Clint Eastwood was close to quitting show business when he was cast in ''Rawhide''

Eastwood was actually invited to test for "Rawhide" by a CBS executive.

February 7, 2024, 3:32PM By MeTV Staff

Performing can be a thankless profession. Unfortunately, not every actor is destined to be a star. Even with the talent, you still need a lot of hard work and, let's face it, a lot of luck.

Clint Eastwood was very lucky indeed when he was spotted in the CBS cafeteria and invited to audition for Rawhide. Eastwood recounted the story during an interview with the Chicago Tribune. He said, "I was visiting a friend at CBS and an executive saw me drinking coffee in the cafeteria and came over and asked me to test. It was a fluke."

Eastwood didn't go from a regular job to Rawhide; he was already trying to find work as an actor, but having little luck. He said, "For years I bummed around trying to get a job and it was the same old story - my voice was too soft, my teeth needed capping, I squinted too much, I was too tall - all that constant tearing down of my ego was bound to turn me into either a better person or a complete bastard."

In fact, the television series seemed to save Eastwood, in more ways than one. He confessed, "I was close to quitting when 'Rawhide' came along."

It was the role that brought Eastwood to the public's attention. During the series run, Eastwood became so secure in his role that he utilized a hiatus from filming to pursue acting in films. There, he starred in films like A Fistful of Dollars, which would quickly become a Western classic.

But while his life changed, Eastwood didn't necessarily feel that he'd become a completely different person than he was before he became a star.

He said, "I know that if I walked into a casting office right now and nobody knew I was Clint Eastwood, I'd get the same old stuff. My voice is still too soft, my teeth still need capping, I still squint, and I've been compared to a small redwood tree. But after the spaghetti Westerns I did in Spain, I was suddenly Clint Eastwood, and now the other guys who are too tall and squint too much are the ones cursing ME! You go figure it out."