In 1955, Eastwood landed a contract with Universal Pictures and got bits parts in B-movies such as Tarantula, revenge of the creature,and Francis in the navy, in which he appeared with the famous "Talking Mule." Universal soon dropped him, but his luck changed after a CBS Executive spotted him on the studio's lot in 1959. The exec, who thought Eastwood looked like a real cowboy, signed him to star on TV's Rawhide. He would play the Character Rowdy Yates for the next seven years, becoming a household name in the process.

In 1964, during his break from the TV series, Eastwood flew to Spain in Italian director Sergio Leone's A fistful of dollars. The following year, he returned to appeared as the "Man with no Name" (as his character was billed) in For A few Dollars More. In 1967, both films were finally released in the U.S., and did well at the box office. His third and final "Spaghetti Western" with Leone, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (also 1967) made him a bigger box office draw back home and a rising star internationally.

Now firmly established as a star of Old West action films, Eastwood appeared in the American-Made HANG'EM HIGH and COOGAN'S BLUFF (1968). He co-starred with Richard Burton in the world War II spy drama, Where Eagles Dare, and got to sing as well as act in the 1969 western hit comedy Paint Your Wagon. His rendition of "I Talk To the trees" from that film became a top 20 hit in the UK. That same year, Eastwood also starred in the Western Two Mules for sister Sara and Kelly's Heroes, a world war II adventure comedy.

1971 proved to be an important year for Eastwood. In addition to starring in what he considers to be his personal favourite film of his, The Beguiled, he played the hard-edge detective, "Dirty" Harry Callahan, for the first in Dirty Harry. The role was originally intended for Frank Sinatra, but went to Eastwood after Sinatra dropped out at the last minute. Also that year, he formed his own production company called Malpaso, and made directorial debut with the thriller Play Misty For Me, in which he played a radio disk jockey being stalked by a unstable fan.

He returned to the western Genre for his next couple of roles, starring in Joe Kidd and High Plains Drifter (both 1972), which he also directed. He then starred in Magnum Force (1973) (the first sequel to "dirty Harry") and Thunderbolt and Lightfoot(1974), which paired him with a young Jeff Bridges He starred in and directed The Eiger Sanction(1975), a spy thriller, and the outlaw Josey Wales (1976), yet another western. The Enforcer, often considered to be the best Dirty Harry sequel, was also released in 1976.

Another police drama, The Gauntlet (1977), co-starred Sondra Locke, who also appeared in The Outlaw Josey Wales, and who apparently became Eastwood's real-life love interest in 1975. His marriage to Maggie ended in divorce in 1978. That same year, he starred in his first all-out comedy, Every which Way But Loose, which paired him with an orangutan named Clyde. He rounded out the '70's with the thriller "the escape from Alcatraz" in 1979.

In 1980, he reteamed with Clyde for the sequel Any which way you can,and also starred and directed the romantic adventure flick Bronko Billy. He continued his dual role of actor/director for his next three features, 1982's Firefox and HonkyTonk Man, which co-starred son Kyle, and the third sequel to "Dirty Harry", 1983's sudden Impact. 1984 found him in the police drama Tightrope, which featured offspring Alison playing his daughter, and City Heat, a '30's era comedy that teamed him with '70s box-office chief rival, Burt Reynolds.

Eastwood returned to the director's chair for "Pale Rider" (1985) and Heartbreak Ridge (1986), in which he played a marine. He was elected mayor of Carmel-by-the-sea, California in 1986, and served until 1988. His relationship with Locke ended in 1988, the same year he directed Bird, the critically acclaimed biography of be-bop Charlie Bird Parker. The Dead Pool, the final sequel to Dirty Harry, also appeared in 1988, though it failed to live up to the box office expectations of the previous films in the series.

Eastwood's next few films also suffered poor box-office attendance, as well as some unfavourable reviews, and it seemed as though his star was beginning to fade. All that changed with 1992's Unforgiven, a revisionist western that won rave reviews and did remarkably well at the box office. The film earned Eastwood his first Oscar nomination as best actor (which Al Pacino won that year), and won him the Academy award fro Best Director as well as Best Picture.

He delivered another fine performance for his portrayal of an aging Secret Service agent in 1993's In The Line Of Fire, which also did great business. He returned to directing with A Perfect World (also '93), which paired him with another actor come Oscar Winning Director Kevin Costner.

On a personal note, daughter Francesca Ruth Fisher Eastwood was born 7th August, 1993; mother Francis Fisher is an actress who appeared in Unforgiven. In 1995, Eastwood won the Academy's Irving G. Thalberg Memorial award, and directed and co-starred with Meryl Streep in the well received The Bridges of Madison County.

Mr Eastwood is still at large and can be seen in the police thriller Mystic River.