CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- As Dirty Harry, blowing away bad guys made Clint Eastwood's day. But being Hasty Pudding Theatricals' Man of the Year -- and getting enthusiatic smooches from actors in drag -- made Eastwood's night.
The actor and director, best known for his tough-guy roles in films such as 'Magnum Force' and 'Sudden Impact,' received the group's traditional brass pudding pot in a ceremony Tuesday night.
'I'll treasure this as one of the great moments of my life,' Eastwood told a cheering crowd at the Harvard Square theater.
Harvard's wacky theatrical group, the nation's oldest undergraduate drama organization, has staged annual productions starring actors dressed as 'lusty, busty' women for the last 143 years.
Eastwood good-naturedly accepted a white bra with American flags stitched across each cup, donning the garment over his tuxedo jacket.
'It's wonderful to have patriotic t--s,' Eastwood said. He plucked at the bra. 'I may not wear this in public, but thank you.'
Eastwood added that it was an honor 'to fly all the way across the country to see a lot of girls with Adam's apples.'
The audience roared with approval when Eastwood, 60, stepped up to the microphone and delivered his now-infamous line: 'Go ahead, make my day.'
And he submitted as two actors -- wearing yellow leotards, high heels and scarlet lipstick -- ran onstage and planted an enthusiastic kiss on each cheek.
'Is it a quarter to 2 in this bar?' Eastwood asked.
The Hasty Pudding also presented Eastwood with a toy orangutan, reminiscent of his co-star in the movies 'Every Which Way But Loose' and 'Any Which Way You Can.'
In addition to his roles as San Francisco detective 'Dirty Harry' Callahan, Eastwood starred in a number of movies, including Sergio Leone's trio of so-called spaghetti westerns -- 'A Fistful of Dollars,' 'For a Few Dollars More' and 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' -- which first established him as an international star.
He made his directing debut in the 1971 film 'Play Misty for Me,' also playing the lead role of a late-night disc jocky stalked by a homicidal ex-fan. Eastwood acted and directed in several more films, including 'The Outlaw Josey Wales' and 'Firefox.' In 1988, he directed 'Bird,' about the life of jazz musician Charlie Parker.
The award was presented before the premiere of Hasty Pudding's 143rd production, a musical entitled 'Safari, Sagoodi.'
Each year the group recognizes two performers who have made 'a lasting and impressive contribution to the world of entertainment.' Hasty Pudding's 1991 Woman of the Year, actress Diane Keaton, was honored last week with a parade through Harvard Square.
Past recipients include Kevin Costner, Steve Martin, Alan Alda, Bill Cosby, Jimmy Stewart, Katharine Hepburn, Carol Burnett, Cher, Kathleen Turner and the late Lucille Ball.
Alumni of the Harvard theater group include Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox, composer and lyricist Alan Jay Lerner, actors Jack Lemmon and Fred Gwynne, and Massachusetts Gov. William Weld -- who had the female lead in the 1966 production of 'Right Up Your Alley.'
