At least four women have accused the Academy Award-winning songwriter of “You Light Up My Life” of luring them to his home and sexually assaulting them while they auditioned for movie roles, police said.
Police are investigating whether director Joseph Brooks, who won an Oscar for Best Original Song for the 1977 Debby Boone ballad, advertised upcoming film roles on Internet postings as a ploy to assault women.
When a woman responded to an audition call, the 70-year-old Brooks would tell her she’d be playing a prostitute and would have her drink shots and perform sex acts on him, police said. Some women believe they might have been drugged, police said.
At least four incidents are alleged to have happened in March and May 2008, police spokesman John Sweeney said. One woman told authorities she had sex with Brooks after drinking wine with him, Sweeney said.
A woman from Seattle said she responded to an ad and after she arrived in New York, Brooks demanded she have sex with him, Sweeney said. Another woman told police Brooks sodomized her, Sweeney said.
Brooks hasn’t been charged, Sweeney said.
Telephone calls to Brooks’ attorney, Jeff Hoffman, weren’t immediately returned Monday. There was no telephone listing for Brooks at the Manhattan home address provided by police.
Brooks also wrote and directed the romantic comedy “You Light Up My Life,” for which the song was composed. The movie stars Didi Conn as Laurie Robinson, a comedian who dreams of being an actress and has a one-night stand with a director.
Mindy Kaling and Kate Hudson Take On Pro Basketball In Netflix Series “Running Point”
In Mindy Kaling's new Netflix series, "Running Point, " Kate Hudson stars as Isla Gordon, the new president of the Los Angeles Waves, a pro basketball team that's been run by her family for years. Hudson's character has to prove herself as a woman in a man's world not only to her passed-over brothers, but also to players whose egos need checking and other executives who don't take her seriously.
If Isla's story rings a bell, take a look at the list of executive producers on the 10-episode season dropping Thursday: Among them is Jeanie Buss, the president of the Los Angeles Lakers, who was embroiled in similar turmoil over control of the storied NBA franchise after the death of her father, Jerry Buss.
Buss not only has given the show her blessing, it was her idea said Kaling. Buss was a big fan of "The Office" and approached Kaling with the premise about five years ago. Kaling ended up as the co-creator, writer and executive producer alongside Ike Barinholtz and David Stassen.
"She's in a very serious, stressful job but she loves comedy. She does not take herself seriously," Kaling says of Buss. "That's really rare when someone has that much power and that much to lose."
Jeanie Buss' blessing
In fact, Kaling said, Buss wanted the show to be funny and had "no ego" about using her real life as inspiration.
"She's had some extremely interesting things happen to her as the president of the Lakers. Some of it is she literally dated the coach for many years and she's like, 'Do whatever you want,'" Kaling says, referring to Buss' former relationship with Phil Jackson. "To get that kind of carte blanche, I'd never heard that from someone who is so famous and, you know, pretty private."
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