Clint Eastwood's Net Worth: Makes His Day
Clint Eastwood’s net worth is estimated to be around $375 million in 2024. The 6’4” actor/director/producer has always lived large. He even started that way. He was born on May 31, 1930, and weighed an amazing 11 lbs., six ounces. The nurses nicknamed him “Samson” due to his massive birth weight.
Early Life
Eastwood was raised in an affluent family that lived in Piedmont, California, during the 1940s. They had a swimming pool and belonged to the country club. Eastwood did poorly in school, being more interested in girls than his studies. He got kicked out of high school for being a troublemaker. He worked at odd jobs as a young man until he was drafted.
The Army drafted Eastwood during the Korean War. As a soldier, he worked as a lifeguard at Fort Ord, located near Monterey, California. He fell in love with the area and, later in life, would make it his permanent home.
Breaking Into Hollywood
In 1954, Eastwood broke into Hollywood through a friend, Chuck Hill, who introduced him to cameraman Irving Glassberg. Glassberg got him an audition with Arthur Lubin. This led to a studio contract at $100 per week. Eastwood was a handsome, leading-man type, but his acting was awful. Lubin complained that he delivered his lines by speaking through his teeth. This quirk would become Eastwood’s lifelong trademark in many roles as a tough guy.
As a young actor, Eastwood got small parts based on his looks alone but struggled for four years until he got his big break with the television series Rawhide in 1958. The Rawhide television series ran from 1959 to 196. It was one of the top-20-rated television programs at that time. This long run of the series helped Clint Eastwood’s net worth tremendously. He got only $750 per episode in the first season. For its last season, he received $119,000 per episode.
Turned Down by the Duke
Eastwood wanted to work with John Wayne. Wayne was nicknamed the “Duke” after Wayne’s dog that was his constant companion as a child. Eastwood had a movie project he wanted to do. To advance this effort to work together with John Wayne, he sent the Duke a script. Wayne read it and said that is not how the West was, then declined to participate.
Eastwood did western movies without the Duke, with stylized photography and massive shootouts. Eastwood starred in A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, which cemented his reputation as an international star. How that happened was surprising.
The Non-Smoker Who Smoked Cigars
In late 1963, as the Rawhide series started losing ratings, Eastwood made a bold career move against his talent agent's advice. He was tired of playing a “white hat” cowboy and wanted to take on a wilder role.
He took the lead role in a film called A Fistful of Dollars with then-unknown Italian director Sergio Leone. His pay was a meager $15,000 for 11 weeks of work plus a bonus of a new Mercedes Benz at the end of the film shoot. This was the beginning of a major trend in movies of the popular “spaghetti Western,” shot in Europe for low budgets.
Leone’s movies showed a more lawless and desolate West than what audiences had seen before. This challenged the stereotype of the American cowboy as always being the good guy. As part of the character’s bad habits, Leone insisted that Eastwood smoke thin cigars. Eastwood hated smoking and thought it was horrible but agreed to puff on a cigar that he never inhaled.
The cigar became a key component of the legendary character created by Eastwood. That character became known by the unusual moniker of the “Man with No Name,” adding to the mystery. Eastwood’s character appeared in two more films of the trilogy For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. The trilogy's final film was released first internationally in 1966 and then was released in 1967 by United Artists in the United States.
Eastwood did an interesting mix of films after he rose to fame. He had a big commercial success with Hang ’Em High in 1968. He also did a musical, Paint Your Wagon, in 1969. In 1970, he widened his appeal with a World War II film Kelly’s Heroes. After that film, Clint Eastwood’s net worth would build up because he produced all of his following movies thereafter through his own production company
called Malpaso Productions.
Using Two Hands
In the movies, Eastwood is shown using both his left and right hand for shooting. As a child, he was left-handed but forced to use his right hand for many things. This gave him the talent of being ambidextrous, which shows in how easily he handles a gun with either hand.
Turned Down Dirty Harry
The classic character of the detective “Dirty” Harry Callahan that kicked Eastwood’s fame into the stratosphere was not a role written for him. The studio that had the rights was Warner Bros. At first, studio execs wanted Frank Sinatra to star in the film. That did not work out, and efforts were made to get John Wayne to take on the role.
John Wayne turned down the role for being too violent. The studio considered Marlon Brandon but never made Brando an offer to play the role. Robert Mitchum was not interested when offered a chance to play the aging cop detective. Mitchum thought the screenplay was a piece of junk and refused to be in the film for any price. The lead was also offered to Steve McQueen, Burt Lancaster, and Paul Newman, who all turned down the role.
