Sondra Locke
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox person
Sandra Louise Anderson (née Smith; May 28, 1944 – November 3, 2018), professionally known as Sondra Locke, was an American actress and director.
An alumna of Middle Tennessee State University, Locke broke into regional show business with assorted posts at the Nashville-based radio station WSM-AM, then segued into television as a promotions assistant for WSM-TV. She performed in the theater company Circle Players Inc. while employed at WSM. In 1968, she made her film debut in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and earned dual Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actress and New Star of the Year.
Locke went on to appear in such box-office successes as Willard (1971), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), The Gauntlet (1977), Every Which Way but Loose (1978), Bronco Billy (1980), Any Which Way You Can (1980), and Sudden Impact (1983). She worked regularly with Clint Eastwood, who was her companion from 1975 to 1989 despite their marriages to other people. She also directed four films, notably Impulse (1990). She published an autobiography, The Good, the Bad, and the Very Ugly: A Hollywood Journey, in 1997.
Locke's persona belied her age. She claimed to have been born several years later than 1944, often playing roles written for women far younger than herself, and kept her true age a secret throughout her career.<ref name=TCM>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> For reasons never made clear, her death was not publicly announced and was only confirmed by vital statistics six weeks after she died of cardiac arrest at the age of 74.<ref>"Actress Sondra Locke Dies Unpublicized in November at Age 74". CBS News. December 13, 2018.</ref><ref>"Mystery six-week delay in announcement of Hollywood actress death". The New Zealand Herald. December 13, 2018.</ref> From 1967 until her death, Locke was the wife of sculptor Gordon Leigh Anderson, in a mixed-orientation union they reputedly never consummated.<ref name=FilmInk>Harrison, John (December 16, 2018). "A Fond Farewell to Sondra Locke (1944 – 2018)". FilmInk.</ref><ref name=Telegraph>"Sondra Locke, actress who appeared with Clint Eastwood in hit films of the 1970s such as 'Every Which Way but Loose' and 'The Gauntlet' – obituary". The Telegraph. December 14, 2018.</ref>
Background, early life and educationEdit
Sandra Louise Smith was born on May 28, 1944,Template:EfnTemplate:Efn the daughter of New York City native Raymond Smith, then a soldier stationed at Camp Forrest,Template:Efn and Pauline Bayne, a pencil factory worker from Huntsville, Alabama, who was of mostly Scottish descent, with matrilineages in South Carolina extending back to the late 18th century.<ref>Various compilers, "Vaughn Family Group Sheets"; Jim Freeman received these Family Group Sheets at a Bell family reunion for descendants of David Vaughn.</ref>Template:Efn Locke's parents separated before her birth.<ref name="Furtado 8-31-13">Furtado, David (August 31, 2013). "Sondra Locke's The Good, the Bad, and the Very Ugly: The Woman with a Name". Wand'rin' Star.</ref> In her autobiography, Locke noted, "although Momma would not admit it, I knew Mr. Smith never married my mother."<ref name=autobio>Template:Cite book</ref> She had a maternal half-brother, Donald (born April 26, 1946), from Bayne's subsequent brief marriage to William B. Elkins.<ref>"Alabama – Madison County Brides". GenLookups. p. 29.</ref>Template:Efn When Bayne married Alfred Locke in 1948, Sandra and Donald assumed his surname.<ref>"Walker County, Ga – Vital Records Marriages". USGenWeb.</ref>Template:Efn She grew up in Shelbyville, Tennessee, where her stepfather owned a construction company.<ref name=Armstrong>Template:Cite news</ref> The family later moved to nearby Wartrace.<ref name="DNJ 11-2-62">"MTSC Presents". The Daily News Journal. November 2, 1962.</ref> Self-described as introspective and ambitious, Locke started working part time at age 16, drove her own car, and had a phone installed in her bedroom.<ref>Lane, Lydia (January 3, 1971). "Sondra Relates to True Self". Los Angeles Times.</ref><ref>Kleiner, Dick (October 9, 1968). "Sondra un-Lockes Film Golden Gates". Philadelphia Daily News.</ref> She was raised a Baptist, but stopped going to church as an adult.<ref name=autobio/>
Locke was a cheerleader and class valedictorian in junior high, as well as editor-in-chief of The Royal yearbook and a star player on the girls' basketball team.<ref name=Parish>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Shelbyville Mills School (1958). The Royal. Shelbyville, TN. Jacket copy.</ref><ref>"Recreation". The Volunteer. December 18, 1957. p. 5.</ref> From 1958, she attended Shelbyville Central High School, where she again served as valedictorian and was voted "Duchess of Studiousness" by classmates.<ref name=Slaughter/> She continued to play basketball at SCHS, served as parent–teacher–student association representative, and was president of the French club.<ref name="Aquila 1959"/><ref name="Aquila 1960"/><ref name="Aquila 1961"/><ref name="Aquila 1962"/> Regardless, she was not considered "date material" by the more socially prominent boys in her class.<ref name=Adams/> Locke's first beau, according to locals' reminiscences, was Fred Thomas Jones, a carpenter's son.<ref>"Obituaries". The Tennessean. October 31, 2006. 4B.</ref> Her graduation yearbook listed her grade average 97.72% and her ambition "always to take disappointments with a smile."<ref name="Aquila 1962"/> In 1962, Locke matriculated at Middle Tennessee State University (then Middle Tennessee State College) in Murfreesboro on a full scholarship.<ref name=autobio/> Majoring in theatre, she was a member of the Alpha Psi Omega honor society while at MTSU, and appeared on stage in Life with Father and The Crucible.<ref name="DNJ 11-2-62"/><ref name=DeGennaro>DeGennaro, Nancy (December 14, 2018). "Oscar-nominated actress, Tennessee native Sondra Locke dies at 74". USA Today.</ref><ref name="DNJ 2-24-63">"The Crucible Next College Production". The Daily News Journal. February 24, 1963.</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She dropped out after completing two semesters of study.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In or around 1963, Locke essentially broke off contact with her family, concluding: "It made no sense for any of us to spend our lives pretending to have relationships that did not really exist."<ref name="Furtado 8-31-13"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> She never knew her biological father,<ref name=Barnes>Barnes, Mike (December 13, 2018). "Sondra Locke, Oscar-Nominated Actress for 'The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter,' Dies at 74". The Hollywood Reporter.</ref> and did not attend the funerals of her mother (deceased 1997)<ref>"Services today for Pauline Bayne Locke". The Tennessean. June 14, 1997. 7B.</ref> or stepfather (deceased 2007),<ref>"Alfred Taylor Locke". Shelbyville Times-Gazette. Template:Webarchive.</ref> nor did she have anything to do with her brother, sister-in-law and three nieces.<ref name=Slaughter/><ref name=Melson>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="People 5-15-89">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Efn Donald blamed Gordon Anderson—Locke's best friend since adolescence and future husband—for the rift, claiming Anderson had "an almost hypnotic spell on her."<ref name=Slaughter/>Template:Efn
Locke held a variety of jobs, including as a bookkeeper for Tyson Foods and receptionist in a real-estate office.<ref name=autobio/> For a time, she lived at South Water Apartments in the commuter town of Gallatin.<ref>Hinton, Elmer (June 30, 1965). "Down to Earth". The Nashville Tennessean.</ref> In 1964, she joined the staff at radio station WSM-AM 650 in Nashville, and was promoted to its television affiliate WSM-Channel 4 the following year.<ref name=Slaughter/><ref>"Oscar-nominated actress, Channel 4 alumna Sondra Locke dead at 74". WSMV. December 13, 2018.</ref><ref>Home Office Shield, September 1966</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Locke's biggest coup while employed there was hosting actor Robert Loggia when he visited Nashville to promote his TV pilot T.H.E. Cat, during which he "flirted outrageously" with Locke.<ref name=autobio/> She also modeled for The Tennessean fashion page, acted in commercials for Rich-Schwartz ladies apparel and Southerland Gel mattresses, among others, and gained further stage experience in productions for Circle Players Inc.<ref name=Slaughter/><ref name="Tennessean 8-30-68">Haun, Harry (August 30, 1968). "Sandra of Shelbyville Becomes Sondra of the Cinema". The Nashville Tennessean.</ref> In 1966, the 22-year-old appeared in a UPI wire photo that showed her cavorting in new fallen snow.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Within one year of this exposure, she decided to pursue a career in film, and changed the spelling of her first name to avoid being called Sandy.<ref name="Tennessean 8-30-68"/>
CareerEdit
Rise to prominenceEdit
