The Prince and the Showgirl
Director of Photography on The Prince and The Showgirl (GB 1957/Dir. Laurence Olivier)
Laurence Olivier and Jack Cardiff.
Jack Cardiff and Marilyn Monroe.
JC: "The whole unit respected Larry as the great actor and director he was. Marilyn was less respected mainly because she was always late coming on the set and causing big problems for Larry. But she and I became good friends. I felt great sympathy for her as she had so many psychological problems and was so touchingly vulnerable. Many times we would shoot a couple of dozen or more takes because Marilyn forgot her lines and Larry would print many NG takes hoping they could be shuffled around in the editing. But when we saw the rushes Marilyn was simply wonderful. It was her extraordinary screen presence that made up for everything".
"She had this double identity. On one part she was the great Marilyn Monroe, the sex goddess, the person that everyone in America wanted to go to bed with. That was the Monroe character, and the other one was like a little child of about 14 - very innocent girl to talk to - she obviously couldn't have been innocent but she seemed like that you know, and in many ways the sort of person you wanted to protect".