After saying no thanks to the studio’s offer, Paul Newman recommended the 41-year-old Clint Eastwood. Eastwood was selected for the role as the eighth choice of the studio in a kind of “why not” exasperation.
Eastwood had the last laugh because the Dirty Harry franchise was so successful. The five films in the franchise earned a total of over $224 million global box office in the 1970s and 1980s, which is close to $1 billion in today’s dollars.
Eastwood’s filmography from the 1970s, for the next fifty years, is chocked full of box office successes, which include:
1971 Play Misty for Me
1973 Breezy
1976 The Outlaw Josey Wales
1986 Heartbreak Ridge
1988 Bird
1992 Unforgiven
1995 The Bridges of Madison County
2000 Space Cowboys
2003 Mystic River
2004 Million Dollar Baby
2006 Flags of Our Fathers
2006 Letter from Iwo Jima
2008 Changeling
2008 Gran Torino
2009 Invictus
2010 Hereafter
2011 J. Edgar
2014 American Sniper
2016 Sully
2019 Richard Jewell
Eastwood’s career as an actor garnered a total box office of $2.4 billion. As a director, his films earned $3.3 billion. As a producer, his films earned a box office of $3 billion. Both Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby won the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director even though Eastwood publicly proclaimed in the 1970s that he would never win an Academy Award “because he is not Jewish.”
Make My Day Or At Least an Hour
Another use for Eastwood’s both hands is his insatiable sexual appetite. While Clint’s Eastwood’s net worth went up, his philandering did as well. Eastwood’s sexual exploits are documented in a tell-all book entitled In The Life and Legend of Clint Eastwood by author Patrick McGilligan.
McGilligan chronicles the exploits of what he describes as a vicious, hyper-violent, mean-spirited cheapskate who was a serial adulterer. McGilligan says Eastwood beat his first wife and had many affairs throughout his acting career.
Eastwood got his girlfriends pregnant and forced them to get abortions. He fathered many children with women he did not marry. Eastwood went through women with relentless speed. He seduced, bedded, and then discarded women when he moved on to the next one. Some lasted only an hour before he moved on to his next sexual conquest.
Eastwood’s wife Maggie knew of the cheating but stayed with him anyway. Eastwood had affairs will almost all of his leading ladies, including Jean Seberg, who starred in Paint Your Wagon, Inger Stevens, who starred in Hang ‘Em High, and Jo An Harris, who starred in The Beguiled. Harris was only 17 years old at the time.
With all of these affairs with starlets, Eastwood still found time to have mistresses, including the stunning Roxanne Tunis and Jacelyn Reeves, who made up some of Eastwood’s “stable” of gorgeous women.
In 1997, Eastwood chose Sondra Locke to be in the film The Gauntlet and immediately had an affair with her by seducing her on their first date. They were shameless about the affair in public. This was finally too much for Maggie Eastwood. After being married for 31 years, in 1984, she divorced him and went back to using her maiden name of Maggie Johnson.
Eastwood lived with Sondra Locke for the next five years until 1989. Then, he cheated on her with Frances Fisher, which caused them to break up. He lived with Frances Fisher for five years until 1995. In 1996, he married Dian Ruiz, and they divorced in 2014.
Eastwood’s current girlfriend is a divorcee Christina Sandera. They have been together six years, which is one year longer than many a historical Eastwood-girl’s shelf life.
Eastwood owns the Mission Ranch Hotel. That is where he met Christina, who worked as a hostess. Maybe she has something the other women did not have because Christina’s ex-husband, Paul Wainscott, called the police on her twice for domestic violence. Wainscott claimed she was a violent drunk who likes to hit him when she was sloshed. After getting divorced, she took anger management classes. It could be that Eastwood has finally met his match with a woman who can take a beating and give one too.
Clint Eastwood’s Net Worth From Real Estate
All the while, during his acting career, Eastwood accumulated valuable real estate. He owns a house in Los Angeles worth about $30 million and other properties in northern California.
Eastwood spends most of his time at his Mission Ranch in Carmel, which is in the northern part of California on the coast near Monterey. He bought the spread in 1986. It is located on the coast with stunning views of the beach and the ocean.
Architectural Digest did an article about the ranch in 1993 that shows how beautiful it is. Eastwood meticulously restored the ranch to make it into a place he would call his permanent home.
