Eastwood Denies Fraud in Film Deal for Former Lover

Movie star Clint Eastwood testified Tuesday that he believed his ex-lover, who has sued him for allegedly sabotaging her screen career, was out to get his money after their breakup.

He denied trying to defraud Sondra Locke with what she has termed a “sham” film directing deal, saying that he only had her best interests at heart.

Asked in a Burbank courtroom to describe how he felt when Locke filed a lawsuit against him, he said he had the feelings of anyone “when someone has been planning for many months to assault your children’s inheritance.”

“It was not the happiest moment in my life,” Eastwood said in reply to questions from his lawyer, Raymond Fisher.

Locke, who lived with Eastwood for 13 years, originally filed a palimony suit in 1989, claiming assets the couple accumulated during their relationship.

She later dropped the suit when Eastwood agreed to secure her a director’s contract worth $1.5 million at Warner Bros. Eastwood said Tuesday that he had never had any conversations with Locke about monetary settlements.

Locke says her Warner Bros. contract was a sham because Eastwood had a secret deal with the studio to reimburse it for losses incurred by any Locke film, and she is seeking damages of more than $2.5 million.

Locke, an actress who met Eastwood on the set of the 1975 movie “The Outlaw--Josey Wales,” alleges that he destroyed her directorial career in Hollywood.

Eastwood said Tuesday: “I never intended to defraud anyone. Never in my life have I tried to put somebody out of work. Besides, it didn’t make any sense monetarily, because I had agreed to indemnify [Warner Bros].”

To emphasize how strongly he felt about helping Locke’s career, Eastwood said he told Warner Bros. executive Terry Semel: “If the deal doesn’t work, I’ll indemnify you.”

Locke’s directorial efforts, “Ratboy” in 1986 and “Impulse” in 1989, were not commercial successes and in three years under the Warner Bros. contract, none of her 30 suggested projects were developed into films.