The Prince and the Showgirl. 1957. Directed by Laurence Olivier

Film

No upcoming events

The Prince and the Showgirl. 1957. USA. Directed by Laurence Olivier. Courtesy Park Circus/Warner Brothers

The Prince and the Showgirl. 1957. USA. Directed by Laurence Olivier. Screenplay by Terence Rattigan, based on a play by Rattigan. With Marilyn Monroe, Laurence Olivier. DCP. 115 min.

After shooting The Seven Year Itch, and hoping to gain more creative freedom and financial control over her projects, Marilyn Monroe founded a production company with her friend and photographer Milton H. Greene, boldly challenging an industry known for its fierce control over actors and the roles they were given. In 1957, Marilyn Monroe Productions produced its only film: The Prince and the Showgirl, a comedy about a fictional European royal who falls in love with an American showgirl, uniting the method-trained Monroe with the classically trained Laurence Olivier, who was also assigned directing duties. Known for its backstage drama, the awkward clash of two opposing styles and egos—Monroe striving for artistic recognition, Olivier seeking to soften his on-screen image—would produce an unusual yet charming work, photographed in Technicolor by Jack Cardiff.

This film accompanies Marilyn Monroe: Celluloid Dream.

Past events

Sat, Mar 21, 1:30 p.m.

MoMA, Floor T2, Theater 2

The Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 2
Wed, Mar 18, 4:30 p.m.

MoMA, Floor T2, Theater 2

The Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 2

Licensing

If you would like to reproduce an image of a work of art in MoMA’s collection, or an image of a MoMA publication or archival material (including installation views, checklists, and press releases), please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations).

MoMA licenses archival audio and select out of copyright film clips from our film collection. At this time, MoMA produced video cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. All requests to license archival audio or out of copyright film clips should be addressed to Scala Archives at [email protected]. Motion picture film stills cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. For access to motion picture film stills for research purposes, please contact the Film Study Center at [email protected]. For more information about film loans and our Circulating Film and Video Library, please visit https://www.moma.org/research/circulating-film.

If you would like to reproduce text from a MoMA publication, please email [email protected]. If you would like to publish text from MoMA’s archival materials, please fill out this permission form and send to [email protected].