But the British star of Bullitt and Casino Royale was adamant that she would become a star without sleeping her way to the top.
Miss Bisset, 73, said last night that all forms of sexual harassment were unacceptable – but cautioned that the campaigns could be turning into a witch hunt.
She spoke out as Hollywood’s finest gathered for the annual Golden Globes award ceremony – which this year is overshadowed by the Harvey Weinstein scandal and other sexual harassment claims.
Many stars protested at the multiple rape allegations that have stunned the film industry by shunning the usual glittering outfits and wearing all-black ensembles and further advertising the #MeToo and #TimesUp campaigns.She said: ‘I felt that if it didn’t work out for me I’d go back home and live my life. I totally wanted to be an actress but not at any price. I was just very well brought-up.
‘When I used to hear about the casting couch my feeling was: ‘What did you gain by doing that? I’ve never done anything to get a job. Nothing. Why would you give up something precious to somebody without any emotion? It was out of the question for me to get a job by going on the casting couch.’
She acknowledged that in her early days in Hollywood, when she was happy to appear scantily-clad on screen, some men came on to her in an inappropriate manner, and that the ongoing fury among many of today’s most prominent actresses is justified.
But just like Meryl Streep, she professes to have been ‘shocked’ at the multiple rape allegations levelled at ‘king of the castle’ Harvey Weinstein.
‘I always had a very English attitude to it’, she said of the predators she encountered during her career.
‘I’d get very cold towards them and freeze them out.That’s how I handled it. I think that’s how my generation handled it.’
She said Weinstein had always behaved well towards her. ‘He was always very polite with me. He was the king of the castle, the king of Hollywood and everybody knew it and everybody was happy to be around him. I can only judge by my own experience. I was shocked though when I heard the rape allegations. Shocked.’ But she wonders if the situation ‘is now heading into a witch hunt’.
She said: ‘People are not given a chance. There is no trial or jury. People are just wiped off the map, so that’s hard. I am sure there are situations where they deserve it but there are also situations where they probably don’t deserve it.
Miss Bisset said that she doesn’t understand some of the levels of sexual harassment. When you hear that somebody’s leg got touched in 1986 or whenever it was, you think, “Big deal. So what?” If that sort of thing happens you say loudly, ‘Excuse me!’ And get up and walk away from the table. But when you hear about rape it’s horrible and another ball game.’
She said that she’s supportive of the movement that has sprung up – to a certain extent. ‘Women are very much up in arms and I’m very much in between,’ noting that it’s an inflammatory situation and that she was scared ‘of being ripped apart’ by those who disagree with her.
She observed that in the entertainment business, ‘you have to be very careful about ambition’.
She added: You’ve got to have some standards and stand up for yourself. Sounds very easy to say but that was my way. I don’t want to sound moralistic, but I get the impression that sex has become something rather more automatic; more of a commodity,’ she said.
Stressing once again that sexual attacks are totally unacceptable, she added: ‘I hope that flirting isn’t out of the window forever.
‘Life is made up of emotion and impulse and obviously men and women have to control unwanted impulses. But I hope men and women can get on,’ she said, adding ominously that ‘men are hunters’.
