Clint Eastwood (103 page)

Yes, writing is sometimes a lonely job. But writing the biography of a living subject is, perhaps, the most communal activity a writer can find, and I have been sustained in the making of this one by an extraordinarily supportive and responsive group of people who provided me with the information and insights on which it is based.

My first and most obvious debt of gratitude is to Clint Eastwood. For something over three years he has given unstintingly of his time and his memories and, often enough, helped me to gain access to others who could supplement his recollections. I thank him for that, of course. But I thank him more profoundly for the pleasure of his company, both when the tape recorder was on and when it was not. He is a man at once forthright and discreet, and I hope this book, over which he has exercised no control (except to check quotations), reflects those qualities as well as some of the others he has demonstrated to me—good humor, patience, quizzicality and a passion for the medium in which he most truly expresses himself. I am grateful that he trusted me with his “life” and hope that I have in no way betrayed that trust.

A second debt, at least as large, is less obvious. It is to my associate, Doug Freeman. In our television ventures his title is “coproducer,” and that credit applies equally to this book. He is largely responsible for researching its printed sources, for assuring the accuracy of its annotations, bibliography and filmography, for transcribing my interviews and for undertaking, with unfailing energy and good cheer, dozens of other editorial tasks. More than that, he has been my reliable sounding board, trusted first reader and indispensable colleague on a journey far longer and in some ways more arduous than we imagined it would be. Without him, this book would be much the poorer—and much later in its delivery.

Which brings me—and it—to Jonathan Segal. The conventional wisdom these days is that editors no longer edit. Jon does—with grace, tact and passion. I’d rather argue with him than agree with anyone else in publishing and this book has been immeasurably improved by his deftness and devotion.

I must also thank a rather long list of individuals who have granted me interviews. Their contributions to this book go far beyond the direct quotations attributed to them in the text, for they enhanced my understanding of my subject in subtextual ways as well. They are Marco Barla, Richard Benjamin, Verna Bloom, Henry Bumstead, John Calley, Michael Cimino, Kevin Costner, Joel Cox, Robert Daley, Robert Daly, Robert Donner, Dina Ruiz Eastwood,
Michael Eisner, James Fargo, Frances Fisher, Morgan Freeman, Jack Green, Gene Hackman, Brett Halsey, Richard Harris, Leonard Hirshan, Hal Holbrook, Joe Hyams, Don Kincade, Jack Kosslyn, the late Arthur Lubin, A. C. Lyles, Fritz Manes, Lloyd Nelson, Lennie Niehaus, Eileen Padberg, Wolfgang Petersen, Carl Pingitore, Ted Post, Barry Reardon, Del Reisman, Bruce Ricker, Pierre Rissient, Saul Rubinek, Terry Semel, Tom Shaw, Alain Silver, Tom Stern, Meryl Streep, Richard Tuggle, David Valdes, Buddy Van Horn, Eli Wallach, Jessica Walter, the late Frank Wells, Ruth Wood.

Joe Hyams, besides being the first person to suggest this book to me, has been helpful in more ways than I can count in easing the path to its completion. My old friend Eric Lax is the person who generously seconded Joe’s motion, and by so doing got me going. Tom and Melissa Rooker of the Malpaso staff and Marco Barla, Clint’s longtime unit publicist, have helped in more ways than they can possibly know, not least by their unfailing patience in the face of my endless requests for assistance. Harry Bernstein and others at Starwave, which produced a CD-ROM about Clint, to which I was a consultant, were extraordinarily generous in sharing material they gathered for that project. Bruce Jenkins, director of film and video at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, very kindly provided me with a transcript of the public dialogue Clint and I conducted at that most welcoming institution in September 1990. Jonathan Rosenthal of the Museum of Television and Radio provided me with an invaluable filmography of Clint’s early TV work, Todd Coleman allowed me to see, and granted me permission to quote from, some excellent unpublished articles about Clint. As is so often the case, my friends Christopher Porterfield, Richard Jameson and Elliot Ravetz guided me to material I would not otherwise have found. Two executive assistants, Gail Alderete at Warner Bros. and Ida Giragossian at Knopf, were unfailingly kind, patient and helpful to an often harried author.

Finally, I wish to thank Barbara Isenberg, whose love, patience, understanding, good humor and common sense have sustained me through the many months when she was obliged to share my attentions with this book. My gratitude to her is unbounded and therefore inexpressible except in this most inadequate of ways.

Richard Schickel
June 25, 1996