Released in 1957 and directed by Laurence Olivier, The Prince and the Showgirl is a romantic comedy set in London during the coronation of King George V in 1911. The film stars Olivier as the stiff, aristocratic Regent of the fictional kingdom of Carpathia and Marilyn Monroe as Elsie Marina, a bubbly American chorus girl who unexpectedly wins his affection and helps resolve a political crisis. While the movie is a charming clash of cultures on screen, it is perhaps most legendary for the difficult off-screen dynamic between its leads—pitting Olivier’s disciplined classical training against Monroe’s unpredictable Method acting—a conflict that was later dramatized in the 2011 film My Week with Marilyn.
