Clint Eastwood is known for playing gritty characters — ringed by smoke and whiskey in hand. His performance as the cigar-chewing anti-hero cowboy from the Dollars Trilogy, for example, is arguably his most iconic role. Yet Eastwood hates smoking, and he could barely stand the taste long enough to film his scenes.
While shooting the Dollars films, both Eastwood and director Sergio Leone saw the value in using cigars as a character prop, especially given that the mysterious cowboy says very little throughout the course of the three movies. AFI reports that Eastwood picked up a bunch of cigars just before filming began, certain they would add something to his role. He was horrified to discover that smoking made him feel physically ill.
According to Patrick McGilligan's "Clint: The Life and Legend," the legendary actor hated it so much, he would get frustrated with Leone when he insisted on shooting scenes from multiple angles, forcing Eastwood to smoke the entire time. He told the director, "You'd better get it this time because I'm going to throw up." On the plus side, he has stated that when he needed to play a moody character it helped him to get into a grumpy state of mind. "I took a couple of draws and, boy, I was right there" (per Douglas Thompson, "Clint Eastwood: Sexual Cowboy").
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