Known for movies
Short Info
Date Of Birth | May 28, 1944 |
Spouse | Gordon Anderson |
Fact | Cameron Watson's directorial debut Our Very Own (2005), set in 1978 in Locke's hometown of Shelbyville, Tn., centers on a group of teens whose dreams of a better life have been inspired by her Hollywood success. |
Payments | Earned $100,000 + % net profits from Any Which Way You Can (1980) |
Sondra Locke was born on May 28, 1944 in Shelbyville, Tennessee. Her parents were Raymond Smith, a teacher and aspiring musician, and Pauline Bayne Locke, a homemaker. She has two older sisters, Alice and Nancy. Locke was raised in a strict Baptist household. She attended Shelbyville Central High School, where she was a cheerleader and homecoming queen. After graduation, she enrolled at Middle Tennessee State University, but dropped out after one semester to pursue a career in acting.
Locke began her career in 1964 with a small role in the film The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. She went on to appear in a number of films throughout the 1960s and 1970s, including The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), The Shootist (1976), and Sudden Impact (1983). She also had a recurring role on the television series The Colbys (1985-1986).
In 1976, Locke met actor Clint Eastwood while filming The Outlaw Josey Wales. The two began a relationship and Locke appeared in six of Eastwood’s films over the next decade, including Every Which Way But Loose (1978) and Any Which Way You Can (1980). The couple also co-owned and operated a production company called Malpaso Productions.
Locke and Eastwood’s relationship ended in 1989. Locke filed a palimony suit against Eastwood, alleging that he had promised her half of his earnings from their films together. The suit was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.
Locke’s later film credits include Impulse (1990), Death in Small Doses (1995), and Gone Fishin’ (1997). She has also appeared on television shows such as Touched by an Angel (2001) and 7th Heaven (2002).
Locke has been married twice. Her first marriage was to actor Gordon Anderson from 1967-1970. Her second marriage was to photographer Robert Fortney from 1984-1989. She has no children.
Locke has struggled with alcoholism and depression throughout her life. In 2000, she underwent treatment for breast cancer. She is currently sober and living in Los Angeles, California.
As of 2020, Sondra Locke’s net worth is estimated to be $10 million.
General Info
Full Name | Sondra Locke |
Date Of Birth | May 28, 1944 |
Height | 1.62 m |
Profession | Film director, Actor, Singer |
Education | Middle Tennessee State University |
Nationality | American |
Family
Spouse | Gordon Anderson |
Parents | Pauline Bayne Locke, Raymond Smith |
Siblings | Don Locke |
Partner | Clint Eastwood |
Accomplishments
Nominations | Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture, Golden Globe Award for Best New Star of the Year – Actress |
Movies | The Outlaw Josey Wales, The Gauntlet, Sudden Impact, Every Which Way but Loose, Any Which Way You Can, Bronco Billy, Ratboy, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, Death Game, Willard, The Second Coming of Suzanne, Cover Me Babe, A Reflection of Fear, Rosie: The Rosemary Clooney Story, The Clean and Narrow, ... |
Social profile links
Salary
Title | Salary |
---|---|
Sudden Impact (1983) | $350,000 |
Any Which Way You Can (1980) | $100,000 + % net profits |
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968) | $4,200 |
Quotes
# | Quote |
---|---|
1 | I am reconciled that I will probably not work again, but if I do it will be something 'meant to be'. |
2 | [from a 2013 interview] I still get scripts sent to me, but nothing extraordinary enough to motivate me to try and overcome all the obstacles to get the films made. And yet, I would say that today I feel unfinished professionally, both as actor and director. For many years I fantasized that a brave director would come along and offer me a role I couldn't refuse, a role that would be as wonderful as the one that began my career. And, even more so, I fantasized about the perfect little quirky script with money attached that I would want to direct. Of course, neither has happened. At first, I felt very displaced, as if I had lost my identity. I had worked making films my entire adult life. It was work that I loved. It was my work as well as my pleasure. I was not a person who had other hobbies. Eventually I came to find the peace and beauty in my everyday life - my home, my gardens, my pets - and was able to walk away. |
