22 Interesting Facts You May Not Know About Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood had a near-death experience when he hopped a free ride on a Douglas AD Bomber plane in the early 1950s. The plane ran out of gas around Point Reyes, CA, and crashed into the ocean.

He described the experience, saying, "So we went swimming. It was late October, November. Very cold water I found out many years later that it was a white shark breeding ground, but I’m glad I didn’t know that at the time or I’d have just died.” Thankfully, Eastwood and the pilot were both able to swim the 3 miles ashore to safety. 

Clint Eastwood has been a certified pilot since 1989.

He even flies his very own helicopter to work in order to avoid traffic.

In the 1950s, Eastwood had some success in B-movies and bit parts on television, but he was digging swimming pools in Hollywood in order to support himself financially. His luck changed in 1958 when he was visiting a friend on the CBS lot. A studio executive spotted the rugged and handsome Eastwood and asked him if he was an actor.

Turns out, the exec needed someone to play a cowboy on a new western television show called Rawhide. Clint got the part of Rowdy Yates, Rawhide became a hit, and Eastwood remained on the show for eight seasons.

Okay, maybe that's not the only reason Clint Eastwood ran for mayor of the California coastal city Carmel-by-the-Sea. His campaign slogan was "Bringing the Community Together." Before he ran for office, there was an ancient law in the local books that banned selling and eating ice cream on public streets.

Once Eastwood was elected, he repealed the law and set out to pass several pro-business items of legislation that helped both the business sector and the community. He served in office for two years, from 1986 to 1988.

Clint Eastwood has played several iconic characters over his six decades in show business. However, his most storied character is perhaps Blondie, AKA The Man with No Name, from Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy. The part was originally offered to Eric Fleming, who turned down the opportunity because the role did not pay enough. Then Charles Bronson, Henry Fonda, and Richard Harrison all passed on the spaghetti western.

When the idea of Eastwood was pitched to Leone, he declined because he thought of Clint as a background guy. Eventually, Leone agreed to cast Eastwood, and the trilogy launched both of their film careers.

During an interview promoting his memoir, But Enough About Me, Burt Reynolds said that both he and Clint Eastwood were fired from an acting gig on the same day in the early 1960s.

Reynolds explained, "They told him his Adam's apple stuck out too far, he talked too slow, and he had to get that chipped tooth fixed. I then said, 'Why are you firing me?' and they said, 'You can't act!'"