What Was Sondra Locke's Net Worth?
Sondra Locke was an American actress, producer, and director who had a net worth of $20 million at the time of her death in 2018. Sondra Locke made her acting debut in the 1968 film, "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter." The role earned Sondra an Academy Award nomination plus two Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Actress and Most Promising Newcomer. Locke went on to appear in numerous independent films and made television guest appearances before starring in a string of blockbusters alongside her partner of 14 years, Clint Eastwood.
The 1976 film "The Outlaw Josey Wales" was the beginning of the Locke/Eastwood working relationship. The pair went on to star in notable films such as "Dirty Harry" and "Sudden Impact." In the mid-eighties, Locke switched to directing, making her debut with the 1986 comedy, "Ratboy" which was a big hit in France. She gained respect from film critics with the 1990 thriller "Impulse." Although it impressed the critics, it failed to make an impact at the box office. In 1997, Sondra published an autobiography, "The Good, the Bad, and the Very Ugly," before quitting the film industry in 1999. Tragically, Sondra Locke died on November 3, 2018, at the age of 74, from cardiac arrest related to her recurring bone and breast cancer.
Clint Eastwood Separation and Lawsuits
Sondra and Clint lived together from 1975 to 1989. After their relationship ended, Sondra filed a palimony suit against Clint after he changed the locks on their shared Bel-Air mansion. While she was filming the movie "Impulse," he also moved all of her possessions into storage.
The couple eventually settled, with Clint arranging for Sondra to have a development deal at Warner Bros. Locke ultimately filed a lawsuit against Warner and Eastwood, claiming the deal was a "sham" after the studio rejected all 30 projects she had proposed and never used her as a director. In 1996, Clint was finally forced to pay Sondra an undisclosed amount of money. In 1999, she reached an out-of-court settlement with Warner Bros.
Actress Sondra Locke in the movie The Gauntlet. (Getty)
Early Life
Sondra Locke was born Sandra Louise Smith on May 28, 1944, in Shelbyville, Tennessee. She was born to Raymond Smith and Pauline Bayne. Her father was a soldier while her mother was a pencil factory worker, though her parents separated before her birth. Sondra grew up with her half-brother, Donald, from one of her mother's later relationships. Her mother then married Alfred Locke in 1948, and Sondra took his surname. The family moved to Wartrace, and Locke began working part-time at the age of 16. She was a cheerleader and also a good student, attending Shelbyville Central High School. After high school, she enrolled at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro on a full scholarship and majored in drama. However, she dropped out after two semesters. She then worked a number of odd jobs in the years that followed before breaking into Hollywood.
Career
In July 1967, Locke won the role of Mick Kelly in the big-screen adaptation of Carson McCullers' novel "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter." Her performance earned an Academy Award nomination and two Golden Globe nominations. She then posed semi-nude for "Playboy," which helped elevate her status to that of a sex symbol. Sondra then landed a role in "Cover Me Babe" in 1970 and in "Willard" in 1971, which became a box office hit. She was featured in "A Reflection of Fear" in 1972 and "The Second Coming of Suzanne" in 1974. The latter film won three gold medals at the Atlanta Film Festival. She continued working steadily over the next few years, though not in anything particularly successful, before being cast in the western film "The Outlaw of Josey Wales" in 1975 as the love interest of Clint Eastwood's character. The film became a success and helped reinvigorate Locke's career.
Locke and Eastwood would go on to appear in and work on a number of other films together in the decade that followed. In 1977, they appeared in "The Gauntlet" together after Steve McQueen and Barbra Streisand left the production. Locke would not work on any other film except those that Eastwood was involved in for more than ten years. They appeared in "Every Way but Loose" and "Any Which Way You Can" in 1978 and 1980, respectively, as well as a number of other films.
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In 1986, Locke made her directorial debut with "Ratboy," which was produced by Eastwood's company, Malpaso. The film was well-received in Europe. She then directed "Impulse" in 1990. Due to health issues and other interruptions, she took a break from directing for five years before directing the made-for-television film "Death in Small Doses." In 1997, Sondra directed the independent feature film "Trading Favors."
In 1997, Locke published her autobiography, "The Good, the Bad, and the Very Ugly: A Hollywood Journey." In the book, she makes a number of highly critical statements about Eastwood. While she was set to do a number of interviews to promote the book, many of them were canceled, which Locke stated was due to Eastwood's massive influence in Hollywood.
Personal Life
Around 1963, Locke broke off contact with her family and did not resume contact with them over the course of her life. She did not attend the funeral of either her mother or stepfather and did not have a relationship with her half-brother, Donald, or his family. Donald attributes this to Gordon Anderson, who was Sondra's best friend from childhood and later her husband, as he says Anderson had a profound effect on Locke's decisions at the time. The two married in 1967 and remained married for 51 years until Sondra's death in 2018. However, Locke confirmed later that the marriage was platonic and more like a brother-sister relationship, as Anderson was gay. Most of her romantic attachments were not publicized, given the nature of her relationship with her husband was kept private for a long time. She did have relationships with Brad Crandall, George Crook, and Gary Gober. She was also linked to a number of co-stars during her career.
In 1975, she entered a domestic partnership with Clint Eastwood. They both have made various statements about their profound love for one another but never had children together, as Eastwood claimed Locke never wanted them, though Sondra later denied this claim. The couple's relationship ended in the late 1980s and numerous lawsuits followed that went on for 19 months. The parties reached a private settlement in 1990, though they were again in court in the mid-1990s over a contractual dispute that was also settled. Following the end of their relationship, Locke contends that she was blacklisted from Hollywood.
Sondra confirmed that she had breast cancer in 1990 and underwent treatment and a double mastectomy. While in the hospital, she met Scott Cunneen, an intern who was assigned to perform her post-surgical checkup. The two began dating, though Cunneen was 17 years younger than her. Cunneen moved into Locke's mansion in the Hollywood Hills, though the two later broke up.
In 2015, Locke's cancer returned and metastasized in her bones. She died three years later, on November 3, 2018, due to cardiac arrest and breast and bone cancer. Her death was kept secret until December of that year, and when it did become public, it received no comment from any of Locke's former co-stars, friends, or relatives.
