The stars in Cherbourg
Numerous Hollywood stars passed through Cherbourg with Cunard.
Thanks to Cunard and the company’s prestigious liners, many stars travelled via Cherbourg and the town grew used to their regular appearances.
At the end of September 1952, Charlie Chaplin arrived in Cherbourg on board the Queen Elizabeth. Whilst at sea with his wife and four children, he learned of the enquiry that had been ordered into his activities which had been qualified as anti-American. He held a press conference and announced that he wanted to return to the United States; unfortunately he was forced to stay in Europe and then went into exile in Switzerland.
“The best I caught on film was Chaplin, with all his family in September ’52, chased by McCarthy’s law” Jean-Marie Lezec, ex-journalist for La Presse de la Manche
Local photographers and journalists were present in October 1964 to capture the famous acting couple Liz Taylor and Richard Burton on film as they disembarked from the Nomadic (one of Cunard’s tenders) in Cherbourg.
Other very famous names would also pass through the Norman port of Cherbourg:
- Edith Piaf
- Salvador Dali
- Jacques Brel
- The American president Dwight David Eisenhower
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Salvador Dali, Cherbourg
René Moirand, ex-journalist for La Presse de la Manche
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