2009-10-15

Travel in the Golden Age – Real Movie Stars Around the World

Today’s celebutantes have nothing on the glamour and sophistication of real stars from yesteryear. Although reading Twitter to find out the exact moment your favorite CW airhead touches down in Tokyo for a press junket can be quick, voyeuristic fun, mid-Century Movie Stars elevated travel from movement-based necessity to tours of passion, intrigue, and luxury! “Travelling like a Star” may now mean skinny girls tethered to their iPhones while handlers make sure no ‘real people’ get near them in customs, but it used to be an art form – and here we celebrate those artists who embraced the craft of Travel!

Grace Kelly
A legendary beauty immortalized in catchy pop song (Mika, anyone?) and rowing event alike, Grace Kelly’s turns in Hitchcock’s classics Dial M For Murder and Rear Window cemented her star stature in Hollywood, although she is now more often associated with Principality of Monaco. Prior to becoming Princess Grace, Grace Kelly (born in Philadelphia) was one of the most famous tenants of New York City’s Barbizon Hotel for Women (now closed), where she lived while studying acting. After her performance career took off, she met her future husband Prince Ranier III at the Palace of Monaco, after serving as the head of the American delegation to the Cannes Film Festival. Throughout her worldly travels, one of her favorite restaurants was the Café de Paris in London. She was also one of the first celebrities to receive a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.

Marilyn Monroe
The quintessential Hollywood Globetrotter, Marilyn Monroe thrilled locals the world over when she’d visit their hometowns to film a movie. Born in Los Angeles as Norma Jean Baker, Monroe’s work and play in vacation destinations around the globe have become travel icons. Who can forget her long walk towards The Canadian Falls in Niagara or her iconic fight with her white dress over a subway grate in New York City for The Seven Year Itch? Married in San Francisco, she left an indelible mark on every locale she touched – the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel in the Canadian Rockies even features a Marilyn Monroe tour, where she visited on the set of The River of No Return.

Elizabeth Taylor
Born in London, Elizabeth Taylor rose to acting prominence within the confines of the Old Hollywood Studio system, a product of much grooming and packaging by MGM. After starring in the Lassie movies with Roddy McDowell, as well as acting opposite Mickey Roone, Rock Hudson, James Dean and Paul Newman, Taylor embarked on the title role in Cleopatra, shot in Egypt, London, and Rome. Although the film itself bombed at the box office, she was paid an unheard of $1,000,000 for the movie. While the vast majority of her fame (and some would say, infamy) is due to the above work she did in films, Taylor was also an avid stage actress, co-starring with Richard Burton (whom she famously fell in love with on the set of Cleopatra) in Noel Coward’s Private Lives. If you are in Oxford, check out the Burton Taylor Theatre, named after this dramatic duo.

Audrey Hepburn
With a style that spawned a thousand imitators and countless little black dress purchases, beloved actress Audrey Hepburn grew up in Nazi occupied Netherlands, and moved to Amsterdam after the war. Roman Holiday, her first introduction to American moviegoers, continues to inspire most romantic trips to the Eternal City. Filmed on location, a rarity at the time, she and Gregory Peck explored the Trevi Fountain, the Colosseum, and the Spanish Steps on Piazza di Spagna. Her childhood experiences during WWII influenced her political ideals as well, inspiring her to assist poor children around the world. Appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 1988, Hepburn traveled the globe visiting famine and poverty-ridden areas, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992.

[Photos: Kelly courtesy of manitou2121, Monroe courtesy of Joris Leermakers, Taylor and friends courtesy of Alan Light, Hepburn courtesy of katarina_w. All photos Creative Commons]

This post was originally posted by NileGuide @ NileGuidance: A Travel Blog.
> Read the original post here