1959: Clint Eastwood, American actor and director stars in his first leading role.
The “Man with No Name” once truly was an unknown man. In 1959, Clint Eastwood was a 28-year-old actor who’d starred in a handful of TV show episodes and films but was yet to truly make a splash.
That would all change on 9 January though when ‘Rawhide’ premiered on CBS TV. American audiences were introduced to Eastwood as the ramrod Rowdy Yates, a 19th century cowboy. They quickly fell in love with the handsome and mysterious man.
The theme tune to the opening is iconic itself.
Rawhide went on for eight series, finishing in 1965, but it was the breakout success of Sergio Leone’s ‘Dollars Trilogy’ that would cement Eastwood’s name in history.
‘A Fistful of Dollars’ in 1964, ‘For a Few Dollars More’ in 1965 and ‘The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly’ in 1966 made Eastwood an absolute star as the Man with No Name.
The definitive spaghetti western leading man, 92-year-old Eastwood’s career has spanned 65 years and over 60 films. His move into directing kicked off with 1971’s ‘Play Misty for Me’.
Eastwood has been incredibly successful as both an actor and director. He’s won four Academy Awards, both the Best Picture and Best Director gongs for ‘Unforgiven’ and ‘Million Dollar Baby’, with 11 total nominations including ones for his films ‘Mystic River’, ‘Letters from Iwo Jima’ and ‘American Sniper’.