Clint Eastwood’s ‘Dirty Harry’: See the Wild List of Hollywood Icons Who Passed on the Role

In his nearly 70-year career in Hollywood, Clint Eastwood has acted in some truly iconic roles. None of them, however, come close to topping Dirty Harry, the 1971 action thriller that launched Clint Eastwood into an entirely new stratosphere of fame.

Dirty Harry is now considered a classic film, the spark that ignited a whole genre of police movies. It’s both critically acclaimed and commercially successful, and is even preserved by the Library of Congress as a “culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant” film.

Back in the 70s, however, it was considered a highly controversial production, leading to several high-profile actors turning down the role of Inspector “Dirty” Harry Callahan. The list includes legends Frank Sinatra and John Wayne, as well as Hollywood icons Steve McQueen, Burt Lancaster, and Paul Newman.

Paul Newman, the final actor to turn down the role, recommended Clint Eastwood, and the rest is history. In an interview with MTV News, Clint Eastwood gave some backstory behind his agreement to portray the celebrated character.

“I guess they tried to get a lot of people for it,” Eastwood said. “They tried Frank Sinatra and Robert Mitchum and Steve McQueen. Then they finally ended up with Frank Sinatra. I was in postproduction [on Play Misty for Me], and they called up and asked, ‘Are you still interested in Dirty Harry?’”

“I said, ‘What happened to Frank Sinatra?’ And they said, ‘Frank Sinatra’s got some problem with his hand and he can’t hold a gun.’ That sounded like a pretty lame excuse,” Eastwood continued. “But it didn’t matter to me. I said, ‘I’ll do it.’ But since they had initially talked to me, there had been all these rewrites. I said, ‘I’m only interested in the original script.’”

Clint Eastwood Talks Controversy Surrounding ‘Dirty Harry’

When Dirty Harry was in production, there was no small amount of controversy surrounding the film. From the violence to the perceived politics, both the acting community and the public were nervous about the action thriller. Clint Eastwood, however, couldn’t have been less concerned. To Clint Eastwood, Dirty Harry was simply an opportunity to have some fun playing a hard-boiled detective.

“I was told when I first got the script that other actors had liked it but had reservations about the political elements of it,” Eastwood told MTV News. “But even at that age, I was not afraid of it. To me, it was an exciting detective story. It was a fantasy. Here’s a guy who is so dogmatic that nothing is going to stop him when his mind is made up.”

When it came to the perceived politics of Dirty Harry, Clint Eastwood said, “I didn’t care less. Somebody else called it a fascist masterpiece. People are always calling people names, the great right-wing conspiracy or the great left-wing conspiracy.”

“You make a movie, and if somebody reads something into it, then great, more power to him,” Eastwood continued. “[Director] Don Siegel and I were both very moderate politically. We didn’t think much of it. We just had a good time with it.”