SONDRA LOCKE : MEETING CLINT EASTWOOD and THEN SOME! THEIR INSTANTANEOUS CONNECTION

Sondra Locke had an acting career before she and her husband, Gordon, came to Los Angeles - Hollywood. Gordon was reportedly homosexual and Sondra stayed married to him. They were living in the city when, in 1975, her agent called her to meet with Clint Eastwood, for consideration for a part in the film The Outlaw Josie Wales, which became a hit. Upon meeting him on the set, Sondra experienced an attraction and Clint began to court her right away.

Excerpt pages 138 - 139:  The next night Clint sat across from me at a table for two in a cozy restaurant only a shot drive from the Wahweap Lodge. We both ordered steak and baked potatoes. It was that kind of place.

His gray-green eyes studied me again.  "I find it hard to think of what to say when I'm with someone I really like," he confided.

My pulse quickened. "Me too." Then my eyes returned to my plate for another long silence.  I wanted to fill the empty space with words.  But what words? I told him how happy I was that Kaufman wanted me to be in this film, ad how much I was looking forward to the experience, ad how much I loved the location and how - and how -

"I was the one who wanted you in the film" he interrupted....

"Really?"

"I'll never forgot meeting you for Breezy, Sondra."

"But you didn't hire me for that film, did you," I teased.

"No, I didn't. Big Mistake." He smiled.  I hadn't noticed how long his eyelashes were, how aquiline his nose. "But I've hired you ow."

"I'm glad," I genuinely blushed.

Even though our instant rapport was completely different from out office meetings, it was still just as real, just as natural. I could almost forget that he was Clint Eastwood, could almost believe he was some handsome stranger that I had happened to meet while on vacation in Arizona.  But after dinner as we walked to the car, I was quickly reminded of exactly who he was when I glanced back toward the restaurant.  There, with their noses glued to the window was every waitress and customer, straining to get a last glimpse.

We were both completely silent as we began that twenty minute drive back to the hotel, where this dram of an evening would end.  Then suddenly, but easily, I felt his large hand touch mine.  My fingers involuntarily responded, instantly wrapping themselves around his - a perfect fit.  He turned and looked at me, and squeezing my hand a little tighter, pressed down on the accelerator, making our car surge forward, faster and faster, back toward the Wahweap Lodge.

Once at my door all that was necessary was another look at each other.  There was no conservation, no maneuvering, it was all as natural as if it were happening for the thousandth time, but as exciting as any first time could be.  He pulled me into his arms and kissed me gently, delicately.  Then lifting me up, like some knight bearing his maiden, he carried me across the room to the bed.  Physically I thought he was the most gorgeous man I had ever seen - his heroic face, his tall, tithe, muscular body. And in spite of his size and power, he was a gentle, affectionate, thoughtful, and yet intensely ardent lover.  I thought of nothing except the moment.  There was nothing in his past I wanted to know about, and nothing I wanted to tell, and certainly nothing I wanted to address about my future reality.  We made love that night, not once, but several times.  It was truly magic. Together, it seemed that, through we were two bodies, two hearts... in perfect accord we were one.

The next morning I awoke and found myself alone.  Perhaps it had been a dram.  But there on my pillow was a little scrawled reminder; "Miss you, duck." And I smiled.

From that moment on, Clint and I were inseparable.  Even on the set, working together, we couldn't take our eyes off each together.  He wanted me constantly with him, to go every place with him, even just to watch him play tennis with a friend.  "I've never known anyone that I wanted to be around me all the time,' he said seriously. "I guess I'm usually trying to get away."

C Sondra Locke

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