Oscar-nominated actress Sondra Locke, former girlfriend of Clint Eastwood, dead at 74

Actress Sondra Locke in the 1977 action thriller 'The Gauntlet' directed by her boyfriend at the time Clint Eastwood.

Credit: Bettmann

Credit: Bettmann

Actress Sondra Locke in the 1977 action thriller 'The Gauntlet' directed by her boyfriend at the time Clint Eastwood.

Academy Award-nominated actress and director Sondra Locke has died from cancer at the age of 74.

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Locke died on Nov. 3 at her Los Angeles home from cardiac arrest related to breast and bone cancer, according to a death certificate obtained by The Associated Press.

Locke is probably best known for the six movies she made with her longtime boyfriend actor/director Clint Eastwood in the late 1970s and ‘80s, including “Sudden Impact,” “The Outlaw Josey Wales,” “The Gauntlet,” and “Every Which Way But Loose.”

Actress Sondra Locke with partner actor/director Clint Eastwood at the 41st annual Cannes Film Festival in 1988.

Credit: DEUTSCH Jean-Claude

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Credit: DEUTSCH Jean-Claude

Locke and Eastwood were together for 14 years, from 1975 until 1989.

She earned her Oscar nomination for her first movie, 1968’s “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.”

Born Sandra Louise Anderson on May 28, 1944, Locke was raised in Shelbyville, Tennessee, where she graduated from high school and attended Middle Tennessee State University where she studied drama.

Locke appeared in just three films in the past 18 years: 2000's "Clean and Narrow, "The Prophet's Game," also in 2000 and co-starring Keith Carradine, and "Ray Meets Helen" in 2017, according to The Hollywood Reporter. She was the executive producer on 2015's "Knock Knock," starring Keanu Reeves.

In May of 1988, Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke attend the premiere of his movie 'Bird,' a biography of jazz musician Charlie Parker.

Credit: James Andanson

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Credit: James Andanson

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