Clint Eastwood has revealed that he was encouraged to run for governor of California after being elected as mayor of Carmel.

The actor, who was mayor of the small northern Californian town for one term in the 1980s, has spoken of his admiration for current governor, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"He's a smart, disciplined guy. More power to him," Eastwood is quoted by eecho.ie as saying. "I had a lot of people trying to talk me into running for governor before he came along but I said: 'No chance.' I was only interested in helping my own community."