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Prophetically, the Eastwood clan settled for a short time in Hollywood. They eventually ended up in Clint's parents' hometown, where he attended Piedmont schools. Even then, he was exceptionally good-looking and gravitated toward sports— the fact that he was a tall youth helped to make him a basketball stand- out. Otherwise, by all accounts he was an indif- ferent student at best. While in middle school, his English teacher, Gertrude Falk, cast him in a one-act play. He was reluctant but went along. He recalled to a biographer, "It was the part of a backward youth, and I think she though it was perfect casting. She made up her mind that I was going to play the lead and it was disas- trous. I wanted to go out for athletics; doing plays was not considered the thing to do at that stage of life— especially not presenting them for the entire senior high school, which is what she made us do. We muffed a lot of lines. I swore at the time that that was the end of my acting career." Little did the future superstar know. In 1951, 21-year-old Eastwood had the dubi- ous honor of being classified A1 for the military draft, at that time beefing up the armed services for the hostilities cropping up in Korea. Failing to achieve a college deferment, he got his first real taste of life on the Monterey Peninsula, reporting to basic training at Fort Ord. It was the beginning of a love affair that endures to this day. Top: Eastwood on the set of "Every Which Way but Loose" with Manis the Orangutan. Bottom: "Play Misty for Me," was filmed locally, here at the Sardine Factory with Don Siegel. Photo: PictureLux / The Hollywood Archive / Alamy 124 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • W I N T E R 2 0 2 0 Photo: ScreenProd/ Photononstop / Alamy Stock Photo