FILM · 1963 · UK
The V.I.P.s
41 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (41)
- #001
The film was based on a true story and was a thinly disguised account of screenwriter Terence Rattigan's real-life friend Vivien Leigh's attempt to leave her husband Sir Laurence Olivier for the Australian actor Peter Finch. Leigh and Finch reached London's Heathrow Airport, but their flight was delayed by incoming fog, which gave Olivier time to confront the two of them and escort Leigh home; after several hours of fog delay, she had abandoned the plan.
- #002
Producer Anatole de Grunwald wanted Sophia Loren for the lead role, but Dame Elizabeth Taylor insisted on appearing opposite Richard Burton.
- #003
Despite his own superstar status, Richard Burton admired Margaret Rutherford, and her presence in the cast was one of the main reasons he signed on to the film.
- #004
It was the second of 11 films in which Dame Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton appeared together.
- #005
Peter Medak was working as an assistant when he noticed Richard Burton talking one day with Ronald Kray and Reggie Kray, the two most important figures in London's underworld. Burton had had several arguments with the press and was seeking advice on security. By coincidence, Medak went on to direct The Krays (1990).
- #006
Dame Margaret Rutherford's Oscar-winning performance in this film was her only Oscar nomination.
- #007
The airline BOAC, which carries the passengers in this film, was created in 1939 by an Act of Parliament through the merger of British Airways Ltd. and Imperial Airways. In 1974 it merged with British European Airways and took the name British Airways.
- #008
The 10,000 pounds with which Paul (Richard Burton) tries to buy Marc (Louis Jourdan) would have been worth about $28,000 in 1963, or about $217,000 in 2016.
- #009
The hotel waiter, played by Stringer Davis, the real-life husband Rutherford usually tried to bring on screen with her, offers the Duchess a stay-awake tablet called No-Dorm, but the box he takes it from is an Altoids tin. This is not necessarily a mistake, since someone could take a few tablets from a larger container and put them in a tin to carry in front of guests.
- #010
Terence Rattigan was paid 100,000 pounds for his screenplay.
- #011
Three real-life couples appeared in this film: Maggie Smith and Rod Taylor, who were together during and after the shoot but later married other people; Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, who married after the shoot, then divorced and remarried/divorced again; and Margaret Rutherford and Stringer Davis, who were already married and remained so until death.
- #012
David Frost appears briefly here as a press reporter. He went on to become a popular TV talk-show host and would eventually interview former U.S. President Richard Nixon.
- #013
Elizabeth Taylor and her stunt double on the shoot, Jane Bough, were reported to have got along very well. They even went on several double dates after that day's filming, with Taylor on Richard Burton's arm and Burton's brother Graham accompanying Bough.
- #014
Vincente Minnelli was MGM's first choice for director.
- #015
Dame Margaret Rutherford won the Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for this film, even though hers was the only nominated performance in a film not nominated for Best Picture.
- #016
The car that meets Paul (Richard Burton) and Frances (Dame Elizabeth Taylor) when they arrive at the airport by helicopter is a 1963 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III LWB. The car that drops off Max (Orson Welles) and Gloria (Elsa Martinelli) is a 1959 Cadillac Fleetwood 75.
- #017
Screenwriter Terence Rattigan spoke without hesitation about having written this screenplay for the generous fee MGM paid him. Years later he told an interviewer that he had planned to end the Maggie Smith-Rod Taylor storyline unhappily, with Taylor's quiet secretary never realizing that she was in love with him, but that this was ignored by the producers and the studio.
- #018
As the Duchess frantically searches for her love certificate, later said to be in her passport, she drops a black item, picks it up and puts it back in her bag. When Sanders finally finds his passport, it looks like the item she dropped.
- #019
Elizabeth Taylor had caught pneumonia the last time she was in England, while filming Cleopatra (1963). Because she was still weak and had recently had that bad experience, it was thought Taylor would think twice about filming in England's cold weather. But her unwillingness to be apart from Richard Burton and her determined, strong character surprised the producers and the director, and despite her health problems she never complained once or voiced any deep-seated concerns, if she had them.
- #020
Knebworth House in Hertfordshire represents the ancestral estate of the Duchess. In 2021 it is still a filming location and a tourist attraction.
- #021
Orson Welles speaks with the clerk beside the QANTAS airline counter. In 2022 the airline continued to fly global routes to Australasia. The abbreviation stands for Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services. It was founded in 1920 in Winton, Queensland, Australia.
- #022
Dame Margaret Rutherford's win for Best Actress in a Supporting Role was this film's only Oscar nomination.
- #023
As Elizabeth Taylor searches for her husband, Japan Air Lines and El Al Airlines are shown in the background. In 2021, along with British Airways, they were still in operation.
- #024
Liselotte Pulver was cast in a major role but had to leave the project because of a commitment in Germany. Maggie Smith was brought in in her place.
- #025
This was the first of 16 Richard Burton films or television productions in which Brook Williams appeared.
- #026
The £10,000 sum would be equivalent to £177,000 in 2020.
- #027
Dame Maggie Smith, the last surviving star of the film, died on 27 September 2024 at the age of 89.
- #028
In the opening scene at the airport, the flight announcement heard in the background is for a Trans Canada flight, while the VIP passengers are ticketed on BOAC. All three airlines named in the opening credits — Trans Canada, BOAC and Pan Am — no longer operate under those names: Pan Am ceased operations, and the other two were reorganised by their governments and renamed Air Canada and British Airways.
- #029
As Dame Elizabeth Taylor and Louis Jourdan pause before boarding the plane for the first time, directly behind them is an advertising poster showing a Native Alaskan and a traditional Eskimo hut. The non-stop polar jet route had not yet begun, but many European carriers were already using the air route with a stop at Anchorage, Alaska, which was faster than the transatlantic route. This marked the beginning of the expansion of tourism to Alaska, which remains a popular destination in the 21st century.
- #030
In the final frames, a thoughtful Louis Jourdan watches Burton and Taylor leave, and directly behind him a "No Admittance" sign is visible, summing up the situation.
- #031
The right inner brake light of the 1959 Cadillac Fleetwood is burnt out.
- #032
The film was one of the 12 most popular films at the British box office in 1963.
- #033
Orson Welles spoke very warmly of director Anthony Asquith, describing him as one of the most intelligent men ever to work in films and perhaps one of the kindest.
- #034
Louis Jourdan quotes the English writer Sir William S. Gilbert, who said that love makes the world go round. The line would also become the title of American singer Deon Jackson's 1965 hit song.
- #035
At about the 5th minute of the film, Orson Welles's character is accompanied through a crowded airport. In the background, a heavily veiled nun seated in the crowd is greeted by a woman and stands up to walk with her. In the next shot, Orson is on the escalator, and in the background the same heavily veiled nun is once again seated, meets the same woman again and stands up to walk with her.
- #036
The film's cast includes four Oscar winners — Elizabeth Taylor, Margaret Rutherford, Maggie Smith and Orson Welles — and one Oscar nominee, Richard Burton.
- #037
Margaret Rutherford, who plays the Duchess of Brighton, and Peter Sallis, who plays the Doctor, had both appeared three months earlier in The Mouse on the Moon (1963).
- #038
This was Virginia Bedard's last film.
- #039
Peter Sallis, who plays the Doctor, and Joyce Carey, who plays Mrs Damer, later appeared together in The Secret Agent (1975).
- #040
Peter Sallis, who plays the Doctor, had previously played the Sleazy Doctor in I Thank a Fool (1962).
- #041
The film had a dual cinema premiere in Manila, Philippines, on 2 September 1963.
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