PicoBlog

(Warner Bros)

The one disadvantage an actor has being involved professionally and romantically with a filmmaker is they’re forever associated with said filmmaker. Depending on the couple, this could go either way. I doubt Frances McDormand or Leslie Mann have any complaints about starring in most of their husbands’ films as both marriages have been going strong for decades. Same with legendary couples like Federico Fellini & Giulietta Masina or John Cassavetes & Gena Rowlands. But what about all the actress-director pairings who eventually part ways artistically and personally? Ingmar Bergman & Liv Ullmann, Michelangelo Antonioni & Monica Vitti, Jean-Luc Godard & Anna Karina, Brian De Palma & Nancy Allen. All of these women are more famous for working with their exes than the men are for working with their former lovers. These pairings made some great movies together, but it must be frustrating as an artist to constantly be reminded of a brief period of time with someone you’re not involved with anymore. The biggest example of this I know of is between movie star/film director Clint Eastwood and actress Sondra Locke.

Everyone knows who Clint is, so no need to get into him. How many people are aware of Sondra these days though? From roughly 1974 to 1988, the two were in a relationship where they collaborated on five films together. Before meeting Clint, Sondra began her career on stage and on radio in Nashville before receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her very first movie, Robert Ellis Miller’s The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1968). From there came steady work on TV and in B-movies like Noel Black’s Cover Me, Babe (1970), Daniel Mann’s Willard (1971) and Lela Swift’s My Secret Mother (1973). Sondra met Clint while auditioning for the title role in his film Breezy (1973), though would lose the part to Kay Lenz. The blonde made a big enough impression on the former TV star for him to remember her for the love interest in his classic western The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976). They then followed up with the action thriller The Gauntlet (1977), the silly comedies of James Fargo’s Every Which Way but Loose (1978) and Buddy Van Horn’s Any Which Way You Can (1980), and the Dirty Harry sequel Sudden Impact (1983). In between these productions, the couple lived in both Carmel, CA and Tiburon, CA.

(Steve Schapiro)

What went wrong for the Hollywood power couple of the late 1970s/early 1980s? Clint was at the top of his game with Sondra right by his side. Unfortunately, it’s a pretty big mess. When they began dating during the filming of Josey Wales, Clint was still legally married to his first wife, though they were separated by then. But since Clint is lowkey with his personal life, the tabloids gossiped that Clint left his wife for Sondra when they went public with their relationship after Josey Wales was released. This naturally bothered Sondra, but eventually the gossip died down once she and Clint began making more movies together. Then there’s Sondra either having bad luck or bad instinct choosing films away from Clint; such as turning down Sydney Pollack’s They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969) and Mark Robson’s Earthquake (1974), both future hits. In her 1997 memoir, The Good, the Bad and the Very Ugly, Sondra claims she had an abortion during their relationship and suggested the procedure was Clint’s idea while she was reluctant to go through with it. Clint denied this and rebutted that she was the one not interested in becoming a parent. Years later Sondra discovered Clint fathered two children—including future actor Scott Eastwood—with a flight attendant he had an affair with [although Sondra also later admitted to being willfully obtuse to Clint’s unfaithfulness].

But things really took a sharp turn when Sondra returned home from shooting her film Impulse (1990) to find the locks for their house had been changed and her things were placed in storage. This along with Clint’s affairs motivated her to file for palimony, which eventually led to her filing a separate lawsuit accusing Clint and Warner Bros of presenting a fraudulent contract for her own directing career. After Sudden Impact, Sondra became interested in working behind the camera too, and was only met with the studio turning down every script and idea she pitched. Suffice to say, Clint and Sondra had one of the most turbulent break-ups in Hollywood history.

Here's the thing though. Despite Clint not coming across great in this story, virtually nothing happened to his career. Unforgiven (1992) was only a couple years later and is considered by many his masterpiece. Other hits like Mystic River (2003), Million Dollar Baby (2004) and Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) followed, and at 93 he is still working in front and behind the camera. But Sondra? Two movies as a director and three as an actress from 1990 until her death in 2018. If there was ever an example of double standards existing in society, this is it. Clint just carried on with his life while Sondra was essentially punished for having a bad break-up. The former starlet claimed the film industry took Clint’s side during the trials and blacklisted her as a result. There are different sides to every story, but I have a feeling Sondra’s claim might be close to the truth. Even when her death was reported there wasn’t much fanfare save for the feminist site Jezebel calling out The Hollywood Reporter for focusing their memorial more on Sondra’s past relationship than her career. I’m not sure what would have happened to Sondra if fate had been on her side. Much like fellow muse-turned-artist Barbara Loden, it’s a shame a lot of untapped potential was never properly utilized. Some of Sondra’s decisions were strange and questionable, but I don’t think she should have been pushed into obscurity. Everyone deserves a second chance.

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