Sondra Locke (born May 28, 1944 or 1947) is an American actress, singer and film director.

She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1968 for her performance in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. She went on to appear in such films as Willard in 1971, and six films with then-partner Clint Eastwood between 1976 and 1983: The Outlaw Josey Wales, The Gauntlet, Every Which Way But Loose, Bronco Billy, Any Which Way You Can, and Sudden Impact.

She published her autobiography, The Good, the Bad, and the Very Ugly – A Hollywood Journey, in 1997.

Biography

Locke married sculptor Gordon Anderson on September 25, 1967. Locke has stated in court papers that the marriage was never consummated and described her relationship with Anderson as "tantamount to sister and brother," although they remain legally married.

From 1975 until 1989, Locke cohabited with actor Clint Eastwood. In the late 1970s, Locke underwent two abortions and a tubal ligation. According to her autobiography, she decided to have the procedures because Eastwood insisted parenthood would not fit into their lifestyle. She later discovered Eastwood secretly fathered two children with another woman during the last three years of their relationship.

In 1989, Locke filed a palimony suit against Eastwood, after he changed the locks on their Bel-Air home and placed her possessions in storage while she was directing the film Impulse. The two parties reached a settlement in 1990, when Eastwood set up a film development/directing pact for Locke at Warner Bros. in exchange for dropping the suit.

In 1995, Locke sued Eastwood for fraud, alleging that he had compensated Warner Bros. to keep her out of work–the studio had rejected all of the 30 or more projects she proposed, and never assigned her to direct any of their in-house projects. According to Locke's attorney, Eastwood committed "the ultimate betrayal" by arranging the "bogus" film directing deal. In 1996, just minutes before a jury was to render a verdict in Locke's favor, Eastwood agreed to settle for an undisclosed amount. The outcome of the case, 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." The case is used in some modern law school contracts textbooks to illustrate the legal concept of good faith.

At the time of the victory, Locke had a separate pending action against Warner Bros. for allegedly harming her career by agreeing to the sham movie-directing deal that Eastwood had purportedly engineered. As had been the case with the previous lawsuit, this ended in an out-of-court settlement, in 1999.

Locke is a breast cancer survivor, having undergone a double mastectomy and chemotherapy in 1990. She had a long-term relationship with one of the surgeons who treated her.

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

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