Born in Shelbyville, TN; attended Middle Tennessee State University, Murfeesboro, TN (drama). Resilient blonde lead who was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress for her very first screen appearance in THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER (1968). Discovered by Warner Bros. in a nationwide talent search, she played a lonely, unhappy teenager who befriends a suicidal deaf mute. Though Locke played leads in several subsequent outings, including WILLARD (1971), her career pretty much stalled until she again came to prominence in a number of films co-starring with Clint Eastwood -- her one-time partner(1975 - 1990). Beginning as his love interest in THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES (1976), the private and professional relationship continued over the course of four more features, most notably in BRONCO BILLY (1980), where Locke played a spoiled heiress who joins a Wild West show run by Eastwood. Locke fulfilled her ambition to direct with RATBOY (1986), a drama in which she also starred. She then directed the well-received cop drama IMPULSE (1990). Since her much publicized breakup with Eastwood, Locke has worked primarily on the small screen, directing the courtroom drama DEATH IN SMALL DOSES (1995), but she did direct the feature DO ME A FAVOR (1997, USA video title: "Trading Favors"), which starred Rosanna Arquette. Locke is breast cancer survivor and recently sold her home in Los Angeles (at a consideralbe profit) and bought a much larger estate in the Hollywood Hills where she resides with her long-time companion, Scott Cunneen, a director of surgery at Cedars Sinai Hospital.  Nominated for Supporting Actress 1968: THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER 1 nomination