Clint Eastwood came close to retiring from the movie industry during the 1980s following a succession of movie flops and poor scripts.

However, the 74-year-old OSCAR-nominated actor and director was deterred from quitting Hollywood after a timely resurgence in his career in the early 1990s - with movies like UNFORGIVEN and IN THE LINE OF THE FIRE - reignited his interest in the industry.

The MILLION DOLLAR BABY star tells Britain's EMPIRE magazine, "I'm looking for different stories. Stories that go along with the maturing of the years.

"I probably would have retired years ago if I hadn't found interesting things to do. Especially in the '80s, you know, that was a transition period, but then the '90s were pretty good.

"I bought out Unforgiven, a story I'd had for many years and sat on, there was In The Line Of Fire, and A PERFECT WORLD which I hadn't planned on being in, but I did because KEVIN (COSTNER) said, 'Oh it will be great.'

"So I was playing guys, older people, who have certain regrets, certain problems."

07/02/2005 17:54