Karen Sharpe has worked on “Bonanza”, “My beautiful genius” and “The CIPOL agent”, among others. Photo: AFP
American actor Karen Sharpe (1934), known for his roles in I dream of Jeannieang Cipol agent Y Bonanzarevealed cases of sexual abuse who lived in the filming of the quack-quack in the clinic (1964), by the comic actor Jerry Lewis (1926-2017).
In fact, the 87-year-old actress said she agreed to co-star the film when they offered to triple his average salary and an exclusive wardrobe. Sharpe signed the contract, but during one of the wardrobe fittings at the mansion where the film was being filmed, Jerry Lewis, when the entire production was removed. tried to abuse him.
“He grabbed me, started groping me and opened his pants. I can’t believe it, ”the actress confessed to documentaries Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, directors of the Allen vs. Farrow documentary, who produced the short film that was broadcast on the Vanity Fair website.
Karen Sharpe was abused by Jerry Lewis and took more than 50 years to tell. Photo: AFP
“Just a minute. I don’t know if it’s a requirement for co-stars in your films, but it’s something I don’t do,” Sharpe said, telling Lewis. “I can tell,” Sharpe added, “that he was furious. It was something that had never happened to me before” and one of his colleagues recalled, Sana Holidayexperienced a similar situation with Lewis.
Punished because he did not allow himself to be abused
In an interview, the actress confirmed that after that fight, Lewis condemned him to total separation. “He didn’t rehearse with me, he didn’t talk to me, so I was alone in most of the filming.”
At least Jerry Lewis’s punishment for his attitude served to put him on the right path. One day when he wasn’t filming and bored with the separation he underwent, the actor entered the film set of the ship of fools, at Paramount Studios to see Vivian Leigh perform. “The director is Stanley Kramer, and we met and had an immediate crush”, Recalls the actress.
Sharpe decided not to say what had happened; kept that secret for 50 years until 2016 during the presentation of the Stanley Kramer award to director Kirby Dick for his documentary The Hunting Ground about rapes in universities covered up by education authorities, he asked her if she had any stories to tell. There he disclosed this case of Lewis ’abuse.
Jerry Lewis is an icon of American humor, but his behavior on sets is questionable. Photo by Reuters
He didn’t even tell his wife
“I haven’t mentioned it to my wife or my family,” Sharpe said, adding, “I haven’t said anything because in 1965 women were marginalized in the film industry. The bosses are usually men, and if a woman complains, she still has to shoot the film for a contract. Who would believe him in such a case?
And he continued: “In those days if you protested, they asked you what you had, if you were trying to take advantage, because according to them, women cheated and they should not feel resentment if ‘they are given a compliment or a come-on’. That’s why we’ve been quiet for years. “
Jerry Lewis died in 2017. A year before that, Karen Sharpe said she was abused. Photo EFE
To director Stanley Kramer she was married in 1966 and although they decided to do it secretly to escape journalism, the paparazzi got the information and they come out all the way of the heart. Sharpe at the time was a recognized figure for cinema and television enthusiasts.
The actress started her career at the age of 16 and was recognized by winning the Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer in 1954 for Written in Heaven, dwhere he shared a poster with John Waynebut also worked with Robert Mitchum on using their own weapons and with Anita Ekberg The man in the vault.
Source: The Vanguard
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Source: Clarin
