Clint Eastwood, the legendary actor and director, has officially retired from Hollywood after a career spanning seven decades and more than 70 films. The four-time Oscar winner, who turned 96 on 31 May, shot to fame on the TV series Rawhide in the 1960s before starring in Sergio Leone's spaghetti western Dollars trilogy, including The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
Eastwood directed his first film, Play Misty for Me, in the 1970s and went on to release acclaimed films such as Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby, Changeling, Gran Torino, American Sniper and The Mule. Known for his quick-speed directorial style, he often wrapped ahead of schedule and under budget, and adeptly turned his hand to westerns, thrillers, biopics, romances, war films and musicals.
His son, musician and composer Kyle Eastwood, confirmed the retirement at a gig in November, saying: “I have many fond memories of working with him. Now he’s retired, he’s 95 years old.” Eastwood's last on-screen performance was in Cry Macho (2021), and his final film as director was the 2024 legal thriller Juror No 2, starring Nicholas Hoult and Toni Collette.
Actress Laura Linney, who worked with Eastwood three times, shared insights into his unique directorial style. She noted that he avoids shouting “action” or “cut” because of his experience on westerns, where loud noises would alarm the horses. “He talks in that level voice. He stands next to the camera, watches the scene, goes, ‘OK you can stop. Did you feel good about that? I felt good about that. Were we in focus? OK, we can move on,’” she said.
Eastwood directed five actors to Oscars: Gene Hackman (Unforgiven), Sean Penn and Tim Robbins (both Mystic River), Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman (both Million Dollar Baby). Freeman named Eastwood his favourite director, while Meryl Streep recalled that Eastwood defended her when the studio deemed her too old to play the female lead in The Bridges of Madison County at age 45.
