Hollywood icon Frank Langella is being investigated for alleged sexual harassment on the set of Netflix’s The Fall of the House of Usher.
The news was first reported by TMZ, who also spoke to a “production source” that says the 84-year-old has been accused of inappropriate conduct and Netflix has launched an investigation to find out what happened before deciding on further action.
The specifics seem to be that Langella cracked an inappropriate sexual joke and that during his performance he touched a female co-star on the leg and said “did you like that?” Netflix is tight-lipped, simply saying that “we do not comment on active employment matters” and Langella’s representatives are also silent on the matter.
As this is being dealt with internally we may never know what actually went down on set or what sanctions, if any, will be levelled against Langella. However, those involved clearly considered the incident serious enough to launch a full investigation.
Whatever else happens, it doesn’t appear to have affected the production of the show as Langella wasn’t scheduled to shoot any scenes this week.
Langella hasn’t faced any prior accusations of this nature, though he is known for being fairly sexually open. In 2012 he published Dropped Names: Famous Men and Women As I Knew Them, a tell-all about his encounters with some of the most famous names in Hollywood that the New York Times Book Review described as “being flirted with for a whole party by the hottest person in the room” and noted his habit of dropping dirty jokes.
More on this investigation as we hear it.
