Gordon Anderson (sculptor)

Gordon Anderson
Anderson in 1961
Born
Gordon Leigh Anderson

(1944-08-02) August 2, 1944
Morrilton, Arkansas, U.S.
Other nameGordon Addison
Occupations
  • Sculptor
  • fashion designer
  • actor
Years active
  • 1962–1986
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1967; died 2018)​

Gordon Leigh Anderson (born August 2, 1944) is an American retired sculptor, actor and fashion designer. He is the widower of actress Sondra Locke, to whom he was married for 51 years.

Early life and education

Gordon Leigh Anderson was born on August 2, 1944, in Morrilton, Arkansas, the younger of Margaret Helen Leigh and William Basil Anderson's two sons.[1][2][3][a] At the time of his birth, his father was a corporal in the United States Army and was stationed at Camp Livingston, Louisiana.[1] The family resided in Jonesboro, Arkansas, from 1946 to 1952.[4] They subsequently moved to Bedford County, Tennessee, where Anderson graduated from Shelbyville Central High School in 1962.[5]

Anderson attended Middle Tennessee State University and George Peabody College for Teachers but did not graduate from either.[6][7] He also took a summer course at the Pasadena Playhouse and studied acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, eventually signing with the General Artists Corporation.[8]

Career

Early in his career, he was billed under the stage name of Gordon Addison because there was another Gordon Anderson in the Actors’ Equity Association.[9]

Anderson made his off-Broadway debut in the Martinique Theatre production of Until the Monkey Comes in 1966, garnering a New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Actor and receiving a Theatre World Award nomination.[10] The play ran for 76 performances.[8] This was followed by a year and a half of professional inactivity while Anderson managed the career of his movie star wife, Sondra Locke. The couple appeared together on television programs including To Tell the Truth and The Dick Cavett Show.[4]

Anderson designed the $7,000 aqua sequined gown his wife wore to the 41st Academy Awards when she was nominated for The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968). It received national attention in several fashion magazines, after which he was called upon to design dresses for Jane Fonda and Candice Bergen.[10]

In 1969, it was announced that Anderson would co-star with his wife in a screen adaptation of Until the Monkey Comes, but no movie resulted.[10]

By the early 1970s, Anderson devoted full time to sculpture and was in demand by private collectors.[11] Decades later, one of his creations, a miniature set of characters from Alice in Wonderland, was acquired by Demi Moore.[12]

Anderson had voiceover roles in two of his wife's films, A Reflection of Fear (1972) and Ratboy (1986), voicing the titular character in the latter. According to his wife's autobiography, Clint Eastwood offered Anderson the role of Leonard James in Bronco Billy (1980), but at that point he had no interest in appearing in front of the camera.[b] Sam Bottoms, a substantially younger actor, was cast instead.[12]

Anderson used Eastwood's contacts in France to gain rare access to a guillotine, which he then manufactured replicas of.[13]

Caritas Films, the production company Anderson and his wife formed following her disassociation from Eastwood, shut down in 2004 after failing to get any projects off the ground.[14]

Marriage to Locke

Anderson married Sondra Locke on September 25, 1967, at the First Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee, in what has been described as a marriage of convenience.[15] There was no honeymoon for the newlyweds because Locke was filming The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.[12] Anderson and Locke never had children, with Locke declaring in a 1969 interview that she didn't want any.[16] They had an open marriage and both spouses engaged in long-term extramarital relationships.[17] In 1989, Locke stated that their marriage had never been consummated,[18] and in 1996, she confirmed that Anderson was gay.[19] The pair remained married until Locke's death on November 3, 2018.[20] Locke left an estate worth $20 million (equivalent to $25.6 million in 2025), which Anderson inherited.[21]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes Ref(s)
1972 A Reflection of Fear Aaron Voice [22]
1986 Ratboy Ratboy Voice [22]

Selected stage credits

Year Show Role Venue Notes Ref(s)
1962 The Monkey's Paw Mr. White Bud Frank Theatre, Johnson City, Tennessee [23]
1962 Life with Father Whitney Day Tucker Theater, Murfreesboro, Tennessee [6]
1963 The Boy Friend Percival Browne Shelbyville Players, Shelbyville, Tennessee [24]
1964 Life with Mother Clarence Day Jr. Belcourt Playhouse, Nashville, Tennessee [25]
1964 The Innocents Miles Circle Theater, Nashville, Tennessee [26]
1966 Until the Monkey Comes Philip Armitage Martinique Theatre, New York, New York Billed as Gordon Addison [9]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Owing to subterfuge disseminated by his late wife, countless books and articles have erroneously pegged Anderson's age to a later birthdate.
  2. ↑ He is a former de facto co-husband of Eastwood, with whom his late wife resided for 14 years.