In July 1967, Locke competed with 590 other Southern actresses and dozens of New York hopefuls for the part of Mick Kelly in a big-screen adaptation of Carson McCullers' novel The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter opposite Alan Arkin.<ref name="Tennessean 8-15-67">Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Efn For the first audition in Birmingham, Alabama, then-fiancé Gordon Anderson gave his bride a so-called Hollywood makeover; he bound her bosom, bleached her eyebrows, and carefully fixed her hair, makeup, and outfit so as to create a more gamine appearance.<ref name=Oppenheimer>Oppenheimer, Peer J. (November 23, 1968). "Sondra Locke– They Call Her 'The Beautiful Fake'; A selfless husband with a flair for fooling catapulted this shy officeworker to overnight stardom". Family Weekly.</ref><ref>"New face in the movie world". Chicago Tribune. August 12, 1968.</ref> Locke lied about her age, shaving off six years to make herself seem younger—a pretense she would keep up not only for the rest of her career, but also the entirety of her public life.<ref name="The Times (London)">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:EfnTemplate:Efn After callbacks in New Orleans and Manhattan, she was cast in the role by recommendation from entertainment coordinator Marion Dougherty.<ref name="Tennessean 8-15-67"/><ref>William Barclift, Birmingham Post-Herald, 7.29.67</ref> The film's shooting wrapped in the fall of 1967. Locke, who had quit her post at WSM, opted to wait until its release before choosing a follow-up project.<ref>The Selma Times-Journal, 12.10.67</ref> In the nine-month interim, she was asked to play the female protagonists in True Grit and Michelangelo Antonioni's Zabriskie Point.<ref name="Tennessean 8-30-68"/> She said she turned down the former on the grounds that it was too similar to the role she had just done, and the latter because of the nudity required.<ref name="Tennessean 8-30-68"/>
By 1968, advertising for Heart was prolific; the film came out that summer to critical acclaim but only modest grosses.<ref name=Parish/><ref>"Sondra Takes a Film by Storm". The Sydney Morning Herald. August 4, 1968.</ref><ref>"Sondra Locke May Fit 'Star Is Born' Description". Chicago Daily Defender. August 31, 1968.</ref> Locke's performance garnered her an Academy Award nomination, as well as a pair of Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actress and Most Promising Newcomer – Female.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Efn Being the oldest nominee in the latter category, she concealed this distinction through retconning with aid from studio publicists.<ref name="The Times (London)"/> At a film exhibitor convention in Kansas City, she won the Show-A-Rama Award from the Motion Picture Association of America as "Most Promising New Star of the Year".Template:Efn Although her salary for the film was reported as $15,000 in contemporary articles, Locke later claimed it was less than one-third that amount.<ref name=autobio/><ref>"It's a Woman's World". Shenandoah Evening Herald. January 27, 1969.</ref>
Commercial ups and downs, missed roles, TV workEdit
Hoping to shed the plain image she had accentuated in her screen debut, in January 1969 Locke posed for a seminude pictorial by photographer Frank Bez, which was published in the December issue of Playboy.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The Playboy layout established Locke's status as a sex symbol, and the images were recycled in other men's magazines as her fame increased.<ref>See, e.g., Club International, Vol. 13, iss. 3 (UK: Paul Raymond, 1984).</ref> Nearly three decades later, Locke said she still got those photos in fan mail requesting her autograph.<ref name=autobio/>
Her next role was as Melisse in Cover Me Babe (1970), originally titled Run Shadow Run,<ref>Heffernan, Harold (August 14, 1969). "Sondra Valuable Behind the Scene". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.</ref> opposite Robert Forster. She made it as part of a $150,000 three-picture deal with 20th Century Fox, and was compensated for the other two which never materialized.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It was announced that she would play the lead in Lovemakers—a film adaptation of Robert Nathan's novel The Color of Evening—but no movie resulted.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Locke was offered Barbara Hershey's role in Last Summer (1969), but her management turned it down without telling her.<ref name=Mell>Template:Cite book</ref> Shortly afterwards, she passed on the lead in My Sweet Charlie (1970), which won an Emmy for its eventual star Patty Duke.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She also declined the part of Bruce Dern's pregnant wife in They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969).<ref>Robert Taylor, Oakland Tribune, 11.1.72</ref> Projects Locke actively pursued but got rejected for included The Sterile Cuckoo (1969), with director Alan J. Pakula instead choosing Liza Minnelli.<ref name=Mell/>
In 1971, Locke co-starred with Bruce Davison and Ernest Borgnine in the psychological thriller Willard, which became a surprise box-office smash.<ref>Browning, Norma Lee (August 4, 1971). "Hollywood". Bangor Daily News.</ref> Locke felt overqualified for her role, but did it as a favor to Davison, who at the time was her unofficial paramour.<ref name=podcast1/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She was then featured in William A. Fraker's underseen mystery A Reflection of Fear (1972), which required her to project the image of a character half her age, and held the title role in first-time director Michael Barry's avant garde drama The Second Coming of Suzanne (1974), winner of three gold medals at the Atlanta Film Festival.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Tate, Eleanora (November 15, 1972). "Someone Who Likes The Snow". Des Moines Tribune.</ref> Both films were shelved for two years before finally opening in arthouse cinemas, attracting little attention at first. Over time, Suzanne has accrued a cult following,<ref name=autobio/><ref name=podcast1/> while Reflection is cited as an early example of media portrayals of transgender people.<ref>Gambin, Lee (February 15, 2016). "Exclusive Interview: Actress Sondra Locke on Gender-Bender Chiller A REFLECTION OF FEAR". Comingsoon.net.</ref>Template:Efn
In 1973, Locke was attached to star in Terminal Circle. "It's a woman's role that comes along once in a lifetime," she said.<ref name="Miller 8-30-73">Miller, Jeanne (August 30, 1973). "The Actress Couldn't Resist". San Francisco Examiner.</ref> The San Francisco-based film was to be directed by Mal Karman and shot by cinematographer Robert Primes, who did camerawork for Gimme Shelter, but it was scrapped for lack of funds.<ref name="Miller 8-30-73"/> She was up for a big part in Earthquake (1974), but lost out to Geneviève Bujold.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Locke guest starred on top-rated television drama series throughout the first half of the 1970s, including The F.B.I., Cannon (as two different characters), Barnaby Jones, and Kung Fu. She was advised by her agents to stay away from TV, but thought it foolish to sit around not working between films.<ref>Jones, Will (December 3, 1972). "Actress says TV creates automatons". Minneapolis Tribune.</ref> In the 1972 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Lloyd acted with Locke again in Gondola (1973), a racially themed, three-character teleplay co-starring her real-life significant other at the time, Bo Hopkins, and commended the actress for "a beautiful performance – perhaps her best ever."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Ron Harper, who worked with Locke on the short-lived 1974 show Planet of the Apes, was even more effusive: "After acting with her in a couple of scenes, there was something so feminine about her that I could picture myself easily falling for her ... She's one of those women who exudes femininity, and you just become so attracted to that."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Films with Clint EastwoodEdit
