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Variety Confidential — True Crime
Variety Confidential

Variety Confidential is a new true crime podcast that dives into Variety’s historic archives to explore stories of sex, money and murder in the entertainment industry. Season one, titled “The Secret History of the Casting Couch,” will detail the notorious Hollywood casting couch through the decades and draw parallels between recent sex scandals and those of the past, illustrating that sexual predation in the industry is as old as the Hollywood Hills.

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Latest Episodes:

Errol Flynn "When You're a Star" Jan 24, 2024

After starring in the 1935 film “Captain Blood,” actor Errol Flynn became the big screen’s foremost swashbuckler. Seven years later, two underage girls accused the golden age movie star of statutory rape. In “When You’re A Star,” the sixth episode of Variety and iHeart Podcasts’ true crime podcast “Variety Confidential,” host Tracy Pattin and co-host Matt Donnelly, Variety’s senior entertainment and media writer, look back at Flynn’s 1943 rape trial.

For a full list of sources and citations for this episode, visit https://variety.com/h/variety-confidential/.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Roman Polanski "Disgraced Genius" Jan 17, 2024

Known for “Chinatown,” “Rosemary's Baby” and “The Pianist,” Roman Polanski is one of the most acclaimed directors in cinematic history. He is also a convicted child rapist who has faced several sexual assault allegations over the course of his career.

In “Disgraced Genius,” the fifth episode of Variety and iHeart Podcasts’ true crime podcast “Variety Confidential,” host Tracy Pattin and co-host Matt Donnelly, Variety’s senior entertainment and media writer, examine Polanski’s downfall after decades of Hollywood reverence.

For a full list of sources and citations for this episode, visit https://variety.com/h/variety-confidential/.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Don Simpson "80s Hits and 80s Excesses" Jan 10, 2024

Don Simpson reigned over Hollywood after joining forces with his producing partner Jerry Bruckheimer in the 1980s. Around town, the studio executive-turned-producer’s addiction to sex workers and drugs was no secret — and for decades, he wielded his power in the industry to continue his nefarious and erratic ways.

For a full list of sources and citations for this episode, visit https://variety.com/h/variety-confidential/.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Henry Willson "The Man Who Invented Beefcake" Jan 03, 2024

In episode 3 of “Variety Confidential,” host Tracy Pattin and co-host Matt Donnelly unearth the story of Henry Willson, an aggressive, midcentury Hollywood talent agent and manager who succeeded in both spotting and taking advantage of young actors within whom he saw potential for fame.

Willson, a closeted gay man, would lure dozens of handsome young men, or “beefcakes” as they would come to be known, to his Los Angeles home after wining and dining them and promising fame. “He seems to have insinuated himself into their lives,” Pattin explains. “He became their friend, the parent, the protector, and in many cases, their lover.”

For a full list of sources and citations for this episode, visit https://variety.com/h/variety-confidential/.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Darryl F. Zanuck "Four O'clock Girls" Dec 20, 2023

Darryl F. Zanuck was a legendary figure in Hollywood known for leading a major studio, producing top films and assaulting aspiring actresses in the 1930s. That same decade, the term "casting couch" surfaced to describe the abuse of power by Zanuck and other high-powered men who were the gatekeepers of access to the big screen.

In “4 O'clock Girls,” host Tracy Pattin and co-host Matt Donnelly, Variety’s senior entertainment and media writer, detail Zanuck’s duplicitous and dangerous actions that reportedly took place daily at 4 p.m. in his office.

For a full list of sources and citations for this episode, visit https://variety.com/h/variety-confidential/.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Alexander Pantages "The Beast" Dec 13, 2023

For much of the last century, a victim's sexual history was allowed as evidence at trial. It became legally admissible after a state Supreme Court ruling in 1931, which was the result of a high-powered and well-funded effort to protect one of Hollywood's biggest names.

In 1929, 17-year-old dancer Eunice Pringle alleged that early Hollywood mogul Alexander Pantages attacked her in an office of his Los Angeles theater. Moviegoers that day witnessed Pringle running into the street in a torn dress and screaming that she had been assaulted by “the beast.”

In today's episode, host Tracy Pattin and Variety's Matt Donnelly go back nearly 100 years in the Variety archives to tell the story of Alexander Pantages.

For a full list of citations and footnotes from this episode, please visit variety.com/h/variety-confidential.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Introducing: Variety Confidential Dec 08, 2023

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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