YESTERDAY A WOMAN publicly accused Dustin Hoffman of sexually harassing her while she worked as an intern in the 1980s.
Anna Graham Hunter was 17-years-old when she first met Dustin Hoffman. She claimed that the actor, who was 48-years-old at the time, grabbed her backside and made inappropriate comments to her on the set of Death of a Salesman.
He was openly flirtatious, he grabbed my ass, he talked about sex to me and in front of me. One morning I went to his dressing room to take his breakfast order, he looked at me and grinned, taking his time. Then he said ‘I’ll have a hard-boiled egg… and a soft-boiled clitoris.’
Hunter said that Hoffman’s entourage then burst out laughing, which left her speechless. She went to the bathroom to cry. She recounted other instances of similar comments Hoffman made towards her, which she had recorded in a diary.
After these allegations were made, Hoffman issued a statement:
I have the utmost respect for women and feel terrible that anything I might have done could have put her in an uncomfortable situation. I am sorry. It is not reflective of me.
Today, producer Wendy Riss Gatsiounis told Variety that she was allegedly propositioned by Hoffman in 1991. Riss Gatsiounis was in her twenties at the time, while Hoffman was 53. Riss Gatsiounis also said that the actor attempted to persuade her to accompany him to a nearby hotel, to discuss adapting some of her work into a film.
She claims that her first meeting with Hoffman and Tootsie screenwriter Murray Schisgal opened with Schisgal asking Wendy whether she was in a relationship. In their second meeting, Riss Gatsiounis claims that Hoffman said “Before you start, let me ask you one question, Wendy – have you ever been intimate with a man over 40?”
This was followed by Hoffman opening his arms and saying “It would be a whole new body to explore.”
The woman tried to ignore it and continue pitching her play. Hoffman got up and said he had to get up and do some clothing shopping at a nearby hotel and invited her along, saying “Come on, come to this nearby hotel.” Riss Gatsiounis then alleged that Murray Schisgal encouraged her to join Hoffman and she had to repeatedly decline.
After this, she was told that they weren’t interested in her play. Riss Gatsiounis says that her agent at the time Mary Meaghar told her she had “heard rumours about [Hoffman] for years”. Riss Gatsiounis described the events as a source of torment.
I was just this writer and he had been my hero, and it stayed with me for a long time.
Schisgal responded to the claims:
Dustin Hoffman and I took many meetings with writers and playwrights over many years. I have no recollection of this meeting or of any of the behaviour or actions described.
Hoffman’s spokespeople are declining to comment on the more recent allegations.
