Clint Eastwood, legend of American cinema, turns 80

A cowboy is born ... Eastwood had his first audition in 1954, a bright-eyed 24-year-old. He got his first contract with Universal Studios, earning $100 a week Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex His big break came with the western series Rawhide, which he started filming in 1958. It took just three weeks for it to reach top 20 in the TV ratings Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex Eastwood was cast as hot-headed Rowdy Yates in the TV series Photograph: Ronald Grant Eastwood quickly became a Hollywood pin-up Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex ... and like all good pin-ups, wasn’t shy about stripping off Photograph: SNAP/Rex In fact, it is hard to find an image of young Clint with his clothes on Photograph: SNAP/Rex He hit the big screen with the spaghetti western A Fistful of Dollars, in which he starred opposite Marianne Koch in 1964 Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar His critics said that the young actor relied too much on his good looks and too little on his acting skills Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex Eastwood acted opposite Eli Wallach in the third film in the Dollars trilogy – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, filmed in Italy and Spain in 1966 Photograph: United Artists/Allstar Bad and brooding, his character, the Man With No Name, redefined the stereotype of the western hero Photograph: Ronald Grant The trilogy made Eastwood into a household name Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex Eastwood in Hang ‘Em High. The 1967 film became studio United Artists’ biggest opening in history, exceeding all of the Bond films at that time Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar Starring opposite Pat Hingle and Inger Stevens, Eastwood’s flash of flesh reminds us of his pin-up days Photograph: United Artists/Allstar ... which are not long forgotten, as he strips off again as Sheriff Walt Coogan, a lonely deputy sheriff in New York, in the 1968 film Coogan’s Bluff Photograph: Universal/Kobal/Shutterstock Eastwood starred in his first and only musical, Paint Your Wagon, in 1969. He and fellow non-singer Lee Marvin play gold miners who share the same wife. Although the film received mixed reviews, it was nominated for the Golden Globe for best motion picture (musical or comedy) Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar Rough and always ready ... Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar ... to play the tall, mysterious, gun-wielding stranger once again, this time in Two Mules for Sister Sara in 1968 Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar His directorial debut came with pyscho-thriller Play Misty for Me in 1971. He stars as a DJ heart-throb whose jilted lover turns into an unhinged stalker Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar Eastwood plays the victim in The Beguiled, 1971. The film was largely unsuccessful, which Eastwood blamed on his fans not warming to his emasculated role Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar Eastwood gets back to action in Dirty Harry, 1971, starring as a tough San Francisco cop. This was the first of five Harry Callahan movies, making it Eastwood’s signature role Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex His most famous lines: “But, being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya, punk?” Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar Released in 1971, Dirty Harry was a phenonemal success. The film has been credited with inventing the loose-cannon cop genre imitated to this day Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex Topless once more in High Plains Drifter, 1973. This was his first foray into directing westerns Photograph: Universal/Kobal/Shutterstock Eastwood teamed up with Jeff Bridges in action flick Thunderbolt and Lightfoot in 1974 Photograph: Ronald Grant Eastwood plays an assassin turned art professor in The Eiger Sanction, 1975. The actor insisted on doing all his own climbing and stunts despite conditions so dangerous that a professional climber was killed during filming Photograph: Ronald Grant In 1977 Eastwood directed and starred in The Gauntlet, in which he plays a down-and-out cop who falls in love with a prostitute Photograph: Warner Bros/Allstar Monkey business ... Eastwood starred in Every Which Way But Loose in 1978, going against type to play a comic character. An orangutan named Manis was brought in to play Clyde Photograph: Ronald Grant The film was Eastwood’s most commercially successful picture yet. Naturally, it is not without some of his classic nudity ... Photograph: Ronald Grant Eastwood in Escape from Alcatraz, 1979. The film dramatises the story of Frank Morris’s breakout from the notorious island prison Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex Clint and Manis reunited in Any Which Way You Can, 1980. Despite bad reviews from critics, the film was another box-office blockbuster Photograph: Ronald Grant And it’s no surprise that his familiar sixpack gets another airing Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex Cool customers ... Eastwood with his City Heat co-star Burt Reynolds are caricatured by Al Hirschfeld Photograph: AP The family business ... Eastwood’s daughter Alison (left) acts alongside dad in the provocative thriller Tightrope in 1984. Eastwood plays a single-father cop led astray by the promise of sex Photograph: Ronald Grant The Dead Pool, 1988, is the fifth and final Dirty Harry film Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar A smash ... although it was panned by critics, The Dead Pool was a commercial success. The film also starred Liam Neeson and a young Jim Carrey Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar You can’t teach an old dog new tricks ... 