Author Anna Graham Hunter has accused Dustin Hoffman of sexually harassing her while she interned as a production assistant on the set of his TV adaptation of Death of a Salesman in 1985. She was 17 years old at the time.
“He asked me to give him a foot massage my first day on set; I did,” Hunter alleged in a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday, November 1. “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.’ His entourage burst out laughing. I left, speechless. Then I went to the bathroom and cried.”
The Los Angeles-based writer admitted that she initially “loved the attention from Dustin Hoffman” until she further reflected upon their encounters. At the time, she sent letters to her sister in London, detailing how the Rain Man actor, now 80, allegedly acted inappropriately during the five weeks she worked on set.
In one letter from January 31, 1985, Hunter wrote, “Today, when I was walking Dustin to his limo, he felt my ass four times. I hit him each time, hard, and told him he was a dirty old man. He took off his hat and pointed to his head (shaved for the part) and said, ‘No, I’m a dirty young man, I have a full head of hair.'”
The following month, she called Hoffman “a pig,” but told her sister, “I like him a lot.”
Even recently, Hunter said she watched All the President’s Men for the first time in years. She texted her sister, “Is it weird that I find him kind of sexy in this after what he did?”
In response to the allegations, the two-time Oscar winner told The Hollywood Reporter, “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 who I am.”