3 | I have many flaws, not the least of which is thinking too much of the other person's feelings and not enough of my own. Because of this, I try to please too much. I hate conflict and so I avoid it until it is almost too late and then I have the battle of a lifetime. I am a terrible worrier. I have to some degree overcome this one, because I learned that the things we worry about are rarely the things that actually happen. It's always something we never thought would or could happen - like what Clint did. Also, I had no breast cancer in my family so I didn't worry about that, and of course it did happen to me. |
4 | I believe Clint knows who he is; he just doesn't LIKE who he is. I do believe that Clint loved me as much as he is capable of love, and in the first 8 or so years together he really WANTED to be the man he knew I saw in him. I think he tried very hard, but eventually one's nature cannot change. |
5 | Richard Schickel has made a living off writing puff pieces and documentary films about Clint. As I know those times and that subject well, I know Schickel's books are full of misstatements and downright fabrication, not only about me but others. He glorifies, practically deifies, Clint. |
6 | [regarding suppression of her autobiography] I was shut out of most venues to promote the book, in particular the networks. Remember, Bob Daly (president of WB) had, at one time, run CBS. The influence was there. I was told by my publisher that Oprah Winfrey wanted me to come on her show. As it was being scheduled, I was suddenly canceled and Clint was set to appear on the show instead. At that time, and even rarely today, Clint had almost never appeared on such a talk show. The gay magazine The Advocate was set to do a big article on my book, which was a natural because of Gordon being gay. Suddenly Clint was giving them an interview and appearing on the cover and I was out ENTIRELY. Why could they not have run both pieces if indeed it was an innocent coincidence? Liz Smith, a very highly regarded and read New York columnist, wrote a supportive rave review about my book - and me - in her column. When her column appeared in the L.A. Times, the review and all references to my book were excised from it. The rest of her column was intact. Warner Brothers had some sort of association with L.A. Times. I was told at the time what the connection was, but have forgotten. Entertainment Weekly, a very well read entertainment magazine, also gave my book a rave review. It was pulled and a bad review appeared instead. I am fairly certain that Warner Brothers had some financial involvement with Entertainment Weekly - perhaps they even owned it, I can't recall. |
7 | [if a film were made about her life story] I honestly hope that it will not be made, because I fear it could fall into hands that would turn it into something ordinary, like some awful movie for television. I haven't given thought to who might possibly make a good film of it. I think it's best left as a part of my book, although so many people say that it should be a film. Unfortunately Hollywood would probably only be interested in exploiting the Clint section of the book. |
8 | Clint never really gave direction to the actors, certainly not to me. I was very much on my own. I always wondered how much better my performances might have been, had I had a director who really worked with me. Certainly Clint's method of printing the first or second take didn't give me time to find all the texture of the moment. |
9 | [her reaction to finding out Clint Eastwood sired other women's children while still involved with her] I just thought, 'Oh my God!'. Either he changed from white to black or I had been living with somebody I didn't even know. |
10 | I'll never have to work again. I don't know what I'm going to do. But I think I want to work. Clint said, 'I will never settle. I will take you to the Supreme Court.' But I stuck with it. I battled against huge odds. I feel vindicated. |
11 | A real marriage doesn't need those papers. But a real breakup does. |
12 | [on Clint Eastwood] I discovered he was a liar and a cheat who was leading a double, no, a triple if not a quadruple life, and who was terrified of being found out. |
13 | My personality, or persona or whatever, is really more in line with directing. If I had seen more women's names on the credits when I was a child - you know, "directed by Gladys Hooper" - I think I might have drifted more in that direction. As an actor, you take on the role of the child. You follow orders, and people are there to take care of you and pamper you. As the director, you have to be the parent. |
