eer, but what really happened is that the part was offered to Eastwood's Rawhide co-star, Eric Fleming but he turned it down. The part had already been turned down by James Coburn, Charles Brosnon, Richard Harrison and Henry Fonda. It was Irving Leonard, Eric Fleming's agent who passed on the offer to Clint.This has been disputed by Sergio Leone but then Leone was always fanciful with the truth. After watching an episode of Rawhide, Incident of the Black Sheep, he said - "I noticed the lazy, laidback way he stole every scene from Fleming. His laziness is what came about so clearly."
Clint wasn't initially keen but his wife, Maggie saw something in the script and persuaded the star to take the role. There were rumours that Maggie wanted to get Clint away from his mistress, Roxanne Tunis and whilst this may have had something to do with it, Eastwood was highly skilled at keeping his public image pristine.
"I was tired of playing the nice green cowboy in Rawhide. I wanted something earthier." Clint told an interviewer after the films were huge international hits.
"I needed a mask more than an actor." Sergio Leone.
As every western fan knows Clint went onto make three movies with Leone, each of them better than the last, culminating with The Good and the Bad and The Ugly which must rate as one of the best westerns ever made. The films would establish Eastwood as a mega star - a standing he enjoys to this day.
However while Clint was away filming that first western, trouble was brewing in America when Roxanne Tunis, Clint's on-off mistress gave birth to a child, Kimber. The baby's father on the State of California birth certificate is given as Clinton Eastwood Jr.
Clint had to return to Rawhide after finishing work on The Magnificent Stranger (AKA A Fistful of Dollars) and would for the moment stay married to Maggie, but then Clint always lived a charmed life where his many women were concerned.
NEXT - WHAT HAPPENED BETWEEN CLINT AND BEST FRIEND, BILL TOMPKINS?
2 comments:
Wow, I didn't know much of this stuff. I suppose rich famous men will always have mistresses.
And Clint more than most - that's why I want to become rich and famous. LOL
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