Clint Eastwood: Interviews, Revised and Updated

Chronology

xxiii Chronology Dates following film titles are U.S. release dates unless otherwise noted. Unless another director is noted, the director is Eastwood; if other actors are not named, the film stars or co-stars Eastwood. 1930 Clinton Eastwood Jr. is born on May 31 in San Francisco. 1930–40 The Eastwood family moves around California as Clinton Sr. takes what jobs he can find during the Depression. 1940–48 The Eastwoods settle in Piedmont, California; Eastwood attends school in Piedmont and Oakland. 1946 Hears Charlie Parker for the first time in Oakland. Begins playing jazz piano informally at the Omar Club in Oakland. 1948 Graduates from Oakland Technical High School; moves with his family to Seattle. 1948–51 Works at several jobs in the Pacific Northwest: lifeguard, lumberjack, paper mill worker, steelworker, etc. 1951 Applies to Seattle University, intending to major in music, but is drafted; stationed at Fort Ord on the Monterey Peninsula . Nearly lost at sea when the two-man plane he is in goes down; swims three miles to shore. 1951–53 Army service at Fort Ord. 1953 Discharged; meets and marries Maggie Johnson; enrolls at Los Angeles City College. Attends drama classes; his teachers include the Michael Chekhov disciple George Shdanoff. 1954–55 Accepted into Universal-International Studios’ talent program . Assigned minor roles in seven Universal films before leaving the program in late 1955. 1956–58 Small parts in three more films and the second lead in a minor Western, Ambush at Cimarron Pass (Jodie Copelan, 1958); occasional television work; digs swimming pools to supplement his income. xxiv chronology 1959–66 Appears as second lead in most of the 217 episodes of the Western series Rawhide. The Eastwoods settle in Carmel-bythe -Sea, near Fort Ord. 1964 Stars for Sergio Leone in a Western filmed in Spain and Italy. Released in Italy as Per un pugno di dollari (A Fistful of Dollars ), it unexpectedly becomes a hit across Europe. Birth of daughter Kimber (with Roxanne Tunis). 1965–66 Stars in two more films for Leone: For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, also hits in Europe. 1966 Directed by Vittorio de Sica in a segment of The Witches (Italy , 1967). United Artists acquires U.S. rights to the Leone films. 1967–68 The three Leone films open in the U.S.; all are huge hits. 1967 Establishes his own production company, Malpaso, to share in the production of his first U.S. starring vehicle, the Western Hang ’Em High (Ted Post, 1968), shot for UA in New Mexico . Signs three-picture deal with Universal, later extended (films made through 1975 are Malpaso productions for Universal unless otherwise noted). First collaboration with Don Siegel, the cop drama Coogan’s Bluff (1968), shot in New York City and the Mojave Desert. 1968 In Austria and London for MGM’s World War II thriller Where Eagles Dare (Brian G. Hutton, 1969). Birth of son Kyle. In Oregon for Paramount’s Western-themed musical Paint Your Wagon (Joshua Logan, 1969). Hang ’Em High and Coogan’s Bluff released; both are hits. 1969–70 Shoots two more films with Don Siegel: the Western Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970) and the Civil War drama The Beguiled (1971), respectively in Mexico and near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 1969 Shoots MGM’s World War II adventure Kelly’s Heroes (Brian G. Hutton, 1970) in Yugoslavia; the last film he will work on in which Malpaso is not involved, except for 1993’s In the Line of Fire. 1970 Death of Eastwood’s father. Shoots his first film as director in Carmel and vicinity, Play Misty for Me (1971) about a disc jockey (Eastwood) stalked by a crazed female fan. 1971 Shoots the controversial cop picture Dirty Harry in San Francisco for Don Siegel and Warner Bros., beginning what will become a near-exclusive relationship with Warners. Play chronology xxv Misty for Me opens; a modest success. Shoots the Western Joe Kidd (John Sturges, 1972) in New Mexico. Dirty Harry is released; despite some sharply negative critical reaction owing to its perceived political message, it is Eastwood’s biggest audience success to date. 1972 Birth of daughter Alison. Shoots his first Western as director, High Plains Drifter (1973), at Mono Lake, California. Named to the National Council for the Arts. Directs William Holden in the romance Breezy (1973). 1973 Named Quigley Publications’ Number One Box-Office...