Clint Eastwood is one of the few actors whose name on a movie marquee can still guarantee a hit. Less well known, until he won the Academy Award as Best Director for Unforgiven, is the fact that Eastwood is also a producer/director, with a notable record of successes. Born in San Francisco, he worked as a logger and gas station attendant, among other jobs, before coming to Hollywood in the mid-1950's, where he played small roles in several Universal features (he's the pilot of the plane that napalms the giant spider at the end of Tarantula [1955]) before achieving some limited star status on the television series Rawhide. It was as the star of the three Italian-made Sergio Leone westerns A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), and The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966) that Eastwood became an international star. Upon his return to the U.S., he set up his own production company, Malpaso, which had a hit right out of the box with the revenge western Hang "em High (1967). He extended his relatively limited acting range in a succession of roles--most notably in the hit Dirty Harry (1971)--during the late 1960's and early 1970's, and directed several of his most popular movies, including 1971's Play Misty for Me (a forerunner to Fatal Attraction), High Plains Drifter (1973), and The Outlaw Josie Wales (1976). Although Eastwood became known for his violent roles, he also showed a gentler side to his persona that came through in pictures such as Bronco Billy (1980), a romantic comedy that he directed and starred in.

As a filmmaker, Eastwood learned from the best of those who had previously directed him, Don Siegel and Sergio Leone, knowing just when to add some stylistic or visual flourish to a scene that otherwise should play straightforward, and also knowing just how effective a small nuance can be on the big screen. Their approaches perfectly suited Eastwood's restrained acting style, and he integrated their approach to his filmmaking technique with startling results, culminating in 1993 with his "Best Director" Oscar for Unforgiven. In 1995, Eastwood scored a hit with the film adaptation of the best-selling book The Bridges of Madison County, in which he stars opposite Meryl Streep; he served as star, director, and producer.