The V.I.P.s

Introducing the last of the above-the-title stars, Maggie Smith as the assistant to Rod Taylor as self-deprecating Australian industrialist Les Mangrum, Richard Wattis as the obsequious airline manager, all from Terence Rattigan’s original script, Anthony Asquith directing, in The V.I.P.s, 1963.

Joining in the premise-setting, Richard Wattis as B.O.A.C. official Sanders, Orson Welles as movie director Buda, Elsa Martinelli his latest discovery, Martin Miller his money man, then Margaret Rutherford in her Academy Award-winning role as Duchess Brighton, in The V.I.P.s, 1963.

There’s a hint of irony and some achievement in the credits for the MGM all-star drama, Anthony Asquith directing as we meet Liz and Dick (Taylor And Burton), Orson Welles, Louis Jourdan, Elsa Martinelli, Rod Taylor, Maggie Smith and Academy Award-winner Margaret Rutherford, in The V.I.P.s, 1963.

First scene for top-billed Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton as jet setters Frances and Paul Andros, Dennis Price his assistant Millbank, Richard Wattis the airline manager, bumping (not incidentally, it will transpire) into bon vivant friend Marc (Louis Jourdan), early in The V.I.P.s, 1963.

Wealthy passengers fogged in at London's Heathrow Airport experience a series of personal trials in The V.I.P.s (1963) starring Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton.