Many studio bosses and executives had "casting couches" for would-be starlets or even established actresses: those who didn't play along often found it hard to get anywhere. Someone said of Bette Davis that she was the only star to make it through talent alone. Another story has it that actress Judy Holliday, being pursued by a lecherous executive, reached in, pulled out her falsies, and held them out saying, "I think this is what you want."

But, of course, it was no laughing matter. Even if it was ostensibly "transactional", the power imbalance and wrongness are still obvious. And many women endured a lot of this, including Marilyn Monroe, who went from being molested as a child to falling prey to what she called the "wolves" of Hollywood (an early example of calling out the problem in the media, though sadly not a successful one).

One woman who tried to fight back suffered badly. In 1937, Patricia Douglas, 20, attended what she thought was a casting call.

With more than 100 other women she was taken to a Metro-Goldwyn Mayer studio party. attended by hundreds of hard-drinking executives and salesmen, to be scantily-clad dancers. The men began trying to molest the young women and one man, David Ross, raped Douglas. She was taken to a hospital that was under the thumb of the studio where a doctor said he could find no evidence of sexual assault.

Rather than trying to parlay what happened into a job, Douglas, who wanted to be vindicated, filed a complaint with the district attorney - a friend of studio boss Louis Mayer. MGM "fixer" Eddie Mannix tried to discredit her morals but she didn't drink alcohol and was a virgin and this did not work.

The publicity forced the DA to convene a grand jury. Many women from the party were strongarmed into testifying nothing untoward had happened. Only two women from the party testified on her behalf and a parking attendant who said he saw Ross flee the scene recanted (the studio offered him his choice of job).

When the criminal case failed, Douglas tried filing civil suits twice, and more perjury and pay-offs happened. And her lawyer, who had political ambitions, failed to show up to court multiple times. Both suits were dismissed and she was tossed aside.

And while heterosexual sexual abuse predominated, it wasn't only studio bigwigs who were perpetrators or only women who suffered. Powerful agent Henry Willson took advantage of young men like Tab Hunter while helping build their careers.

Child molestation has also been an issue. Director Roman Polanski faced multiple charges involving a 13-year-old girl, including rape, during a photo shoot. After his guilty plea to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor he underwent a diagnostic screening then fled to Europe before sentencing. He remains a fugitive from US law but has continued his career, winning the best director Oscar for The Pianist (2002) .

Writer and director Victor Salva served 13 months of a three-year sentence for sexual misconduct with a 12-year-old actor while making his 1989 film Clownhouse. After his release Salva went on to make other films including Jeepers Creepers (2001) and its sequels.

In a documentary, actor Corey Feldman alleged several people - including the star of a popular sitcom - sexually abused him or fellow actor Corey Haim.

Perhaps it is, in part, the desperation for success of young actors - and their parents - in a viciously competitive industry that has allowed this to go on: frequently managers, agents and publicists are named as alleged abusers.

Many others in Hollywood on both sides of the camera have faced accusations of sexual harassment and sexual assault - some were dropped, some went to trial.

While allegations of abuse are not uncommon and are often substantiated, occasionally the injustice seems to goes the other way.

In 1921, silent-screen comedy star Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle allegedly raped actress Virginia Rappe so violently at a party that she died four days later. He was charged with manslaughter and the case was a media sensation, with lurid rumours about both Rappe and Arbuckle circulating, especially in papers owned by mogul William Randolph Hearst.

Witnesses said that Rappe had become intoxicated and fallen ill. Her death, from a ruptured bladder, had nothing to do with Arbuckle. The comedian was arrested because of a statement made by Maude Delmont, another woman at the party.

She had a long criminal history including extortion and had sent telegrams to two people reading "WE HAVE ROSCOE ARBUCKLE IN A HOLE HERE CHANCE TO MAKE SOME MONEY OUT OF HIM".

But, apparently because the prosecutor had political ambitions, the case proceeded (Delmont was not called to testify).

After two trials resulted in hung juries, Arbuckle was acquitted by a third jury that issued a written statement about the "grave injustice" done to him.

But his acting career was ruined, though he later worked as a director under a pseudonym.

He died in 1933 aged 46.

The Arbuckle case was an injustice but seems atypical. Terrible stories like those of Monroe's and Douglas were - and are - far more common.

However, as the recent convictions of powerful Hollywood figures like mogul Harvey Weinstein and comedian Bill Cosby have shown, things might be changing.