Gordon Anderson (sculptor)

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]

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]

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.^[14] 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.^[15] They had an open marriage and both spouses engaged in long-term extramarital relationships.^[16] In 1989, Locke stated that their marriage had never been consummated,^[17] and in 1996, she confirmed that Anderson was gay.^[18] The pair remained married until Locke's death on November 3, 2018.^[19] Locke left an estate worth $20 million (equivalent to $25.6 million in 2025), which Anderson inherited.^[20]

• Mixed-orientation marriage