In the 1950’s, in a country where until the year 1952 people still had ration cards, where feeding a family was an arduous task, a country run by a dictatorial regime and almost totally cut off from the world – into this setting came the great Hollywood stars to shoot their films.

The Costa Brava was a stunningly beautiful, unspoilt place that captivated the American film directors and producers – not so much for the landscape as for the low production costs, including hiring the local people as extras for a pittance. The films made here included Suddenly Last Summer, Chase a Crooked Shadow, Pandora and the Flying Dutchman, and The Light at the Edge of the World. Major stars of the big screen like Ava Gardner, Yul Brynner, Kirk Douglas, Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift, Rock Hudson and others discovered our land, spent huge amounts of dollars and threw parties that were unimaginable for the local people. They fell in love with our country and the people became fond of them, and many of them returned here for holidays after finishing their films.

The excitement and razzmatazz they tended to envelop themselves in, not to mention the cash they spent, made them legendary figures throughout the area, generating all kinds of myths and tales.