Actor, director, producer, composer and politician, Clint Eastwood remains one of cinema's most enduring icons. From being the man with no name to "Dirty Harry", his weathered features have come to represent smouldering machismo to a generation of film-goers. While it's safe to say the one-time Mayor of Carmel has never displayed an enormous range in his acting roles, his perennial appeal comes from enacting a series of heroic archetypes that we all long to be.
The man himself, however, claims to be mystified by his continuing popularity, not just with the public but also with the studio bosses. "I have no idea what I did. I just continue to make films and not worry about anybody who did not care for them along the way. That was their problem, not mine."
Recently honoured at both the Venice and Deauville Festivals (where he took his latest directorial effort, "Space Cowboys"), Eastwood has teased us with thoughts of retirement - a rather pertinent topic given the subject of "Cowboys", the story of four ageing astronauts. "I will do some more plain acting jobs," he says, "or maybe I won't act at all. I will just look up at the screen and say, 'That is enough of that.' " With "Cowboys" taking a solid $60 million in the US alone, it's proof that life without Clint would hardly make our day.
