The role Clint Eastwood called a “great, great training ground”
The saying that every day is a school day applies to almost every walk of life and acting is no different. Very few thespians have ever been lucky enough to start at the top, with Clint Eastwood spending years paying his dues before he became a star.
It wasn’t until A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly were released in consecutive years between 1964 and 1966 that he put himself on the cinematic map. However, Eastwood already had dozens upon dozens of credits under his belt by that point.
Not that he was a proven commodity by any stretch, though, with the future icon going uncredited in seven of his first nine feature film appearances between 1955’s Revenge of the Creature and 1957’s Escapade in Japan. The work was steady, but it was minor, at least until he landed the opportunity that ignited his ascent.
In his early years, Eastwood appeared in seven different TV shows, but the longest of those stints amounted to only two episodes. Fortunately, Rawhide would turn out to be the gift that kept on giving, with his six-year stint on the popular series raising his profile significantly and offering the first indication that this ruggedly handsome guy could potentially have a future in the western genre.
Of course, that’s a monumental understatement given his indelible contributions to Old West on the silver screen, but Eastwood wasn’t above criticising Rawhide. When he did, it was in a positive manner, as oxymoronic as that may sound. He didn’t think the writing was great, but the learning curve was invaluable.
“A lot of the time it was not exciting, but it makes you work with material which is sometimes good, sometimes not so good,” he explained to The Guardian. “So it’s a great, great training ground. I think every one of the actors in this picture has been through that; they’ve all done lots of things which they’ve been enthusiastic about or less so, but they did them because they needed the job or they needed the experience.”
Beyond allowing him the opportunity to refine his craft by elevating what he thought to be occasionally substandard screenwriting, there was the obvious benefit of Rawhide giving Eastwood “a day-in, day-out job” that gave him “a chance to be in front of the camera all the time.” That quickly put paid to any nerves he may have felt during his initial stint on the show, teaching him that “the camera was no longer your enemy” along the way.
It also gave Eastwood the chance to release his first album, but for whatever reason, he didn’t seem to think it was worth mentioning when reflecting on his Rawhide years.
Never Miss A Tale
The Far Out Clint Eastwood Newsletter
All the latest stories about Clint Eastwood from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.