In mid-1975, Locke was cast in The Outlaw Josey Wales as the love interest of Clint Eastwood's eponymous character.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Locke said she chose the role for its exposure, following a run of unremarkable credits.<ref>Miller, Jeanne (July 1, 1976). "A long time between breaks". San Francisco Examiner.</ref><ref>Eichelbaum, Stanley (November 3, 1972). "Career Off to Great Start, and Then...". San Francisco Examiner.</ref> She took a pay cut just to be in the film; her salary for Josey Wales was $18,000—less than half of what she had earned for her previous job.<ref name=McGilligan>Template:Cite book</ref> The film emerged as one of the top 15 grossing films of 1976 and revived Locke's career.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She followed it up with a lead role alongside Eastwood in the popular action road film The Gauntlet (1977), the duo replacing Steve McQueen and Barbra Streisand, who bowed out from the production owing to a reported clash of egos.<ref>Wilson, Earl (April 17, 1977). "Eastwood getting a lock on Locke". Independent Press-Telegram.</ref><ref name=Eliot>Template:Cite book</ref> Its pre-publicity touted Locke as "the first actress ever to be in a Clint Eastwood movie and get equal billing on screen with the macho star."<ref>Pat O'Haire, New York Daily News, 11.11.77</ref> Eastwood predicted that she would win an Oscar for her performance.<ref>Earl Wilson, Fort Lauderdale News, 11.16.77</ref> Locke was not even nominated, and received mixed critical response at best: on the upside, Vincent Canby of The New York Times said, "Locke is not only pretty, but also occasionally genuinely funny"<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Los Angeles Times critic Kevin Thomas stated that Locke "has not received such a rich opportunity since her Academy Award-nominated debut";<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> in contrast, Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune said, "she's wasted here"<ref>Siskel, Gene (December 22, 1977). "Lots of bullets fly, but 'Gauntlet' is full of blanks". Chicago Tribune.</ref> and TV Guide felt that "Locke is simply repulsive."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Over the course of their decade-and-a-half-long personal relationship, Locke did not work in any capacity on any theatrical motion picture other than with Eastwood except for 1977's experimental horror Western The Shadow of Chikara.<ref name=Puig>Puig, Claudia (May 18, 1989). "Sandra Locke bitter, shocked about split with Eastwood". Hartford Courant.</ref> Co-starring Joe Don Baker, The Shadow of Chikara is noted for being the first film to be shot on the Buffalo National River.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Eastwood accompanied Locke on the shoot and spent his days touring the countryside and fishing while she filmed.<ref name=McGilligan/> The home-invasion potboiler Death Game (1977), though released after they became an item, was actually shot in 1974.<ref>Anderson, George (October 21, 1974). "Local Angle". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.</ref> "Clint wanted me to work only with him," said Locke.<ref name=autobio/> "He didn't like the idea of me being away from him."<ref name="E! 9-11-96">Errico, Marcus (September 11, 1996). "Eastwood's Ex-Lover Says He Torpedoed Her Career". E! News.</ref>
In 1978, Locke and Eastwood appeared with an orangutan named Manis in that year's fourth-highest grossing film, Every Which Way but Loose.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She portrayed country singer Lynn Halsey-Taylor in the adventure-comedy. Its 1980 sequel Any Which Way You Can—for which Locke earned a six-figure salary plus a share of the profits—was nearly as successful.<ref name=McGilligan/><ref name="1980 Yearly Box Office Results">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Locke recorded several songs for the soundtracks of these films, and was whispered to be shopping for a record deal at the time. On the coattails of the franchise's success, she performed live in concert (one-off gigs) with The Everly Brothers, Eddie Rabbitt, and Tom Jones.<ref>Aaron Gold, Chicago Tribune, 2.1.79</ref>
During this period, Eastwood did a few movies that had no prominent female character for Locke to play. In the meantime, she accepted some television offers, co-starring with an all-female ensemble cast in Friendships, Secrets and Lies (1979) and portraying big band-era vocalist Rosemary Clooney in Rosie: The Rosemary Clooney Story (1982).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> While the biopic followed Clooney from ages 17 to 40, Locke was 38 when she played the role, and though hardly counting as a proper exception due to its nonlinear structure, this marked the only time she played a mother onscreen. As part of the promotional push behind Rosie, VarietyTemplate:'s Rick Du Brow wrote a flattering article in which he called Locke "one of the most-watched and popular motion picture actresses in the world."<ref>Du Brow, Rick (August 22, 1982). "ShowBiz". The Scrantonian.</ref>
Locke starred as a bitter heiress who joins a traveling Wild West show in Bronco Billy (1980), her only film with Eastwood not to reach blockbuster status, though it still ranked among the annual box-office top 25.<ref name="1980 Yearly Box Office Results"/> The New York Times critic Janet Maslin noticed that "each of them works more delicately here than they have together previously"<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and the film's director of photography, David Worth, enthused how "being able to capture the true love between Clint and Sondra was very special."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Locke cited Bronco Billy and The Outlaw Josey Wales as her favorites of the movies they made.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The couple's final collaboration as performers was Sudden Impact (1983), the highest-grossing film in the Dirty Harry franchise, in which Locke played an artist with her own code of vigilante justice.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Her fee was a reported $350,000.<ref name=McGilligan/>
Locke never appeared in a wide release after Sudden Impact.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The film premiered five months short of her 40th birthday, declared by People as "the pre-Fonda age cutoff for actresses."<ref>Sue Reilly, People, 5.5.80</ref> Despite Locke's past nomination for an Academy Award and repeat appearances in box-office hits, she had failed to achieve first-magnitude stardom or win the affection of the moviegoing public. By 1979, the year Eastwood and she made their fourth film together, accusations of nepotism arose.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Cultural critic Joe Queenan, writing for Mail & Guardian, would express particular contempt for her in a 2010 editorial about Eastwood's career, believing that "his worst movies, without question, are the ones he made with Sondra Locke, who briefly played Linda McCartney to Eastwood's Sir Paul."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In late 1983, Locke announced plans to develop and star in a movie about Marie Antoinette, but the project fell apart.<ref name=Lumenick>Lou Lumenick, The North Jersey Record, 12.30.83</ref> Eastwood then directed Locke in a 1985 Amazing Stories episode entitled "Vanessa in the Garden", with Harvey Keitel.
DirectingEdit
Locke made her feature directorial debut with Ratboy (1986), a parable about a youth who is part rat and part human, produced by Eastwood's company Malpaso.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> When asked why she had been absent from her longtime beau's recent star vehicles, Locke replied simply, "I wasn't right for the roles."<ref>Mann, Roderick (March 23, 1986). "Locke Turns To 'Ratboy' To Escape Clint's Maze". Los Angeles Times.</ref>Template:Efn Ratboy had very limited distribution in the United States, where it was a critical and financial flop, but was well received in Europe, with French newspaper Le Parisien calling it the highlight of the Deauville Film Festival.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Locke, who also appeared in the lead role alongside Sharon Baird as the title character, was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress. Amidst this setback, Locke conceded that plum acting offers had dried up,<ref>Behar, Henri (December 19, 1986). "Getting a Locke on Hollywood: When roles dried up, she started to direct". The Globe and Mail.</ref> though she never backed down from the ruse she had begun in 1967, masquerading ceaselessly about being younger.<ref name=TCM/><ref name=80th>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Locke's second foray behind the camera was Impulse (1990), starring Theresa Russell as a police officer on the vice squad who goes undercover as a prostitute. Siskel & Ebert gave the film "two thumbs up".<ref>"Siskel and Ebert 1990 Ratings". Listal.com.</ref> In a subsequent interview with Siskel, Locke said she was not eager to act again. "If you love the craft of filmmaking as much as I do, it's hard to go back to acting after you've tasted the high of directing."<ref name=Siskel/>
Immediately following the completion of Impulse, two of its co-stars, Jeff Fahey and George Dzundza, were hired by Locke's now ex-boyfriend Eastwood to appear in White Hunter Black Heart, a move which raised eyebrows among the film community.
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />
It's true: I went from a picture with Sondra to one with Clint. A lot of people ask about that ... I go out of my way not to be involved in other people's situations. Clint and Sondra were very professional. No one ever put me in the middle of anything. All I can say is that they are two very individual, professional filmmakers.{{#if:Jeff Fahey<ref>Bob Thomas, Staten Island Advance, 9.27.90</ref>|{{#if:|}}
— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries}}
{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}
After a long interruption in her career due to legal difficulties and health issues, Locke directed the made-for-television film Death in Small Doses (1995), based on a true story, and the independent feature Trading Favors (1997), starring Rosanna Arquette.