14 | [on directing Ratboy (1986)] There were many times when I said to myself, "why did I have to pick a story like this?". If I wanted to direct, why not go out and find a Top Gun (1986) and make some money? You know, something sensible. I felt I had to go for it. For me, the story had the heart of a fairy tale and the head of a morality play. I had the sense of it owning me, in some way. It swept me off with it. |
15 | I think the reason actresses are taking a back seat to actors is that they're putting the wrong women on screen. They seem to put a new fashion model in a starring role every year. And being simply pretty isn't enough. It's boring. Using models in place of actresses implies that women have nothing to contribute to the screen. Acting is a profession and a special talent is involved. Films have moved away from pretty boys to actors with interesting faces. It's time they did the same thing with actresses. |
16 | People associate strength with masculinity. In this age of action movies specializing in masculine virtues, it's very difficult for an actress to play a strong woman. In the old days, Joan Crawford and Bette Davis managed to be strong and feminine simultaneously. So did Irene Dunne. The best example of all, perhaps, was Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara. They dominated the screen, but not the leading man. Actually, a strong woman adds to the masculinity of the man she is playing opposite. Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy played powerful characters to their mutual advantage. Claudette Colbert didn't dominate Clark Gable in It Happened One Night (1934). Yet she played a very strong woman. You need a strong and talented man to begin with if you hope to maintain your femininity. But I think a good many leading men confuse masculinity and strength. They're insecure about women's roles that accentuate strength. |
17 | [1978] I'm not really very ambitious or very aggressive. I won't play politics or games to get roles. And so I really work very seldom. I think I've done ten pictures in the ten years that I've been in Hollywood. Actually, I don't mind not working, but I hate doing poor material, so I'd rather not work than do something I don't like. |
18 | [1968] I'm very ambitious. I'm Mount Vesuvius - with a cork in my head. I'm ready to burst. But I'm not so anxious that I'll take the first opportunity that comes along. I'm going to wait for a golden part to come along before I take it. If not golden, at least silver. |
19 | I really get livid when somebody calls me Sandra or Sandy. Actually, my parents named me Sondra rather than Sandra so that people would not call me Sandy. Almost everything has a contradiction through common usage. Names have associations. You know, people look at their names. |
20 | I am a romantic. I want to cry when I throw out my Christmas tree, and I have a lot of feelings about magic and fantasy. I believe in elves and giants. I believe that fairy tales are nothing more than news reports of what once happened. |
21 | Externals don't throw me. I'm like a turtle. If I don't like the going, I just pull my head in. |
22 | Success is just a drop in the bucket, a grain of sand on the beach. |
23 | I never felt at home in Tennessee. I felt I'd been parachuted out at the wrong spot somehow. |
24 | I've had some great parts, it's just that you're always looking for something that will take you in a different direction. People only see you in those boxes you've been most recently seen in. That way, they don't have to think or be creative. |
25 | Everyone always wants to type you. With me, I started out as a vulnerable waif and for many years that's all anyone ever wanted me to play. |
26 | As an actor, if there's a good role you can take it for the role's sake and not worry about the fact that the whole story doesn't seem to work. The actor won't get the blame for it. You'll do a good job and they'll say, 'The story stinks, but Sondra Locke was good in the part of whatever.' I look on acting as a great vacation now. You work a few weeks, get paid a lot of money and everyone pampers and takes care of you. |
27 | No matter how big actors get, they always somehow think, 'Today is it -- tomorrow everybody's going to wake up and hate me.' |
28 | In acting, you're subject to what everyone else does to you: the light someone else puts on you, the pace someone else sets for the scene, how someone else cuts you together, what they throw away and what they keep. Pretty soon you realize, 'This is great, but there must be something a little more.' |
