#WomanEmpowermentWednesday #SurvivorStories Claudette Colbert and Sexual Harassment in the Media

"Freddie [Fredric] March was the worst womanizer I ever knew. His hands had 20 fingers, I swear, and they were always on my ass. I finally said, "If you don't stop I'll walk right out of the scene and tell Mr. DeMille what you're doing." [...] So the camera rolled again. I'm on top of the throne surrounded by four blacks -- they called them Nubians back then, honey -- and all the eunuchs. The blacks and the eunuchs were always shooting craps. Anyway, Mr. DeMille yelled "Action" and all of a sudden I felt this hand right around my left cheek and I stopped and walked down to camera and demanded to see Mr. DeMille!"

Even when John Engstead was taking publicity shots for [The Sign of the Cross]. March could not resist fondling her derriere. One photo, "with Freddie's hand wrapped around my rear end," Cobert said, found its way into the Police Gazette. "And the caption read, "Even if the Marines haven't landed. Freddie March seems to have the situation well in hand."" Affronted, [Colbert] stormed into the studio boss's office, and as a result, Engstead said "She was the first star at Paramount to get ... approval of her photographs ... and it was all my fault."

- Claudette Colbert to columnist Rex Reed

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2010/04/a-perfect-star-199801