There are times when it’s not hard to figure out why some stars get cut from a movie or a TV show since attitude, lack of acting talent, and other such matters can easily make this happen. But when it comes to factors that either can’t be easily fixed or are just a signature part of a person’s character, one has to laugh or be depressed that this is how Hollywood operates. A lot of us have been enjoying Clint Eastwood for decades since he’s been one of the most entertaining actors around. But learning that Universal, who had him on the hook for a seven-year contract, let him go because he spoke slowly and had a pronounced Adam’s apple is enough to get some folks to remark that they might need to hear that again since it’s not something you normally hear when it comes to a job requirement. This is Hollywood though, and like it or not, some studios will fire people simply because they don’t have ‘the look’ which is easy for some folks to understand and difficult if not impossible for others to accept. It’s an odd industry that can justify firing people over their looks, but as anyone can guess, Eastwood didn’t take that one lying down since he went back and kept acting, just not with Universal, at least for a while.
Once he starred in Rawhide it feels as though everything started looking up at one point and Universal had to realize that they’d let someone go that could have actually boosted their brand in a big way. Hey, mistakes are made, things happen that people don’t expect, and it’s not the first time it happened, and it will probably happen again in the years to come. It is kind of amusing to think that he was let go because of his prominent Adam’s apple though since throughout the years there have been a few actors out there that have Adam’s apples that look like something got lodged in their throats and never removed. Everyone’s different obviously, but his habit of talking slowly is something that a lot of people might remark about since Clint isn’t exactly a fast talker. Some people can talk a mile a minute, as the saying goes, and not pause for breath unless they absolutely have to, while some people take a while to say anything, but when they do it’s concise, to the point, and meaningful. There are plenty of people that fall in between those two examples, but Clint is definitely one of them that says what he means and doesn’t always seek to speak as quickly as he can to get his words in.
Needless to say, it didn’t impact his career in a permanent way when Universal decided that he wasn’t the right guy for the job, since over the years he’s become one of the most popular individuals in Hollywood and still one of the ranking oldtimers that is respected and revered in the industry. To think that at one point someone actually thought this couldn’t hack it for one reason or another is kind of funny since it’s easy enough to make these types of decisions at first glance, especially if there’s been a history of any sort with this character. But to think that anyone can’t improve, or that people won’t like them simply because they don’t have the look, is still something that a person can’t help but think is one of the most confounding ways to make a decision on who to keep around and who to let go. Physical appearances are often a big part of what goes into selecting a person for a role, but something is easily hidden as an Adam’s apple is something that probably shouldn’t have been able to keep Clint out of a seven-movie deal. But looking back now it’s likely that this was for the best since it could have been that if Universal had kept him around that he might not have experienced the stellar career that he’s had over the past several decades. That’s a big ‘if’ obviously, but it’s also one that a lot of people should pay more attention to since even the smallest difference in one’s course could create huge differences that might have taken place to reshape how a person’s life would have gone. There’s nothing to say that Clint Eastwood wouldn’t have been a big star and every bit as influential as he’s been, but there’s still that thought that something would have been very different.
The world we live in at the moment is the one that happened since Clint went on to become a huge western star and later on one of the most ruthless detectives to ever grace the screen. Yeah, it feels like the right decision was made.
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