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Actors and actresses of all genders and ages from Hollywood, Europe, India, China, and other regions have reported instances of sexual harassment or assault by high-profile studio executives, producers, directors, or co-stars.
While many resist pressure to exchange sexual favors for roles, some unfortunately give in. Regardless of their choice, most victims remain silent about their abusers, fearing it could end their careers. However, the individuals on this list stood apart: they courageously revealed the identities of those who exploited them.
10. Corinne Calvet
Despite recognizing that actress Corinne Calvet did not possess the talent to rival Greta Garbo or Ingrid Bergman, Paramount Pictures producer Hal Wallis maintained his interest in her. In her autobiography, Has Corinne Been a Good Girl? (1983), Calvet revealed that Wallis demanded sexual favors in return for casting her in the 1949 movie Rope of Sand.
Calvet, however, refused to engage in such a trade-off for a role in the film. She reminded Wallis that she was a married woman. Reportedly, he dismissed her marriage as a publicity stunt he had suggested for her image. By 1953, Wallis had terminated her contract.
Seeking revenge, Calvet slept with Wallis while she was ill. Shortly after, Wallis contracted strep throat. She sent him four dozen roses accompanied by a get-well card that read, “Next time, I’ll give you something worse. Wishing you a speedy recovery.”
9. Theresa Russell
Theresa Russell revealed that Sam Spiegel, the producer of the 1976 film The Last Tycoon, in which she starred alongside Robert De Niro, made inappropriate advances. Spiegel allegedly threatened to ruin her career if she refused his demands. Russell stood her ground, stating, “If that’s what it takes, then I don’t want this career.” Despite her refusal, she was ultimately cast in the film.
Russell mentioned that this incident did not shape her portrayal of Marilyn Monroe in Insignificance (1985), despite Monroe’s own experiences with sexual exploitation in Hollywood. “The two were completely separate,” she clarified.
8. Bruce Robinson
Bruce Robinson secured the role of Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet (1968) after director Franco Zeffirelli engaged in inappropriate behavior with the young actor. Robinson recounted this experience during a 1998 episode of The Ruby Wax Show.
Robinson had recently graduated from acting school and saw Zeffirelli’s film as his major opportunity. During a visit to the director’s apartment in central Rome, Zeffirelli, fresh from a trip, sat beside Robinson on the sofa and unexpectedly kissed him.
Robinson clarified that Zeffirelli did not go further, but the encounter left him deeply unsettled, as he is not homosexual. He admitted to enduring the director’s advances, believing the role was crucial for his career.
7. Jenny McCarthy
Jenny McCarthy recounted how Steven Seagal instructed her to undress during an audition for his 1995 film Under Siege 2. After inviting her to sit on his couch, Seagal remarked, “So, you were Playmate of the Year?”
When he insisted she remove her dress, McCarthy responded by telling him to “rent [her] Playboy video,” burst into tears, and rushed out of his office. She later revealed that Seagal threatened her to keep the incident a secret.
In a 1998 Penthouse article, nine additional women came forward with allegations of harassment against Seagal.
In 2001, Patricia Nichols filed a lawsuit against Seagal, accusing him of making inappropriate remarks and actions. Seagal claimed he was being extorted. The jury found him guilty of slander but awarded no damages to Nichols.
In 2010, Kayden Nguyen, his former executive assistant, sued Seagal for sexual harassment and human trafficking. Nguyen alleged that Seagal confined her for six days in a Louisiana home, where he sexually assaulted her on three occasions.
Seagal’s attorney dismissed Nguyen’s claims as “baseless and absurd allegations from a disgruntled former employee terminated for illegal drug use.”
6. Goldie Hawn
In her 2005 New York Times best-selling autobiography, A Lotus Grows in the Mud, Goldie Hawn shares an unsettling encounter with cartoonist Al Capp, the creator of Li’l Abner, who indecently exposed himself to her.
Capp had invited Hawn to his New York City apartment for an audition for the role of Tenderlief Erion, a character he had developed for a TV series. Shortly after her arrival, Capp left the room and returned wearing a silk robe.
After serving tea as requested, Capp hinted at hiring an acting coach for her “if things went well.” During the audition, he insisted on seeing her legs, urging her to raise her dress higher until she refused. Hawn excused herself, citing the need to catch her train.
Capp insisted she sit next to him on the couch. Hesitant, she complied and noticed he had opened his robe, exposing “a limp penis resting against his prosthetic leg.”
When Hawn protested that she wouldn’t secure a role under such conditions, Capp angrily sent her away, suggesting she “marry a Jewish dentist instead, as she’d never succeed in the industry.” As she left, she realized the butler and doorman were complicit in Capp’s scheme.