62-year-old Eastwood revisits the western in the self-directed film, Unforgiven, 1992. He plays an ageing ex-gunfighter long past his prime ... Photograph: Warner Bros/Kobal/Shutterstock The film, also starring Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman and Richard Harris, won four Academy Awards, including best picture and best director Photograph: Universal Eastwood plays Frank Horrigan, a guilt-ridden secret service agent in the thriller In the Line of Fire, 1993, co-starring John Malkovich and Rene Russo Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar That same year Eastwood directed and co-starred with Kevin Costner in A Perfect World. Met with a mixed reception at its release, the film is now seen as one of Eastwood’s most underrated directorial achievements Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar In royal company ... Eastwood meets Princess Diana at the London premiere of The Fugitive in 1993 Photograph: Rex As dashing as ever, the actor-director looks sharp for a 64-year-old Photograph: Allstar ... and shows his versatility as he stars opposite Meryl Streep in The Bridges of Madison County, 1995 Photograph: Warner Bros/Everett/Rex Back in the director’s chair, Eastwood made Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil in 1997, loosely based on the non-fiction bestseller by John Berendt. Eastwood made several changes to the text and wrote in a love interest for reporter John Cusack, a role that was played by Eastwood’s daughter Alison Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar The film also stars Kevin Spacey and Jude Law Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar All roses ... 1997 was a successful year with Eastwood also directing, producing and starring in political thriller Absolute Power Photograph: Jim Cooper/AP Eastwood directed and starred in True Crime in 1999, playing Steve Everett, a journalist recovering from alcoholism. The film was a box-office bomb Photograph: Ronald Grant The boys ... Eastwood and his co-stars Donald Sutherland, Tommy Lee Jones and James Garner pose for a photo prior to a screening of his 2000 film Space Cowboys Photograph: Franck Prevel/AP True blood ... Clint Eastwood with his daughters Morgan and Francesca at the premiere of Blood Work, 2002 Photograph: Chris Pizzello/AP Eastwood addresses an audience at the National Film Theatre, London, ahead of the release of his Oscar-tipped film Mystic River Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian And the tipsters were right ... Mystic River won two Oscars at the 76th Academy Awards in 2004, although Eastwood missed out on the best director statuette Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images Back in the ring ... Eastwood directed, produced, scored, and starred in the boxing drama Million Dollar Baby, 2005, with Hilary Swank Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex The film won Eastwood his second Oscar for best director, which he accepts here. Million Dollar Baby also won best picture, best supporting actor for Morgan Freeman … Photograph: Kevork Djansezian/AP ... and best actress for Hilary Swank. The tearful actor is congratulated by Eastwood Photograph: Kevin Winter/Getty Images Eastwood himself also received a best supporting actor nomination for the film Photograph: Warner Bros/Everett/Rex And if the Oscars weren’t enough, here’s Eastwood and his wife Dina Ruiz at the Golden Globes in 2005 Photograph: Robert Galbraith/Reuters ... where Eastwood won the award for best director Photograph: Peter Brooker/guardian.co.uk Back in his natural habitat ... Eastwood calling the shots on the set of Flags of Our Fathers, 2006, the first of his brace of films about one of the bloodiest battles in the second world war Photograph: Dreamworks/Allstar Eastwood in Tokyo, where he was promoting Flag of Our Fathers and its Japanese companion piece Letters from Iwo Jima Photograph: Toru Yamanaka/AFP/Getty Images Eastwood looks dapper at his restaurant Mission Ranch Inn, a former dairy farm in Carmel, California Photograph: Axel Koester/Corbis In 2007, Eastwood tells the Observer’s film critic Philip French that he intends to “retire gradually, just ride off into the sunset” in a chat at the Ritz Hotel in Paris Photograph: Karen Robinson/The Observer Stylish in the south of France ... Eastwood at the premiere of Changeling at the Cannes film festival, 2008. The film is a Depression-era drama with Angelina Jolie as a mother searching for her missing son Photograph: Dominique Charriau/Getty Images Back in the thick of it, here’s Eastwood working in France on his forthcoming thriller Hereafter Photograph: Patrick Kovarick/AFP/Getty Images He might be 80, but Eastwood still looks sharp and captivates the audience at yet another awards ceremony, this time at the 24th annual American Cinematheque awards Photograph: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images And what’s better than eternal youth? A wax model of young Clint can now be seen at Madame Tussauds in California. Of course, he has a gun Photograph: Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images