Who Is Anna Graham Hunter? Writer Accuses Dustin Hoffman Of Sexual Harassment

Amid surfacing reports of sexual misconduct in Hollywood, writer Anna Graham Hunter has accused actor Dustin Hoffman of sexual harassment, claiming he inappropriately touched her over 30 years ago when she was 17 years old. Hunter came forward in a guest column for the Hollywood Reporter released Wednesday.

In the exposé, Hunter alleged that Hoffman, now 80, groped her and initiated sexually inappropriate conversations while on the set of the 1985 TV movie "Death of a Salesman."

"He asked me to give him a foot massage my first day on set; I did," Hunter wrote. "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."

In her account of the incident, Hunter described Hoffman’s alleged behavior toward her over a five-week span. She communicated the interactions at the time to her sister in letters, which she made copies of and printed as written in her column.

"Today, when I was walking Dustin to his limo, he felt my ass four times," she wrote. "I hit him each time, hard, and told him he was a dirty old man."

Hunter asserted that on set, she was told to overlook Hoffman’s behavior by a superior, who asked her to "sacrifice" her morals for the good of the project.

"At 49, I understand what Dustin Hoffman did as it fits into the larger pattern of what women experience in Hollywood and everywhere," she wrote, looking back. "He was a predator, I was a child, and this was sexual harassment. As to how it fits into my own pattern, I imagine I’ll be figuring that out for years to come."

Hoffman responded the allegations Wednesday with an apology.

"I have the utmost respect for women and feel terrible that anything I might have done could have put her in an uncomfortable situation," he wrote in a statement. "I am sorry. It is not reflective of who I am."

Hunter’s allegations against Hoffman come amid similar stories of alleged sexual misconduct by high-profile entertainment figures who include producer Harvey Weinstein, director Brett Ratner and actor Kevin Spacey.