DATE: Wednesday, November 26, 1997          TAG: 9711250106

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E4   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: BOOK REVIEW 

SOURCE: BY PEGGY DEANS EARLE 

                                            LENGTH:   81 lines

EASTWOOD'S EX TELLS ALL IN UNFLATTERING BOOK

FROM THE unsubtle title of actress/director Sondra Locke's memoir, you can bet ``The Good, the Bad & the Very Ugly'' is not going to make Clint's day, his month or his year. If you're asking, ``Clint who?'' you haven't been keeping up with Hollywood gossip.

The 50-year-old Locke, nominated for an Oscar at 20 for ``The Heart is a Lonely Hunter,'' became most famous as Clint Eastwood's lover and co-star in six of his movies, including ``The Outlaw Josey Wales'' and ``Any Which Way You Can.'' The two lived together for 13 years.

After an acrimonious (to put it mildly) breakup, Locke filed suit - twice. The first time was for palimony-type damages; a settlement included a movie-directing contract with Warner Bros. Later, when this deal appeared to be bogus, she sued again, this time for fraud.

She wrote her memoir without assistance, it appears, and her writing is marked by an often endearing lack of sophistication.

Hers is something of a rags-to-riches story, in which she and Gordon Anderson (high school sweetheart, ex-husband and dearest friend) left a tiny Tennessee town and made their way to Los Angeles. Gordon acted as muse, acting coach and agent.

Next came a series of parts in B-movies and some TV work. She first met Eastwood at an audition for a film called ``Breezy'' - he didn't give her the part. In 1975, she was called to try out for ``Josey Wales,'' and after a brief chat with Clint, both she and the die were cast. On the set they began an intense affair (both were still married), about which Locke writes rapturously.

Before long, Eastwood bought her a Mercedes and the house of her choice. He even bought one for Gordon (who, we learn, is gay).

Eastwood, 17 years Locke's senior, virtually ran her life; she seemed to love it. But five more co-starring roles in his movies and the jet-set life eventually gave way to signs of trouble. Locke traces it to when she directed her first movie.

Suddenly, Clint got cranky. He'd go away for long periods with lame excuses. When things got really bad, Locke (reluctantly, she says) hired a lawyer.

It's hard not to root for Locke, who seems like a nice person. When, in the midst of her first lawsuit against Eastwood, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy, Eastwood offered no either support nor sympathy.

But her tell-all litany of Clint's tantrums, lies and paranoid behavior eventually taints this tale of a pretty waif pitted against the Eastwood machine. The book is clearly an instrument of revenge. Anyone Locke perceived as a traitor is soundly indicted.

In addition, Locke digresses, ad infinitum, about Gordon's penchant for predicting the future and seeing ``signs.'' Gordon, referred to as a psychic, mystic, shaman, medium, avatar and ``very old soul,'' sees meaning in everything.

But getting back to some of what Locke says Clint did (and she tolerated):

He insisted she call him ``Daddy'' (Why didn't an alarm go off then?).

He urged her to have two abortions and a tubal ligation.

He had affairs and even a secret mistress, who bore two of his children.

He had Locke (she thinks) followed and harassed and her phones tapped.

He wouldn't let her keep their home after the breakup. (He did, however, let Gordon keep his house, and Locke her Mercedes).

He secretly paid Warner Bros. $1.5 million for Locke's three-year directing contract, which was in name only. Each of her 30 projects were rejected.

Not a pretty picture. Not a nice guy.

Basking in the undisclosed settlement from the second lawsuit and the media's validation of her right to it, Locke feels better. Her health is good, she's in a serious relationship with a doctor whom she met during her illness and she's on the talk-show circuit promoting her book.

Her suit against Warners is pending. MEMO: Peggy Deans Earle is an artist and staff librarian. ILLUSTRATION: GREG GORMAN

Academy Award-nominee Sondra Locke

BOOK REVIEW

``The Good, the Bad & the Very Ugly: A Hollywood Journey''

Author: Sondra Locke

Publisher: William Morrow. 374 pp.

Price: $25

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