Happening This Month

Saturday, April 2nd

Sondra Locke’s name has become intrinsically tied to that of her frequent collaborator and romantic partner Clint Eastwood. During their decade and a half long relationship, they made six films together, several of which were top box office hits including The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), The Gauntlet (1977) and Any Which Way You Can (1980). However much Eastwood is credited for Locke’s career, she had already had an auspicious start in acting, years before she even met Eastwood, with her Academy Award nominated performance in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968). Professional and romantic troubles plagued her and she subsequently fought with Eastwood in court. Her troubled trajectory as an actress and her struggle to reemerge professionally as a film director revealed a side of Hollywood in which circumstance and industry connections can make or break an artist.

With her blonde hair, wide dark eyes and gamine figure, Sondra Locke graced the silver screen often playing female protagonists much younger than herself. She was one of hundreds of hopefuls who tried out for the role of 14-year-old Mick in Robert Ellis Miller’s The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. An adaptation of Carson McCullers’ novel by the same name, the film stars Alan Arkin as a deaf-mute engraver who has a profound effect on the different people he encounters in his small Southern town. According to the AFI, the film’s original director Joseph Strick, along with casting director Marion Dougherty, had their hearts set on a newcomer for the role of Mick, described as an “unspoiled, 14-year-old-tomboy, not beautiful but appealing, not grown up but not a child.” The 23-year-old Locke was too old to play the part. With the help of her fiancé George Anderson, Locke underwent a transformation involving lightening her hair, bounding her chest and using hair, make-up and clothing styles to project a much younger image. She also knocked 6 years off her age. The transformation worked to her favor and she snagged the part. Her performance as Mick in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter earned her two Golden Globe nominations and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Locke’s real age would remain a secret throughout her career. When she finally admitted to being a bit older, she claimed it was only by a couple years but not the full six. Her youthful appearance, despite her age, helped her continue the ruse and secured her many roles playing much younger women.

After The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, Locke understood that the young tomboy look would not get her far in Hollywood. She quickly shed the persona she created with her debut film and transformed herself once again. The following year, Locke posed for a semi-nude spread in Playboy magazine, effectively leaving behind any notion of her as an innocent. Films that followed included a role as a sexpot in Cover Me Babe (1970) and in horror films such as Willard (1971) and A Reflection of Fear (1972). Cover Me Babe was part of a $150,000, three picture contract with 20th Century Fox. The other two films never came to fruition.

According to Clint Eastwood biographer Sara Anson Vaux, Locke first met Eastwood when she auditioned for a role in Breezy (1973), a romantic drama and Eastwood’s fourth film as a director. While she didn’t get the role, she impressed Eastwood enough that he cast her for one of the few female parts in The Outlaw Josey Wales. At the time Philip Kaufman was slated to be the director and Locke was cast against his wishes. Both Kaufman and Eastwood had a falling out over the project and Eastwood took over as director. In this revisionist Western set during the Civil War, Locke plays Josey Wales’ love interest. On the set, Eastwood and Locke hit it off immediately and quickly entered into a relationship. They were both publicly married but privately single. Their relationship would not come to light until after their collaboration was well under way. 

The Outlaw Josey Wales was a huge success for Warner Bros. with a box office draw of nearly $32 million against a budget of $3.7 million. Upon the success of the film and after two more of her horror films were released, including Death Game (1977), Locke entered into what would become an almost exclusive collaboration with Eastwood. She was able to get away to make a variety of television appearances, including playing Rosemary Clooney in the 1982 biopic Rosie. Otherwise, Locke’s career became a co-dependent one with Eastwood.

Locke and Eastwood replaced Steve McQueen and Barbra Streisand in the action thriller The Gauntlet. It was a big success and one of the top grossing films from that year. It was also the only time Locke received billing with Eastwood above the title. After The Gauntlet, Eastwood took a gamble with a pair of comedy films featuring the character Clyde the Orangutan; Every Which Way but Loose (1978) and its sequel Any Which Way You Can. In these films, Sondra Locke played country singer Lynn Halsey-Taylor. She performed the musical numbers herself, making this her singing debut. While the films are not as well-known today, they were smash hits in their day. Every Which Way but Loose is still considered to be one of the top grossing films of all time. Locke would continue to work under Eastwood’s shadow with subsequent films including Bronco Billy (1980). Their last film together, Sudden Impact (1983), was originally a vehicle just for Locke but was retrofitted to become a Dirty Harry film starring Eastwood. Locke stars in one of her most substantial roles as a rape victim turned serial killer.

At this point Locke wanted to breakout out as a filmmaker. She directed four films including the dark comedy Ratboy (1986) and the sexy thriller Impulse (1990). During the making of Impulse, Eastwood unceremoniously locked her out of their shared home and called quits on their relationship. Locke soldiered on with her career which included a new contract with Warner Bros. She offered them over 30 scripts only to have them all turned down. Locke famously filed two suits against Eastwood, one for palimony and another for fraud. According to Vanity Fair, she alleged that “Eastwood defrauded her, and that the Warner Bros. deal she had been given was not real.” She also claimed that his production company Malpaso, which produced Ratboy, was secretly funding her contract to essentially keep her out of work. Locke almost won the fraud case but decided instead to settle out of court. 

In the following years, Locke struggled in the industry and felt ostracized by Eastwood’s peers. She directed two more films in the 1990s including Death in Small Doses (1995) and the hormone fueled crime spree film Trading Favors (1977) starring Rosanna Arquette and Cuba Gooding, Jr. After a long battle with breast cancer, she starred in one final film Ray Meets Helen (2017) with Keith Carradine. She died on November 3rd, 2018, at the age of 74.