Jeremy Irons

After making a less than stellar debut as Mikhail Fokine in Herbert Ross' biopic "Nijinsky" (1980), Irons rose to screen stardom as Meryl Streep's leading man in Karel Reisz's "The French Lieutenant's Woman" (1981). He went on to more eclectic roles, including the caddish lover in David Jones' film version of Harold Pinter's "Betrayal" (1983), but seemed miscast as Proust's hero in "Swann in Love" (1984) and as a Jesuit priest in Roland Joffe's "The Mission" (1986). He gave a bravura performance as the deranged twin brother protagonists of David Cronenberg's "Dead Ringers" (1988) and won an Oscar as haughty international playboy and murder suspect Claus von Bulow in Barbet Schroeder's "Reversal of Fortune" (1990), which reunited him with Glenn Close.

Irons continued to display his versatility as a paranoid insurance clerk in Steven Soderbergh's psychological thriller, "Kafka" (1991), a history teacher haunted by memories of childhood in "Waterland" and a conservative English politician undone by an obsessive affair with his son's girlfriend in "Damage" (both 1992). Although he tried gamely, his reunion with Cronenberg for "M. Butterfly" (1993) failed to impress critics or audiences. His second film with both Streep and Close, "The House of the Spirits" (also 1993), found them all miscast as South American aristocrats. Irons fared better providing the sinuous voice of the subtly villainous Scar in the animated Disney's mega-hit "The Lion King" (1994). His attempt to cross-over to more mainstream fare as the dyed-blond antagonist to Bruce Willis in "Die Hard With a Vengeance" (1995) met with mixed results.

Irons' next two roles were schematically linked: in Bernardo Bertolucci's "Stealing Beauty" (1996), he was an ailing writer who is reinvigorated when confronted with the voluptuous teenaged Liv Tyler, while in Adrian Lyne's remake of "Lolita" (1997), he was a well-chosen Humbert Humbert, enamored of the pubescent title character. In director Wayne Wang's "Chinese Box" (1997) he played a leukemia-ridden Hong Kong-based British financial reporter who has long held a torch for bar owner Vivian (Gong Li), a former "hostess" from mainland China, who eventually begins to reciprocate his affections. After making for an iconic Father Aramis in the 1998 film adaptation of the classic Alexander Dumas adventure "The Man In the Iron Mask" starring Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role, Irons' talents were squandered in a pair of villainous roles in two lackluster wannabe blockbusters, "Dungeons and Dragons" (2000) and "The Time Machine" (2002).

Clint Eastwood

Eastwood grew up in Depression-era California, where his parents were itinerant workers. After high school, he worked as a lumberjack in Oregon, played honky-tonk piano and was a swimming instructor in the US Army. On the GI Bill, he studied at Los Angeles City College, after which he was signed by Universal. One of his first experiences with the indignity actors must suffer was in a "Francis the Talking Mule" movie, "Francis in the Navy" (1955). Also that year, Eastwood made a brief appearance as a Lab Technician in “Revenge of the Creature”, the sequel to “Creature From the Black Lagoon” (1954). The movie was later lampooned on the popular cult television show, “Mystery Science Theater 3000” (1989-2000)—Eastwood did not escape the barbs hurled by Mike and the bots. Many B-movies later, he moved to New York and gained recognition as trail boss Rowdy Yates in the successful television series "Rawhide" (1959-66)—a role he got despite trouble remembering lines in his screen test.

A strong sensibility and understanding of the characters he played helped Eastwood develop the minimalist acting style for which he’s famous. It was first appreciated in Europe where he starred in a trilogy of popular spaghetti westerns directed by Sergio Leone in Spain. As the laconic and lethal Man With No Name, Eastwood embodied archetypal violent American whose philosophy in "A Fistful of Dollars" (1964) was "everybody gets rich or dead." The sequels, "For a Few Dollars More" (1965) and "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" (1966), became classic revisionist Westerns and made Eastwood an international star. He returned stateside and starred in "Coogan's Bluff" (1968), a smart urban Western that marked the beginning of a long and successful collaboration with director Don Siegel.

Eastwood's second famed screen incarnation was Harry Callahan, the rogue cop of Siegel's "Dirty Harry" (1971) who found it easier to shoot suspects than interrogate them—hence the immortal line in "Sudden Impact" (1983): "Go ahead, make my day.” Despite controversy about Dirty Harry’s penchant for violence over procedure, Eastwood and Siegel were more interested in making an exciting film than a political statement. Eastwood has stated "My characters are usually callused men with a sensitive spot for right and wrong." He has also noted that "My movies add up to a morality, not a politics." Even his friendship with Ronald Reagan has attracted criticism from some, but Eastwood's concern for the environment, he claims, would make him befriend any President.