Sandra Louise Anderson (née Smith; May 28, 1944 – November 3, 2018), professionally known as Sondra 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. She also directed four films, notably Impulse.
Locke and Eastwood had an often contentious relationship for more than a dozen years, which ended in a bitter palimony suit she filed against him in 1989. They settled after about a year, but she later sued him again in the mid-’90s for what the suit claimed was a sham development and directing deal at Warner Bros that Eastwood had set up. That suit was settled out of court. She then brought a separate lawsuit against Warners, which also was settled out of court.
Her 1997 memoir was titled The Good, the Bad and the Very Ugly, riffing on one of Eastwood’s most popular film roles.
Locke died at age 74 on November 3, 2018. She died at her L.A. home, from cardiac arrest related to breast and bone cancer.
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