Morgan Freeman reveals one of Clint Eastwood’s biggest secrets: “It only comes out when he’s on set.”

Clint Eastwood fans, brace yourselves: As “Million Dollar Baby” star Morgan Freeman has revealed, one of Eastwood’s most iconic traits is actually just a trick.

It’s been nearly 70 years since Clint Eastwood first appeared on screen in Jack Arnold’s monster classic Revenge of the Creature. Only four years after his brief role as lab technician Jennings, he secured a leading part in the Western series Rawhide, where he starred in 217 episodes—enough time to develop his unique acting techniques that would later define him as a Hollywood icon.

Following his TV stint, the now 94-year-old moved to Italy to collaborate with Sergio Leone on the legendary Dollar Trilogy. This experience truly solidified Clint Eastwood’s persona as the silent, mysterious gunslinger—a role he would revisit time and again, from Westerns to his unforgettable Dirty Harry series.

While his characters usually don’t say much, Eastwood’s distinct tone makes his performances unforgettable. Anyone who’s heard his deep, gravelly voice recognizes it instantly and can’t imagine him sounding any other way.

Morgan Freeman’s Revelation: Clint Eastwood’s True Voice

However, Morgan Freeman, who has starred with Eastwood in Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby, and Invictus, and is also a close friend, revealed in an Esquire interview that this voice is just a trick.

“It’s not his real voice,” Freeman, an Oscar winner himself, explained. “The voice he uses when he acts isn’t the one he uses off set. […] He developed this voice while filming Spaghetti Westerns with Sergio Leone, and he’s used it ever since. People imitate him using this voice because it’s the only one they know, but it only comes out when he’s on set, acting. That’s when he switches to it, and I don’t know why.”

The “why” may actually be simple: that voice has become a core part of Eastwood’s legendary status, and once he adopted it, moving away from it was probably next to impossible. Thanks to Freeman’s candid reveal, however, fans now know that Eastwood’s iconic voice is just one more carefully honed part of his screen persona.