'Horrified' Judi Dench gives full support to Harvey Weinstein accusers, after Meryl Streep speaks out against producer

Harvey Weinstein became a Hollywood pariah last night as stars including Dame Judi Dench and Meryl Streep said they were "horrified and appalled" by his alleged sexual harassment of other actresses.

It took four days for the floodgates of condemnation to open after the accusations against Weinstein, including that he had settled eight legal cases over several decades, were made public.

Joining the list of accusers on Monday was British actor Romola Garai, who starred in Atonement and BBC series The Hour.

“Like every other woman in the industry, I’ve had an ‘audition’ with Harvey Weinstein, where I’d actually already had the audition but you had to be personally approved by him," Garai told the Guardian.

"So I had to go to his hotel room in the Savoy, and he answered the door in his bathrobe. I was only 18. I felt violated by it, it has stayed very clearly in my memory.

"The point was that he could get a young woman to do that, that I didn’t have a choice, that it was humiliating for me and that he had the power. It was an abuse of power.” 

One of his accusers, the actress Rose McGowan, had pointed to a "deafening" lack of support from Hollywood's elite, and suggested they were complicit in a "30-year cover up".

But the wall of silence finally came crashing down as the movie mogul was unceremoniously fired by his own studio, The Weinstein Company.

In the UK there were also calls for Weinstein to be stripped of the honorary CBE he was awarded for his contribution the British film industry.

Theresa May yesterday said she was "concerned" about the allegations

"On the issue of honours that's an independent process carried out by the forfeiture committee. Each case is considered on its merits," a spokesman said.

Dame Judi, who previously credited Weinstein with reviving her film career, said: "Whilst there is no doubt that Harvey Weinstein has helped and championed my career for the past twenty years, I was completely unaware of these offences which are, of course, horrifying, and I offer my sympathy to those who have suffered, and wholehearted support to those who have spoken out."

She had been a long-time collaborator of Weinstein's after winning an Oscar in 1999 for her performance as Elizabeth I in the Weinstein film Shakespeare in Love.

Dame Judi subsequently received Oscar nominations for five more Weinstein-distributed films.

In 2014 she described embarrassing the studio boss by having her makeup artist tattoo his name on her rear.

"I actually got up and showed him! I’ve never seen a man more embarrassed and I’ve never let him forget it," she told the Hollywood Reporter.

Meryl Streep

Streep, another Oscar-winning star and Weinstein collaborator, also broke her silence.

She won an Oscar for playing Baroness Thatcher in The Iron Lady, which was distributed by The Weinstein Company. In an acceptance speech for that role at the Golden Globes in 2012 she thanked Weinstein, jokingly referring to him as "God, the punisher, Old Testament, I guess".

Streep denied previously knowing anything about his behaviour, and called the women speaking out against him "heroes".

She said: "The disgraceful news about Harvey Weinstein has appalled those of us whose work he championed, and those whose good and worthy causes he supported. The intrepid women who raised their voices to expose this abuse are our heroes.

"One thing can be clarified. Not everybody knew. Harvey supported the work fiercely, was exasperating but respectful with me in our working relationship, and with many others with whom he worked professionally. The behaviour is inexcusable but the abuse of power familiar."

Amid calls for male actors to condemn the studio boss Oscar nominee Mark Rufallo said: "To be clear, what Harvey Weinstein did was a disgusting abuse of power and horrible."

Other stars to speak out included Jessica Chastain, Susan Sarandon, Julianne Moore, Heather Graham and Michael Keaton.

According to an article published by the New York Times on Thursday the film chief appeared naked in front of staff.

Ashley Judd, the actress, told the newspaper he lured her to a hotel room and asked her to massage him or watch him shower.

Weinstein has admitted to having caused "a lot of pain" and apologised, saying he is undergoing therapy.

He has also threatened to sue the New York Times for "reckless reporting".

Since the article was published several other women have publicly made allegations of sexual harassment.

In a statement The Weinstein Company said their co-founder was "terminated, effective immediately". Among those now in control will be his brother Bob Weinstein.

McGowan, 44, best known for her role in the TV series Charmed, posted on Twitter a picture of herself in 1997, when an alleged incident with Weinstein occurred at the Sundance film festival. She wrote: "This is the girl that was hurt by a monster."

The actress Patricia Arquette said McGowan and Judd had "helped a lot of others who might not have been heard."

A former New York Times reporter claimed she investigated Weinstein in 2004 but the story was "gutted" under pressure from Weinstein who got the actors Matt Damon and Russell Crowe to call her.

Sharon Waxman, founder of Hollywood website The Wrap, said she had been looked into an associate who worked for Weinstein's studio in Italy, who knew nothing about film and whose real role was to "take care of Weinstein's women needs".

Waxman claimed she encountered "intense pressure" from Weinstein which included "having Matt Damon and Russell Crowe call me directly to vouch for" the Italian employee. Neither Damon nor Crowe has commented.