My Week With Marilyn - Tapa dura

A delightfully comic and touchingly romantic interlude in which Colin Clark describes – for the first time – what happened between Marilyn Monroe and himself during the missing week in his celebrated diary for 1956, published in 1995 as The Prince, The Showgirl and Me.

In 1956, fresh from Eton and Oxford, the 23-year-old Colin Clark (younger son of ‘Lord Clark of Civilisation’, younger brother of notorious maverick Tory MP and diarist Alan) worked as a humble ‘gofer’ on the set of The Prince and the Showgirl, the film that united Sir Laurence Olivier (directing) with Marilyn Monroe, on honeymoon with her new husband, the playwright Arthur Miller.

Nearly 40 years on, his diary account, published by HarperCollins, was chosen as their book of the year by Jilly Cooper, Joan Collins and Helen (widow of John) Osborne. but one week was missing, and this is the story of that week: a delicious idyll in which he escorted a Monroe desperate to get away from the pressures of working with Olivier and all the people with a vested interest in her. Her new husband Arthur Miller had gone to Paris, and the coast was clear for Colin to introduce her to some of the pleasures of British life. How he ended up sharing the same bed is a tale too rich to summarise!

In this delightfully comic and touchingly romantic book Colin Clark describes – for the first time – what happened between Maryilyn Monroe and himself during the "missing" week from his celebrated diary for 1956, published in 1995 as 'The Prince, the Showgirl and Me'.

In 1956, fresh from Eton and Oxford, the twenty-three-year-old Colin Clark was employed as a humble "gofer" on the set of The Prince, and the Showgirl, the film that was intended to unite the talents of sir Laurence Olivier, England's pre-eminent classical actor, and Marilyn Monroe, Hollywood's greatest star. From the outset the production was bedevilled by problems, and the clashes between Monroe and Olivier, who was both directing and co-starring, have entered film legend.

Nearly forty years later, Colin Clark's wonderfully entertaining diary of that time was chosen as their book of the year by Jilly Cooper, Joan Collins and many others. But – one week was missing from the middle of the book. Here, at last, is the story of that week: a delicious idyll in which Clark came to know an unhappy Monroe desperate to escape the pressures of working with Olivier and an often hostile cast and crew, from the crowd of hangers-on who continually surrounded her, and from the burden of stardom itself. Her new husband, Arthur Miller, was away, and the coast was clear for Colin to introduce Marilyn to some of the pleasures of British life. How he unexpectedly ended up sharing a bed is a story readers will have to discover for themselves.

There have been many books about Marilyn Monroe, but few have shed such a compassionate light on her troubled character. 'My Week with Marilyn' is as much a revelation of the oppressive nature of fame as it is an account of a singular week in the life of one of the twentieth century's greatest icons.

From the reviews of 'The Prince, the Showgirl and Me:'

"Extraordinarily compulsive reading...a fascinating document"
NIGEL WILLIAMS, 'Mail on Sunday'

"There are many books on film-making more weighty than this, but few as entertaining"
LYNN BARBER, 'The Times'

"Quite wondrously and toe-curlingly frank"
JOANNA PITMAN, 'The Times'

"Sheer delight...a diarist who is as sharp, funny and irreverent as his older brother Alan
CHARLES SPENCER, 'The Sunday Telegraph'

"The funniest account of life in the booby-hatch that's a film studio known to me"
ROGER LEWIS, 'The Spectator'

"My favourite book of the year"
JOAN COLLINS

From the reviews of 'Younger Brother, Younger Son:'

"Hilarious anecdotes and sharp portraits abound...generous, reflective, witty and elegant"
CHRISTOPHER SILVESTER, 'The Times'

"Such a wonderful revenge on the Lord Snooty ethos of his family that the reader is bound to send up a cheer"
LYNNE TRUSS, Independent

"Unremittingly fresh, amusing and understated"
FREDERIC RAPHAEL, 'Times Literary Supplement'