Random Old Hollywood Actresses Were Ruthlessly Bullied By Men On Classic Movie Sets (16 items)

• 

  (#15) Virginia Cherrill

  • Dec. at 88 (1908-1996)

  In the early 1930s, Charlie Chaplin cast an unknown 20-year-old named Virginia Cherrill in City Lights. Cherrill's innocent appeal caught his eye, and he gave her the part of a blind flower girl with whom his Little Tramp falls in love. But off screen, Chaplin did not like Cherrill at all. His animosity towards her could be due to the fact she turned down his sexual advances – reportedly the only actress in any of his films to do so.

  Chaplin's treatment of Cherrill turned overtly abusive when he made her do 342 takes of the scene where their characters first meet. He was known as a perfectionist when it came to his films, but this was a bit much. Chaplin even fired Cherrill at one point since he was so frustrated with her. However, he couldn't find a suitable replacement and had to hire her back. But the biggest blow against Cherrill may have been that Chaplin made millions off City Lights, while the actress was given a mere $5,000 for appearing in the film.
• 

  (#5) Shelley Duvall

  • 69

  Jack Nicholson may be the character who ends up insane at the end of The Shining, but behind the scenes, it was Shelly Duvall who was having a breakdown. Director Stanley Kubrick reportedly picked on her throughout production, sometimes complaining she was wasting everyone's time. Even Nicholson noticed Kubrick was a "different director" towards her.

  Kubrick frequently lost his temper and screamed at Duvall. He kept her isolated from the other actors and made her do 127 takes of the baseball bat scene on the Overlook stairs. Her shaking hands and red eyes, puffy from crying, are completely real. In fact, Duvall cried so much during filming that she became dehydrated and had to carry bottles of water around with her.

  Although Kubrick's methods drew out the performance he wanted, The Shining put Duvall off making movies and possibly lead to later mental health problems.
• 

  (#13) A Group Of Female Extras On Cleopatra Went On Strike To Avoid Harassment

  1963's Cleopatra caused plenty of scandal for kickstarting the affair between Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, but the female extras who played servants and slave girls in the film had their own troubles to deal with.

  As with many of the era's sweeping epics, the actresses' costumes were slightly revealing, and because so many extras were needed, many locals were hired to stand around in crowds. While filming in Italy, the women became the subject of unwanted advances and harassment from handsy locals. The situation became so bad that the actresses eventually went on strike until the studio would give them some sort of protection. A special guard was hired just to protect the actresses, and filming continued.
• 

  (#12) Loretta Young

  • Dec. at 87 (1913-2000)

  From 1930 to the late '60s, Hollywood largely abided by the Hays Code, which set moral regulations for what could appear on film. Although studios often invented romances between co-stars for publicity, the actors were still bound by what was considered decent. There were often affairs between stars, but they were usually covered up for fear of what they could do to an actor's career. So it makes sense that Loretta Young hid her affair with Clark Gable while filming Call of the Wild, and kept the fact that she bore his child a secret. The truth came out in her memoirs, which were released posthumously.

  However, in a 2015 interview with BuzzFeed, the daughter-in-law of the child that came from their relationship claimed Young was actually raped by Gable. There's no way to know if this story is true or not, but the lifelong lie she was forced into clearly marks Young as a victim of studio system abuse.
• 

  (#11) Sean Young

  • 59

  Sean Young has been known to act a little crazy when she really wants a certain part in a movie, and Charlie Sheen has demonstrated he's not the world's most mature guy. So when they met on the set of Wall Street, naturally a feud began. Young was after the part that eventually went to Darryl Hannah, but was given a smaller role as Michael Douglas's wife.

  Young continued to complain after filming commenced, and her attitude got under the skin of her co-workers, especially Sheen. He became so upset that he hand-wrote a sign reading, "I am the biggest c*nt in the world," and stuck it to her back. Douglas ripped it off and had words with Sheen, but apparently director Oliver Stone wasn't Young's biggest fan either. Even after he gave her a smaller part, he cut lines for her character and sent the actress to the bus station when he couldn't deal with her anymore.
• 

  (#10) Greta Garbo

  • Dec. at 85 (1905-1990)

  Greta Garbo is often listed among the most beautiful women in the world. But her life wasn't always easy. The Swedish-born Garbo's father died when she was only 14, forcing her to go to work to raise money for the family. Garbo's beauty proved a blessing, though, and she was offered a part in a short film which led to a theater academy scholarship.

  But when Garbo tried to get a role in the Swedish film The Saga of Gosta Berling, director Mauritz Stiller told her she was too fat. After losing 20 pounds, she got the part. Stiller became a manager of sorts for Garbo and eventually caught the eye of producers in America. Louis B. Mayer of MGM offered him a contract, but Stiller would only accept if Garbo could join him. Mayer reluctantly agreed, saying, "In America, men don't like fat women.'' 

New Random Displays    Display All By Ranking