Dustin Hoffman apologises after author accuses him of 'sexual harassment' on film set

Actor Dustin Hoffman has apologised following allegations of sexual harassment during the filming of his 1985 film Death Of A Salesman.

Author Anna Graham Hunter claimed that the Hollywood actor used "vulgar" language and touched her inappropriately when she was a 17-year-old intern at a New York film studio.

Writing in the Hollywood Reporter, she said: "He asked me to give him a foot massage my first day on set; I did. He was openly flirtatious, he grabbed my a**, he talked about sex to me and in front of me."

Two-time Oscar-winner Hoffman said in a statement: "I have the utmost respect for women and feel terrible that anything I might have done could have put her in an uncomfortable situation.

"I am sorry. It is not reflective of who I am."

Publishing extracts of her diary that she kept during the time, she described Hoffman, who was in his 40s at the time, as a "lech".

"I'm completely disillusioned. After Tootsie, I thought I wanted to marry him," she wrote.

In her diary, she also claimed that he had asked her intrusive questions about her sex life and made a comment that she said was "so gross" she could not repeat it.

Some of the incidents were witnessed by other members of the crew, she claimed.

She said she later confronted him about his "wandering hands" and he "apologised and said he would stop".

Looking back on her experience on the set, Hunter explained that she had mixed feelings about the alleged incidents involving Hoffman, but added: "He was a predator, I was a child, and this was sexual harassment."