;)
This is a photographic exhibition produced by the Madrid Region that focuses on the impact of classic Hollywood film actors and actresses who worked and lived in the region in Madrid.
The exhibition includes period photographs, magazines and audio-visuals that allow visitors to explore the streets of Madrid and the landscapes in the region used as locations for films, through snapshots of stars like Ava Gardner, Orson Welles, Cary Grant, Elizabeth Taylor or Marlene Dietricht, as well as countless celebrities.
The exhibition reveals the Hollywood legacy in Madrid, but also acknowledges Madrid's contribution to the Hollywood universe, since locations such as the Prado Museum, Paseo de la Castellana (main street running through Madrid), the Manzanares Castle or the La Pedriza mountain range became star locations in these great super productions.
Following the relocation of Hollywood productions, in the 1950s Madrid became a filming location for large super-productions and hub for international projects, a destination for actors, actresses and workers, resulting in productions such as Spartacus by Stanley Kubrick, Falstaff (Chimes at Midnight) by Orson Welles, Doctor Zhivago by David Lean or El Cid by Anthony Mann. These international shoots also offered a platform for the development and promotion of Spanish directors such as Gil Parrondo, Yvonne Blake, Manuel Berenguer or Teddy Villalba.
Great actors and actresses graced Madrid with their elegance and distinction, attracted to this new Mecca of cinema. These stars were only known to the public in magazines or on movie screens, but could now be seen on nearby sets: Grace Kelly attending mass in Los Jerónimos Church, Audrey Hepburn shopping in the Salamanca district, Anthony Mann and Charlton Heston visiting Manzanares El Real Castle or Sofia Loren filming at Bronston Studios in Las Matas.
For several decades (1950s and 1960s) the region was Hollywood, thanks to its innumerable attractions and landscapes. A bridge between Madrid and the Mecca of cinema that was not only immortalised in great classic films like "Antony and Cleopatra", "Circus World" or "Lawrence of Arabia".
MAD about Hollywood brings together around 150 photographs and magazines, from institutions such as the Madrid Region Regional Archive, the EFE Agency, the National Library of Spain, the Spanish Film Library, Getty Images and a large number of private collectors.
;)
