Clint Eastwood has been acting for longer than some of our parents have even been alive, and you may be surprised about how he got his start. By now we’re more than familiar with the 92-year-old’s prominence in the Western and thriller genres, but his earliest film role was actually an uncredited appearance in 1955’s Revenge of the Creature, in which he portrayed a lab technician named Jennings in the first act. This sequel to Creature from the Black Lagoon was critically panned, and just goes to show you that even household names come from humble beginnings.
Even A-list actors have to start somewhere, and Clint Eastwood himself was not exempt from starting out with a minor role in a niche genre. We’re reminded of 1988’s Return of the Killer Tomatoes! in which George Clooney saw one of his earliest roles, and we’re wondering if monster movies (and their sequels) are an easy point of entry for aspiring actors. Both Clint Eastwood and George Clooney are celebrated actors with long decorated careers, but long before they won Academy Awards, they had to put the work in on smaller sets before taking on the iconic roles that they are now known for.
Revenge of the Creature follows the beats of your typical 1950’s monster movie, and is centered around the Gill-man from Creature from the Black Lagoon film that preceded it. The once presumed dead Gill-man is captured and sent to the Ocean Harbor Oceanarium to be studied, and we get an early look at Clint Eastwood working in the lab, and having a brief exchange with John Agar’s Professor Clete Ferguson about a missing lab rat.
Shortly after this small uncredited appearance, Clint Eastwood would appear in another minor B-movie role alongside Agar, in 1955’s Tarantula! It wasn’t until 1959 that Clint Eastwood saw more prominent roles after being uncredited in films like Never Say Goodbye, Star in the Dust, Away All Boats, and Escapade in Japan. The Clint Eastwood that we’re more familiar with today saw his breakthrough in CBS’s Western series Rawhide with his portrayal of Rowdy Yates, a young and inexperienced cowboy who eventually graduates to the status of “trail boss” during the series’ eight-season run.
16 years into his acting career, Clint Eastwood starred in Don Siegel’s highly successful neo-noir action thriller Dirty Harry in 1971. This franchise went on to generate four sequels, and it was 1983’s Sudden Impact that brought us the iconic “go ahead, make my day,” line that has since been quoted and parodied countless times in pop culture throughout the decades.
To date, Clint Eastwood has appeared in over 60 films throughout his 65 years as an actor, director, producer, and composer. And though we’re more than familiar with his acting chops at this point, we have to pay some tribute to his commitment to the craft considering how hard he had to work during his early days to get his career to the place it needed to be. If you’re an aspiring actor who’s looking for work, just know that there is no role too small when you’re first starting out, because your hard work will eventually be noticed, and your life will change forever.