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Thanks to Rawhide, Clint Eastwood managed to land a starring role in Sergio Leone’s so-called “spaghetti Westerns” and from there propel himself to fame and fortune in a number of other Western and non-Western movie roles.

Supposedly Leone had first approached Eric Fleming (who played the trail boss, Gil Favor, on Rawhide). But Fleming turned him down. It became possible, then for “the idiot of the plains” (Eastwood’s own characterization of his Rowdy Yates character on Rawhide) to step in and play an anti-John Wayne type in the spaghetti Westerns.

Much to his credit, Eastwood developed a fine appreciation for how much more menacing his character(s) could be, the less he said. Thus, in his movies, especially in those he controlled, he shied away from extended dialogue for any character he was playing.

As a result, he acquired a reputation for playing one of the movies toughest tough guys. But without Rowdy, “the idiot,” Eastwood probably would not have had the springboard needed to reach Unforgiven (for which he won a Best Director Oscar).

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