A U.S. tabloid has unearthed 50-year-old divorce papers which suggest that Sandra Bullock's father was violent towards his first wife.

In Rita Harrison's 1961 separation documents, filed in Alabama, she accused John Bullock of repeated violent behaviour, according to U.S. publication the Globe, which obtained the file.

In the papers, Harrison's lawyer claims Bullock "committed violence on her person" and "periodically flew into fits of rage".

"He frequently demanded that I divorce him and told me that if I didn't that he was going to get a divorce from Reno (Nevada) and I would be cut off without anything," the Daily Express quoted her as saying in the papers.

Bullock's ex-wife also suggested he was an unfit father to their two daughters, Nancy and Katherine - Sandra's half-sisters.

She suggests her then-estranged husband never "seemed to assume or take on the responsibilities of the children.

"He always seemed annoyed by family life," she added.

After the divorce, John Bullock met and fell in love with Sandra's mother Helga while he was working in Germany.

His first wife, who is now 94 and living in Oregon, moved to Florida to bring up the couple's kids.

"What happened between my mother and father was a long time ago, and water over the dam. We've all moved on with our lives," said John Bullock's eldest daughter, Nancy, now 62. (ANI)