Dustin Hoffman accused of sexual harassment by Kathryn Rossetter

Kathryn Rossetter (left) says Dustin Hoffman (right) groped her almost nightly during the 1984 run of Death of a Salesman. Photo / posted by Kathryn Rossetter

A woman who acted in a Broadway play opposite Dustin Hoffman says he groped her on stage nightly and refused to stop even when she tearfully pleaded with him to leave her alone.

Kathryn Rossetter played Hoffman's mistress in the 1984 Broadway revival of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and subsequent TV movie.

In addition to violating her on a daily basis, she says Hoffman also squeezed her breasts any time they took pictures together, the Daily Mail reports.

The 66-year-old actress says being serially assaulted by her "hero" was "horrific" and "demoralising" -and something she still deals with today.

She is the third woman in the past month to come forward and accuse Hoffman, 80, of sexual harassment.

Rossetter told her story in her own words in an essay for the Hollywood Reporter, published on Friday.

She says she first met Hoffman in 1983, during an audition to play his mistress in Death of a Salesman. She got the part and as soon as they started rehearsals, Rossetter says Hoffman crossed a line and started sexually harassing her relentlessly.

He asked her to stop by his hotel room and then "he jumped on the bed and said, 'Give me a back rub.' He pulled off his shirt. I didn't know what to do. I said we had to be back at rehearsal in 15 minutes. He said, 'Just a quickie.'"

"That was the beginning of what was to become a horrific, demoralizing and abusive experience at the hands (literally) of one of my acting idols," she said.

She says Hoffman groped her regularly and once tried to pull her clothes off her in front of a group of male crew members. She later learned Hoffman had promised them a "surprise" if they gathered hear her backstage.

Rossetter says she "tried everything to get him to stop" but Hoffman was relentless.

"I tried to laugh it off, smack him and say witty, pointed things. I begged him nicely with tears in my eyes to please stop it. To no avail," she said.

She even considered reporting Hoffman to Actors Equity, but was convinced not to by colleagues who said it could ruin her career.

"I was cautioned by some respected theatre professionals that if I did, I would probably lose my job and, because he was such a powerful star, any hope of a career. It was Dustin's playpen. He controlled the purse strings," she said.

The nightly attacks sent Rossetter into a depression. She withdrew from her work and says she felt isolated, unable to make friends in the cast.

Rossetter says she continues to struggle with the groping she suffered at the hands of Hoffman.

"There is no denying I learned an enormous amount from him about acting. He was generous in the many presents he gave us and the many parties he threw. He can do all that and still be a man who manipulates, abuses his power and is a pig to women. They are not mutually exclusive.

"My issue isn't what he said, it's what he did. Along with the nightly sexual harassment, he eroded my confidence, my dignity. He humiliated and demeaned me. He robbed me of my joy in the experience and he left dirty fingerprints on my soul," she added.

Hoffman declined to comment on Rossetter's essay to the Hollywood Reporter.