Memoir and final projectsEdit
In 1997, Locke's autobiography The Good, the Bad, and the Very Ugly: A Hollywood Journey was published by William Morrow and Company. In it, she called Eastwood "a completely evil, manipulating, lying excuse for a man."<ref name="Furtado 8-31-13"/> Eastwood's lawyers sent a warning letter to the publisher, and although no slander charges arose, Entertainment Tonight canceled a scheduled interview with Locke.<ref name=Waxman>Waxman, Sharon (November 19, 1997). "Make Her Day". The Washington Post.</ref> She was also bumped from The Oprah Winfrey Show, and in her words, "shut out of most venues to promote the book, in particular the networks."<ref name="Furtado 10-19-13">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The book received a supportive rave review from New York Daily News writer Liz Smith,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> while Entertainment WeeklyTemplate:'s Dana Kennedy dismissed the book as a "peculiar, not terribly consequential, life story."<ref name=Kennedy>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Locke told a Portuguese website that she had been informed that Entertainment Weekly originally planned to publish a positive review, but for reasons unclear, it was pulled and a negative review appeared instead.<ref name="Furtado 10-19-13"/> The Advocate, a monthly LGBT-interest magazine, was set to do a big article on Locke's book; suddenly and uncharacteristically, Eastwood gave The Advocate an interview, and they decided not to run the piece.<ref name="Furtado 10-19-13"/> She reflected in 2012: "Clint has said so many bad things about me to the media since we split up, and he has so much more access and power to do that. He's said things that were hurtful to my character and hurtful to me professionally."<ref name=doco>L'album secret de Clint Eastwood (2012, dir. Pierre Maraval). Chérie 25.</ref> Locke was nonetheless grateful to have a platform at all, stating: "It was a miracle that a major publisher took it."<ref name="Furtado 10-19-13"/>
The day after the book's release, Eastwood on Eastwood, a feature-length overview of her ex's career directed by Richard Schickel, premiered on TNT. John Hartl of The Seattle Times emphasized that "clips from the Locke/Eastwood movies have been edited so carefully that she doesn't appear to have been in any of them. It's like making a documentary about Humphrey Bogart and failing to mention Lauren Bacall."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Locke would once again be notably deleted from a montage commemorating Eastwood at the 2002 Maui Film Festival.<ref>"Clint wants no trace of Sondra Locke". Google Groups. June 18, 2002.</ref>
After 13 years away from acting, Locke re-emerged in 1999 to appear opposite Dennis Hopper in The Prophet's Game and Wings Hauser in Clean and Narrow, the latter shot in Texas. Both films went straight to video. About that time, she planned to direct "a two-guys-on-the-run film" called The Hard Easy, which did not eventuate.<ref>Edward Klein, Parade, 7.23.00</ref> In 2014, Locke served as an executive producer on the Eli Roth film Knock Knock, starring Keanu Reeves.<ref>Kay, Jeremy (April 28, 2014). "Voltage taking Eli Roth's Knock Knock with Keanu Reeves to Cannes". ScreenDaily.</ref> She came out of retirement once more in 2016, shooting Alan Rudolph's indie Ray Meets Helen with Keith Carradine.<ref>Onofri, Adrienne (June 3, 2016). "BWW Interview: Keith Carradine on the New Encores! Cast Album of PAINT YOUR WAGON". BroadwayWorld.</ref> The film had only a brief run in three theaters in May 2018, less than six months before Locke died.<ref>Moore, Michael C. (April 30, 2018). "Indie filmmaker's latest premieres in LA, NY ... and Bainbridge Island". Kitsap Sun.</ref> Despite increasing infirmities, she traveled to Ann Arbor, Michigan a few days after her 74th birthday to attend the Cinetopia Film Festival, where Ray Meets Helen was received poorly.<ref>"2018 Cinetopia Film Festival movie reviews". Yes/No Detroit. June 7, 2018.</ref> Writer-director Alex O Eaton wanted Locke to play an eccentric Appalachian grandmother in Mountain Rest (2018), but she did not take the role, which ultimately went to the decade-younger Frances Conroy.<ref>Haruch, Steve (May 3, 2018). "Reel Nashville 2018: Talking to Alex O Eaton About Her Debut Feature Mountain Rest". Nashville Scene.</ref>
Other activitiesEdit
PhilanthropyEdit
In the 1960s during her tenure at WSM, Locke participated in the annual United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) telethons. One year, she toured Birmingham with folk singer Richard Law.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Following her then-partner's April 15, 1986, inauguration as the 30th mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, Locke became the de facto First Lady of Carmel.
In 1992, she served as honorary chairwoman for the "Starry, Starry Night" silent auction in Costa Mesa, California, to benefit Human Options, a shelter for victims of domestic violence. "Being a woman, I have great empathy for these women. I can understand how stranded they must feel, how hard it is to change one's life," Locke said.<ref>"For Human Options, the Light Is Bright". Los Angeles Times. December 16, 1992.</ref>
WellnessEdit
By the end of the 1970s, Locke became a follower of research scientist Durk Pearson's views on longevity. In the book Life Extension: A Practical Scientific Approach (1982), which promotes the theory that free radicals are a primary cause of aging and recommends antioxidant supplements to prevent the damage they supposedly do, Locke was written about as a pseudonymous celebrity (Miss Jones) using the principles.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Locke was an avid sportswoman. In 1979 and 1982, respectively, for instance, she competed in the John Denver Celebrity Pro-Am ski tournament at Heavenly Mountain Resort and the Senator's Cup at John Gardiner's Tennis Ranch.<ref>Star Newspaper Service, San Angelo Standard-Times, 2.18.79</ref><ref>Betty Beale, The Anchorage Times, 1.31.82</ref>
Public imageEdit
Throughout her career, Locke appeared on several magazine covers including Club International, Family Weekly and People. Australian rock band The Sports named their 1981 album Sondra in her honor.<ref>Creswell, Toby (September 1997). "The Good Sport". Juice.</ref> She became a significant subject of widespread media interest while dating Clint Eastwood, and they were dubbed a "golden couple" by Vanity Fair.<ref>Sales, Nancy Jo (May 27, 2022). "Before Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, Sondra Locke and Clint Eastwood’s Harrowing Court Battle Dominated the Tabloids". Vanity Fair.</ref> Known for her wiles and feminine prowess, Locke possessed a certain mystique that left a lasting impression on audiences of the opposite sex. About her appeal, photographer Rick McGinnis said: "She made every male around her default to a courtly version of themselves, keeping their voice down, their manners in check, and their eagerness to see that she was comfortable at the foremost."<ref>SONDRA LOCKE Toronto 1990</ref>
Personal lifeEdit
MarriageEdit
On September 25, 1967,<ref name=Oppenheimer/> Locke married sculptor Gordon Leigh AndersonTemplate:Efn (born August 2, 1944, Batesville, Arkansas) at the First Presbyterian Church in Nashville,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> one week after The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter commenced principal photography.<ref name="Tennessean 8-15-67"/> Dr. Walter Rowe Courtenay presided over the ceremony.<ref name=Ancestry/> They remained married for 51 years until her death in 2018.<ref name=Telegraph/>Template:Efn
Locke had known Anderson since at least the late 1950s; accounts as to when they met vary by as much as four years.Template:Efn In early 1969, as Locke was flooded with script offers after her Oscar nomination, Anderson and she left Tennessee and moved into a condo at The Andalusia in West Hollywood.<ref name=autobio/>
According to a 1989 affidavit, the marriage was "tantamount to sister and brother" and they never consummated it.<ref name=Muscatine>"Live-in lover married to someone else". The Muscatine Journal. May 9, 1989.</ref> Anderson was gay.<ref name=FilmInk/><ref name=Calgary>Hiscock, John (September 13, 1996). "Eastwood's lover remained married to gay husband". Calgary Herald.</ref><ref name=Bradshaw>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Locke, testifying under oath to a jury, characterized her husband as being "more like a sister to me" and explained, "it's funny the sort of cultural changes, but in those days males and females never lived together unless they were married."<ref name=Calgary/> According to her death certificate, the two were residing at the same address when she died,<ref name="The Blast"/> and he was the person who registered her death.<ref name=Dalton>Template:Cite news</ref>
