Margaret Ruth (Runner) Wood (1909 - 2006)

Born 18 Jan 1909 in Oakland, Alameda, California, USA

Ancestors

Wife of Clinton Eastwood — married 5 Jun 1927 in California, USA

Wife of John Belden Wood — married 16 Oct 1972 in Pebble Beach, Monterey County, California, USA

Died 4 Feb 2006 at age 97 in Carmel Valley, Monterey, California, USA

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Doug Lockwood [send private message] and David Winslow [send private message]

Biography

Margaret (Runner) Wood is Notable.

Mother of actor Clint Eastwood

Wife of 1. Clint Eastwood, Sr (June 11, 1906 – July 21, 1970) and 2. John Belden Wood (November 24, 1913 – February 18, 2004)

Mother of Actor/Director Clint Eastwood. Widow of Clinton Eastwood (1906-1970), and John Wood (1913-2004). She was the daughter of Waldo (Walt) Errol Runner and Virginia May McClanaham. Ruth was often her son's date at the Academy Awards. Her favorite Clint Eastwood Movie was "Paint Your Wagon." Before she went to the Academy Awards, Rogers said Mrs. Wood always told him that if "anyone in Hollywood asked" about her hair, she would tell them where she got it done. Mrs. Wood was 97.

Obit in the Monterey Herald February 8, 2006:

Margaret Ruth Wood, mother of famed actor and director Clint Eastwood, and a Carmel Valley resident, died Saturday at 97. Mrs. Wood had lived on the Monterey Peninsula since the late 1960s and maintained strong bonds locally with her son and daughter, Jeanne Bernhardt of Carmel. At 84, Mrs. Wood accompanied her son to the 1993 Academy Awards presentation, where he told a worldwide audience that she was the most important woman in his life. As Eastwood won Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director for the gritty western "Unforgiven," he praised his mother, who was beaming in the crowd wearing a black and silver gown. "It's like every mother's dream," Mrs. Wood told a San Francisco Chronicle reporter the next day. "It was pretty unbelievable to have him say that, although we are naturally close." Judie Hoyt, an assistant at Eastwood's film company Malpaso Productions in Burbank, said the actor-director would not be releasing a statement about his mother's death. By all accounts, Eastwood and his mother had a very strong relationship, and he often turned to her for advice. She first suggested casting Meryl Streep opposite Eastwood in the steamy romance "The Bridges of Madison County," which he directed. "He always sought her advice," said Carmel resident and civic volunteer Pat Sippel, who met Eastwood and his mother in 1970 while working on a benefit celebrity tennis tournament at Pebble Beach. At the 2004 Academy Awards, Eastwood and his mother walked hand in hand on the red carpet. "I just felt a close mother-son bond," Sippel said. "She seemed to give good advice and he enjoyed her company... I'm sure it's going to be a big loss to him and to the family." Her death came on the eve of this week's AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, a golf tournament with which Eastwood has been closely linked for years -- first as a celebrity participant and, most recently, as chairman of the Monterey Peninsula Foundation, the event organizer. Eastwood is taking part in some tournament activities, but probably will not be as visible as years past, a tournament official said. Though she was not fond of film violence, Mrs. Wood was a devoted fan of her son's movies, saying once that she watched several of them many times and was "the first one in the theater every time." Her favorite Eastwood movie, however, occupies an almost forgotten corner of his celluloid output: the musical "Paint Your Wagon." In 1986, after Eastwood was sworn in as the mayor of Carmel, Mrs. Wood told reporters attending the event that her son would be "a fine mayor." "Don't cut it down too fine," Eastwood joked. "I'll be great." Displaying the same brand of laconic humor that Eastwood possesses, Mrs. Wood told the Carmel City Council in 1993 how her own film debut -- as an extra in a train-boarding scene in "Unforgiven" -- was edited out after her director son filmed the scene eight times. "I ended up on the cutting room floor," she said, as she accepted a city certificate of appreciation for Eastwood's 1986-88 tenure as Carmel mayor. Mrs. Wood was born in 1909 and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. She and Eastwood's father, Clinton Eastwood, lived in Piedmont, a wealthy community next to Oakland, before moving to Pebble Beach in the 1960s. He died of a heart attack in July 1970. She married John Wood, a retired lumber executive in 1972, after meeting him on a trip to Hawaii. For her second marriage, Eastwood walked his mother down the aisle. The Woods traveled extensively and she played golf like her son. She and her husband moved to Hacienda Carmel in Carmel Valley in 1988. John Wood died in February 2004. Roy Rogers, a Carmel hairdresser who did Mrs. Wood's hair for years, said he "enjoyed her and her young spirit." Before she went to the Academy Awards, Rogers said Mrs. Wood always told him that if "anyone in Hollywood asked" about her hair, she would tell them where she got it done. "Her favorite thing was to go to Hawaii," Rogers said. "In recent years, she always would say, 'This is my last trip,' but she went again just a few months ago." Her daughter frequently picked up Mrs. Wood at Roger's shop, but Clint Eastwood often did too. "He was devoted to her," he said. Born Margaret Ruth Runner, she met Clinton Eastwood, a high school football and swimming star, when they were teenagers in Piedmont. She, too, was tall and attractive like her future husband, according to Eastwood biographer Richard Schickel. But she was too tall to realize her childhood dream of being a ballet star. Clinton and Ruth were ideal parents, one acquaintance told Schickel. "She certainly has lived a long life and probably an interesting one," Sippel said.

