“I had nothing to lose”: 1950’s Show Saved Clint Eastwood’s Career, Made Him $375,000,000

We all know Clint Eastwood due to his impeccable direction style in his projects. But before his directorial journey, he won Hollywood’s heart with his charming looks during his acting career. Due to that astounding combination, his career has spanned over half a century with great hits which include films like Gran Torino, Million Dollar Baby, and Sully. 

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However, his journey was not always easy as he had to go through some difficult times. But things started to go better when he landed a role in Rawhide.

Clint Eastwood’s Rawhide Led New Opportunities for Him

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Clint Eastwood started his acting journey through TV series. However, this journey was not easy as he told in the book Clint Eastwood: Interviews about getting the role of Rowdy Yates in Rawhide.

“I was visiting a friend at CBS,” he shared. “And an executive saw me drinking coffee in the cafeteria and came over and asked me to test. It was a fluke.”

This audition finally led him to his breakthrough series which ran for eight seasons. By working on it, he gained the freedom to work on other projects which eventually revived his career.

Before Rawhide, he was a struggling actor with some uncredited appearances in projects that didn’t help him much. He once claimed that he was serious about leaving acting for good to pursue something else but this TV series eventually gave him his breakthrough thus changing his mind.

Clint Eastwood Took a Career Risk as Rawhide Backed Him Up

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The actor was not much happy about working in the TV series, which is why he decided to film A Fistful Of Dollars when he got a break from the Western show.

“In the sixth year, I had exhausted everything I could do on a horse, so I took a hiatus and went to Spain to make Fistful of Dollars.”

He went all out knowing that he had a job to fall on if things didn’t go in his favor.

“I had nothing to lose. I had a job waiting in TV, and I knew if it was a flop, nobody would ever see it anyway.”

The film was his first leading project and he was paid $15,000 for his role. It was a successful movie that led to two sequels catapulting him to stardom.

As for Eastwood’s first leading TV series, it came to an end after eight seasons as some major changes were seen at the time with his co-star, Eric Fleming abruptly exiting the series over a reported dispute with producers. His exit led to Eastwood getting the major spotlight which he didn’t appreciate. Eventually, the show was canceled after its ratings drastically dropped but everything went well for the director. His work continued to grow rapidly which eventually helped him amass a net worth of $375 million as of 2023.

Source: Clint Eastwood: Interviews