Why Paul Newman turned down ‘Dirty Harry’
When it came to politically-minded actors, Paul Newman and Clint Eastwood represented two ends of the spectrum. Although Eastwood isn’t as conservative as his reputation might suggest, he doesn’t fly anywhere close to Newman’s level of liberal ideology. From his lifelong support of gay rights to his reverent opposition to the Vietnam War, Newman was so vocal about his politics that he earned a spot on Richard Nixon’s infamous ‘Enemies List’.
Although he was able to separate his work from his beliefs, Newman still didn’t want to lean too hard into the establishment. Specialising in iconoclastic characters, Newman had the opportunity to play authority figures on a number of occasions, only to turn down the offers. One of the most famous cases of Newman turning down a role was when he opted not to play Inspector Harry Callahan in the 1971 film Dirty Harry.
Instead, the role went to Eastwood, who was more than happy to take on the role of a renegade cop seeking justice. Newman’s name was among a host of actors who were offered the role before Eastwood, including John Wayne, Frank Sinatra, George C. Scott, Robert Mitchum, Steve McQueen, and Burt Lancaster. But for Eastwood, Newman’s decision not to play the part was the most confusing.
”Of course, my first question was, ‘Why didn’t he want to do it?’” Clint Eastwood wondered to Entertainment Weekly in 2008. “He thought the character was sort of a radical guy on the right, so politically he couldn’t do it. I didn’t see it that way…. I’ll miss him. He was just one of those guys you liked.”
Eastwood put plenty of his own identity into Harry Callahan, but inspiration was still pulled from across the acting world. For Eastwood, Callahan was a continuation of a lineage that stretched back all the way to the Golden Age of Hollywood. That meant that Eastwood wasn’t afraid to channel one of his favourite actors while playing the role, James Cagney.
“When he comes out in White Heat eating a chicken leg and blasting a guy in the trunk of a car, you go, ‘Yeah, that’s offsetting, but in a nice way,’” Eastwood remembered. “The scene in Dirty Harry where I’m eating a hot dog in that shootout, that’s a steal.”
Check out the trailer for Dirty Harry down below.
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