Anderson is a central presence in Locke's autobiography, but she does not elaborate on her reasons for marrying him beyond the following passage:
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />
Template:ErrorTemplate:Main other{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries}}
{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}
RomancesEdit
Given that Locke waited decades to confirm that her marriage was platonic, most of her actual romantic attachments went unpublicized. In the mid-1960s, she dated her supervisor at WSM-TV's advertising department, Brad Crandall.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name=snac>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She had started as secretary to Tom Griscom in local sales for WSM Radio.<ref>The Nashville Tennessean, 1.25.64</ref> According to co-worker Alan Nelson, fellow staff members perceived Locke's promotion as an act of nepotism.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
George Crook, a cameraman for WSM, squired Locke to Nashville society events such as the 1965 hunt ball.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He later got into local politics and was elected mayor of Belle Meade in 2000.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Another early boyfriend, personal injury attorney Gary Gober,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> starred with Locke in Circle Players' productions while attending Vanderbilt University Law School.<ref name="Tennessean 9-19-65"/><ref name="Tennessean 10-17-65"/> Locke also dated sportscaster Larry Munson prior to marrying Anderson.<ref name=autobio/><ref>Template:Cite tweet</ref>
During her marriage, Locke was rumored to have been linked amorously to co-stars Robert Fields (Cover Me Babe), Bruce Davison (Willard), Paul Sand (The Second Coming of Suzanne), and Bo Hopkins (Gondola), as well as producer Hawk Koch, real-estate agent Herb Goldfarb, and John F. Kennedy's nephew Robert Shriver.<ref name="People 5-15-89"/><ref name=snac/><ref>Bruce Davison, DVD audio commentary, 2017, Shout! Factory</ref><ref>Lloyd Shearer, St. Petersburg Times, 10.15.89</ref>Template:Efn For a while in the early 1970s, she shared a liaison with married actor David Soul after they played siblings in an episode of Cannon.<ref>Haber, Joyce (November 8, 1972). "Locke, Soul Set for Cannon Roles". Los Angeles Times.</ref>
Locke referred to these intervals as "casually exploring for a romantic relationship," noting that she had not fallen in love with any of the men. "Love ... was not something to search out actively; it finds you, I believed."<ref name=autobio/>
Life with EastwoodEdit
Locke and actor/director Clint Eastwood entered a domestic partnership in October 1975.<ref name=Parish/> She first met Eastwood in 1972, when she unsuccessfully lobbied for the title role in his film Breezy (1973);<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> they became involved upon arrival at the shooting location of The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) in Page, Arizona.<ref name=Barnes/> "It was just an immediate attraction between the two of us," Locke recalled in a 2012 documentary.<ref name=doco/> She further revealed that they made love on their first date.<ref name=autobio/> Locke had simultaneously been wooed by screenwriter Philip Kaufman, but chose Eastwood over him.<ref name=Eliot/>Template:Efn After wrapping the film in December 1975, the couple shuttled between Eastwood's houses in Carmel and L.A.'s Sherman Oaks neighborhood, as well as rented homes in San Francisco and its elite suburb Tiburon.<ref name=McGilligan/> They eventually settled at 846 Stradella Road in Bel-Air, which Eastwood still owned at the time of Locke's death.<ref name=Parish/><ref>"A general view of atmosphere of actor/director Clint Eastwood's home/house on February 14, 2021 in Bel Air, Los Angeles, California, USA". Alamy.</ref>
Eastwood was married during the early years of their relationship,<ref name=Young>Young, Josh (May 4, 1997). "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly". The Independent.</ref><ref>"Eastwood won't wed girlfriend". The San Bernardino County Sun. September 8, 1979.</ref> before their affair became public in 1977,<ref name="People 5-15-89"/> but his marriage was a nominal one just as Locke's was; he had sired at least two publicly unacknowledged children outside the marriage<ref name=McGilligan/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite episode</ref> and confided he had "never been in love before."<ref>Miller, Victoria (December 14, 2018). "Sondra Locke & Clint Eastwood: Inside Their Rocky Hollywood Romance". Inquisitr.</ref> Locke claimed Eastwood even sang "She Made Me Monogamous" to her.<ref name=Young/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Eastwood's wife Maggie Johnson lived on a colossal estate in Pebble Beach, where Eastwood rarely stayed, and Johnson and he were understood to have had an open marriage from the start.<ref name=autobio/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> "I never knew I could love somebody so much, and feel so peaceful about it at the same time," Locke said he told her.<ref name=autobio/> Conversely, the media's going myth was that Eastwood "left"<ref name=Bradshaw/> or "walked out on"<ref name="People 5-15-89"/> his wife for Locke as opposed to simply giving up the facade. Locke resented having her romance with Eastwood labeled merely as an affair and being made to feel sordid as if she had "stolen" a married man, but did not contemporaneously refute such notions.<ref name=autobio/>
Late in the 1970s, Locke became pregnant by Eastwood twice;<ref name=McGilligan/> she terminated both pregnancies.<ref name="Catholic Sentinel">Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Efn "I'd feel sorry for any child that had me for a mother," she told syndicated columnist Dick Kleiner in 1969.<ref>The Times and Democrat, July 29, 1969, p. 9</ref> In 1979, at the age of 35, Locke underwent a tubal ligation at UCLA Medical Center, citing Eastwood's adamancy that parenthood would not fit into their lifestyle.<ref name=autobio/>Template:Efn When this became public knowledge a decade after the fact, Eastwood issued a statement:
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />
Template:ErrorTemplate:Main other{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries}}
{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}
Locke professed mixed feelings on the matter, stating in one chapter of her autobiography that she was grateful she had not had Eastwood's children, while writing in another, "I couldn't help but think that that baby, with both Clint's and my best qualities, would be extraordinary."<ref name=autobio/> Eastwood claimed Locke told him on multiple occasions that she never wanted to have children.<ref name=Puig/>
Eastwood and Locke were still cohabiting, when in the latter half of the 1980s, he secretly fathered another woman's two children—a fact that did not come to light for almost 20 years.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=Strout>Strout, Paige (September 11, 2024). "Celebrity Dads Who Welcomed Kids Outside of Their Relationships". Us Weekly.</ref>Template:Efn Despite her affirmed ignorance, Locke sensed growing tension in the relationship around 1985, recollecting, "although I definitely still loved Clint, I didn't much like him, nor did I much trust him anymore."<ref name=autobio/> In retrospect, she gathered, "either he changed from white to black, or I had been living with somebody I didn't even know."<ref name=doco/>
Palimony suitEdit
According to court testimony, Locke confronted Eastwood over his passive-aggressive behavior on December 29, 1988,Template:Efn eliciting estrangement between the couple.<ref name="Furtado 8-31-13"/><ref name=Parish/> Locke testified that after Eastwood and she made their final joint appearance on January 6 at the American Cinema Awards, they spent exactly two nights together, without intimate contact.<ref name="People 5-15-89"/><ref name=McGilligan/> Eastwood then effectively vacated their Bel-Air mansion, sleeping in the adjacent caretakers' quarters or at his apartment in Burbank.<ref name=McGilligan/> Locke thought Eastwood was acting out "because he wasn't number one at the box-office anymore, or because he was facing his mortality."<ref name=McGilligan/> (Eastwood was 58 at the time.) As far as she was concerned, their relationship was still salvageable.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> At any rate, she called divorce lawyer Norman Oberstein to explore her options should the separation be permanent. Unbeknownst to Locke, Eastwood eavesdropped on those consultations by means of a wiretap that he placed on their home phone in early March.<ref name=McGilligan/><ref name=Eliot/><ref name=Waxman/>
