Every actor gets their big break from somewhere, and for Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood, that big break came in the form of Sergio Leone’s seminal spaghetti western A Fistful of Dollars. While Eastwood previously had Western experience, starring in the CBS TV series Rawhide, appearing in a single episode of the ABC show Maverick, and playing a minor role in the movie Ambush at Cimarron Pass, that’s not the main reason that Leone chose Eastwood to play the iconic Man with No Name. Eastwood told The Independent the real reason: he was willing to work for a tiny salary.
According to Clint Eastwood, Leone originally wanted the Man with No Name to be played by Rory Calhoun, a now-forgotten actor who had previously worked with Sergio Leone on the 1961 sword-and-sandal film The Colossus of Rhodes. Eastwood was, at the time, primarily a TV actor, while Rhodes had already been the star of multiple westerns, including The Saga of Hemp Brown, Apache Territory, and Ride Out for Revenge. However, Calhoun wasn’t willing to accept the low wages that Leone was offering — Eastwood was.
In all, Clint Eastwood was paid $15,000 to fly out to Spain and star in the movie. Eastwood desperately wanted to move on from television to films, and his agent advised him that he had no leverage to negotiate the salary — if he wanted to star in a film, he had to take the offer. This turned out to be one of the best decisions in Clint Eastwood’s life.
These days, the poncho-wearing, gun-slinging, cigar-smoking Man with No Name is such an iconic figure that it almost seems synonymous with the idea of a Western antihero. Eastwood played the character in two other Sergio Leone films — the 1965 sequel A Few Dollars More, and the 1966 movie The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. When Eastwood later went on to direct his own films, he drew upon (and subverted) the character in the films High Plains Drifter, Pale Rider, and most famously, Unforgiven.
It almost goes without saying that having the starring role in A Fistful of Dollars catapulted Clint Eastwood into fame. His career soon led him to perform in other iconic movies, including Dirty Harry, The Outlaw Josey Wales, and Heartbreak Ridge. His directorial efforts were also a major success, with Eastwood winning the Best Picture and Best Director Academy Awards for two different films: Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby.
As Clint Eastwood rose in prominence, Rory Calhoun slowly faded into obscurity. Ironically, Calhoun started appearing more and more on television as Eastwood lit up the silver screen, having many minor roles on TV through the 60s and 70s before landing a part on the soap opera Capitol in 1982. The show went on for five seasons, with Calhoun appearing in 1248 of the show’s 1,293 episodes.
While the 92-year-old Clint Eastwood appears to be retiring after directing Juror #2, with his other most-recent films being 2021’s Cry Macho and 2018’s The Mule, he is still a household name — and will likely remain one for quite some time.