EASTWOOD, QUIETLY, ON `EASTWOOD'.

Byline: Luaine Lee Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire

Clint Eastwood doesn't like to talk about himself. A tall, taciturn version of his own movie heroes, he'd rather play an intriguing person than BE one.

Acting is the great escape for him. ``You can be a Walter Mitty sort of character and put yourself in all kinds of situations. That's the appeal of acting, it's the great escapism not only for the audience but for the player himself,'' he says.

Eastwood, of course, has indulged that passion ever since he started hacking out B movies and small TV roles on shows such as ``Navy Log'' and ``West Point'' nearly 45 years ago.

Today he is one of a handful of actors who can start an international trend with a throwaway one-liner (``Make my day'') or cause a creative chain-reaction by merely expressing an interest in a project.

No matter how brilliantly he shines on the marquee, in person he'd just as soon go unnoticed. That's why TNT's special, ``Eastwood on Eastwood,'' being shown today, is misleading.

Written, produced and directed by film critic Richard Schickel (who wrote an adulatory bio of Eastwood), this documentary should be called ``Eastwood on Filmmaking'' or ``Eastwood on the Characters I've Played.''

It no more illuminates the man than a cardboard lobby card. Following Eastwood's definitive roles, the documentary does not mention co-star Sondra Locke - his 14-year inamorata with whom he made six movies. Co-star Clyde the orangutan, however, gets plenty of screen time.

Working man

One thing's for sure: Eastwood likes working. ``For me, I guess, like a lot of people, I've been involved with my work for so many years that that has always become a very important part of my life. I don't say that's the only meaning. I have my kids. I have enjoyment of various kinds ...'' he says.

Those ``various kinds'' of enjoyment would remain a mystery if he had his way. He married Maggie Johnson, a swimsuit designer and model in 1953. They had two children: a son, Kyle, and a daughter, Alison. They divorced in the mid-'80s, following Eastwood's long liaison with Locke, and they remain friendly.

His date book has been - well, full, though Eastwood doesn't talk about his private life. He has fathered, reportedly, four children out of wedlock. They include a grown daughter with actress Roxanne Tunis and a preschooler with actress Frances Fisher.

According to Schickel's book, he also has a son and a daughter with a former flight attendant he met in his adopted hometown, Carmel-by-the-Sea.

A year and a half ago, Eastwood married Dina Ruiz - 35 years his junior - and they have a daughter.

At 67, there isn't much Eastwood hasn't experienced. After high school, he bumbled through a series of odd jobs, including pumping gas, logging and stoking a steel furnace. He found his way to L.A. and gained his first national

attention as the leathery Rowdy Yates on TV's ``Rawhide.''

But it was really his flight to Italy and a platter full of spaghetti westerns that set him apart. More of a menacing presence than an actor in movies such as ``A Fistful of Dollars'' and ``The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,'' Eastwood parlayed that gritty dominance into other kinds of films, trading his leather chaps for a .44 magnum.

Holding out for a hero

He portrayed a series of implacable tough guys in films such as ``Coogan's Bluff,'' ``Dirty Harry,'' ``Magnum Force'' and ``The Gauntlet.'' But one way or another, Eastwood was always the hero.

``A hero,'' he says, ``is someone who overcomes some adversity in the story. I guess he's the winner. The guy who wins out in the end, he or she.''

Eastwood also is a director, and in some quarters considered better at that than he is at acting. He helmed his first film, ``Play Misty for Me,'' in 1971, and has directed ``The Eiger Sanction,'' ``The Outlaw Josey Wales,'' ``Bird,'' as well as ``Unforgiven.'' He's finishing ``Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,'' due in December.

It is the process of filmmaking that has intrigued him, he says, resting his long, narrow hands on his lap.

``I've always been interested in the total ensemble of films and fascinated by every aspect of it.'' The downside is that both are sometimes tedious, he thinks.

``And (directing is) not always as glamorous as when it's cut together. You have to put a lot of little pieces to the puzzle. That's the same thing with acting. Theater acting is a little different because you eventually get to put the character together in one big hunk.''

You must take motion picture acting partially on faith, he says. ``You have to assume that certain things are working. You may be put in the situation where you're filming the last scene first. If that's the case, then you have to pretty well have the rest of the character assembled in your mind. And if you're right, everything works. And if you're not right, you have to go back to the drawing board.''

John Malkovich, who made such an unforgettable nemesis in ``In the Line of Fire'' with Eastwood, says he finds the actor-director unique.

``He has quite a dignity about him and a justice about him, in a strange way,'' says Malkovich.

``He's atypical. Even in Hollywood, you're not going to see him at a lot of ACLU fund-raisers. He doesn't go along with the crowd.''

THE FACTS

The show: ``Eastwood on Eastwood.''

What: A documentary retrospective on Clint Eastwood's career as an actor and director.

The stars: Narrated by John Cusack, with comments from Eastwood.

Where: TNT.

When: 4, 8 and 9:30 p.m. Sunday.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1) ``I've always been interested in the total ensemble of films and fascinated by every aspect of it,'' says Clint Eastwood, who in some quarters is considered a better director than actor.

(2) Focusing on his films and characters, ``Eastwood on Eastwood'' no more illuminates the private man than a cardboard lobby card.