10 Things You Didn’t Know Actors Were BANNED From Doing

While it may often seem like nothing is off limits when it comes to the often surprising, inspired, and thought-provoking stories that regularly land in movie theatres, the same definitely cannot be said for the various actors found bringing certain characters to life on the big screen.

For reasons that range from just about understandable to absolutely bizarre, the following performers were (sometimes rather strictly) told that they were not permitted to do certain things whilst wandering around a set in character or just going about their daily lives outside of it.

In-demand actors have been banned from doing something as simple as losing a few pounds in-between projects, stars were told that specific acts were forbidden when sharing the screen with a Hollywood megastar, and even certain outfits were not to be worn by performers when appearing in films outside of a franchise they were leading.

Hell, some actors have actually found themselves being banned from the 'Happiest Place on Earth' over the years, too.

Put simply, there are an awful lot of things you likely didn't realise some of the biggest stars in the business were very much not allowed to do.

Hollywood was a very different place back in the 1930s.

Back then, performers were often restricted and controlled in the wake of signing contracts with certain studios, with some of these companies even forbidding their talent from doing something as normal as getting married.

It was heavily rumoured, and noted by the author of Scandals of Classic Hollywood book Anne Helen Petersen, that none other than the "Blonde Bombshell" herself Jean Harlow was banned from marrying her partner William Powell during this period. MGM, who she had signed a contract with at that time, "had written a clause into her contract forbidding her to marry." (via Vanity Fair.)

The reason? Because a "bombshell" just had to be single, right? 

The Fixers: Eddie Mannix, Howard Strickling and the MGM Publicity Machine book written by E.J. Fleming also stated that Harlow ended up getting pregnant during that affair. And when she got in touch with MGM's Head of Publicity Howard Strickling after learning of the news, a "Mrs. Jean Carpenter" eventually made her way into Good Shepherd Hospital “to get some rest.”

Not suspicious at all.

The Hollywood "sex symbol" would then only be seen by private nurses and doctors during her time there.