Sir Ian McKellen has spoken about the Hollywood sexual misconduct scandal, saying actresses offered sex for roles in the 60s and that the offers should not have been accepted.
Sir Ian was speaking to an audience at Oxford Union on December 6, where he called sexual abuse in his industry - and any industry - "reprehensible".
"People taking advantage of their power is utterly reprehensible anywhere it happens, within the family... in the work place ... doesn't have to be the theatre, doesn't have to be Hollywood, it could be the local shop ... it could be parliament," he said.
"Wherever it happens, it won't do.
"People must be called out, and it's sometimes very difficult for victims to do that."
He said he recalled an incident in the 1960s where an actress had sent an application for a role to a director with "DRR" written on it - short for "Director's Rights Respected".
This was a code implying that the actress was willing to sleep with the director to secure the role, and Sir Ian said men in the industry should not have accepted that as acceptable.
"When I was starting out in the early 60s, the director of the theatre I was working at showed me some photographs he got from women who were wanting jobs, they were actors, some of them had at the bottom of their photograph DRR - directors' rights respected - in other words, if you give me a job, you can have sex with me," he said.
"That was commonplace from people who proposed that they should be a victim - madness.
"People have taken advantage of that and encouraged it and it absolutely will not do."
Sir Ian said what was happening is good, but also called on women to be careful about what accusations they make to ensure they are accurate and honest.
"Nothing but good will come out of these revelations, even though some people get wrongly accused - there's that side of it as well," he said.
"Honesty. Honesty. Honesty."
He added that he hoped the swathe of revelations this year, which began after several women revealed producer Harvey Weinstein had behaved inappropriately towards them, would help to stop abuse in the movie industry from happening.
"I hope we're going through a period that will help to eradicate it altogether."
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