Clint Eastwood's Uncredited Role In A Classic Sci-Fi Monster Movie Is Almost Impossible To Recognize

Clint Eastwood began his professional screen acting career in 1955, and he was able to land multiple small roles almost right away. In his first year of employment, Eastwood appeared in an episode of "Highway Patrol" and in the TV movie "Allen in Movieland." On the big screen, he made his debut in Jack Arnold's "Revenge of the Creature," a sequel to his 1954 classic "Creature from the Black Lagoon." Eastwood only had one scene, but he left an impression as a forgetful lab technician. That same year, the young Eastwood also appeared in "Francis in the Navy," the sixth of seven ultra-successful Francis the Talking Mule movies, as well as an uncredited Saxon warrior in the period drama "Lady Godiva of Coventry." 

Eastwood rounded out 1955 by re-teaming with Jack Arnold for the creature feature "Tarantula." A relatively well-regarded matinée monster movie, "Tarantula" is about, you guessed it, a giant tarantula created by a mad scientist experimenting with embiggening drugs. After a lab fracas early in the film, the titular tarantula escapes the lab and begins storming about the Arizona deserts, eating cattle and causing a nuisance. John Agar, Mara Corday, and Leo G. Carroll play the investigators and heroic scientists tasked with tracking down the tarantula and figuring out what's going on. The film climaxes with the tarantula charging toward Desert Rock, Arizona, eager to do damage. The monster is stopped when the Air Force is called in to set the arachnid on fire with a napalm attack.

Clint Eastwood played one of the fighter pilots called in to initiate the attack. He's hard to recognize, as his face is covered by a pilot's mask.

Jack Arnold was one of America's preeminent monster moviemakers, and he created several famed B-movies that are well-remembered to this day. In addition to "Tarantula" and the "Creature from the Black Lagoon" movies, Arnold also made the 3D alien film "It Came from Outer Space," and the legitimately profound "The Incredible Shrinking Man." He also directed the Mamie Van Doren J.D. flick "High School Confidential!" and the eerie psychic alien brain movie "The Space Children." Jack Arnold also received an Academy Award nomination in 1951 for the documentary film "With These Hands." Some modern audiences sometimes snicker at 1950s monster movies as a whole, usually recalling their slow pace, bad scripts, or cheap special effects. Know that Jack Arnold was in a class above, and made the best of the monster movies of the 1950s.

That said, the films are a blast to poke fun at; three of his films have been featured on "Mystery Science Theater 3000." Which is an honor unto itself. Arnold must have been impressed with the young Eastwood, as he brought him in for two movies in the same year. That was the last time they ever worked together. Eastwood delivered some utilitarian dialogue and did the work. 

Eastwood had three more uncredited roles in 1956, but was credited for his appearance in the Ginger Rogers vehicle "The First Traveling Saleslady." He continued to work pretty steadily for a few more years before landing a plum role in "Rawhide" in 1959. He starred in 216 episodes of the series. After that show ended in 1965, he landed the lead in Sergio Leone's "A Fistful of Dollars," and Eastwood's cinematic legacy was cemented. 

And that was all before he started directing, even! We have Jack Arnold to thank for giving a chance to a lanky aspiring actor named Clint, and Clint's willingness to star opposite killer monsters.