The rapid fall of Harvey Weinstein has opened the floodgates of actors and actresses speaking about their own cases of harassment in Hollywood.
Joan Collins shared her own stories of sex and power in 1950s Hollywood when Spyros Skouras was one of the most important men in show business, serving as CEO of 20th Century Fox Films.
In a story she wrote for The Daily Mail, Collins recalled her desire to play the Greek queen Cleopatra in the epic film being developed by Fox at the time.
“Another role I coveted was that of Cleopatra. The head of 20th Century Fox at the time, Buddy Adler, and the chairman of the board — a Greek gentleman old enough to be my grandfather — bombarded me with propositions and promises that the role was mine if I would be ‘nice’ to them.
Collins rejected the propositions and ultimately, Elizabeth Taylor got the role.
Spyros Skouras, an immigrant from Greece who began as a bus boy at a hotel in St. Louis and eventually became the most powerful man in Hollywood, was a larger than life figure who encapsulated and embodied the epitome of Hollywood’s Golden years.
He hosted fabulous parties with A-list actors and welcomed heads of state on movie sets. Skouras was also credited for “discovering” Marilyn Monroe and signing her to her first contract as an actress when she was a young model named Norma Jean Baker.
Collins also mentioned her interactions with Skouras in an interview with British channel ITV (watch interview below).
