You should be feeling lucky if you’re a Clint Eastwood fan, because the rumors that the beloved actor has died turned out to be false. However, how did this rumor begin? And what is the supporting evidence that he is still alive?
The legendary 93-year-old has won multiple filmmaking Oscars over the years, including two Best Picture and two Best Director awards for 1993’s Unforgiven and 2005’s Million Dollar Baby. Ever since his breakout starring performance as the Man With No Name as part of Sergio Leone’s series of Spaghetti Westerns, the Dollars trilogy, which culminated in the 1966 classic The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, Eastwood went from being a TV star on Rawhide to a household name.
Even at his advanced age, Eastwood has starred in and directed a number of fairly well-received films pretty consistently, such as Gran Turino, The Mule, and, most recently, 2021’s Cry Macho. However, despite staying pretty active, rumors about his death have popped up periodically over the years. With that said, Eastwood is reportedly looking to his retirement with a forthcoming final film planned for Warner Bros.
Clint Eastwood’s death hoax, explained
The latest false claim about Eastwood’s death originates from a video uploaded to the YouTube channel Military News titled “5 Minutes Ago / Clint Eastwood Died on the way to the hospital / Goodbye Clint Eastwood,” according to Snopes (via Yahoo! Entertainment). The article rated the claim about Eastwood’s death as “false.” Military News has a reputation for publishing other death hoax videos, such as ones about actor Denzel Washington and singer Randy Travis in this past week alone.
Outside of that, though, no other reputable news outlet has independently verified Eastwood’s supposed death, with The Associated Press being completely absent of any obituary on their site as would be expected if this information was true. With no other corroborating article out there from an outlet known to be reliable, we can safely assume this information is not true.
Another website, MediaMass, also posted an article claiming Eastwood died. However, the website describes itself as satire so it’s clearly not meant to be taken as a factual source.
In terms of what’s next for Eastwood, the rumored title for his forthcoming final film and 40th directorial effort is Juror #2. However, no release date or timeframe has been announced for the movie.