Following a brief illness, Roxanne Tunis, a dancer and actress best known as the former lover of actor-filmmaker Clint Eastwood, passed away on Monday, August 7. She was 93 years old at the time of her demise. The news of her death was confirmed by her daughter Kimber Eastwood to Radar Online.
The 59-year-old Kimber Eastwood is Roxanne and Clint’s daughter. After breaking the news of her mother’s death, she also told the news outlet that her 93-year-old father was “just as sad as I am,” after she informed him that Tunis was no more. She further added:
“Our lives are forever changed.”
For those unaware, Roxanne Tunis and Clint Eastwood were involved in an extramarital affair for 14 years, from 1959 to 1973, when both of them were married to other people. An anonymous insider source close to Tunis said that she and Clint “maintained a healthy relationship…until the end” and that she was “one of Clint’s true loves.” The source also revealed how the Hollywood icon was “devastated by the loss and for his daughter Kimber.”
Roxanne Tunis met Clint Eastwood while working as a stunt woman
Born as Rose Ann Tunis on April 13, 1930, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Roxanne Tunis’s parents, Pietro Trunzo and Theresa Costa, were Latino immigrants. She had three brothers and six sisters. As per IMDb, she moved to Los Angeles in her late 20s to make a career as a dancer and actress in Hollywood.
Roxanne Tunis was trained in modern dance by the legendary Martha Graham. Lately, she was also interested in vegan diets, healthy food, and transcendental meditation, for which she toured the world financed by her lover Clint Eastwood.
Roxanne Tunis came across Clint Eastwood when he was at the peak of his career in 1959. She was working as a stuntwoman on the TV show Rawhide when she met Eastwood and the duo immediately fell in love.
Back then, she was married to Jack Watson Scheck Jr. (from 1956 to 1984) and Eastwood was married to his college sweetheart Maggie Johnson, whom he divorced in 1964, after over three decades of marriage. They had two children, Kyle and Allison.
Roxanne Tunis was a guest star in Eastwood’s 1968 film Hang ‘Em High. Many believe that it was Eastwood’s influence that helped Tunis’ career. Both of them partnered for two movies, Eastwood’s 1973 directorial Breezy and action comedy Every Which Way But Loose in 1978. Besides these films, she also made appearances in the likes of Take Her She’s Mine (1963) and Blue City (1986).
Kimber was born to Roxanne Tunis and Clint Eastwood in June 1964 during their extramarital affair, which lasted until 1973. As per IMDb, Clint allegedly paid millions of dollars to Tunis to maintain her silence on their illicit affair and also paid child alimony to raise their daughter Kimber.
Tunis, in turn, respected his wish and spent her retired life since the late 1980s in Denver, Colorado, where she taught self-meditation courses. However, when they worked together, they were open about their love for each other, as per a Hollywood veteran’s statement to Radar Online, who did not wish to be named.
While talking about her mother, Kimber told Radar Online how “she loved painting, drawing, writing, and traveling.” She also added how Tunis was a dedicated daughter, mother, sister, friend, and grandmother. Towards the end, Tunis, according to her daughter, also became religious.