On the morning of April 3<ref name=Schickel/> or 4,<ref name=McGilligan/> Eastwood complained in the kitchen that Locke was "sitting on [his] only real estate in Los Angeles" and bolted.<ref name=autobio/> Locke later defensively declared: "Clint is not good at direct communication. He really is a man of few words. You might just as well have a direct confrontation with a wall."<ref name=Hall>Template:Cite news</ref> On April 10, 1989, Malpaso employees changed the locks on the family residence, moved Locke's possessions into storage, and posted security guards at the front gate per Eastwood's order.<ref name=McGilligan/> Locke was shooting Impulse at the time of the lockout.<ref>"When Harry Left Sondra". People. August 7, 1989.</ref> She filed a $70 million palimony suit on April 26, charging Eastwood with breach of contract, emotional distress, forcible entry, and possession of stolen goods.<ref name=McGilligan/><ref>Wright, Jeanne (June 2, 1989). "Eastwood's private life stranger than fiction". The San Bernardino County Sun.</ref> Forced abortions and compulsory sterilization were also cited, though Locke later recategorized those operations as a "mutual decision".<ref name=McGilligan/>Template:Efn
During their 14 years as husband and wife de facto, Locke and Eastwood had occupied seven homes and acquired four, including a retreat in Sun Valley, Idaho, and the Rising River Ranch near Cassel, California.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>102 Wedeln Ln, Sun Valley, ID 83353 Zillow</ref> Locke sought half of Eastwood's earnings and an equal division of property, requesting title to the house in Bel-Air and to the Gothic-style West Hollywood place Eastwood had leased to Gordon Anderson since 1982.<ref name=Parish/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She also asked Judge Dana Senit Henry to bar Eastwood from the Bel-Air house "because I know him to have a terrible temper ... and he has frequently been abusive to me."<ref name=Puig/>
Locke battled Eastwood in court for 19 months; she developed breast cancer during proceedings, and said the treatments sapped her will to fight.<ref name=Young/> In November 1990, the parties reached a private settlement wherein Eastwood set up a $1.5 million multiyear film development/directing pact for Locke at Warner Bros. in exchange for dropping the suit.<ref name="E! 9-11-96"/> She was awarded the West Hollywood property (valued at $2.2 million), $450,000 cash, and unspecified monthly support payments, as well.<ref name=Schickel/>
The breakup affected Locke's social life. Her closest friends had been the wives of Eastwood's colleagues: Maria Shriver, Cynthia Sikes Yorkin, and Lili Fini Zanuck, all 10–11 years younger than Locke and married to film industry heavyweights Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bud Yorkin, and Richard D. Zanuck, respectively.<ref name=McGilligan/> Locke's friendships with those women gradually faded as their husbands ghosted her.<ref name=Waxman/> The female comrades Locke credited with loyalty and support were those she had known before Eastwood—art director Elayne Barbara Ceder, whom she met on The Second Coming of Suzanne, and realtor Denise Fraker, wife of A Reflection of Fear director William A. Fraker.<ref name=autobio/>
Fraud suitEdit
Between 1990 and 1993, Warner Bros. rejected more than 30 scripts that Locke pitched to the studio—including those for Junior (1994) and Addicted to Love (1997)—and refused to let her direct any of their in-house projects.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Ryfle, Steve (September 12, 1996). "Eastwood Undermined Locke's Directing Career, Attorney Says". Los Angeles Times.</ref> When her contract had yielded no directing assignments three years in, Locke became convinced the deal was a sham.<ref>Smith, Liz (April 30, 1994). "Locke cries foul at producing deal". The Palm Beach Post.</ref> She began to seek corroboration, and came across incriminating printouts from WB's bookkeeping records.<ref name=McGilligan/> Locke contended that the money WB pretended they were paying her came from Eastwood's pocket and was laundered through the operating budget of Unforgiven (1992).<ref name=podcast1/><ref>Wilmington, Michael (August 8, 2002). "The good, the bad and the controversy". Chicago Tribune.</ref> In June 1995, she sued him again, for fraud and breach of fiduciary duty.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> According to Locke's attorney Peggy Garrity, Eastwood committed "the ultimate betrayal" by arranging the "bogus" deal as a way to keep her out of work.<ref name=Tampa>"Eastwood, Locke settle privately; jury sent home". The Tampa Tribune. September 25, 1996.</ref> Garrity added that Eastwood had held out the allegedly counterfeit deal "like a dangled carrot" to persuade Locke to drop the earlier palimony suit.<ref name=Tampa/> Locke said that she "was stunned and outraged at the way I had been tricked and cheated a second time."<ref name=autobio/>
The case went to trial in September 1996. One juror divulged that the panel sided with Locke by a 10-to-2 vote (nine votes are needed for a verdict) and were only debating the amount.<ref name="E! 9-24-96">Errico, Marcus (September 24, 1996). "Clint Eastwood Pays Off Sondra Locke". E! News.</ref> Before any court decision could be made, Locke settled the case with Eastwood for an undisclosed amount of money.<ref name="E! 9-24-96"/> The outcome, Locke said, sent a "loud and clear" message to Hollywood, "that people cannot get away with whatever they want to just because they're powerful."<ref name=Parish/> According to Locke, "in this business, people get so accustomed to being abused, they just accept the abuse and say, 'Well, that's just the way it is.' Well, it isn't."<ref name=Parish/>
For his part, Eastwood waved the lawsuit off as a "dime-novel plot," continuing, "it's all about money ... about getting something for nothing."<ref name="E! 9-24-96"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He accused Locke of using her cancer to gain the jury's sympathy,<ref>Bernard Weinraub, Playboy, March 1997</ref> and cryptically suggested that karma would catch up with her.<ref>Anne Thompson, The Sunday Telegraph, 4.11.99</ref>
Locke brought a separate action against Warner Bros. for allegedly conspiring with Eastwood to sabotage her directorial career.<ref name=Huffaker>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> As had happened with the previous lawsuit, this ended in an out-of-court settlement, in May 1999.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>"Showbuzz". CNN. May 26, 1999.</ref> By then, Locke had fired Garrity and hired Neil Papiano to represent her.<ref name="LA Times 6-6-99">O'Neill, Ann W. (June 6, 1999). "This Time, Judge Judy's a Defendant". Los Angeles Times.</ref>Template:Efn The agreement with Warner Bros., Locke said, was "a happy ending."<ref>"The Battle's Over for Eastwood's Ex". People. July 5, 1999.</ref> "I feel elated. This has been the best day in a long, long time," she told reporters on courthouse steps.<ref name=Huffaker/> The case is used in some modern law-school contract textbooks to illustrate the legal concept of good faith.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Illness; last relationshipEdit
A lifelong nonsmoker (save for a few film roles), Locke practiced Transcendental Meditation and worked out with weights, though she hated running.<ref>Interview with Leta Powell Drake. KOLN/KGIN-TV (Lincoln, NE). 1982.</ref><ref>Mills, Bart (June 25, 1978). "Sondra Locke: The cynic proves to be equal to Eastwood". Chicago Tribune.</ref><ref>Chase, Chris (December 23, 1983). "Sondra Locke and her career as sidekick".The New York Times.</ref> In September 1990, she confirmed reports that she had breast cancer.<ref name="Philadelphia Enquirer 9/20/90">"Sick-bay report". The Philadelphia Inquirer. September 20, 1990.</ref> "Due to factors in my personal life, I have sustained two years of extreme and unnecessary stress, which my doctors tell me has been my enemy," Locke said at the time.<ref name="Philadelphia Enquirer 9/20/90"/> She added that Eastwood never reached out to her after her diagnosis: "He doesn't care if I live or die."<ref name=Hall/><ref>"Sondra Locke Clipping Magazine photo orig 1pg 8x10 M7797 at Amazon's Entertainment Collectibles Store"</ref>
