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Life on the casting couch
From Marilyn Monroe to Judy Garland, many young starlets have faced the casting couch as both instigators and victims.
"The casting couch? There's only one of us who ever made it to stardom without it, and that was Bette Davis." - Claudette Colbert, Hollywood darling, best known for her role in Cleopatra (1934).
The so-called "casting couch" is a euphemism for trading sexual favours for career advancement. Originating in the film industry, the term stems from the couches in the offices of casting agents that could be used for a quick dalliance/career move by young aspiring actresses. The era of silent cinema and the early years of the talkies were the heydays of the casting couch.
Even 1950s pin-up girl turned Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe was not adverse to the practice. In his memoir Norma Jean: My Secret Life With Marilyn Monroe, Ted Jordan, a lifelong friend of the busty blonde described how Marilyn deliberately used sex to further her career.
One of the biggest leading ladies of the 1930s, Joan Crawford, was once quoted as saying the casting couch "sure as hell beat the hard cold floor". Her impoverished childhood led the young performer to an early career of prostitution and work in blue (porn) films. Crawford's arch enemy Bette Davis (pictured) once remarked the star had "slept with every male star at MGM except Lassie".
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Even The Wizard of Oz starlet Judy Garland reportedly spent time on the couch. Although it probably wasn't of her choosing - producers at MGM allegedly sexually harassed her as a young teen.
A new book by Hollywood producer Jon Peters reveals his ex-girlfriend, music ledged Barbra Streisand, was once the victim of the casting couch. In the proposal for his memoir, Studio Head, which was sold last month to HarperCollins, Peters said he "wanted to kill" famed producer of Funny Girl and The Way We Were, the late Ray Stark, when he learned that "Stark, an ogre of male chauvinistic casting-couch sexual entitlement, had molested both Lesley Ann [Warren] and Barbra when they were auditioning for him, and neither had ever really gotten over it."
So is this still common practice in Hollywood? It seems not. With sexual harassment laws and unions, no producer in his right mind would risk his career to demand sexual favours in exchange for a role. But other countries don't have such strict regulations.
Bollywood was rocked by scandal in 2004 when young actress Preeti Jain filed a police complaint alleging that film director Madhur Bhandarkar had promised her roles in his future films in exchange for sex over a six-year period.
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"The casting couch? There's only one of us who ever made it to stardom without it, and that was Bette Davis." - Claudette Colbert, Hollywood darling, best known for her role in Cleopatra (1934).
The so-called "casting couch" is a euphemism for trading sexual favours for career advancement. Originating in the film industry, the term stems from the couches in the offices of casting agents that could be used for a quick dalliance/career move by young aspiring actresses. The era of silent cinema and the early years of the talkies were the heydays of the casting couch.
Even 1950s pin-up girl turned Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe was not adverse to the practice. In his memoir Norma Jean: My Secret Life With Marilyn Monroe, Ted Jordan, a lifelong friend of the busty blonde described how Marilyn deliberately used sex to further her career.
One of the biggest leading ladies of the 1930s, Joan Crawford, was once quoted as saying the casting couch "sure as hell beat the hard cold floor". Her impoverished childhood led the young performer to an early career of prostitution and work in blue (porn) films. Crawford's arch enemy Bette Davis (pictured) once remarked the star had "slept with every male star at MGM except Lassie".
read on below advertisement
Even The Wizard of Oz starlet Judy Garland reportedly spent time on the couch. Although it probably wasn't of her choosing - producers at MGM allegedly sexually harassed her as a young teen.
A new book by Hollywood producer Jon Peters reveals his ex-girlfriend, music ledged Barbra Streisand, was once the victim of the casting couch. In the proposal for his memoir, Studio Head, which was sold last month to HarperCollins, Peters said he "wanted to kill" famed producer of Funny Girl and The Way We Were, the late Ray Stark, when he learned that "Stark, an ogre of male chauvinistic casting-couch sexual entitlement, had molested both Lesley Ann [Warren] and Barbra when they were auditioning for him, and neither had ever really gotten over it."
So is this still common practice in Hollywood? It seems not. With sexual harassment laws and unions, no producer in his right mind would risk his career to demand sexual favours in exchange for a role. But other countries don't have such strict regulations.
Bollywood was rocked by scandal in 2004 when young actress Preeti Jain filed a police complaint alleging that film director Madhur Bhandarkar had promised her roles in his future films in exchange for sex over a six-year period.
next page »
