Clint

Like so many of the characters he plays, Clint Eastwood is secretive about himself, his past and his private life.

Now approaching 70, he has tended to play characters who are cold, hard and morally ambiguous: from Sergio Leone's "spaghetti westerns" through "Hang Em High" and "Dirty Harry" to "Pale Rider" and "Unforgiven".

Alternately stroking and intimidating the press, Clint Eastwood has always been an arch manipulator: of women, friends and colleagues, publicity and finance.

Yet in a bewildering age, perhaps no star is more the hero to his audience: a symbol of simple solutions, law and order, "de-fashioned" values, and rebellion against bureaucracy.

This text is a biography that gives Clint his due as actor, director and human being.