French actress claims Roman Polanski raped her when she was 18  

A French actress in her early 60s claims she was raped as a teenager by Oscar-winning filmmaker Roman Polanski, according to reports in the French media.

The director has been a fugitive from the US for more than four decades since pleading guilty to a sex offence against a minor. 

Le Parisien reported that the woman alleges she was raped in 1975 at Polanski's chalet in Gstaad, Switzerland, when she was 18.

It quotes Polanski's lawyer, Herve Temime, as saying that Polanski "firmly contests" the allegation.

The attorney "deplored" that the claim is being made public shortly before Polanski's latest film, J'Accuse, is being released in France.

Le Parisien quotes the woman as saying the film triggered her decision to go public.

Polanski pleaded guilty in the US in 1977 to having unlawful sex with a 13-year-old.

Born in Paris to Polish-Jewish parents in 1933, he has directed a string of critically-acclaimed films including Chinatown, Rosemary's Baby and The Pianist, for which he won an Oscar for Best Director in 2002.