My Week With Marilyn

Written by Colin Clark

Narrated by Eddie Redmayne

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 The Prince, the Showgirl and Me.

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

Forty years on, his diary account was chosen as book of the year by Jilly Cooper, Joan Collins and others. But one week was missing. This is the story of that week, a delicious idyll in which he escorted a Monroe desperate to escape from the pressures of stardom. Her new husband Arthur Miller was away, and the coast was clear for Colin to introduce her to the pleasures of British life. How he ended up sharing her bed is a tale too rich to summarise!

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Release date: Oct 27, 2011
• ISBN: 9780007435074

Colin Clark

Colin Clark (1932-2002) was a British writer and filmmaker. He was the younger brother of the famous diarist Alan Clark and younger son of Sir Kenneth ('Lord Clark of Civilization'), and was educated at Eton and Oxford. After The Prince and the Showgirl, he became a personal assistant to Laurence Olivier before moving to Granada Television. Subsequently he produced and directed over 100 arts documentary films in America and Britain. His autobiography Younger Brother, Younger Son was published in 1997.

Reviews for My Week With Marilyn

[christineellei · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Mr. Clark was on the set of The Prince and the Showgirl as personal assistant to Lawrence Olivier. This role was quickly changed to personal friend of Marilyn Munroe. As her insecurities, addictions and new marriage to Arthur Miller became overwhelming Marilyn wanted an escape from her life and Mr. Colin offered just that … some time touring and being “british”.

Although it is an interesting, albeit short, glimpse into Marilyn and the behind the scenes of the film I found the book a little disjointed.