Celebrity Marbella residents and jet-set people

If today’s celebrities are among Marbella most important marketing icons, drawing lesser mortals to the town in their wake, things were very different in the early days. Back in the 1950s, Marbella and indeed the Costa del Sol had not yet attained the resort status attributed to a tourist area. Like most of the coastline of southern Spain, this was a relative “wilderness” of rolling hills, sugar cane fields and deserted beaches, punctuated by the occasional fishing village.

When Alfonso von Hohenlohe – the man generally credited with putting this part of the world on the map – arrived on the scene, the area had seen some tourism, mostly in the form of small numbers of Andalusian taking to the beach or wealthy families owning summer estates, but it was impoverished and backward, still reeling from the Civil War and poor in services and communications.

Prince Alfonso von Hohenlohe found Marbella Club Hotel

All of this changed when Prince von Hohenlohe, godson of King Alfonso XIII and Queen Victoria Eugenia, founded the Marbella Club Hotel among the coastal pine trees that stretched westward just outside the little history town Marbella, who has been the Greeks, Romans, Moors and Arabians favourite place for 1.000 of years before and now was waken up again.

The jet-set people were looking for a new Elysian Fields, and von Hohenlohe gave them one. Quite apart from the established France Riviera and Monaco, this unpretentious natural paradise with its wonderful climate and earthy ambience was a refreshing getaway that soon attracted not only the European aristocracy, business tycoons and the beautiful people of the day, but also Hollywood icons such as Cary Grant, Gary Cooper, Stewart Granger and Grace Kelly. Before long, the earlier simplicity was replaced by an increasingly sophisticated atmosphere, but right through to the 1970s, Marbella`s main charm was that it retained sense of innocence and privacy, free from the prying eyes of celebrity hotspots such as Hollywood and the Côte d´Azur.

The rich and famous visit Marbella

Throughout this period, Marbella`s reputation grew apace with the long list of famous people who visited, bought summer homes or even settled here, adding its name to the imagination of the masses for most of whom it remained out of reach. For almost three decades, therefore, Marbella was pretty much a domain of the rich and famous, and while some become regular visitors – like Omar Sharif, who loved to visit friends and play at the glamorous old casino in Puerto Banús – others bought villas between the pine trees and come to spend a lot of their time here.

Marbella`s celebrity residents.

Deborah Kerr was among the earliest members of this celebrated ex-pat community. The actress, who becomes one of the leading female stars in Hollywood with such classics as An Affair to Remember and from here to Eternity, settled in her villa in Los Monteros in the 1950s. For almost four decades, she and her husband Peter Viertel, the novelist and screen writer responsible for films like The African Queen and The old man and the sea, were residents of Marbella, entertaining the cream of Hollywood her and attracting other illustrious couples such as Audrey Hepburn and Mel Ferrer. They bought a Marbella property here in 1965, at a time when Marbella was at the height of its powers, and the likes of Jean Cocteau, Guy de Rothschild, the Von Thyssens, Princess Von Bismarck and Romanian-born film director Jean Negelescu were among the little town’s residents Negelescu who had produced Three Coins In A Fountain and How to Marry a Millionaire, even made a film, The pleasure seeker here, no doubt inspired by the stylish hedonism of the place.

Sean Connery`s luxury villa, Casa Malibu

In 1970, Sean Connery and his then new bride Micheline Roguebrune become perhaps the most emblematic celebrity residents of Marbella, when they bought a derelict house on the beach near San Pedro and transformed it into their personal Mediterranean paradise. Casa Malibu, as the stylish, almost Adobe-like whitewashed villa was called, become one of the hottest Marbella properties of the 1970s, when Sean and Micheline entertained the likes of Richard Burton, Omar Sharif, Michael Caine, Honor Blackman, George Best and Sean’s close friend James Hunt, who also spend much time here.

By now, the locals had become quite accustomed to seeing them play golf or sail into Puerto Banús, while the paparazzi tried desperately to catch Prince Andrew, Princess Caroline of Monaco and other royalty at play. The latter category was also well represented, with Spanish aristocracy, Marie-Louise of Prussia and the von Bismarck as long-time residents, but Marbella has also always had an important connection with the late King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, who built a huge palace and a pretty little mosque along the now famous Golden Mile and put his huge yacht – Shaf in the harbour Puerto Banus.

The tourism and the celebrity people.

Now as well publicised were the visits of Princess Diana, who would stay at the estate of the Goldsmiths, in the valleys behind Benahavis. By now, however, the atmosphere was starting to change. Yes, people like Sting, Rod Stewart and Princess Caroline of Monaco ex-husband, Philippe Junot, were still regular visitors to the Marbella Club and La Zagaleta, but with the growth of tourism and the influx of large numbers of residents and tourists, Marbella had started to lose some of its intimacy and charm - at least, from the perspective of the jet-set.

The old glamorous set was therefore slowly replaced by a new generation, and type, of celebrity. Where they had owned large beachside villas and had the free run on the golf courses, fine restaurants and the social events, at five-star hotels, the older celebrities felt increasingly marginalised and claustrophobic in a rapidly growing and modernising town. Marbella, which had largely been created by them, was now coming of age and starting to outgrow them, but they have done a lot for the fantastic culture in Marbella we have today.

New times – new celebrity, the stars and jet-sets.

Some left and some withdrew into an ever - shrinking circle, but by the late 1990s the scene had definitely changed. The smoking jackets and tuxedos, De Tomasos and Aston Martins, valet-parked at the old casino, were replaced by outrageous designer wear, fast Lamborghinis, Ferraris and stretch limousines. Old decorum and discreet promiscuity were exchanged for wild behaviour - often played out before the cameras.

The new jet-set of football players, pop stars, models, soap stars and tycoons from newly capitalist countries may be called garish and nouveau riche by some, but they are the ones who fill the glamour pages today, pursued by paparazzi just as their predecessors were before them.
Visiting or living here, they share Marbella with the normal tourists and residents who are still thrilled to catch a glimpse of them or enjoy a sample of the glamour that surrounds them.

The new generation as Antonio Banderas, Bruce Willis ect.

The era of Audrey Hepburn, Omar Sharif and Deborah Kerr came to an end when, after 30 years, Sean Connery sold Casa Malibu and moved back to Scotland. Some of the old glamour remains, now represented most aptly by Julio Inglesias, but for most of us it was a sad moment at least; yet younger generations are much more enthusiastic about the prospect of spotting David Beckham, Antonio Banderas, Melanie Griffiths, Bruce Willis, Paul McCartney, Lolita Flores, Craig David or Isabel Pantoja. They are some of the new generation of stars whose presence - however long or short - continues to give Marbella panache. The world and its concept of stardom and glamour have changed, but with the new order, Marbella continues to be as glamorous as ever.