Source:
Agence France Presse (AFP), (1/6/00) Smoking's still cool for Hollywood, says study

Many Hollywood actors, writers, directors, producers and studio executives find smoking a useful prop and believe it helps to define a character's image, according to a new study published in the latest issue of the journal TOBACCO CONTROL. The study, conducted by the Hollywood on Tobacco project, interviewed 54 US actors, studio executives, writers and producers and found a majority defended smoking on screen as true-to-life, and found it helped to express a range of behavior such as, "mania, sexiness and sophistication, self-abuse, toughness, coolness, neurosis, rebelliousness and social inferiority." Those interviewed were more concerned about violence on screen than smoking.