Clint Eastwood Photo Opportunity #37

Clint Eastwood Photo Opportunity #37

For this month’s Photo Opportunity, I’ve chosen a very rare shot of Susan Clark, Clint and director Don Siegel. Don is pictured here giving direction to his two leads during the filming of Coogan’s Bluff (1968). It’s the scene where Julie Roth (Clark) turns up at Coogan’s hotel to confront him after she learns that he has seduced Linny Raven (Tisha Sterling) in order to extract information. 

This was of course the first time that Clint had worked with Siegel, they made a total of five movies together following up Coogan’s Bluff with Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970), The Beguiled (1971), Dirty Harry (1971) and Escape from Alcatraz (1979).  Siegel was a considerable influence on Clint’s own career as a director, his film Unforgiven (1992) is dedicated "for Don and Sergio".

From 1948 to 1953, Siegel was married to actress Viveca Lindfors, with whom he had a son, Kristoffer Tabori. He married Doe Avedon in 1957. They adopted four children, and divorced in 1975. He married Carol Rydall, a former secretary to Clint. They remained together until he died at the age of 78 from cancer in Nipomo, California. He is buried near Highway 1 in the coastal Cayucos-Morro Bay District Cemetery.