The property has many buildings on it, including a preserved ranch-hand bunkhouse. There is the “Honeymoon Cottage,” which dates back to 1865. This building is used as a residence by his ranch manager. There is also a restaurant on the property.
The main farmhouse, which has six guest rooms, was originally built in the 1850s and remodeled into a residence in 1895. Some of the decor comes from Eastwood’s films. In the living room, is the clock from his Oscar-winning film the Unforgiven.
The place was furnished by the North Carolinian Edgar Broyhill with custom-designed furniture that was later marketed by Broyhill as the Mission Ranch Collection.
Eastwood enjoyed the area so much and even became the mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea from 1986 to 1988 because he was frustrated with the local politicians. He likes to play golf at the nearby Pebble Beach golf course that is world-famous and is frequently seen out and about in the community.
Teháma Private Residential Community
A significant portion of Clint Eastwood’s net worth comes from his property development of the Teháma community in Carmel, California. He started developing the project about forty years ago.
The project covers almost 2,000 acres of hillsides in the Carmel Valley. About 85% is preserved as open space. There are only 90 homesites allowed in the development, of which 60 sold before 2019. In March 2019, seven of the remaining 30 parcels were offered for sale. The prices range from $1.5 million for a 13-acre lot to $6.25 million for a 10-acre lot on the top of a hill overlooking the ocean.
Eastwood developed this private paradise in a sustainable way. It has its own water source and water-filtration system. It has a wastewater reclamation plant that processes the sewer water for irrigation of the private golf course designed by Jay Morrison.
The Robb Report says that one custom-built home was listed for $10.5 million in 2019. This home has four bedrooms and five baths with 7,800 square feet on a lot of 6.1 acres. Perhaps you prefer to rent. If so, expect to pay up to $69,000 per month for a 14,000 square foot home with eight bedrooms and eight and one-half bathrooms.
Talking To a Chair
Eastwood, who claims to be one of the “hidden” conservatives in Hollywood, made a surprise appearance at the 2012 Republican convention. It was a strange thing to watch that would later give him the nickname of being the “chair whisperer.” He pretended that President Obama was sitting in that empty chair. Eastwood gave “invisible Obama” a talking to as if he was scolding a small child for being naughty.
Eastwood told the audience that he remembered three and one-half years ago when Obama won. He watched it on television. He said, “Everybody cried. Oprah cried. I cried. I cried because 23 million Americans were unemployed.” Eastwood told the chair, “It’s a national disgrace, and we have not done enough.”
The 15-minute rambling tirade when on and on, with the chair refusing to make any comment. Despite Eastwood’s support for the opposing presidential candidate of Mitt Romney and the viral chair whisperings, Obama won a second term.
Women Beat the Grouchy Old White Guy
Eastwood’s outspoken misogyny and thinly-veiled racism is part of his appeal to certain groups. He called millennials the “pussy” generation in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter in 2016. To be clear, he said he was “pro-pussy” and just against the pussy generation.
Clint Eastwood’s net worth is a paltry sum compared to Oprah Winfrey. Oprah is the American celebrity with the biggest net worth of $2.5 billion who has done some wonderful acting, such as her marvelous appearance in The Color Purple.
Another female, Kylie Jenner, made $750 million. That amount is more than Clint Eastwood’s net worth. Imagine that! A woman earned, in a single year, more than Eastwood is worth after 70 years of penny-pinching. That must really chap his hide.
90+ Years Young
On his birthday, May 31, Eastwood will turn 93! He attributes his long life to always being conscious of eating a healthy diet that is high in protein, lower in fat, with limited carbohydrates. He stays in shape with aerobics and cardio workouts. He never smoked off-screen. To train his mind, he practices transcendental meditation.
Conclusion
I have to give Clint Eastwood credit because he lived long enough for the guy he voted for in 2016 to be impeached twice. He also announced that he will star in another movie that he will produce and direct, Cry Macho. It is a story set in the 1970s. He plays a guy that goes to Mexico to snatch a boy from his mother to return him to his father in the United States to get a $50,000 bounty.
Despite all of Eastwood’s orneriness and bad behavior, I do have to admit I love his movies. I like his acting, and his directing is superb. He knows how to make excellent movies. It is the real Eastwood that I think is a jerk. Of course, that would probably make him smile, and he would call me a part of the “pussy” generation.