Sean Connery quit the franchise in 1983 - but he turned down th e job because he was convinced the superspy should be played by a British actor.
- At 78, he became the oldest leading man to score a U.S
. box office nu mber one when his drama Gran Torino, which he also directed, opened at th e top of the charts upon its release in January,
2009. It grossed over $2 68 million (=C2=A3178.7 million) worldwide and is his highest-grossing fi lm to date.
- Eastwood has seven children by five different women, but has only bee n married twice
.
Movie & Entertainment News provided by World Entertainment News Network (www.wenn.com)
