Clint Eastwood was born in San Francisco, California on May 31, 1930. Clinton Eastwood (1906–1970) and Ruth (Runner) Wood (1909–2006) were his parents.¹⁾

His mother adopted the surname of his father's second marriage, John Belden Wood (1913–2004). After Clint Eastwood's father died, she married him.²⁾

Clint was already unique when he was born. He was so unique that the nurses in the hospital nicknamed him “Samson.” What made him so unique? At birth, he weighed a whopping 11 pounds and 6 ounces (5.2 kilograms)!³⁾

Since Clint Eastwood was born on May 31, his solar sign is in Gemini. He was born in San Francisco at 5:35 p.m., which means his moon is in Leo and his ascendant is in Scorpio.⁴⁾

Clint's mother could never have imagined the success he would eventually achieve as an actor and film director. She once joked about her son, saying:

“It’s a shame he wasn’t born rich, because he could have had so much fun”.⁵⁾

He is descended from English, Irish, Scottish, and Dutch ancestors. Clint Eastwood is a descendent of “Mayflower” passenger William Bradford, which is one of his intriguing facts. Clint Eastwood is the 12th generation of William Bradford's descendants in North America.⁶⁾

The Mayflower was a British ship that brought the first English Puritans, known as Pilgrims today, to the New World. In 1620, it transported 102 passengers and 30 crew members from Plymouth, England, to North America.⁷⁾

Clint Eastwood was born in 1934 and has a younger sister called Jeanne Bernhardt. As her father worked several jobs, she and her elder brother relocated all over the West Coast of America. Clint was just ten years old at this time period in the 1930s.⁸⁾

After nearly a decade of wandering, the family landed in the little hamlet of Piedmont, Alameda County, California. Piedmont is next to the city of Oakland. They lived there during the 1940s, and Clint Eastwood attended Piedmont Middle School there. He later planned to attend Piedmont High School but was denied admission.⁹⁾

Apparently, his father did a decent job, and the family was able to save a lot of money, allowing them to move into a lovely house in Piedmont's upper-middle-class area. Furthermore, their home had its own pool, the parents were members of a country club, and each had their own automobile.¹⁰⁾

He wasn't accepted, but he was respectfully requested not to attend the elite Piedmont High School, which was attended by wealthy students. He got caught riding his motorcycle on the football field at school. He tore it all up in the process since it was damp.¹¹⁾

Clint Eastwood had many jobs after dropping out of school in the years that followed. Surprisingly, all of his vocations were stereotypically male, such as steelworker, firefighter, lumberjack, and logger. What's noteworthy about his career history is that it taught him to value hard effort and built his work ethic.¹²⁾

Clint Eastwood could hardly be expected to get into university with a record like his at school and a slew of odd jobs.Nonetheless, he stated that this was his objective, and for one reason only: his love of jazz! Perhaps he learnt something when he skipped school and went to jazz clubs instead. So when he found out that Seattle University had an excellent music department, he decided to attend.¹³⁾

Clint was enlisted into the US Army in 1951. An important detail is that he was recruited during the Korean War, which had begun just a year previously.¹⁴⁾

In his own words, he constantly alludes to being recruited for the United States Army without mentioning the Korean War. So, how did Clint Eastwood get away from the horrors of Korea? For the whole two years he was in the army, he worked as a lifeguard at Ford Ord in Northern California.¹⁵⁾

Clint Eastwood dodged combat, according to Patrick McGilligan's biography of him, by romancing the daughter of one of the commanders at Fort Ord. Because Clint was the officer's daughter's boyfriend, the officer would make sure he wasn't sent by hiring him as a lifeguard and double-checking to make sure his name wasn't on the list.¹⁶⁾

During his stay at Fort Ord, he opted to fly back from a vacation in Seattle on the only plane available at the time, a Douglas AD. By any standard, this was not a passenger plane, but rather a World War II military torpedo bomber. “Everything went wrong, and the plane ultimately ran out of gasoline,” he recounts, and he felt “nothing but intense horror.” They were flying over the water when they crashed into it, narrowly averting catastrophic injury.¹⁷⁾

He was fit enough for a lengthy swim because he worked as a lifeguard. Because it was November, the water was quite cold, therefore swimming quickly was essential. The plane crashed in Point Reyes, California, just 2 miles (3.2 km) off the coast, allowing him and the pilot to escape safety. That area of the water is teeming with white sharks, which are among the deadliest creatures on the planet!¹⁸⁾

He was able to get into a Hollywood movie studio thanks to a pal at Fort Ord named Chuck Hill. He presented himself to Irving Glassberg, who set up an audition with Arthur Lubin, a well-known film director at Universal Studios. As Lubin pointed out, it was evident that Clint Eastwood wasn't much of an actor back then. “He was a complete noob. He had no idea which direction to turn, which way to walk, or what to do”. ¹⁹⁾

Eastwood's size (at 6'4′′ or 193cm) and overall aura had to have impressed Lubin. He is the one who handed him his first acting contract for $100 per week. Clint Eastwood was compelled to take acting school in order to enhance his skills.²⁰⁾

Despite the fact that he received a great break and was able to sign a deal with Universal Studios (despite the fact that it paid little money), the corporation did not extend his contract and cancelled it on October 23, 1955. His stiff acting and delivery of words between his teeth were their biggest gripes.²¹⁾

Through Arthur Lubin, he was able to gain a recommendation for Billy Wilder's new film, “The Spirit of St. Louis,” in which he played a character he really desired. To persuade Billy Wilder, he sent him a very courteous letter on October 26, 1954, even warning him of an on-screen interview he appeared to have botched previously, which he worried would harm his chances of getting the job.²²⁾

When Clint Eastwood was working for Universal, another would-be actor who went on to become a huge hit, Burt Reynolds, was also working there. Clint Eastwood, he claims, was dismissed because his Adam's apple was protruding too much.²³⁾

He finally got the big break he had been hoping for after years of struggle. He was cast as Rowdy Yates in Rawhide, a CBS hour-long western series. The series began filming in the summer of 1958.²⁴⁾

He barely made $750 each episode in the first season of Rawhide. By the end of 1963, the show's popularity had begun to dwindle, and it was finally terminated in 1965. He collected a stunning $119,000 in severance money for each episode that was canceled!²⁵⁾

Sergio Leone decided to contract him for the first of what would subsequently be known as the “Spaghetti Westerns,” “A Fistful of Dollars,” in 1964. His depiction of “The Man with No Name” would eventually define his whole acting career and propel him to stardom.²⁶⁾

The location where the films were shot is still used as an entertainment venue in the Spanish city of Almeria. The attraction is appropriately named “Mini-Hollywood,” and in addition to the village and bar where the movies were made, a performance is staged every day.²⁷⁾

The Spaghetti Westerns were released in the United States for the first time in 1967, and they were an instant financial hit. “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” which made Clint Eastwood an immediate international cinematic star.²⁸⁾

Despite the fact that “The Man with No Name” was the role that launched his acting career, he was quite fortunate to land it. He wasn't the first pick, and he only got a shot because James Coburn (renowned for “The Great Escape”) demanded $25,000 and Charles Bronson believed the writing for “A Fistful of Dollars” was one of the worst he'd ever read.²⁹⁾

Clint Eastwood's breakthrough film was a remake of “Yojimbo,” a Japanese film released just a few years earlier in 1961.³⁰⁾