Locke underwent a double mastectomy at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, followed by chemotherapy.<ref name=Thompson/> During treatment, she began dating Scott Cunneen (born September 10, 1961, Long Beach, California), an intern assigned to perform the postsurgical checkup.<ref name=nndb/><ref name=Eliot/><ref name=Waxman/><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Unfazed by their 17-year age difference—and the fact Locke was only three years younger than his mother—they soon went public with the romance, dining at paparazzi hotspot Spago on one of their early dates in November 1990.<ref>"Actress Sondra Locke and boyfriend Scott Cunneen on November 10, 1990... News Photo" – via Getty Images.</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Cunneen moved in with her in the spring of 1991.<ref name=autobio/> She called it a "real, supportive, and equal relationship."<ref name=autobio/>
In February 2001, Locke purchased a six-bedroom gated mansion in the Hollywood Hills, where she resided for the remainder of her life.<ref>"Sondra Locke's House". VirtualGlobetrotting. February 25, 2009.</ref> Built in 1925, the home's interior was redesigned to look like Locke's old house on Stradella Road.<ref name=doco/> Cunneen and she eventually broke up, albeit without publicity, since she had faded from public view.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Efn
In 2004, Locke settled a personal injury lawsuit brought against her in Beverly Hills by one Mark Feigin, whom she had struck with a car the previous year.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 2015, after a 25-year period of apparent remission, Locke's cancer returned and metastasized to her bones.<ref name="The Blast"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
DeathEdit
Locke died at age 74 on November 3, 2018, at her Los Angeles home from cardiac arrest related to breast and bone cancer.<ref name=RadarOnline>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Her remains were cremated on November 9 at Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park and Mortuary and the ashes were given to her widower, Gordon Anderson.<ref name="The Blast"/>Template:Efn Locke bequeathed Anderson an estimated fortune of $20 million and seemed to have always supported him financially.<ref name=Kennedy/>
Media blackoutEdit
Locke's death was kept secret until December 13, when Radar Online broke the news the day before Eastwood's latest film The Mule (2018) opened in theaters nationwide, citing the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.<ref name=RadarOnline/> The Associated Press said, "it is not clear why it took nearly six weeks to come to light."<ref name=Dalton/> Anderson, according to the scant AP report, was unreachable,<ref name=Dalton/> and a representative for Locke ignored PeopleTemplate:'s request for comment.<ref name=people>Fernández, Alexia (December 13, 2018). "Actress and Director Sondra Locke, Clint Eastwood's Former Girlfriend of 14 Years, Dies at 74". People.</ref> So hidden had basic facts been kept, that The New York Times noted 41 days after she died: "A list of survivors was not immediately [sic] available."<ref>Jacobs, Julia (December 14, 2018). "Sondra Locke, 74, Is Dead; Oscar-Nominated Actress". The New York Times. D6.</ref>
Locke's death received no television coverage except for a 15-second spot on ABC World News Tonight. Eastwood did not comment on the death, nor did any of Locke's other living exes, nor any of her friends or relatives.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Co-stars such as Richard Dreyfuss, Cicely Tyson, Louie Anderson, Sally Kellerman, Stacy Keach, and Ted Neeley—all active on social media—were equally silent. On the 91st Academy Awards telecast, broadcast nearly four months after Locke died, she was omitted from the "In Memoriam" segment.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In absence of any explanation, some surmised that Locke must have requested the blackout in her final wishes, perhaps to keep her real age under wraps.<ref name=80th/>
LegacyEdit
Locke is remembered as an early pioneer for women in Hollywood.<ref name=Welk>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She was one of 11 female filmmakers in 1990, the year WB released her sophomore feature, Impulse.<ref name="LA Times 9-29-96"/> By the time of Trading Favors (1997), her fourth effort, still only eight percent of all films were made by women, per the Directors Guild of America.<ref name="LA Times 9-29-96"/>
Locke's influence as a feminist icon was duly acknowledged by the mainstream press. In 1989, Claudia Puig of the Los Angeles Times described her lawsuit against Clint Eastwood as a "precedent-setting legal case, as it raises the question of whether a woman, who is legally married to one man, can claim palimony rights from another."<ref name=Puig/> Childfree by choice—unusual for a person of her generation—Locke was among the first celebrities to publicly discuss her abortion experiences.<ref name="Catholic Sentinel"/><ref>"The rise of childlessness". The Economist. July 27, 2017.</ref> The avowal made Locke "a talking-point in America's sexual politics debate," according to The GuardianTemplate:'s Peter Bradshaw.<ref name=Bradshaw/> Locke's subsequent relationship with a doctor young enough to be her son added to her notoriety.<ref>"The Actor And The Revolutionary!". Notorious Women. December 25, 2018.</ref>
Cinematographer David Worth credits Locke with his big break.<ref>Guarisco, Don (March 6, 2012). "Warrior of the Lost Drive-In: An Interview with David Worth Part 1". Schlockmania.</ref> She is admired by such actresses as Frances Fisher and Rosanna Arquette, who applauded the strength of her directorial accomplishments, however short-lived.<ref name=Welk/><ref>Gonzalez, Sandra (December 14, 2018). "Sondra Locke, Oscar-nominated actress, has died". CNN.</ref>
During the last quarter of her life, Locke maintained she was blacklisted from the film industry as a result of her acrimonious split from Eastwood,<ref name=podcast1/><ref name="Furtado 10-19-13"/> while his career continued unscathed.<ref name=Parish/> Peggy Garrity, Locke's former counsel, recalled the courtroom drama in her book In the Game: The Highs and Lows of a Trailblazing Trial Lawyer (2016). Garrity revealed that Locke's 1999 confidential settlement from WB "was for many millions more than the settlement with Clint had been."<ref name=Garrity/> Locke v. Warner Bros. Inc also catalyzed changes within the legal system. In a landmark decision,<ref>Fitzgerald, Mark (July 31, 1999). "Locke vs. Eastwood Case Leads to Landmark Decision". Editor & Publisher.</ref> California's Supreme Court ruled that access to civil trials could no longer be closed to the public.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Dolan, Maura (May 7, 1999). "Court Leaning Toward Access to Civil Trials". Los Angeles Times.</ref>
Numerous outlets faced pushback over their chosen headlines for Locke's obituary. Several major publications prefaced news of her death by tagging Eastwood's name atop the article, which drew criticism by some who deemed it a sexist epitaph, with fans online pointing out that Locke was an Oscar nominee prior to meeting Eastwood.<ref name=Welk/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Women's blog Jezebel criticized The Hollywood Reporter for ostensibly regarding Locke as a nonentity;<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> THR subsequently changed its headline.<ref name=Welk/> News organization TheWrap—whose editor, Sharon Waxman, reviewed Locke's memoir for The Washington Post in 1997—opined that her story "should stir resonance in this age of the #MeToo movement."<ref name=Welk/> In a tribute to the late actress, author Sarah Weinman wrote: "Sondra Locke, like Barbara Loden, deserves to be known for her work, not for the famous man she was disastrously involved with."<ref name=Welk/>
Among those voicing an unfavorable opinion of Locke was film scholar Rex Reed, who had interviewed her for a 1967 New York Times profile.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> "[She] lied so much during her brief but colorful career," Reed wrote in an essay for Observer, "that when she lost her battle with cancer at age 74, I wondered if it was a publicity stunt."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Efn
Candid photographs of Locke and Eastwood in their heyday are on display at the Frazetta Art Museum in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, next to Frank Frazetta's exaggerated portrait of the couple that was used on the poster for The Gauntlet (1977). One film in which she appeared—The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)—has been preserved in the National Film Registry.
The end credits of Bad Therapy (2020) pay homage to her.
