Toronto actor accuses director of harassment
Hundreds of women say writer-director James Toback abused or assaulted them
A Toronto actress and model is adding her voice to the more than 300 women who have accused writer-director James Toback of sexual harassment.
Tamara Burford, 40, says after she auditioned for the Toback-directed Harvard Manin Toronto in the summer of 2000, Toback made lewd and sexually explicit comments to her in person and over the phone, and threatened to ruin her career when she refused to meet him in his hotel room.
“He made me feel so degraded,” Burford told the Star in a recent interview. “I lost a lot of faith in the business.”
Toback could not be reached for comment despite multiple attempts by the Star, but according to other media reports he has denied allegations made by hundreds of women in the United States.
The 73-year-old New Yorker, who is best known for writing the Oscarnominated Bugsy, starring Warren Beatty and Annette Bening, is facing allegations of predatory sexual behaviour spanning decades, following an article published last month in the Los Angeles Times in which 38 women shared their stories of harassment.
Glenn Whipp, the Times reporter who broke the story, now says 310 women have contacted him about their encounters with Toback. Rachel McAdams and Julianne Moore are among the accusers.
The allegations range from unwanted sexual advances and vulgar comments to Toback exposing himself to women without their consent and, in some cases, dry-humping their legs. Some women say Toback forced them to watch him masturbate.
Toback denied the allegations to the Times, saying he had no recollection of ever meeting the women who were accusing him. In a separate interview with Rolling Stone, Toback said he had never heard of the women accusing him and the allegations were “too stupid to dignify.”
Phone numbers previously associated with him are no longer in service. His former agent, Jeffrey Berg, dropped him after the Times story and a spokesperson for Berg’s firm, Northside Services, told the Star they had “no idea” how to get a hold of him. Lawyers who formerly represented Toback’s defunct film company could not provide updated contact info.
Emails sent to Toback’s wife, Stephanie Kempf, were not returned.
For Burford, the encounters with Toback never escalated beyond verbal abuse, with the exception of one instance when she says he grabbed her arm in the lobby of the Sutton Place Hotel — now a luxury condo building — when she refused to go to his room.
She says she first met Toback at a casting call for Harvard Man. She was surprised when, a few days later, he called her directly to invite her to a second audition. Initially, the conversation was professional.
Toback, she says, told her to go see Black and White, his most recent film.
“He says, ‘I’m going to audition you, but before I do I want you to go out and go see the movie that I have out right now.’ ”
She called him back after seeing the movie, as he had instructed, and that’s when the conversation turned explicit, with Toback talking about Burford’s body and describing how he masturbated.
“I didn’t know what to do,” Burford says.
Toback called the next four days in a row, Burford says, each time saying the audition would be the next day and then rescheduling for the following day.
“He would say, ‘I could make you a star, but, you know, there are certain things you have to do.’ Then he would invite me to his hotel room.”
Burford was living nearby in a condo at Bay and Bloor Sts.
Eventually, they set a time for the audition. On the phone, he said they should do the audition in his hotel room, but she says she told him she would only meet him in the lobby.
When they met, Toback insisted they go to his room. Burford says he pushed his body against hers and whispered in her ear sexually explicit comments that she found degrading. “He wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
When Burford continued to refuse to go to his room, she says Toback turned angry and abusive.
“He says, ‘What do you mean you’re not coming up? I can make you a star and you’re going to miss this opportunity? Are you kidding me? If you turn me down you’ll never work anywhere. You’ll be nobody, nothing.’ ”
Eventually Burford says she pulled away from him and left the hotel. But the phone calls didn’t stop.
“He called the next day and he says, ‘Listen, I’m going to give you one more chance. This is your last chance because I’m leaving for L.A. tomorrow. You come over to my room and audition now, and if you don’t, that’s it. That’s your last chance.”
Burford continued to insist she wouldn’t audition in his room.
“I said, ‘I’m sorry, I’m not going to audition for you that way. I’m not that type of girl.’ He says, ‘You’ll be nobody unless you put out.’ ”
Burford says Toback insulted her in a short, expletive-laden rant and then hung up. She never saw or heard from him again.
The Star spoke with Burford’s father, television producer Paul Burford, who says his daughter told him about the harassment after it happened. “This really was traumatizing for my daughter at the time,” he said. “It was such an aberrant thing. In the business you do get sexual overtures a lot, but this went beyond that.”
The Star also spoke to Tamara Burford’s friend Mike Steiner, who worked in the movie industry at the time and was with Burford when she received some of the calls from Toback. “She left the business after this and didn’t have anything to do with the business for four or five years,” Steiner said.
Burford says she made an anonymous complaint to ACTRA, the actors’ union, but isn’t sure if anyone followed up. She didn’t attach her name because she says she was afraid of being “blacklisted.”
Elliott Anderson, a spokesperson for ACTRA, wrote in a statement to the Star that after looking into the 17-year-old incident, “it seems” union staff was aware of the allegation against Toback at the time.
“We are informed they increased presence on set to support a member who had raised concerns. We’re continuing to look into exactly what happened as we review our practices. Our goal is that anonymous complaints can be tracked and used to stop predatory behaviour and help create a zero-tolerance environment.”
Posted on ACTRA Toronto’s website is a note to its members that says the union is in the process of conducting a full investigation into Harvard Man, the movie Burford auditioned for in 2000. The Harvard Man file has been recalled from off-site storage and a report on the union’s investigation is expected later this month, according to the memo.
ACTRA Toronto’s president and a special adviser have been getting calls daily from members coming forward with stories of past harassment throughout the industry, the union says on its website, adding that it has established an advisory committee on sexual harassment. Staff has attended an updated training session on sexual harassment and the union has revised its protocol for reporting incidents of harassment.
Burford, who says she works primarily in print modelling now, says she was depressed following her encounter with Toback and took a break from acting. It took years before her self-esteem recovered.
She says she was motivated to come forward now after seeing so many other women share similar experiences with Toback and other powerful men in the entertainment industry.
“Before, I was so embarrassed, but I’m not afraid anymore,” she says. “I’m trying to speak out so other women are not afraid, because it’s not just him and Harvey (Weinstein). There are others.”
With files from Michele Henry Brendan Kennedy can be reached at bkennedy@thestar.ca or 416-869-4192. Michele Henry can be reached at mhenry@thestar.ca or 416-869-4386.