’70s Actors You Wouldn’t Want To Meet In Real Life

It’s easy to romanticize the past, and especially easy to romanticize Hollywood’s past. Looking back at old black-and-white photos of stars like Clark Gable or Julie Christie makes you feel almost enchanted by their distinct beauty and legendary work as actors. It’s important to remember, though, that people are messy and complicated, that successful actors are professionally talented at portraying different versions of themselves, and that the American film industry is one that has been rife with substance abuse, sexual misconduct, and abusive familial relationships since its inception. Today, there are a lot of contemporary actors who are actually terrible people despite their successful careers, and that was just as true of Hollywood’s glitterati in the 1970s. 

The biggest thing that separates the Hollywood stars of past decades from today’s Hollywood stars is a disparity in privacy. Thanks to social media, smart technology, globalized communication via the internet, and 24-hour news cycles, celebrities of all kinds — including actors — can expect to find themselves constantly examined under a microscope. In the 1970s, it was a lot more difficult (maybe even impossible) for fans to develop para-social obsessions with their favorite stars and for nosy media professionals to snoop on their private lives. Famous people got away with a lot of stuff back before the internet, and were not nearly so held in check by public scrutiny as similarly notable people are today. Stars like Marlon Brando and Faye Dunaway could treat their fans, coworkers, and loved ones however they wanted back then, thus some of them were frequently unpleasant in person.

One of the most storied and revered actors of the 20th century, Dustin Hoffman has delivered many memorable performances throughout his career. Today, most people outside the entertainment industry know him as a serious method actor who starred in classic films like “Rain Man,” “The Graduate,” “Kramer vs. Kramer,” and many more. Unfortunately for Hoffman, within the entertainment industry, he has a reputation as someone with whom many people hate to work. During filming for “Kramer vs. Kramer” — a dramatic picture about the tempestuous divorce and custody battle between exes played by Hoffman and Meryl Streep — Hoffman actually slapped Streep, claiming it would improve her performance. 

So, obviously, it wouldn’t be so much fun to meet Hoffman on a film set, but what about the rest of the time? Unfortunately, around the time that Harvey Weinstein was exposed as a serial sexual predator in 2017, multiple women came forward to talk about Hoffman’s alleged predatory behavior on and off the clock. According to their accounts, Hoffman was quick to take advantage of his upper hand in power dynamics with young women who were just starting out in the industry. He had a penchant for demanding foot rubs and sexual acts, and according to one costar from a stage production of “Death of a Salesman,” he relished every opportunity to humiliate and violate her in front of cameras and the production crew. Whether or not the sexual misconduct allegations against Hoffman are true, he is certainly not a nice person, and meeting him in person would likely be very disappointing.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN’s National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

There is perhaps no other actor who better represents the 1970s than Ryan O’Neal — he even had a years-long romance with Farrah Fawcett, another actor famously associated with the 1970s. Where others like Al Pacino and Jack Nicholson enjoyed many decades of prominence in the industry, O’Neal’s career proper began in the ’60s and peaked in the 1970s with hit films like “Love Story.” He was considered one of the most handsome onscreen faces of his day and worked opposite many great performers, but he also partook liberally of the many drugs and substances often available to fashionable people in Hollywood and ultimately failed to achieve longevity as a movie star. 

Ryan O’Neal was largely known, by the time he died in 2023, for his negative reputation as a father and partner. He was frequently unfaithful to his romantic partners and often engaged in blistering fights that were known to turn violent. Actress Angelica Huston has been open about the abuse she suffered during their relationship, noting several incidents where O’Neal physically assaulted her.

Perhaps his most egregious behavior was perpetrated against his four children, though. In 2009, Griffin O’Neal admitted that his father pressured him into snorting cocaine when he was only 11 years old. Tatum O’Neal, Ryan’s only daughter, was already drinking alcohol when she was only 6, and in 2008, Ryan was arrested alongside his youngest son, Redmond, for possession of methamphetamines. All of O’Neal’s children have dealt with serious substance abuse issues. He was also physically abusive to his children, and actually punched Tatum in the face when she received an Academy Award nomination (and he did not) for their film “Paper Moon.”

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

From the moment she entered the entertainment industry, Faye Dunaway has been singular. She came up as an actress in the ’60s and ’70s at a time when misogyny in Hollywood was still rampant, and men were in charge of nearly everything. Despite this, Dunaway worked hard to become a successful actor without falling prey to the many predatory people and schemes out to get young actresses in ’70s Hollywood. When she costarred in “Chinatown” under the direction of Roman Polanski, she found herself in something of a creative war zone, recalling in her 1995 autobiography that Polanski always hung out with very young, non-threatening girls and clashed with Dunaway’s strong opinions.

And the clashing was constant. At one point, Polanski literally plucked a hair from her head. She claims the stories of her own behavior on the set — including one anecdote about a lack of bathroom breaks and a tossed cup of urine — were dramatized and pushed in the media by Polanski. Dunaway defines herself as a perfectionist who wouldn’t have been held in contempt for her behavior if she were a man. Unfortunately for Dunaway, her unimpeachable status in Hollywood depended on a respectable artistic record, and when her 1981 film “Mommie Dearest” flopped in theaters, it devastated her acting career.

Since then, Dunaway has been linked to other incidents of aggressive behavior, including a series of erratic voicemails to a biographer about their “obsession” with “Mommie Dearest” and allegations of abusive behavior that had her fired from a Broadway production of “Tea at Five.” Whether or not she is as difficult as her detractors would have the world believe, meeting Dunaway would probably be more like meeting a disgruntled war veteran than your favorite movie star.

If you asked anyone to name the first classic movie star they could think of, it’s likely that they’d name Marlon Brando. His name is synonymous with Hollywood and cinema, and he is a representation of the kind of mythic fame that many actors enjoyed before technology fairly demystified the lives of the rich and famous. Brando was never happy with his fame, though. His first big role as Stanley Kowalski in the film adaptation of “A Streetcar Named Desire” established him as a sex symbol, and even that first brush with recognition was frustrating for Brando, whose career could have been ruined by the film’s reception. Brando rightly saw Stanley as a monstrous man, hardly more developed than a beast looking for its next meal, and played him as such. When people saw him as a sex symbol rather than an unappealing, beastly man driven solely by his desires, Brando thought he’d failed in his performance. He didn’t fail as an actor, but he did discover that he would never again be able to live like a regular guy.

Brando spent almost his whole career expressing disdain for his fame. After playing Vito Corleone in “The Godfather,” Brando became reclusive and increasingly more difficult to work with on set; often refusing to memorize lines or listen to the director for the sake of authentic performances. He once famously punched out a particularly obnoxious paparazzo named Ron Galella (breaking his jaw and knocking out five teeth), only for Galella to start wearing a football helmet whenever he was on the hunt for celebrity candids. Brando also described his history with women as a “Rolodex life,” claiming in his autobiography that he loved pushing their buttons. It was more than pushing buttons, though, according to actress Rita Moreno, who dated Brando for eight years after they costarred in “West Side Story.” He was physically and emotionally abusive to Moreno, and this behavior extended to other romantic partners as well.

If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.