Obsession with celebrity sex scandals is old hat

HOLLYWOOD — Before there was Roman Polanski, there was Errol Flynn. Before David Letterman, Charlie Chaplin.

Celebrity sex scandals have been around for as long as there have been celebrities — long before TMZ and Perez Hilton — so the recent arrest of Polanski relating to his having sex with a 13-year-old girl and Letterman’s confession of having sex with female members of his staff are just the latest in a long and sometimes sordid history.

“This is nothing new for the media and the public to become obsessed with this and report this in juicy, lurid, titillating detail,” says film historian and critic Stephen Farber, who notes that there is “this very moralistic side to this country that sort of plays on that. Some of these events are not big events in other countries, whereas here they are sources of wagging tongues.”

Some stars have seen their careers crash down upon them, but others have endured the headlines and have put their lives back in order.

Here’s a look at sex scandals that rocked Hollywood:

‘Fatty’ Arbuckle

The rotund silent-film comedian and director was one of the biggest stars of his era. In 1921, he was accused of raping and killing a young actress named Virginia Rappe after a wild Labor Day party at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco.

His trial was turned into a three-ring media circus, fueled by the Hearst papers’ sensationalized stories. His first two court dates were mistrials. But it took only six minutes for the third jury to find him not guilty. They even wrote an apology to Arbuckle: “Acquittal is not enough for Roscoe Arbuckle. We feel that a great injustice had been done to him.”

His career never recovered. He directed some films under the name William Goodrich. Arbuckle finally made an acting comeback in 1932, doing a series of two-reel comedies for Warner Bros. He died in 1933 at age 46.

Charlie Chaplin

The Little Tramp found himself at the center of a highly publicized paternity suit in 1943, brought about by a fledging actress named Joan Barry. The two had become lovers in 1941, shortly after he signed her to a $75-a-week salary for a film he was considering. By 1942, the affair and the contract were history. But Barry wouldn’t take no for an answer and began harassing him.

After she gave birth to a girl in 1943, she filed a paternity suit against him.

Although the blood tests proved that Chaplin wasn’t the father, her attorney swayed the court to make the tests inadmissible. Chaplin was ordered to support the little girl.

In 1944, federal officials brought Mann Act charges against him regarding his relationship with Barry. The Mann Act was intended to address prostitution, immorality and human trafficking. Chaplin was acquitted, but his public image was severely damaged.

Barry was institutionalized in 1953 after she was found walking the streets barefoot, carrying baby sandals and a ring and muttering, “This is magic.”

Errol Flynn

The handsome actor was known for his flamboyant lifestyle — as a teenager he was expelled from several schools (at one, he had an affair with one of the laundresses).

And in Hollywood, the star of swashbucklers such as “The Adventures of Robin Hood” was known for his womanizing and vast consumption of alcohol. In 1942, two underage girls, Betty Hansen and Peggy Satterlee, accused Flynn of statutory rape. A sensationalized trial took place in January and February 1943. He was acquitted of all charges.

His next film, “Gentleman Jim,” was a huge hit. But his hedonistic lifestyle eventually caught up with him. He died of a heart attack at age 50 in 1959, with his 17-year-old girlfriend, Beverly Aadland, by his bedside.

Ingrid Bergman

The Swedish actress was one of the top female stars in Hollywood, receiving an Oscar for 1944’s “Gaslight.” She was married to a dentist and had a daughter named Pia. But then she became persona non grata when she went to Italy in 1949 to make the film “Stromboli” for director Roberto Rossellini. They fell in love, and she became pregnant with his son Roberto in 1950. Bergman was even denounced on the floor of the U.S. Senate by Edwin C. Johnson, a Democratic senator from Colorado who described her as a “horrible example of womanhood and a powerful influence for evil.”

Bergman left for Italy. Her husband divorced her, and Bergman married Rossellini. Two years later, they had twins, Isabella and Ingrid. The couple made movies but separated and were divorced by 1957.

Still, her private life was anything but private. At one point, Ed Sullivan polled the audience of his TV show to see if she should be a guest. Although the audience voted in her favor, Sullivan didn’t invite her. She won the 1956 lead actress Oscar for “Anastasia” but didn’t attend the ceremony. She didn’t make her first post-scandal appearance in Hollywood until the 1958 Oscar ceremony.

Rob Lowe

One of the Brat Pack heartthrobs of the 1980s found himself involved in a sex scandal over a videotape made in 1988 of him having sex with two girls, one of whom was just 16. The tape was filmed in Atlanta during the Democratic National Convention.

Lowe entered a rehab clinic for alcohol and sex addiction and later made fun of his problems on “Saturday Night Live.” Married for 18 years and the father of two sons, Lowe rebounded from the scandal, starring on the former NBC series “The West Wing.” Today he’s a regular on ABC’s “Brothers & Sisters.”

Woody Allen

The Oscar-winning auteur not only made several films with his longtime girlfriend Mia Farrow, including “Broadway Danny Rose,” they also had three children. But their unwedded bliss ended in 1992, when Farrow came across naked photos of her daughter Soon-Yi Previn in Allen’s apartment. A long custody battle for the three children ensued, with Farrow saying that Allen had molested their 7-year-old daughter, Dylan. The judge concluded that the sex abuse charges were inconclusive but stated that his conduct with Soon-Yi was “grossly inappropriate,” especially given that Soon-Yi could be considered his “stepdaughter.”

Farrow won custody of all three children. Although some people believe that Allen’s conduct permanently hurt his reputation, he and Soon-Yi married in 1997 and have two children.

Hugh Grant

The British actor exuded charm, wit and sophistication. Then, just before the release of his first American film, 1995’s “Nine Months,” he was arrested by Los Angeles vice officers near Sunset Boulevard for misdemeanor lewd conduct in a public place with Hollywood prostitute Divine Brown. Pleading no contest to the charges, he was fined and placed on two years’ summary probation and ordered to complete an AIDS education program.

Grant’s grief ended up being a boon for Jay Leno and “The Tonight Show,” which consistently had been losing in the ratings to the “Late Show with David Letterman.”

Grant honored his commitment to appear on the show, where Leno famously asked him, “What were you thinking?” Grant’s reply: “I think you know in life what’s a good thing to do and what’s a bad thing, and I did bad things. And there you have it.”

Charlie Sheen

He plays a womanizing bachelor on the CBS sitcom “Two and a Half Men.” And he also played one in real life.

Although settled down and married to his third wife, Sheen not only battled drug problems in the 1990s, he also battled sexual demons.

In 1995, a woman sued him, stating that he had struck her in the head several times when she refused to have sex with him. Later it was disclosed during the trial of Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss that Sheen had shelled out about $50,000 for ordering her call girls more than two dozen times.