5. Joan Collins
Marilyn Monroe cautioned Joan Collins about studio executive Darryl Zanuck’s predatory behavior. Monroe warned that if Zanuck didn’t “get his way,” he would terminate Collins’s contract.
A few days later, Collins recounted, Zanuck made inappropriate advances, boasting about his stamina and claiming he was Hollywood’s “most powerful.” Despite Monroe’s warning, Collins was too stunned to respond. She broke free from his grip and hurried back to the set.
Collins attributes her career’s limited success partly to the predatory behavior of executives like Zanuck, a notorious womanizer of the era. She believes she lost the lead role in the 1963 film Cleopatra because she refused to comply with the demands of influential figures in Hollywood.
4. Dame Helen Mirren
David Cameron, the UK’s prime minister at the time of Michael Winner’s death, did not attend the director’s funeral. Former prime ministers Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, and Nick Clegg also stayed away, as did members of the royal family.
Their absence might have been linked to Winner’s behavior toward Dame Helen Mirren. The director of Death Wish, known for his “insulting and sexist” attitude, treated Mirren as if she were “a piece of meat,” she revealed.
During an audition for a 1964 movie, Winner instructed the acclaimed actress to turn around and display her figure. Mirren described the experience as “humiliating and infuriating,” labeling Winner a “complete failure.”
3. Marilyn Monroe
Harry Cohn also pursued Marilyn Monroe, and when she refused his advances, he erupted in anger. Jonie Taps, his assistant at Columbia Pictures, recalled a phone call where Cohn furiously questioned why Monroe, whom he called a “fat pig,” had been cast in the 1948 film Ladies of the Chorus. He demanded to know if she had secured the role through sexual favors.
Monroe believed her downfall was due to rejecting Cohn’s advances. After summoning her to his office, he invited her to his yacht and attempted to force himself on her. When she refused and he warned her it was her “last chance,” she walked out. Shortly after, Cohn terminated her contract.
Monroe admitted she didn’t always reject roles tied to the casting couch. Two years before her death, she confided in actor Jaik Rosenstein that she occasionally exchanged sexual favors for film opportunities.
She explained that actresses know when a producer calls them in, it’s rarely just about discussing scripts. For many, securing a role can outweigh basic needs like food or shelter. Monroe revealed she had often gone hungry and slept in cars during her early career.
She also admitted to sleeping with producers. “I’d be lying if I said otherwise.”
2. Rita Hayworth
Harry Cohn, cofounder and president of Columbia Pictures, held Rita Hayworth under contract. Allegedly seeking revenge for her earlier rejection of his advances, Cohn exploited his authority to worsen her troubled marriages and disparage her husbands. He also attempted to pressure her into sexual relations.
Producer James Hill, who would later become Hayworth’s final husband, was at her Beverly Hills home on Christmas Day when he mistakenly identified Cohn as a “cleaning man.” Enraged, Cohn ordered his chauffeur to attack Hill, but Hayworth stepped in to prevent it.
After avoiding the assault, Hill overheard Cohn verbally abusing Hayworth with crude language and demanding she accompany him on a trip, during which he expected her to sleep with him.
Cohn insisted she join him and his family on their vacation, promising her a private bedroom “for a change.” His mocking tone suggested he intended to visit her there.
Cohn dismissed her claim of being busy, knowing her boyfriend was with another woman in the Alps. He ordered Hayworth to grab her diaphragm and join him in his car, but she stood her ground and refused.
For years, Cohn had pursued Hayworth relentlessly. He employed spies to track her movements and bugged her dressing room to listen in on her private conversations. To humiliate her, he would leave the bathroom door open while using the toilet in her presence. When she continued to reject his advances, he intensified his efforts to demean her.
1. Judy Garland
Louis B. Mayer, a cofounder of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, was known for inappropriate behavior toward Judy Garland. Garland revealed that Mayer and others subjected her to sexual harassment and abuse from the ages of 16 to 20.
Mayer was the most persistent offender, often complimenting her singing. “You sing from the heart,” he would remark, while placing his hand on her left breast and adding, “This is where your voice comes from.” This behavior continued for four years until Garland finally mustered the courage to demand he stop touching her.
“Mr. Mayer, never do that again,” she warned him. “If you want to show me where I sing from, just point.” Mayer broke down in tears, exclaiming, “How could you say that to me, after I’ve treated you like a daughter?”
The extent of Garland’s mistreatment by Mayer and others remained hidden until biographer Gerald Clarke discovered her unpublished autobiography while researching her life. In it, she had documented these harrowing experiences in detail.
