Clint Eastwood, the four-time Oscar-winning actor and director, has officially retired from Hollywood at the age of 96, per independent.co.uk.
His son Kyle, a composer who worked on several of his father’s films, confirmed the end of a seven-decade career that spanned more than 70 movies.
Eastwood first rose to fame on the television series Rawhide in the 1960s before starring in Sergio Leone’s spaghetti western Dollars trilogy, including The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
He directed his first film, Play Misty for Me, in the 1970s. Subsequent directorial credits included Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby, Changeling, Gran Torino, American Sniper and The Mule. Known for working quickly, he often finished projects ahead of schedule and under budget.
His final on-screen performance came in Cry Macho (2021). His last film as a director was the 2024 legal thriller Juror No 2, starring Nicholas Hoult and Toni Collette.
Eastwood’s son Kyle said at a concert in November: “Now he’s retired. I have many fond memories of working with him.”
Throughout his career, Eastwood directed five actors to Oscar wins: Gene Hackman, Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman, who named Eastwood his favourite director. Meryl Streep, who starred with Eastwood in The Bridges of Madison County (1995), said he successfully fought the studio when it deemed her too old for the lead role at age 45.
Fellow actor Laura Linney, who worked with Eastwood on three films, told The Independent that his quiet, no-shout directing style stemmed from his early days on westerns, where loud noises would alarm horses.
Eastwood, who turned 96 on May 31, was known for his relentless work ethic and refusal to be bound by a single genre, moving adeptly between westerns, thrillers, biopics, romances, war films and musicals. The late actor Richard Harris called Eastwood’s filmmaking preparation “astonishing”.
•Featured image: Clint Eastwood/AFP/Getty
