18. Hollywood protected male actors guilty of less than gentlemanly behavior, including one who later became President of the United States.
The Hollywood system presented the escapades of male actors – both onscreen and in real life – with decided boys will be boys attitude, which was more a reflection of the public mores of the time than a direction offered by the filmmakers of the day. The proclivity of the gentlemen of Hollywood for patronizing brothels was kept hidden as brothels were by then considered immoral by mainstream America, which nonetheless recognized that real American men were driven by masculine desires towards certain behaviors, often as not the result of being led on by women. Errol Flynn’s sexual conquests were often viewed by women through eyes glistening with lust; by young men with eyes glittering with envy, and the expression In Like Flynn was coined to describe the star’s effortless good fortune.
Other stars took advantage of the moral standards of the day, and when things went too far they could count on the studios’ financial muscle to protect them. Starlet Selene Walters, (who never enjoyed much of a film career, though she later claimed some fame as a Hollywood columnist) later informed an interviewer that actor Ronald Reagan’s romantic overtures were unwelcomed by her in the 1950s, and that the actor was insistent to the point of an actual rape. She revealed the story after Reagan’s presidency, and when conservatives recoiled at the image of Reagan as a rapist and denounced the story as utterly false, others stepped forward with similar tales. Among them was actress Piper Laurie, who claimed that she was seduced by the married Reagan (she did not claim rape) while still a virgin and while she was making a film with him in which he was portraying her character’s father. In both instances, the accusations were silenced by the actions of studio moguls, and Reagan’s character remained untarnished.
Where do we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
“Mary Pickford: Queen of the Movies”. Christel Schmidt. 2012
“Charlie Chaplin and His Times”. Kenneth S. Lynn. 1997
“Hollywood’s Bathing Beauties”. Anne Helen Peterson, Lapham’s Quarterly. August, 2013
“Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer”. Scott Eyman. 2005
“The Great Garbo, Part 2: Greta’s Haunted Path to Stardom”. January 17, 1955
“Tippi Hedren: Alfred Hitchcock sexually assaulted me”. Alan Evans, The Guardian. October 31, 2016
“Toy Monster”. Jerry Oppenheimer, New York Post. February 22, 2009
“Presidential Rape Allegations”. Donald Jeffries, American Free Press. August 21, 2018