Our Very OwnEdit
In 1971, fifth graders at Eastside Elementary in Locke's hometown of Shelbyville, Tennessee, were left star-struck when Locke made a visit and held pretend "auditions" in the class to show them what it was like in Hollywood.<ref name=DeGennaro/> One student, Cameron Watson, was inspired by Locke and is now an actor/director. Watson's period drama Our Very Own (2005) takes place in Shelbyville in 1978 and concerns a group of teenagers who want to meet Locke when she returns to town for the local premiere of Every Which Way but Loose. Watson decided to do the movie after performing a standup routine about Locke and about how people in Shelbyville were obsessed with her.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Locke attended one of those performances in 2004 at the Tiffany Theater in West Hollywood. "The minute she heard the first reference to her or to her family, she threw up her arms: 'What the hell is this?Template:'" Watson said. "By the end of the reading, she was doubled over."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Locke gave the script her blessing and accepted an invitation to be special guest at the film's premiere.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The movie was a "special gift" to Locke, according to Deborah Obenchain, another Eastside student who said she did not think Locke really understood her impact on the small town she once called home. "I think it meant just as much to her. … In our own way … we got to live out a little bit of our dreams by making the movie and meeting her."<ref name=DeGennaro/>
FilmographyEdit
As actressEdit
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Template:Abbr | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter | Margaret 'Mick' Kelly | Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Female Nominated—Laurel Award for Female Supporting Performance Nominated—Laurel Award for Female New Face |
<ref>Hughes, William (December 14, 2018). "R.I.P. Sondra Locke, Oscar-nominated star of The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter and Every Which Way But Loose". The A.V. Club.</ref> | |
| 1970 | Cover Me Babe | Melisse | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> | |
| 1971 | Willard | Joan Simms | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> | |
| 1972 | A Reflection of Fear | Marguerite | <ref name=horrorsociety.com/> | ||
| 1972 | Night Gallery | Sheila Gray | Episode: "A Feast of Blood" | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
| 1972 | The F.B.I. | Regina Mason | Episode: "Dark Christmas" | <ref name=auto/> | |
| 1973 | Cannon | Trish Caton | Episode: "Death of a Stone Seahorse" | <ref name=auto/> | |
| 1973 | The ABC Afternoon Playbreak | Nora Sells | Episode: "My Secret Mother" | <ref name=auto/> | |
| 1973 | Gondola | Jackie | TV movie | <ref name=auto/> | |
| 1974 | The Second Coming of Suzanne | Suzanne | <ref name=auto/> | ||
| 1974 | Kung Fu | Gwyneth Jenkins | Episode: "This Valley of Terror" | <ref name=auto/> | |
| 1974 | Planet of the Apes | Amy | Episode: "The Cure" | <ref name=auto/> | |
| 1975 | Barnaby Jones | Alicia | Episode: "The Orchid Killer" | <ref name=auto/> | |
| 1975 | Cannon | Tracy Murdock | Episode: "A Touch of Venom" | <ref name=auto/> | |
| 1976 | Joe Forrester | Pam Wilson | Episode: "A Game of Love" | <ref name=auto/> | |
| 1976 | The Outlaw Josey Wales | Laura Lee | <ref name=auto/> | ||
| 1977 | Death Game | Agatha Jackson | <ref name=auto/> | ||
| 1977 | The Shadow of Chikara | Drusilla Wilcox | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> | |
| 1977 | The Gauntlet | Augustina 'Gus' Mally | <ref name=Bradshaw/> | ||
| 1978 | Every Which Way but Loose | Lynn Halsey-Taylor | <ref name=Telegraph/> | ||
| 1979 | Friendships, Secrets and Lies | Jessie Dunne | TV movie | <ref>Template:Cite news</ref> | |
| 1980 | Bronco Billy | Antoinette Lily | Nominated—Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
| 1980 | Any Which Way You Can | Lynn Halsey-Taylor | <ref name=bbc>Template:Cite news</ref> | ||
| 1982 | Rosie: The Rosemary Clooney Story | Rosemary Clooney | TV movie | <ref name=bbc/> | |
| 1983 | Sudden Impact | Jennifer Spencer | <ref name=bbc/> | ||
| 1984 | Tales of the Unexpected | Edna | Episode: "Bird of Prey" | <ref name=bbc/> | |
| 1985 | Amazing Stories | Vanessa Sullivan | Episode: "Vanessa in the Garden" | <ref name=bbc/> | |
| 1986 | Ratboy | Nikki Morrison | Also director Nominated—Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress |
<ref>"Interview: Sondra Locke Talks Clint Eastwood and the Fate of RATBOY". ComingSoon.net. September 29, 2015.</ref> | |
| 1999 | The Prophet's Game | Adele Highsmith (adult) | <ref name=people/> | ||
| 1999 | Clean and Narrow | Betsy Brand | <ref name=people/> | ||
| 2018 | Ray Meets Helen | Helen | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
As directorEdit
| Year | Title | Template:Abbr | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Ratboy | <ref>Furtado, David (November 20, 2013). "Sondra Locke's Ratboy: A modern day fairy tale". Wand'rin' Star.</ref> | |
| 1990 | Impulse | <ref>Template:Cite news</ref> | |
| 1995 | Death in Small Doses | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
| 1997 | Trading Favors | <ref name=people/> |
StageEdit
| Year | Show | Role | Venue | Template:Tooltip |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1962 | The Monkey's Paw | Mrs. White | Bud Frank Theatre, Johnson City, Tennessee | <ref>Johnson City Press-Chronicle, 5.1.62</ref> |
| 1962 | Life with Father | Mary Skinner | Tucker Theater, Murfreesboro, Tennessee | <ref name="DNJ 11-2-62"/> |
| 1963 | The Crucible | Mary Warren | Tucker Theater, Murfreesboro, Tennessee | <ref name="DNJ 2-24-63"/> |
| 1964 | Life with Mother | Cora Miller | Belcourt Playhouse, Nashville, Tennessee | <ref>Template:Cite news</ref> |
| 1964 | The Innocents | Flora | Circle Theater, Nashville, Tennessee | <ref>Template:Cite news</ref> |
| 1964 | A Thousand Clowns | Dr. Sandra Markowitz | Circle Theater, Nashville, Tennessee | <ref>Template:Cite news</ref> |
| 1965 | Night of the Iguana | Charlotte Goodall | Circle Theater, Nashville, Tennessee | <ref name="Tennessean 9-19-65"/> |
| 1965 | Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad | Rosalie | Circle Theater, Nashville, Tennessee | <ref name="Tennessean 10-17-65"/> |
| 1965 | The Glass Menagerie | Laura Wingfield | Circle Theater, Nashville, Tennessee | <ref name="Tennessean 11-21-65"/> |
| 1967 | Tiger at the Gates | Helen of Troy | Vanderbilt Theatre, Nashville, Tennessee | <ref>Template:Cite news</ref> |
DiscographyEdit
- 1978, "I Seek The Night / Don't Say You Don't Love Me No More", Elektra Records: E46007
- 1980, "Too Loose", Warner Records: WB49674
FootnotesEdit
GalleryEdit
- Sondra Locke, 1959.jpg
Sophomore basketball portrait, 1959
- Sondra Locke senior portrait.jpg
Senior yearbook photo, 1962
- Sondra Locke 1966.jpg
Modeling wardrobe by Bobbie Brooks, 1966
- Sondra Locke 1967.jpg
From the front cover of The Nashville Tennessean Sunday Magazine, 1967
- Clint & Sondra & Burt & Loni.jpg
At the City Heat premiere with Eastwood, Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson, 1984
See alsoEdit
- Age fabrication
- False premise
- List of actors with Academy Award nominations
- List of female film and television directors
- List of Middle Tennessee State University people
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
| name/{{#if:{{#invoke:ustring|match|1={{{id}}}|2=^nm}}
| Template:Trim/
| nm{{{id}}}/
}}
| {{#if: {{#property:P345}}
| name/Template:First word/
| find?q=%7B%7B%23if%3A+%0A++++++%7C+%7B%7B%7Bname%7D%7D%7D%0A++++++%7C+%5B%5B%3ATemplate%3APAGENAMEBASE%5D%5D%0A++++++%7D%7D&s=nm
}}
}}{{#if: {{#property:P345}} | {{#switch:
| award | awards = awards Awards for | biography | bio = bio Biography for
}}}} {{#if:
| {{{name}}}
| Template:PAGENAMEBASE
}}] at IMDb{{#if: {{#property:P345}}
| Template:EditAtWikidata
| Template:Main other
}}{{#switch:{{#invoke:string2|matchAny|^nm.........|^nm.......|nm|.........|source={{{id}}}|plain=false}}
| 1 | 3 = Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning | 4 = Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning
}}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:IMDb name with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|showblankpositional=1| 1 | 2 | id | name | section }}
- Template:TCMDb name
- Sondra Locke at the British Film Institute
- {{#if:Sondra Locke|Template:PAGENAMEBASE discography at Discogs|{{#if:Template:Wikidata|Template:Wikidata Template:PAGENAMEBASE discography at DiscogsTemplate:EditAtWikidata|Template:PAGENAMEBASE discography at Discogs}}}}
- [{{#ifeq: yes | yes
| https://www.allmusic.com/artist/mn0000241787{{
#if:
| /{{{tab}}}
}}
| {{#if: mn0000241787
| {{#if:
| {{#if: |[[{{{author-link}}}|{{#if: |, {{{first}}} }}]]|{{#if: |, {{{first}}} }}}}.
}}[https://www.allmusic.com/artist/mn0000241787{{
#if:
| /{{{tab}}}
}} {{
#if:
| {{{title}}}
| Template:PAGENAMEBASE
}}] at AllMusic{{
#if:
| . Retrieved .
}}
| {{#if: {{#property:P1728}}
| Template:First word {{#if: | {{{title}}} | Template:PAGENAMEBASE }} at AllMusicTemplate:EditAtWikidata
| {{#if: {{#property:P1729}}
| Template:First word {{#if: | {{{title}}} | Template:PAGENAMEBASE }} at AllMusicTemplate:EditAtWikidata
| {{#if: {{#property:P1730}}
| Template:First word {{#if: | {{{title}}} | Template:PAGENAMEBASE }} at AllMusicTemplate:EditAtWikidata
| {{#if: {{#property:P1994}}
| Template:First word {{#if: | {{{title}}} | Template:PAGENAMEBASE }} at AllMusicTemplate:EditAtWikidata
| {{AllMusic}} template missing ID and not present in Wikidata.Template:Main other
}}
}}
}}
}}
}}
}} Sondra Locke] at AllMusic