10 Things You Didn't Know About Clint Eastwood

2. He Almost Wasn't The Man With No Name

It's difficult to imagine anybody other than Clint Eastwood portraying the mysterious man of few words in Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy, but he was in fact anything but Leone's first choice. The role was first offered to Clint's Rawhide co-star Eric Fleming, who turned the role down because the money was not enough. The role was then offered to the likes of Charles Bronson, Henry Fonda, and Richard Harrison, all of whom showed no interest. It was Harrison who then suggested Eastwood, initially dismissed by Leone as only being a background character. But having starred in Rawhide for many years by that point, Eastwood was keen to try something different, and after being encouraged to read the script, he was fascinated by the protagonist. He said, "I did get awfully tired of playing the conventional white hat. I decided it was time to be an anti-hero." The bonus Mercedes he received upon completion probably helped to sweeten the deal.