Wednesday, December 20, 2017
Producer Accused of Fondling 8 Child Actors
Photo: As a college student, Gary Goddard (standing on the left) led a group of highschool- and junior-high-aged boys that included Mark Driscoll (standing right).
HOLLYWOOD: To the young male actors in his retinue in Santa Barbara in the 1970s, Gary Goddard was an exalted figure.
A successful former theater prodigy, Goddard returned through his 20s to direct and mentor child actors in his hometown, vowing to bring the most talented with him to Hollywood.
He attracted a constant orbit of devoted boys others referred to as the "Goddardites." But the seemingly idyllic setting of privilege and promise had a dark edge for several members of the theater group.
Four decades later, many of them say they have been haunted by their encounters with Goddard.
Since actor Anthony Edwards wrote in an online essay last month that Goddard sexually abused him as a pubescent actor in Santa Barbara, seven others from the theater group told the Los Angeles Times that their former mentor molested or attempted to molest them as boys.
They describe Goddard's advances as ranging from straying hands on thighs during lulls in a production or fondling in a darkened Disneyland ride, to repeated incidents of sexual abuse during a troupe's overnight stays in a statewide tour.
"This is a man who's attracted to little boys, and attracted in the sickest way," said Edwards, an Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning actor known for roles in "Top Gun" and "ER." "This is not love, this is not friendship what he was doing. It is a horror because it is manipulating young hearts and minds."
Creepiest part of the article:
"But there was a downside to his attention, several of his former proteges said, causing them to avoid being last in the car with Goddard, or closest to his bed on an overnight trip."
The worst kept secret in Hollywood nowadays is over the so called pedophile ring of producers, actors, agents, managers and even politicians that have been passing these kids around like a bad pennies and throwing them away when they were done with them. If this plays out and names are named, then criminal prosecutions will follow.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-goddard-accusers-20171220-story.html
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