The Dorchester, Park Lane, W1
Built on the site of the palatial old Dorchester House, the Dorchester opened in 1931 as the last word in stylish modernity, with an elegant deco-ish frontage peering through foliage at Deanery Street.
Less stuffy, old-school than other great names, and boasting extravagant suites created by stage designer Oliver Messel, the hotel has always been a favourite with showbiz celebs – Alfred Hitchcock stayed here, as did Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton gave legendary parties here, and Peter Sellers made it his London base. So it's a natural for screen luxury.
Both Peter Colt (Paul Bettany) and Lizzie Bradbury (Kirsten Dunst) stay at the Dorchester in Rom-Com Wimbledon. Villain Ben Larkin (John Vernon) stays here in the John Wayne pic Brannigan. On-the-way-up Bongo Herbert (Cliff Richard – and, no, I'm not kidding) nestles down in a Dorchester suite with on-the-wane star Dixie Collins (Yolande Donlan) in the 1959 music-biz satire Expresso Bongo. Vanessa Redgrave and Robert Stephens hold their wedding reception on its roof terrace in Karel Reisz’s seminal Morgan – Suitable Case For Treatment, until gorilla-suited Marxist David Warner disrupts the proceedings before tootling off down Park Lane on his motor scooter.
Wimbledon (2004, dir: Richard Loncraine)
Brannigan (1975, dir: Douglas Hickox)
Expresso Bongo (1959, dir: Val Guest)
Morgan – A Suitable Case For Treatment (1966, dir: Karel Reisz)