Geena Davis Recalls Advice From Oscar-Winning Actor to Reject Jack Nicholson's Alleged Sexual Advances

In an interview with The New Yorker, Geena looked back at being a Victoria’s Secret model living in New York City while trying to get into acting before landing a role in 1982′s Tootsie, opposite Dustin Hoffman.

While working together, Dustin, 85, encouraged a young Geena to “read a lot of books” before giving her some advice to ward off unwanted advances from men in Hollywood.

Dustin told Geena to tell these men, “Well, you’re very attractive. I would love to, but it would ruin the sexual tension between us.”

Shortly after Tootsie was released, Geena recalled her modeling agent taking her and “a couple of other actor-slash-models to Hollywood to meet casting directors” where she met Jack, adding that he was in attendance at every single one of those dinners.

“He happened to know Jack Nicholson, and every single night Jack Nicholson had dinner with us,” Genna recalled. “Then one day, there was a note under the door that said, ‘Please call Jack Nicholson at this number.’ I was, like, I can’t believe it!”

It wasn’t long into the phone call that Geena realized that the conversation with Jack wasn’t work-related.

“So, I said, ‘Hello, Mr. Nicholson. This is Geena the model. You called me?’” Geena recalled. “He said, ‘Hey, Geena. When is it gonna happen?’ I was, like, Oh, no — why didn’t I realize this is what it was going to be about?”

At first frazzled, Geena then remembered the advice that Dustin gave her.

“It immediately came into my head what to say: ‘Uh, Jack, I would love to. You’re very attractive. But I have a feeling we’re going to work together at some point in the future, and I would hate to have ruined the sexual tension between us,’” Geena said back to Jack. “He was, like, ‘Oh, man, where’d you get that?’ So, it worked.”

Also in her memoir, Geena recalled this famous actor screaming at her during an audition.