What is the best acting role of Clint Eastwood?

From the iconic squinting stranger of Spaghetti Western deserts to grizzled veterans confronting mortality, Eastwood's roles span five decades of Hollywood myth-making. Which role defines him most?

1

The Man with No Name

Eastwood's iconic, wordless gunslinger in Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy (1964–1966).

2

Dirty Harry Callahan

The no-nonsense San Francisco inspector in the Dirty Harry series (1971–1988).

3

William Munny

A retired outlaw drawn back to violence in Unforgiven (1992).

4

Walt Kowalski

A bitter Korean War veteran who befriends his Hmong neighbors in Gran Torino (2008).

5

Josey Wales

A Missouri farmer turned outlaw seeking revenge in The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976).

6

Frankie Dunn

A veteran boxing trainer who forms a bond with a determined female fighter in Million Dollar Baby (2004).

7

Robert Kincaid

A National Geographic photographer whose brief romance becomes eternal in The Bridges of Madison County (1995).

8

The Stranger / Preacher

A mysterious gunfighter with a supernatural past in Pale Rider (1985).

9

The Stranger (High Plains Drifter)

A nameless, possibly supernatural gunfighter who terrorizes a corrupt mining town in High Plains Drifter (1973).

10

Kelly

A scheming WWII soldier who leads a squad behind enemy lines for gold in Kelly's Heroes (1970).

11

Thunderbolt

A drifting bank robber who teams up with a young con man in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974).

12

Frank Morris

The real-life Alcatraz prisoner who masterminded history's most famous prison escape in Escape from Alcatraz (1979).

13

Jonathan Hemlock

A professor and assassin forced back into a deadly mountain mission in The Eiger Sanction (1975).

14

Philo Beddoe

A bare-knuckle brawler travelling cross-country with his orangutan Clyde in Every Which Way but Loose (1978).

15

Rowdy Yates

The young, hot-headed trail hand in the classic CBS Western series Rawhide (1959–1965).