They’re two American icons and did you know Clint Eastwood, who turns 94 today, and Elvis Presley used to hang out as friends?
It turns out around the time the Western star was filming the TV show Rawhide he’d often bump into The King who was filming his 1960s rom-coms. The gun-loving singer especially liked that The Man With No Name star was always armed.
Speaking previously with USA Today, Eastwood shared: “I was always wearing a gun. Presley loved to do fast draws and stuff, so we always did fast draws together.
“I liked him. He seemed like a good guy. Had a lot of guys hanging around, big entourage.”
Eastwood continued: “I get a kick out of my wife, who is quite a few years younger. She’ll say, ‘Did you know Elvis Presley?’ I’ll say, ‘Sure’. ‘James Dean?’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘Bobby Darin?’ ‘Yeah’ She’ll look at some old picture of me and say, ‘What a babe!’ (Laughs) We were all hanging around at the same time, in the 1950s. We were all here in town, and all struggling in various things. I was doing Rawhide. There was a camaraderie among the younger group.”
Elvis loved watching Eastwood’s movies and it turns out the Western legend ended up co-writing a song with The King’s ex inspired by their heartbreaking split.
Elvis dated Miss Tennessee model Linda Thompson from 1972-6, breaking up just eight months before he died of a heart attack at 42. Her love for The King is clearly displayed in the lyrics for a song she co-wrote with Eastwood and Carole Bayer Sager for Diana Krall.
The song in question is 1999’s Why Should I Care? Its lyrics speak of longing for the life Linda thought she’d share with Elvis as “the one” and wondering if another woman would “get more of you” amid “holding my broken heart”.