Dame Angela Lansbury believes women “must sometimes take blame” in sexual misconduct cases.

The veteran star, 92, claimed women’s desire to make themselves attractive had “backfired on us”.

But, speaking in the wake of the sexual harassment scandal engulfing Hollywood and Westminster, she said inappropriate behaviour had to stop.

Dame Angela said: “We have to own up to the fact women, since time immemorial, have gone out of their way to make themselves attractive.

“And unfortunately it has backfired on us, and this is where we are today. We must sometimes take blame. Although it’s awful to say we can’t make ourselves look as attractive as possible without being knocked down and raped.”

(Image: Getty)

And she told Radio Times: “Should women be prepared for this? No, they shouldn’t have to be. There’s no excuse for that.” She added of inappropriate behaviour in the workplace: “I think it will stop now, it will have to.”

Lansbury's words have sparked a fierce backlash on social media today.

Her name is currently trending on Twitter as thousands of people rush to condemn her views.

The actress appears over Christmas in the BBC’s adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, as Aunt March.

With a career spanning seven decades, her own private life has come under scrutiny, including her short marriage to Richard Cromwell in 1945.

Dame Angela said: “I had no idea I was marrying a gay man. I found him such an attractive individual. He wanted to marry, he was fascinated with me, but only because of what he had seen on screen, really.

“It was a terrible error I made as a very young woman, but I don’t regret it.” Though the Brit, who lives in LA, feels less positive in the wake of Brexit and the election of Donald Trump.

She admitted: “I am feeling the instability tremendously.”