| Sondra Locke | |
|---|---|
Sondra Locke at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival |
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| Born | Shelbyville, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress, singer, director |
| Years active | 1968–1999 |
| Spouse | Gordon Anderson (1967–present) (separated) |
| Partner | Clint Eastwood (1975–1989) |
Sondra Locke (born May 28, 1944[1] or 1947[2][3]) is an American actress, singer and film director. She made her film debut in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. From 1976 to 1983, she appeared in six films with then partner Clint Eastwood, starting with The Outlaw Josey Wales, and ending with the fourth Dirty Harry film, Sudden Impact, where she played a serial killer seeking revenge for a past rape.
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She was born and raised in Shelbyville, Tennessee. Her parents are Raymond Smith, who served in the military, and Pauline Bayne Locke, a pencil factory worker. They separated before she was born and her mother quickly married Alfred Taylor Locke (1922–2007), a construction worker. She has a younger half-brother, Don. Locke was the valedictorian of the Shelbyville Central High School class of 1962. She attended Middle Tennessee State University for a year, before dropping out to pursue an acting career.
Locke won a nationwide talent search for the 1968 film The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, in which she played a lonely teenage waif who develops a bond with a deaf-mute man (played by Alan Arkin) in a small southern town. Locke, who was in her early 20s at the time, deceived the producers by stating that she was 17 and bound her breasts to be convincing for the role. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as well as two Golden Globe Awards, one for Best Supporting Actress and the other for Most Promising Newcomer. Despite her early success, it took several years before her career took off again. In the early 1970s, she appeared in a number of independent films such as The Second Coming of Suzanne and Willard. She also guest starred on television shows, including Barnaby Jones and Kung Fu. In the Night Gallery episode "A Feast of Blood" she played the victim of a curse planted by Norman Lloyd; the recipient of a brooch that devoured her.
Locke got a career boost in 1976 when she played a pioneer woman opposite Clint Eastwood in the western classic The Outlaw Josey Wales. With Eastwood as her leading man, Locke went on to star in a number of blockbuster hits. Her notable film roles include playing a foul-mouthed prostitute in the action film The Gauntlet and a spoiled heiress who joins a traveling Wild West show in Bronco Billy. She played a country singer in the comedy Every Which Way But Loose, which was the second-highest grossing film of 1978. She reprised her role in the sequel, Any Which Way You Can, in 1980. She starred as a revenge-seeking murderess in 1983's Sudden Impact, which became the most successful of the Dirty Harry film franchise.
Locke has recorded several songs, including some for the Which Way films. At one point, she was trying to get a record contract. Locke made her directing debut in 1986 with the comedy Ratboy and later directed the thriller Impulse in 1990. Both films were financed by Eastwood. Afterwards, her film work was infrequent. She directed the made-for-television movie Death in Small Doses and the independent film Do Me A Favor. After 13 years away from acting, she returned in two little-seen independent films in 1999. Locke hasn't worked in the film industry since then. She was the inspiration for the 2005 film Our Very Own, which focuses on five southern teenagers from her native hometown who celebrate Locke's success.
Locke married sculptor Gordon Anderson on September 25, 1967. Anderson is homosexual and Locke says their marriage was never consummated, although they have been close friends for many years and remain legally married.[4]
Sondra Locke had a fourteen-year relationship with actor Clint Eastwood. They cohabited from 1975 to 1989.[5] During the early years of the relationship, Locke had two abortions and a tubal ligation, which she claims were at Eastwood's request.[6]
In 1989, Locke sued Eastwood for palimony, after he changed the locks on their house and placed her belongings in storage.[7] They settled in 1990, with Eastwood giving her a directing contract with Warner Bros. in exchange for her dropping the suit. However, the studio never hired her to direct and rejected all of the 30+ film projects she proposed. In 1996, Locke hired famed entertainment attorney Neil Papiano and sued Eastwood for fraud, alleging that he had compensated Warner Bros. for the contract. The case was left in the jury's hands, with analysts predicting that Locke would win. In 1999, Eastwood and Locke agreed to settle out of court for a reportedly large amount. The details of the settlement were not publicly disclosed. The case is used in some modern law school contracts textbooks to illustrate the legal concept of good faith.[8]
Locke is a breast cancer survivor. In 1990 she underwent a double mastectomy.[4] During her treatment, Locke began a relationship with Dr. Scott Cunneen, the Chief of Surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. They began cohabiting in 1996, but are no longer together.[9]
In 1997 she published an autobiography titled The Good, the Bad, and the Very Ugly.
In 2001, Locke purchased a large, six-bedroom home in the Hollywood Hills,[10] an affluent and exclusive neighborhood of Los Angeles, California in the southeastern Santa Monica Mountains.