AN AMERICAN BILLIONAIRE IN ESSEX: TRUST/AUDLEY END

The American-born oil tycoon and billionaire J. Paul Getty was born in Minnesota, but in later life transferred to England, setting up home in the sumptuous 16^th century Tudor manor house Sutton Place near Guildford, Surrey, where he lived for the last 17 years of his life.  Getty was notorious for his sex drive, going through several wives, and even in his eighties there was a collection of what the New York Times described as “desperately hopeful women” hanging around his living quarters.  However, despite his enormous wealth and vast collection of art and antiques, he was less generous with his money than with his physical offerings, and the only female companion to receive more than a derisory amount in his will after his death was Penelope Kitson, an interior designer he developed a relationship with after hiring her for her decorating prowess. 

When Getty’s grandson John Paul Getty III was kidnapped in 1973 the mean side of his grandfather again came to light.  Believing that the kidnap was a ploy to extract money from him, he refused to pay a penny, not unreasonably since payment of a ransom in this case could have led to further kidnappings of members of the family. It was only the loss of an ear that finally moved grandfather Getty into action.  This is the backdrop of the stylish TV series Trust, with Donald Sutherland magnificently cast as J. Paul Getty and the elegantly turned out Anna Chancellor as Penelope Kitson.  Added to which, the role of Sutton Place is admirably played by the Essex property Audley End House near Saffron Walden, Essex.

AudleyEndHouse. Photo by Paul Wells, via Wikimedia Commons

The current owner of Sutton Place is a Russian oligarch, which meant the property could not be used for the filming, so the production team came up with Audley End as an alternative, and what a great choice it was.  In fact the production team are on record as believing that Audley End gave more gravitas to the filming than Sutton Place would have done.  Moreover, the extensive art collection contained in the property reflects the massive collection held by Getty at Sutton Place.

The property is a 17^th-century Jacobean estate located a short distance to the west of the attractive market town Saffron Walden.  The estate is run by English Heritage and consists of the house itself, a third of its original size, and the gardens which were designed by Capability Brown.  Highlights of the house are the Great Hall, the state apartments, dressing rooms and libraries, as well as an 18^th-century Gothic-style chapel.  One of the pivotal scenes in the series, in which Getty announces to the press that he will not pay the ransom, was shot in a long hall within the property.

However, not all the scenes were filmed at Audley End.  Some of the scenes, for example the scenes showing Getty dining with his bevy of ladies, were filmed at Hatfield House in Hertfordshire, a property which has been used many times for filming, for example in My Week With Marilyn (see my previous blog post).  The reason for the change in location was that the dining room at Audley End was considered too small to make the necessary impact.

Dining room at Hatfield House-19478173458. Photo by Matt Brown, via Wikimedia Commons

Map of Audley End and Saffron Walden.

THE DA VINCI CODE: THE LINCOLNSHIRE CONNECTION

The Da Vinci Code, based on the novel by Dan Brown and starring Tom Hanks as Professor Robert Langdon, divides its time between France and the UK, with a little bit of Malta thrown in.  The UK scenes are divided between England and Scotland, with the county of Lincolnshire providing some of the key moments.  Hanks and his co-stars Sir Ian McKellen and Audrey Tautou all stayed in Lincoln during the shoot, which took place in 2005.  I once visited Lincoln with my husband, where we went on an excellent ghost tour.  According to the tour guide Tom Hanks came on the same tour while there, which must have provided a suitably creepy real-life diversion from the events of the film.

Lincoln Cathedral was chosen as a stand-in for Westminster Abbey in the film, as the real Westminster Abbey denied permission to film on religious grounds.  The production team went to the trouble of creating a model of the tomb of Isaac Newton, who happens to hail from nearby Grantham, to replicate the real one in London.  Incidentally, the cathedral was also used to portray Westminster Abbey in the film The Young Victoria.  The cathedral gained some much needed extra revenue as a result of its role in The Da Vinci Code, both from the increase in visitor numbers and the money paid for its use in the film, and because paintings and statues used in the film were auctioned to raise money for the cathedral.  The 900-year old building costs several million pounds a year to run, so the money was much needed.

Lincoln Cathedral from Broadgate footbridge - geograph.org.uk - 281923. Photo by Richard Croft, via Wikimedia Commons

Another Lincolnshire location used in the filming was the magnificent Burghley House near the attractive market town of Stamford.  The house was used to portray a French chateau in some of the scenes, with the stable courtyard being transformed into a 14^th-century French village.  Meanwhile, the interiors with their Italian-style furnishings were used as a stand-in for the inside of the Papal Palace of Castel Gandolfo in the town of the same name near Rome.  The garage scene at Chateau Villette, where the police chase took place was also filmed at the property.  Burghley House is generally regarded as England’s greatest Elizabethan house, and it includes eighteen State Rooms and a huge art collection including one of the most important private collections of 17^th century Italian paintings.

Burghley house U.K. Photo by Sreejith K, via Wikimedia Commons

Map of Lincoln.

Map of Burghley House.