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Sondra Locke (born May 28, 1944) 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.

Early life

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.

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.

Personal life

Locke has had a nearly lifelong friendship with Gordon Anderson, a sculptor whom she met in high school. Locke made an unconventional choice by marrying the openly gay Anderson on September 25, 1967. In her autobiography, Locke wrote that she married him to solidify their bond, and that their marriage was never consummated, although the two are close friends and remain legally married.

Sondra Locke had a fourteen-year relationship with Clint Eastwood. They began a romance in 1975 when she was cast in The Outlaw Josey Wales, and began living together in 1976. During the relationship, Locke had two abortions and a tubal ligation, which she claims were at Eastwood's request. They parted in 1989, and Locke sued Eastwood for palimony, after he locked her out of their shared house and placed her belongings in storage. Locke dropped the suit in 1990 in exchange for a "pay or play" directing deal with Warner Bros., but the studio never produced her proposed films nor hired her to direct. In 1996, they were back in court. Locke hired famed entertainment attorney Neil Papiano and filed another lawsuit, this time against Warner Bros., alleging that the company had never intended to make any films with her, and that Eastwood had compensated Warner Bros. for the contract. In 1999, they settled out of court for a reported $7 million settlement, details of which were not publicly disclosed. The case is used in some modern law school contracts textbooks to illustrate the legal concept of good faith.

Locke is a breast cancer survivor. She underwent a double mastectomy in 1990. During her treatment, Locke began a relationship with Scott Cunneen (born 1962), the Chief of Surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. They moved in together in 1996. They broke up in the late 2000s.

She wrote a memoir titled The Good, the Bad, and the Very Ugly, dealing with her life with Eastwood.

In 2001, Locke purchased a large, six-bedroom home in the Hollywood Hills, an affluent and exclusive neighborhood of Los Angeles, California in the southeastern Santa Monica Mountains.

Filmography

Acting

Films

• The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968)
• Cover Me Babe (1970) (limited release)
• Willard (1971)
• The Gondola (1973) (made-for-TV)
• A Reflection of Fear (1973)
• The Second Coming of Suzanne (1974) (limited release)
• The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
• Death Game (1977) (limited release)
• The Shadow of Chikara (1977) (limited release)
• The Gauntlet (1977)
• Every Which Way But Loose (1978)
• Friendships, Secrets and Lies (1979) (made-for-TV)
• Tales of the Unexpected (1979) (made-for-TV)
• Bronco Billy (1980)
• Any Which Way You Can (1980)
• Rosie: The Rosemary Clooney Story (1982) (made-for-TV)
• Sudden Impact (1983)
• Ratboy (1986)
• The Prophet’s Game (1999) (direct-to-video)
• Clean and Narrow (1999) (direct-to-video)

Television guest appearances

• Night Gallery (1972) 1 episode
• The F.B.I. (1972) 1 episode
• The ABC Afternoon Playbreak (1973) 1 episode
• Cannon (1973 and 1975) 2 episodes
• Kung Fu (1974) 1 episode
• Planet of the Apes (1974) 1 episode
• Barnaby Jones (1975) 1 episode
• Joe Forrester (1976) 1 episode
• Tales of the Unexpected (1984) episode "Bird of Prey"

Directorial work

• Ratboy (1986)
• Impulse (1990)
• Death in Small Doses (1995) (TV)
• Do Me a Favor (1997) (direct-to-video)

Notes

1. http://content.mtsu.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/mtsu1&CISOPTR=1540&DMSCALE=17.12818&DMWIDTH=600&DMHEIGHT=600&DMMODE=viewer&DMTEXT=%22Middle%20Tennessee%20State%20College%22&REC=8&DMTHUMB=1&DMROTATE=0
2. http://www.intelius.com/results.php?ReportType=1&qf=Sondra&qmi=L&qn=Anderson&qcs=West+Hollywood%2C+CA&focusfirst=1
3. ^ Locke Biography
4. McGilligan (1999), p.250
5. Locke, Sondra (1997). The good, the bad, and the very ugly: a Hollywood journey. Morrow. p. 45. ISBN 9780688154622.
6. McGilligan (1999)
7. See, e.g., Charles Knapp, Nathan Crystal, and Harry Prince, eds., Problems in Contract Law: Cases and Materials, 6th ed. (New York: Aspen, 2007), 470-80.
8. Sondra Locke at the NNDB
9. http://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/sondra-lockes-house/

Bibliography

• McGilligan, Patrick (1999). Clint: The Life and Legend. Harper Collins. ISBN 0-00-638354-8.. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |month= (help)

External links

• Sondra Locke at IMDb

Template:Persondata

• Middle Tennessee State University alumni
• American film actors
• Actors from Tennessee
• American film directors
• Female film directors
• Breast cancer survivors
• 1944 births
• Living people