Steven Gerrard and eight other close shaves

Posted by , 31 July 2009

Roman Polanski

Who’s the lucky fella? Polanski is a Polish-French Jew who survived the holocaust and went on to be the film director responsible for Rosemary’s Baby and Chinatown, The Pianist and Oliver Twist. He won an Oscar for The Pianist.

What did he do? On March 10 1977, a 44-year-old Polanski had sex with the 13-year-old Samantha Geimer at Jack Nicholson’s house on Mulholland Drive. He was photographing Geimer for an edition of French Vogue and one thing led to another, as it often does when you’re hanging out with children. In court, Polanski pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to a 90-day assessment in a loony bin, and stayed for 40 days. On February 1 1978 he legged it to London, then France. He’s been there ever since.

How the hell did he get away with that? The U.S. asked the French to hand him over, they said no. And that’s it, really. But if Polanski ever goes back to America he can be charged. He won’t, obviously, because… why would he?

Is he sorry? In 2008, Geimer said in an interview: “I think he's sorry, I think he knows it was wrong.” And if she can forgive him, we probably all can. Also, his pregnant second wife, Sharon Tate was murdered on August 9 1969 by four members of Charles Manson’s weird hippy family thing. Manson and his crew were jailed. Polanski was sad. So maybe you can excuse him for not thinking straight for a few years. He did bone a kid though, so maybe not.

More collections in Upgrade

Sign up to the newsletter

Enter your email address & receive our legendary emails!

Go

Terms & Conditions

Follow us

Single Girls

For online dating that will help you find a girl who’s spot on for you

Between: and

From:

Our latest members...

Meet babes who have signed up for some sex – and nothing complicated

Between: and

From:

Our latest members...

About FHM's Upgrade section

The latest style news and grooming features from FHM's fashion team. There's also entertainment reviews and stories on movies, music, travel and sport. Plus unmissable sex tips, relationships advice, and our girl-only Kama Sutra special.