Facts
# | Fact |
---|---|
1 | Has come out of retirement to play Helen in Ray Meets Helen (2016) opposite Keith Carradine. She had no intention of getting back into the business, but she's a friend of director Alan Rudolph and his wife, and they gave her the script and she couldn't resist. Filming started in May 2016. |
2 | In her autobiography, some of the terms used to describe Clint Eastwood are "monster," "sociopath" and "human failure". |
3 | Was in consideration for the role of Denise Marshall in Earthquake (1974) that went to Geneviève Bujold. |
4 | Cited under the pseudonym Miss Smith in "Life Extension: A Practical Scientific Approach" by Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw. |
5 | Offered the main role in Emmy-winning TV film My Sweet Charlie (1970) but turned it down. |
6 | Even though she played the leading female role in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968), during Oscar season Warner Brothers decided they would suggest that voters consider her for Best Supporting Actress instead of Best Actress, hoping she'd have a better chance of winning. She lost the award anyway to Ruth Gordon (for Rosemary's Baby (1968)) who went on to co-star with Locke in the Which Way movies. |
7 | Cameron Watson's directorial debut Our Very Own (2005), set in 1978 in Locke's hometown of Shelbyville, Tn., centers on a group of teens whose dreams of a better life have been inspired by her Hollywood success. |
8 | Lost custody of her parrot Putty in the breakup with Clint, who renamed him Paco. |
9 | Stage credits before her film career include "The Crucible," "The Glass Menagerie," "The Innocents," "Life with Father," "The Monkey's Paw," "Oh Dad, Poor Dad," "Tiger at the Gates" and "A Thousand Clowns". |
10 | Former agent is Leonard Hirshan. |
11 | Was the original choice to play the titular character in Carrie (1976). The part went to Sissy Spacek after Locke declined to do a screen test. |
12 | Campaigned for role of Pookie Adams in The Sterile Cuckoo (1969) which was given to Liza Minnelli instead. |
13 | Born on the exact same day as Rudy Giuliani, Gladys Knight, Jean-Pierre Léaud and Billy Vera. |
14 | Blake Edwards promised her one of the two female leads in City Heat (1984) (ultimately played by Jane Alexander and Madeline Kahn) during pre-production when Burt Reynolds had signed on but the role of the other leading man was yet to be filled. She later asserted that Edwards was using her just to get to Clint Eastwood who'd already seen the script and turned it down, because once Eastwood changed his mind and agreed to star in the film, Edwards dropped the idea of casting Locke and gave the roles to Julie Andrews and Marsha Mason. (Mason left due to creative differences, and the casting of Andrews fell through because Reynolds had not gotten along with her while making The Man Who Loved Women (1983) and didn't want to repeat the experience.). |
15 | Release of her autobiography, "The Good, the Bad, and the Very Ugly: A Hollywood Journey". [November 1997] |
16 | Used to be very good friends with Maria Shriver & Arnold Schwarzenegger. |
17 | Turned down Barbara Hershey's role in Last Summer (1969). |
18 | Posed for Playboy magazine's "Sex Stars of 1969" issue in a semi-nude layout that was meant to change her Plain Jane image, and wrote in her memoir that she still receives those photographs in fan mail for her autograph and cringes when she sees them. |
19 | After starring in Willard (1971), about a boy who trains rats, she directed and starred in Ratboy (1986), about a boy who is half rat. |
20 | Locke recently sold her home in L.A. (at a considerable profit), and bought a much larger estate in the Hollywood Hills where she resides with her companion of the last 10 years, Scott Cunneen, a director of surgery at Cedars Sinai Hospital. |
21 | Voted "Duchess of Studiousness" in senior year of high school. Her grade average was 97.72. |
22 | Attended Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, TN for two semesters. |
23 | Breast cancer survivor. |
24 | Co-starred with Clint Eastwood in six films: Any Which Way You Can (1980), Bronco Billy (1980), Every Which Way But Loose (1978), The Gauntlet (1977), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) and Sudden Impact (1983). |
25 | Former partner of Clint Eastwood (1975-1989). They never married. |
Pictures
Movies
Actress
Title | Year | Status | Character |
