Actor vs actress

As someone who writes crossword clues for a living, I often use the word actress in clues to help readers get the answer a bit more quickly. However, I know that some actresses don't like the term, thinking that it is pejorative - like poetess, authoress, ambassadress etc. I've checked in The Stage and they use both terms, and readers feel equally strong about both of them.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, actor was originally used for both sexes, and a citation from Pepys' diary in the Dictionary confirms that. There are some occasions when you just have to use the word actress. For instance, the Oscars ceremony somehow has to distinguish between prize for best actor and prize for best actress. The Guardian style guide gives another example: a piece about the late film director Carlo Ponti was edited to say that in his early career he was "already a man with a good eye for pretty actors". I don't think that the jokey "as the actress said to the bishop" would work as well with the word 'actor' either!