Today 70 years ago one of Hollywood’s most iconic actors spent a very brief but dramatic time in Horsham!
On Saturday October 13 Marilyn Monroe and her husband, playwright Arthur Miller, were driven into the town in a splendid black Jaguar.
They were headed to the XVIIth Century galleries in the Bishopric (pictured), which was full of intriguing antiques.
The chauffeur headed to the car park that used to exist at the end of the Bishopric (next to the Green Dragon pub) and the famous couple made their way to the shop.
Miss Monroe was filming The Prince and the Showgirl at Pinewood Studios with Laurence Olivier who was also director and producer.
Marilyn and Arthur Miller were quickly spotted, though, by a couple on the same side of the road and by the staff of a nearby butcher’s shop.
Word quickly spread and by the time they were in the shop there was a crowd outside and a few people inside as well.
The Millers’ chauffeur quickly sized up the situation and bought a pair of white framed dark glasses for Miss Monroe from a Chemist’s (Arthur Miller already had his own pair) and had the Jaguar ready to whisk his passengers up West Street and out of town.
Mr Williams at the antiques shop was impressed with his famous visitors, saying “She was a perfect lady”, adding that he spoke to her at length.
Every detail of Miss Monroe was noted in the local press and the absence of make-up was commented on. She wore a light two-piece outfit and no hat.
In all, the famous visit lasted no more than ten minutes, but was long enough to create major excitement. However, one of the assistants at the chemist’s William Evans said afterwards that when he told his friends no one believed him!
(This is a re-working of an article we posted two years ago. We have had many more readers since then so we thought our newcomers would enjoy reading this story).
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