---|---|---|---|
Ray Meets Helen | 2016 | post-production | Helen |
The Prophet's Game | 2000 | Adele Highsmith (adult) | |
Clean and Narrow | 1999 | Betsy Brand | |
Ratboy | 1986 | Nikki Morrison | |
Amazing Stories | 1985 | TV Series | Vanessa Sullivan |
Tales of the Unexpected | 1984 | TV Series | Edna |
Sudden Impact | 1983 | Jennifer Spencer | |
Rosie: The Rosemary Clooney Story | 1982 | TV Movie | Rosemary Clooney |
Any Which Way You Can | 1980 | Lynn Halsey-Taylor | |
Bronco Billy | 1980 | Antoinette Lily | |
Friendships, Secrets and Lies | 1979 | TV Movie | Jessie |
Every Which Way But Loose | 1978 | Lynn Halsey-Taylor | |
The Gauntlet | 1977 | Gus Mally | |
The Shadow of Chikara | 1977 | Drusilla Wilcox | |
Death Game | 1977 | Jackson | |
The Outlaw Josey Wales | 1976 | Laura Lee | |
Joe Forrester | 1976 | TV Series | |
Cannon | 1973-1975 | TV Series | Stacey Murdock / Trish |
Barnaby Jones | 1975 | TV Series | Alicia |
Planet of the Apes | 1974 | TV Series | Amy |
The Second Coming of Suzanne | 1974 | Suzanne | |
Kung Fu | 1974 | TV Series | Gwyneth Jenkins |
Gondola | 1974 | TV Movie | Jackie |
The ABC Afternoon Playbreak | 1973 | TV Series | Nora Sells |
The F.B.I. | 1972 | TV Series | Regina Mason |
A Reflection of Fear | 1972 | Marguerite | |
Night Gallery | 1972 | TV Series | Sheila Gray (segment "A Feast of Blood") |
Willard | 1971 | Joan | |
Cover Me Babe | 1970 | Melisse | |
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter | 1968 | Margaret 'Mick' Kelly |
Director
Title | Year | Status | Character |
---|---|---|---|
Trading Favors | 1997 | ||
Death in Small Doses | 1995 | TV Movie | |
Impulse | 1990 | ||
Ratboy | 1986 |
Soundtrack
Title | Year | Status | Character |
---|---|---|---|
Any Which Way You Can | 1980 | performer: "Too Loose" | |
Every Which Way But Loose | 1978 | performer: "Don't Say You Don't Love Me No More", "I Seek The Night" | |
The Outlaw Josey Wales | 1976 | performer: "Sweet By and By" - uncredited |
Writer
Title | Year | Status | Character |
---|---|---|---|
Death Game | 1977 | screenplay - uncredited |
Producer
Title | Year | Status | Character |
---|---|---|---|
Knock Knock | 2015/I | executive producer |
Self
Title | Year | Status | Character |
---|---|---|---|
The Joan Rivers Show | 1990 | TV Series | Herself |
CBS This Morning | 1990 | TV Series | Herself |
All-Star Party for Joan Collins | 1987 | TV Special | Herself |
All-Star Party for Clint Eastwood | 1986 | TV Special | Herself |
The 11th Annual People's Choice Awards | 1985 | TV Special | Herself - Audience Member |
Clint Eastwood: Director | 1982 | TV Short documentary | Herself |
The 7th Annual People's Choice Awards | 1981 | TV Special | Herself - Presenter: Favourite Actor in Motion Picture |
Clapper Board | 1980 | TV Series | Herself |
Les nouveaux rendez-vous | 1980 | TV Series | Herself |
Good Morning America | 1980 | TV Series | Herself |
The American Movie Awards | 1980 | TV Special | Herself - Audience Member |
Dinah! | 1978 | TV Series | Herself |
The Mike Douglas Show | 1978 | TV Series | Herself - Actress |
Eastwood in Action | 1976 | Documentary short | Herself |
Tattletales | 1975 | TV Series | Herself |
The Merv Griffin Show | 1972 | TV Series | Herself |
Allen Ludden's Gallery | 1969 | TV Series | Herself |
The 41st Annual Academy Awards | 1969 | TV Special | Herself - Nominee: Best Actress in a Supporting Role |
The Joey Bishop Show | 1969 | TV Series | Herself - Guest |
Awards
Nominated Awards
Year | Award | Ceremony | Nomination | Movie |
---|---|---|---|---|
1988 | Razzie Award | Razzie Awards | Worst Actress | Ratboy (1986) |
1981 | Razzie Award | Razzie Awards | Worst Actress | Bronco Billy (1980) |
1978 | Stinker Award | The Stinkers Bad Movie Awards | Worst Actress | Every Which Way But Loose (1978) |
1970 | Golden Laurel | Laurel Awards | Female New Face | The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968) |
1969 | Oscar | Academy Awards, USA | Best Actress in a Supporting Role | The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968) |
1969 | Golden Globe | Golden Globes, USA | Best Supporting Actress | The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968) |
1969 | Golden Globe | Golden Globes, USA | Most Promising Newcomer - Female | The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968) |
2nd Place Awards
Year | Award | Ceremony | Nomination | Movie |
---|---|---|---|---|
1970 | Golden Laurel | Laurel Awards | Female Supporting Performance | The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968) |
Source: IMDb, Wikipedia