Sondra Locke

Sondra Locke was an American actress and director. She made her film debut in 1968 in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. She went on to star in such hit films as Willard, The Outlaw Josey Wales, The Gauntlet, Every Which Way but Loose, Bronco Billy, Any Which Way You Can and Sudden Impact. She worked often with Clint Eastwood, who was her companion for 14 years.

About Sondra Locke in brief

Summary Sondra LockeSondra Locke was an American actress and director. She made her film debut in 1968 in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She went on to star in such hit films as Willard, The Outlaw Josey Wales, The Gauntlet, Every Which Way but Loose, Bronco Billy, Any Which Way You Can and Sudden Impact. She worked often with Clint Eastwood, who was her companion for 14 years. Locke’s autobiography, The Good, the Bad, and the Very Ugly: A Hollywood Journey, was published in 1997. She never knew her biological father, and did not attend the funerals of her mother or stepfather, nor did she have anything to do with her brother, sister-in-law and three nieces. 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.’’ She had a maternal half-brother, Donald from Bayne’s subsequent brief marriage to William B. Elkins. When Bayne married Alfred Locke in 1948, Sandra and Donald adopted his surname. Locke would keep up her age, shaving off six years to seem younger – a pretense – for the rest of her career. She was a member of the Alpha Psi Omega honor society while at MTSU and appeared onstage in Life with Father and The Crucible. She dropped out after completing two semesters of study.

Locke also modeled for The Tennessean fashion page, acted in commercials, and gained further stage experience in productions for Circle Players Inc. In 1966, the 22-year-old appeared in a UPI wire photo that showed her cavorting in new fallen snow. In July 1967, Locke competed with 590 other Southern actresses and dozens of New York hopefuls for the big-screen adaptation of Carson McCullers’ novel The Heart is A Lonely Hunter. The role came out in the summer of 1968, and she was cast in the role of Alan Arkin in a Birmingham, Alabama, movie. She changed the spelling of her first name to avoid being called Sandy. Locke held a variety of jobs, including as a bookkeeper for Tyson Foods and secretary in a real-estate office. In 1964, she joined the staff at radio station WSM-AM 650 in Nashville and was promoted to its television affiliate W SM-Channel 4 the following year. Locke was a cheerleader and class valedictorian in junior high. She also played on the girls’ basketball team, served as PTSA representative and was president of the French club. Locke dropped out of Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro on a full scholarship. She later married Gordon Anderson – Locke’s best friend since adolescence and future husband – and had a son, Michael. Locke had a daughter, Michael Locke, with actor Robert Loggia when he was promoting his TV pilot T. H. E. Cat.