31. The Casting Couch Pioneer
Charlie Chaplin’s public image was also belied by the fact that he was a Harvey Weinstein prototype figure, long before the actual Harvey Weinstein. He is credited within pioneering the “casting couch”, whereby powerful Hollywood figures extracted illicit favors from actresses. Reportedly, Chaplin used caption cards during auditions to prompt aspiring actresses into increasingly suggestive poses, until they stood before him naked or nearly so. However, his kinks went beyond run-of-the-mill quid pro quo sexual harassment, and into the realm of the… unusual.
Chaplain had a thing for pies – and not just as comedic props and gags. After getting actresses to disrobe during auditions, Chaplin would grope them in exaggerated ways on the couch. Then, having worked himself up by getting them to do a striptease on demand, followed by a groping session on the couch, he would stand them naked against a wall and throw pies at them.