Clint Eastwood Photo Opportunity #41

Clint Eastwood Photo Opportunity #41

This month’s Photo opportunity is a great picture of Clint taken at Brands Hatch racetrack during the filming of Where Eagles Dare.  As part of his deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Clint apparently took delivery of a Norton P11 motorcycle which he wanted to take for a test run – something producer, Eliot Kastner had forbidden. Accompanied by co-star Ingrid Pitt, she would later explain, ‘it was something that he had been forbidden from doing by Kastner for insurance purposes in case of injury or worse. He had found out that you could test drive bikes there on Wednesday and he wanted to try out the new Norton he had acquired. I didn’t know that he had been expressly forbidden to ride the bike by the producer, Eliot Kastner. The insurance wouldn’t cover the picture if Clint had injured himself. So, there was I sitting on the pillion seat being whirled around the Kent race track when Eliot stormed up to the barriers and waved us in. He blamed me for leading the poor boy astray! I should have made Clint pay for letting me take the flak.’