He began working as an actor, appearing in such B-films as Tarantula and Francis in the Navy.
In 1959 he got his first breakthrough with the long-running Television series, Rawhide.
His ultimate breaktrhough came Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars in 1964,
and soon followed it with For a Few Dollars More.
As a detective he played the key role in the Dirty Harry sequels.
Eastwood developed directing as a second career,
Mystic River (2003) and Million Dollar Baby (2004) received many oscars.