Despite his huge success overseas, Clint Eastwood’s Hollywood career didn’t see any growth until one American Western.
Clint Eastwood’s rise to global stardom wasn’t exactly smooth sailing. Before becoming the icon he is renowned as today, the actor’s initial days in showbiz saw him working as a contract actor for Universal, which didn’t last long, as he was eventually fired for his Adam’s apple, which Universal claimed stuck out too far.
But the setback didn’t hold his career back for too long as he’d soon land his breakout role and later headlined the iconic Dollars trilogy. However, his success outside Hollywood did little to garner him roles when he returned.
Clint Eastwood’s Success Overseas Didn’t Get the Ball Rolling in Hollywood
After rising to prominence following his stint in the CBS hour-long western series Rawhide, which he wasn’t particularly fond of, the actor then joined forces with Sir Sergio Leone. Starting with A Fistful of Dollars, which he agreed to do for a fistful of dollars, he then returned to headline the next two sequels, with The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly making him a major star overseas.
But his success overseas did little to push his career in Hollywood, as Clint Eastwood explained (via The New York Times) that the industry “had a stigma against television actors and another against people who make films in Europe”.
Even though I’d made three pictures that were very successful financially, the studios wouldn’t consider me for parts
Things eventually changed once he headlined the American western Hang ‘Em High, which made $10M at the box office, a far cry from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly‘s $38M.
Despite drawing less traction than Sir Sergio Leone‘s Western, it did make enough splash in Hollywood, and calls from studios didn’t stop coming.
Clint Eastwood’s Paycheck Saw a Significant Bump for The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
While the Dollars trilogy put the actor on the map, the Gran Torino star wasn’t Leone’s initial pick, as the director later revealed that he initially envisioned James Coburn in the role of the Man with no name.
I really wanted James Coburn, but he was too expensive. The Italian cinema is very poor. We got Clint for $15,000, Coburn wanted $25,000.
Thankfully, that didn’t work out, and the filmmaker went with the Dirty Harry star instead. But that wasn’t the end of it, as for the threequel, Eastwood was initially against reprising the role, and Sir Leone almost brought in Charles Bronson as the replacement. Fortunately, a major pike in Eastwood’s paycheck, which amounted to a whopping $250K, changed his mind.