‘The Young and the Restless’ Star Melody Thomas Scott’s Wild Story of Stabbing Clint Eastwood as a Young Teen
Actress Melody Thomas Scott may be familiar to soap opera audiences as matriarch Nikki Newman on The Young and the Restless, but she had a pretty successful career before the show. She worked with Clint Eastwood one time and somehow, ended up stabbing him. She talked about the interesting incident in a recent interview.
Melody Thomas Scott was in westerns and other types of films before soaps
Scott, born Melody Ann Thomas, got her career started way before she started on The Young and the Restless. As a child actress, she had a role in the 1964 Alfred Hitchock film, Marine. Other projects included John Wayne’s final film, The Shootlist, and a recurring role she had on The Waltons.
She has played the role of Nicole “Nikki” Reed Newman on The Young and the Restless for over 40 years. Entering the role in 1979, she is the second actress to portray Nikki. Erica Hope was in the role briefly from 1978-1979.
She recently told a story about working with Clint Eastwood
When she was 13 in 1971, Scott appeared in the film, The Beguiled. In an interview with Yahoo! Entertainment, she said her on-set actions led her to being labeled as the girl who stabbed Clint Eastwood with a needle.
She stated that it happened while they were filming a scene in which Eastwood’s character was supposed to be dead. Scott’s character was one helping to sew everything together. Scott said that she decided to stick him in the foot with “long, extremely thick, authentic Civil War sewing needle,” making him scream. The actor thought that he’d been bitten by a bug.
“I cannot explain what went through my mind, but I couldn’t resist it,” she said of the needle stab. “He certainly didn’t deserve it because he was so sweet to us kids. Every morning, he’d come out of his [trailer] and give us all a kiss on the cheek. I mean: Clint Eastwood… Oh my god. We just adored him. I sat there for a few minutes thinking: Oh, no, I can’t do that. I can’t do that. Oh, yes, I can! And I did it.”
Here’s how the actress apologized
While she didn’t admit to doing it in the moment, the actress said she apologized years later “in front of everyone.” It happened to be at 2004 Publicists Awards. Eastwood was an award recipient and Scott was a presenter.
After admitting it in the room, she said, “He [Eastwood] just gave me that kind of wry look — that Eastwood look — like you never know exactly what he’s thinking,” she says. “He never really said in words, ‘You’re forgiven.’ But at least I got that off my chest and he — and most of Hollywood — knew I did that.”
We’re sure not many shenanigans on the set of The Young and the Restless can compare to the set of The Beguiled! The Young and the Restless airs weekdays on CBS.