Sources

• 1910 United States Federal Census:

Name: Ruth Runer Age in 1910: 1 [1 2/12] Birthplace: California Home in 1910: Oakland Ward 7, Alameda, California Relation to Head of House: Daughter Father's Name: Walter E Runer Father's Birthplace: Colorado Mother's name: Virginia Runer Mother's Birthplace: Missouri Walter E Runer 28 Virginia Runer 24 Bernice Runer 5 Melvin Runer 3 Ruth Runer 1 [1 2/12] Source Citation: Year: 1910; Census Place: Oakland Ward 7, Alameda, California; Roll: T624_71; Page: 5B; Enumeration District: 0143; FHL microfilm: 1374084.

• 1920 United States Federal Census:

Name: Margaret P Rummer [Margaret R Runner] Age: 10 Birthplace: California Home in 1920: Oakland, Alameda, California Street: Wickson Relation to Head of House: Daughter Father's Name: Waldo E Rummer Father's Birthplace: Colorado Mother's name: Virginia M Rummer Mother's Birthplace: Missouri Waldo E Rummer 36 Virginia M Rummer 33 Bernice V Rummer 15 Melvin E Rummer 13 Margaret P Rummer 10 Source Citation: Year: 1920; Census Place: Oakland, Alameda, California; Roll: T625_89; Page: 5B; Enumeration District: 78; Image: 378.

• California Birth Index, 1905-1995:

Name: Margret R Runner Birth Date: 18 January 1909 Mother's Maiden Name: Mcclauah Birth County: Alameda Source Citation: Birthdate: 18 Jan 1909; Birth County: Alameda.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clint_Eastwood

• 1930 United States Federal Census:

Name: Margaret Eastwood Birthplace: California Home in 1930: Oakland, Alameda, California Marital Status: Married Relation to Head of House: Wife Spouse's Name: Clinton Eastwood Father's Birthplace: California Mother's Birthplace: Missouri Clinton Eastwood 23 Margaret Eastwood 21 Source Citation: Year: 1930; Census Place: Oakland, Alameda, California; Roll: 105; Page: 15B; Enumeration District: 0107; Image: 271.0; FHL microfilm: 2339840.

• Find A Grave: Memorial #13271147

• California, Marriage Records from Select Counties, 1850-1941:

Name: Ruth Runner Birth Place: California Marriage Age: 18 Residence Place: 169, Ronada St Piedmont Marriage Date: 5 June 1927 Marriage Place: Alameda, California Father: Walter E Runner Mother: Virginia McClanahan Spouse: Clinton Eastwood Spouse Marriage Age: 20 Spouse Birth Place: California Spouse Residence Place: 141- Boneta Ave Piedmont Spouse Father: Burr Eastwood Spouse Mother: Jessie Anderson Record Type: Marriage Licenses and Certificates Source Information: Ancestry.com. California, Marriage Records from Select Counties, 1850-1941 [database on-line]. Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Original data: Marriage records, select counties and years. California State Archives, Sacramento, California.

• California, Marriage Index, 1960-1985:

Name: Margaret R Runner Age: 63 Spouse Name: John B Wood Spouse Age: 58 Est. Spouse Birth: abt 1914 Date: 29 October 1972 Location: Monterey Source Information: Ancestry.com. California, Marriage Index, 1960-1985 [database on-line]. Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. Original data: State of California. California Marriage Index, 1960-1985. Microfiche. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California.

• Global, Find A Grave Index for Non-Burials, Burials at Sea, and other Select Burial Locations, 1300s-Current:

Name: Margaret Ruth Eastwood Wood Birth Date: 18 January 1909 Birth Place: Alameda County, California, United States of America Death Date: 4 February 2006 Death Place: Carmel Valley, Monterey County, California, United States of America URL: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-...

• United States Obituary Collection:

Name of Deceased: Margaret "Betty" Wood Age at Death: 97 Death Date: 4 February 2006 Obituary Date: 12 February 2006 Newspaper Title: Honolulu Advertiser, The Newspaper Location: Honolulu, Hawaii Birth Date: about 1909 Locations Mentioned in Obituary: NM, NM Kane'ohe, Kane'ohe Other Persons Mentioned in Obituary: Virginia McGrath Nani

Source Citation: Newspaper: Honolulu Advertiser, The; Publication Date: 12 Feb 2006; Publication Place: Honolulu, Hawaii

• U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989:

Name: M Ruth Eastwood Residence Year: 1932 Street address: East 623 19th Avenue Residence Place: Spokane, Washington Spouse: Clinton Eastwood Publication Title: Spokane, Washington, City Directory, 1932

Source Information: Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Original sources vary according to directory. The title of the specific directory being viewed is listed at the top of the image viewer page. Check the directory title page image for full title and publication information.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Carole Lathrop for creating Runner-31 on 11 October 13. Click the Changes tab for the details on contributions by Carole and others.