EASTWOOD'S EX SETTLES WITH WARNER BROS.

Byline: Donna Huffaker Daily News Staff Writer

Actress Sondra Locke reached a settlement Monday with Warner Bros., ending years of civil litigation that accused the studio and Clint Eastwood of conspiring to keep her out of work.

Smiling widely, Locke hugged her attorney, Neil Papiano, when he whispered the news to her in Burbank Superior Court. The settlement was reached behind closed doors and only minutes before jury selection was scheduled to begin.

The agreement allows Locke to return to work at Warner Bros., but specifics and monetary amounts were not disclosed.

``I feel elated. This has been the best day in a long, long time,'' Locke said outside the courthouse.

When asked how she felt about going back to work for the same studio that she believes treated her unfairly, Locke shrugged her shoulders and giggled, ``Hey, that's Hollywood.''

Locke sued the Burbank studio in 1992 for its alleged role in a bogus movie deal that Eastwood secretly paid for. Locke's lawsuit alleged that after Eastwood broke up with her - he changed the locks of their Bel-Air home and had her possessions removed - he settled her palimony claim partly by telling her he was setting a three-year, $1.5 million development deal for her at Warner Bros.

But despite more than 30 projects she pitched to the studio, none of them was picked up.

Locke's suit alleged the studio conspired to keep her from directing, producing and acting as a favor to Eastwood, one of Hollywood's biggest stars.

During a pretrial hearing for the Warner Bros. lawsuit, Locke discovered Eastwood was paying the studio under the table and in turn sued Eastwood for fraud in 1994.

The embattled couple settled for an undisclosed amount. She was asking for $2.5 million.

Eastwood was listed as a material witness for the Warner Bros. lawsuit had it gone to trial, Papiano said.

Representatives for Warner Bros. have said studio officials read all of the ideas she turned in but chose not to make them into movies. If they had liked any of her proposals, they would have been picked up, officials have said, noting no other studios produced the projects either.

Robert Schwartz, the attorney who represented Warner Bros. in court Monday, declined comment on the case except to say, ``We're happy too.''

Both attorneys told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David M. Schacter that all matters have been resolved and an arrangement has been made.

While neither side will describe in detail what the ``business arrangement'' entails, Papiano said everything that was important to Locke was resolved in Locke's favor. She will receive some compensation for matters she missed, he said without elaborating.

Locke, a Golden Globe winner and Academy Award nominee for her acting debut in the 1968 film ``The Heart is a Lonely Hunter,'' feels professionally vindicated and said she is ready to return to the industry.