How Much Clint Eastwood Was Paid For His 3 Man With No Name Movies
The sums Eastwood was paid for his With No Name movies varied considerably. Here's how much he received for the Westerns that made him a star.
Clint Eastwood received varying sums of money for his three Man With No Name movies. During the 1960s, the former Rawhide actor starred in three Spaghetti Westerns. Now, all three films are beloved classics in the Western genre.
The Westerns Eastwood made with Sergio Leone are credited with creating his image as one of Hollywood’s most popular “tough guys”. They’re also responsible for turning him into an international star. Before A Fistful of Dollars, Eastwood’s only claim to fame was CBS’ Western series, Rawhide. His portrayal of Rowdy Yates earned him the attention of Leone, but it didn’t push him to the top of the list. Several actors were under consideration for the Man With No Name role, including Charles Bronson, Richard Harrison, James Coburn, Steve Reeves, and more. Some declined the part, while others may not have been approached
When Eastwood reportedly signed a contract to play the lead in A Fistful of Dollars, he agreed to a $15,000 salary. The film’s shocking success in Italy led to a much bigger budget for the second installment, thus allowing Eastwood to receive a much more substantial sum. To make For A Few Dollars More, the studio offered Eastwood $50,000. Later, Eastwood’s reluctance to make a third movie with Leone nearly led to him being recast with Bronson for The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. According to Clint Eastwood: A Biography by Richard Schickel, it took a whopping $250,000 to convince him to reprise the role one final time. In addition to that figure, the deal promised the actor a portion of the movie’s box office profits in the West which is estimated to be around 10%. The profits from the first two installments made that agreement doable for the studio.
When taking into account the fact that he received extra money from the box office earnings, it’s clear that Eastwood’s salary was multiplied by more than five times for the third Man With No Name movie. This speaks volumes about how much the actor’s demand increased after A Fistful of Dollars and For A Few Dollars More. The two Italian movies easily ended his status as a struggling TV and B-movie actor and opened up huge, new acting opportunities in Hollywood and elsewhere. As for The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, it provided an even bigger boost to his profile that proved helpful upon his return to Hollywood.
Though Eastwood was only paid $15,000 for his first Man With No Name movie, the considerably larger paychecks for the other two movies and what came after show that A Fistful of Dollars was an incredibly profitable venture for the actor. When Clint Eastwood was back in Hollywood in the late 1960s, he was making movies like Where Eagles Dare and Paint Your Wagon, which had salaries that were reported to be in the $500,000-$600,000 range.