References

  1. 1 2 "Births". Batesville Guard. August 3, 1944. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com. Cpl. and Mrs. W.B. Anderson, formerly of Batesville, announce the birth of a son August 2 at Morrilton, Arkansas. The baby weighed six pounds and has been named Gordon Leigh. Corporal Anderson is stationed at Camp Livingston, La. Previous to entering the service he was associated with the Hall Dry Goods Co.
  2. ↑ Renegar, Otto K.; McKee, Judi (September 25, 1967). "Marriage Record". Tennessee, U.S., Marriage Records, 1780-2002. Ancestry.com Operations Inc.
  3. ↑ "Death Notices". The Tennessean. January 18, 1986. 9C.
  4. 1 2 Staff (November 27, 1968). "Off the Beaten Path". The Jonesboro Sun. p. 3.
  5. ↑ Central High School (1962). Aquila. Shelbyville, TN. p. 17.
  6. 1 2 "MTSC Presents". The Rutherford Courier. November 2, 1962. p. 5.
  7. ↑ George Peabody College for Teachers (1965). Pillar. Nashville, TN. p. 135.
  8. 1 2 Staff (September 14, 1966). "Off the Beaten Path". Jonesboro Evening Sun. p. 2.
  9. 1 2 Glover, William (June 21, 1966). "Sophisticates' World Explodes in New Play". Corpus Christi Times. p. 8.
  10. 1 2 3 Associated Press (December 21, 1969). "Ex-Local Man And Wife To Star In Film". The Jonesboro Sun. pp. 1–2.
  11. ↑ Jones, Will (November 19, 1972). "After Last Night". Minneapolis Tribune. 7D.
  12. 1 2 3 Locke, Sondra (1997). The Good, the Bad, and the Very Ugly: A Hollywood Journey. William Morrow and Company. ISBN 9780688154622.
  13. ↑ Schickel, Richard (1996). Clint Eastwood: A Biography. Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 9780679429746.
  14. ↑ "Caritas Films". Bizapedia. Retrieved October 12, 2025.
  15. ↑ Wright, Jeanne (May 30, 1989). "Clint and Sondra take their palimony tiff to private judge". Reno Gazette-Journal. 6D.
  16. ↑ Kleiner, Dick (August 15, 1969). "'Run Shadow Run' Is Movie Within a Movie". The Macon News. p. 8.
  17. ↑ Henderson, Kirk (2020). Hollywood v. Beauty and the Synchronicity of the Six. Austin Macauley Publishers. ISBN 9781645367000.
  18. ↑ Associated Press (May 9, 1989). "Live-in lover married to someone else". The Muscatine Journal. 2A.
  19. ↑ Hiscock, John (September 13, 1996). "Eastwood's lover remained married to gay husband". Calgary Herald. E5.
  20. ↑ Dalton, Andrew (December 15, 2018). "SONDRA LOCKE: 1944–2018; Actress had long partnership with Eastwood". Houston Chronicle. A2.
  21. ↑ Yaffe, Alva (April 20, 2020). "Her Last Years". Archived 2023-04-10 at the Wayback Machine. History by Day.
  22. 1 2 "Gordon Anderson". AFI Catalog. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  23. ↑ "Tenn. Annual Speech, Drama Tournament Held at East Tenn." The Collegian. May 4, 1962. p. 2.
  24. ↑ Hieronymus, Clara (June 2, 1963). "History Made In Theater!". The Nashville Tennessean. 2F.
  25. ↑ Hieronymus, Clara (February 16, 1964). "Several Days With the Days". The Nashville Tennessean. 2D.
  26. ↑ Hieronymus, Clara (June 14, 1964). "Things Shift In Art World". The Nashville Tennessean. 2F.

Further reading

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