20 Most Influential Actors Of All Time

Actor, direct, writer and all-round bad-ass, Clint Eastwood is the quintessential cinematic figure of masculinity. An actor who seemed to stand ten-foot tall during his long and brilliant stint as a western legend, Eastwood moved from strength-to-strength with his career, shifting from the Spaghetti Western scene into more typical but often revolutionary action roles, then changing course again to focus on more dramatic, measured films in his later years.

Many see Eastwood as the Man with No Name in the Dollars Trilogy, a series which is credited with cementing him as a star and the western genre as a staple of the era. Roles in The Outlaw Josey Wells and Pale Rider further gave proof to the fact that Eastwood was the face of the western, and a major star.

After the '70s he became Dirty Harry, another of his most iconic protagonists, and starred in a slew of brilliant action capers from The Deadpool, The Rookie and In the Line of Fire. Before long he was also directing, with Mystic River, Unforgiven, and Million Dollar Baby as his most acclaimed. He starred in the latter two, giving his most impressive performances with each.

In a lot of ways, Eastwood is almost a brand. But behind the legend is an actor who helped shape both western films and the modern action, and his influence is still felt today. Better yet, at 90, he's still going strong, and showing the world just how great a Hollywood figure he is.