Locke Testifies Eastwood’s Deal ‘Humiliated’ Her

Actor-director Sondra Locke coolly told the jury in her fraud lawsuit against former co-star and lover Clint Eastwood that she felt “amazed . . . embarrassed . . . humiliated” when she learned that the development deal she had with Warner Bros. was a “sham.”

Although she’d often played women in distress in the six films she’d appeared in with Eastwood, Locke projected the image of a determined, polished professional as she took the witness stand Thursday and described her efforts as a fledgling director, a career that never quite got off the ground while she was at Warner Bros.

Later, as she left the Burbank courthouse, Locke’s lawyer, Peggy Garrity, said the testimony went well for her client and showed Hollywood’s harsh treatment of women.

“Women in Hollywood are marketable for a very short period of time. I think this case drips with gender,” she said.

Locke had dropped a 1989 palimony suit she’d filed against Eastwood after she accepted his offered deal. But she later discovered that he had allegedly been paying her himself, under the table, and charging his losses to the film he was directing and starring in--”Unforgiven.”

“I remembered all the times over the last three years, all those meetings with all those executives, all the hope and expectations. I felt horrible, completely defeated,” she testified in Superior Court in Burbank.

She had been puzzled by her inability to sell Warner Bros. on any of the 30 or so projects she’d pitched, Locke testified. The reason for her struggle became clear, she told the jury, when she learned in 1994 of Eastwood’s unwritten agreement with Warner Bros.’ executives.

Locke, who wore a tailored red-and-black-checked suit Thursday, repeatedly referred to Eastwood as “Clint” in her testimony. Much of that testimony was spent on the details of the agreement, spelled out in several lawyers’ letters.

Defense attorney Raymond Fisher sought to make several key points to the jury in his cross-examination. During one interchange, for example, Locke acknowledged that she had been given an office on the Warner Bros. lot, and “a parking space with my name on it.” Such treatment could allow Fisher to argue later to the jury that Eastwood kept his end of the bargain, and that Locke was, in fact, treated like a studio player.

The lanky and laconic Eastwood, dressed in a slate gray suit, blue shirt and blue patterned tie, seemed to be either bored or uncomfortable as he sat, barely moving, at the defense table. Three bailiffs escorted him out a courthouse backdoor, avoiding the media.

Superior Court Judge David M. Schacter, during a closed-door hearing, ruled that reporters covering the trial will not be permitted to attend evidentiary and other hearings held outside the jury’s presence. Media attorney Kelli Sager told reporters that the judge said he based his decision on “his duty to protect the right to a fair trial.” Sager added that the judge indicated that “his only obligation was to make sure the parties receive a fair trial. He’d be delighted to have the Court of Appeal tell him what to do.”

Sager said she was uncertain whether she would appeal to the higher court.

And, Schacter admonished jurors as he dismissed them for the weekend, “Don’t look at that tabloid stuff when you go through the shopping line.”

Testimony resumes Monday. Garrity said she has one or two more witnesses to call from “the industry” before resting her case. Eastwood is expected to take the witness stand early next week.