A FILM which breathes life into one of cinema’s most famous sex symbols was filmed at Duxford and is due to be released on Friday.

Marilyn Monroe’s visit to England to make 1957’s The Prince and the Showgirl has been recreated with IWM Duxford standing in for a national airport.

My Week With Marilyn, directed by Simon Curtis, features an all-star cast, including Michelle Williams, Dougray Scott, Kenneth Branagh, Judi Dench, Zoe Wanamaker and Harry Potter star Emma Watson.

Donal Woods, locations manager for the film, said: “I’ve filmed at IWM Duxford previously and know that the museum has the best stock of commercial airliners in existence that are easily accessible.

“We wanted to use a location that had space and presence and that was very much in keeping with the period. The whole feel was right for us.”

The sequences filmed at IWM Duxford show Marilyn Monroe, played by Michelle Williams – who has appeared in Dawson’s Creek and Brokeback Mountain – and Arthur Miller, played by Dougray Scott, arriving in the UK by aircraft in July 1956.

The aircraft used was the Monarch owned by Duxford Aviation Society, on permanent display at IWM Duxford.

My Week With Marilyn is based on two books by Colin Clark and focuses on the week the star was escorted around Britain by Clark, after her husband, Arthur Miller, left the country.