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13 Oscar-winning stars who visited Dundee, Perthshire and Fife

Several movie idols, who won the biggest prizes of all at the Academy Awards, have enjoyed trips to Tayside and Fife.

Nicole Kidman is joined by husband Keith Urban in St Monans.
Nicole Kidman was joined by husband Keith Urban in St Monans. Image: DC Thomson.

Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence was among the A-listers in Perthshire for this week’s Dior fashion show.

Jennifer – who won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 2012 for her role in Silver Linings Playbook – attended Drummond Castle near Crieff for the Dior Cruise 2025 event.

The 33-year-old is the latest Oscar-winning star to grace Tayside and Fife.

Graeme Strachan and Marc Deanie look back at some famous visits, from Tinseltown royalty at the football to the screen legend who held a prestigious role in the City of Discovery.


1 – Nicole Kidman

Oscar credentials: Best Actress for The Hours (2002)

Visited: Perth and Fife

Oscar winner Nicole Kidman at St Monans Church in Fife.
Oscar winner Nicole Kidman at St Monans Church in Fife. Image: DC Thomson.

Nicole Kidman filmed scenes with Colin Firth for The Railway Man in 2012 on the platform when part of Perth station was transformed into Edinburgh Waverley.

Filming later moved to St Monans for an Auld Kirk wedding scene.

The Moulin Rouge actress had to cancel a table reserved at a fish restaurant in St Andrews because filming in the village ran over time.

2 – Elizabeth Taylor

Oscar credentials: Best Actress for Butterfield 8 (1960) and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolff (1966)

Visited: Highland Perthshire

Elizabeth Taylor and John Warner in 1979.
Elizabeth Taylor and John Warner in 1979. Image: Shutterstock.

Dame Elizabeth often came to Rannoch Lodge in Highland Perthshire to get away from the world of Hollywood and would arrive in style by chartered helicopter.

Rannoch Lodge was owned by the parents of her friend Liz Smith and she liked going to the local pub for lunch and visiting Fortingall Church.

In September 1979, she brought her then-husband, US Senator John Warner.

3 – Sir Ben Kingsley

Oscar credentials: Best Actor for Gandhi (1982)

Visited: Fife

Sir Ben Kingsley with workers at the Rosyth shipyard.
Sir Ben Kingsley with workers at the Rosyth shipyard. Image: DC Thomson.

Sir Ben, famed for his iconic role as Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi, paid a visit to Babcock’s dockyard in 2013 and surprised some of the workers building the new aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth.

He wanted to learn more about the Rosyth shipyard and took a great interest in the work being done while he was given a guided tour.

Heavy handling engineer Alex Keatings said: “The last person you expect to meet on a cold Monday morning in Rosyth is a Hollywood star.”

4 – John Wayne

Oscar credentials: Best Actor for True Grit (1969)

Visited: Perth

John Wayne.
John Wayne arrived in his Stetson during the glory years of Perth Bull Sales. Image: Shutterstock.

As well as being the King of Hollywood Westerns, Wayne was an avid cattle breeder with an operation in Arizona that covered 50,000 acres.

Wayne searched the world for bulls to export to his place in America and thrilled fans as he went about his business at the famous annual bull sales in Perth.

He stayed at the Waverley Hotel which was famed for its high teas and stood at the corner of York Place and Caledonian Road.

5 – Sir Sean Connery

Oscar credentials: Best Supporting Actor for The Untouchables (1987)

Visited: Perthshire and Fife

Oscar winner Sean Connery at Gleneagles in 1979.
Sean Connery at Gleneagles in 1979 which was a place he loved. Image: DC Thomson.

The BBC’s voice of golf Peter Alliss gave Bond legend Sir Sean some tips in Perthshire to look the part before a golf scene in Goldfinger in 1964.

Alliss also hosted 140 episodes of the BBC series Pro-Celebrity Golf and Sir Sean was among the celebrities who took part.

When they played at Gleneagles, he used to stay on because he loved the place.

It’s also thought the late movie icon’s ashes are scattered in St Andrews, described by his son Jason as one of his favourite places.

In 2021, a year after his father’s death, Jason said: “He used to go up there and play in various tournaments, and his friend Michael Medwin (actor and producer) and he used to play in the Jubilee Vase and all these things and he had great memories.”

6 – Grace Kelly

Oscar credentials: Best Actress for The Country Girl (1954)

Visited: Dundee

Princess Grace and Prince Rainier of Monaco at Tannadice in 1981.
Princess Grace and Prince Rainier of Monaco at Tannadice in 1981. Image: DC Thomson.
Princess Grace and Prince Rainier of Monaco at Tannadice for the match.

After making her name in Hollywood, Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier III of Monaco and retired from acting.

In September 1981 the couple flew in to Scotland to stay with friends in Meigle before travelling to watch Monaco’s Uefa Cup tie against Dundee United at Tannadice.

The visit was immortalised by Michael Marra in the song Hamish which he later recorded for United goalkeeper Hamish McAlpine’s testimonial.

Dial M For Murder actress Grace died a year later aged 52 following a car crash in Monaco which happened after she suffered a stroke at the wheel.

7 – Jared Leto

Oscar credentials: Best Supporting Actor for Dallas Buyers Club (2013)

Visited: Kinross and Dundee

Oscar winner Jared Leto on stage at Radio 1 Big Weekend in Dundee.
Jared Leto on stage at the Radio 1 Big Weekend in Dundee. Image: Shutterstock.

Jared Leto brought his band, Thirty Seconds to Mars, to perform at T in the Park at Balado, Kinross, in July 2010 after the release of third album, This Is War.

The film star returned to these parts in May 2023 for Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Dundee but had a battle with his earpieces and cancelled the Saturday night appearance.

Leto delivered when they finally made it on to the stage on Sunday instead.

8 – Robin Williams

Oscar credentials: Best Supporting Actor for Good Will Hunting (1997)

Visited: Dundee

Oscar winner Robin Williams.
Robin Williams entertained the Windmill Bar before finding fame in the movies. Image: Shutterstock.
The Windmill Bar in Hilltown, Dundee, in 1982. Image: DC Thomson.

Robin Williams stayed in Dundee during appearances at the Edinburgh Festival in the early 1970s before he shot to fame.

Williams was staying in cheap digs and became a well-known face at the Hungry Mary’s café where he was particularly fond of Lorne sausage and tattie scones.

Before Good Morning Vietnam, Dead Poets Society or Good Will Hunting, the comic had drinkers in the Windmill Bar in stitches as he rattled through his repertoire of voices.

Fans across the world were stunned when the comic took his own life in 2014 aged 63.

9 – Sir Peter Ustinov

Oscar credentials: Best Supporting Actor for Spartacus (1960) and Topkapi (1964)

Visited: Dundee

Rector Peter Ustinov enjoys a drink with students in 1972.
Rector Peter Ustinov enjoys a drink with students in 1972. Image: DC Thomson.

Sir Peter was elected the first rector of Dundee University in 1968 and served two consecutive three-year terms.

In 1979 he laid the foundation stone of the Rep Theatre, and, in 1992, he opened the university’s West Park Centre.

He received an honorary degree, was immortalised in bronze and a room was named after him to mark his dedication to the university.

10 – Frank Sinatra

Oscar credentials: Best Supporting Actor for From Here to Eternity (1953)

Visited: Dundee and Angus

Frank Sinatra signs autographs at the Caird Hall in 1953.
Frank Sinatra signs autographs at the Caird Hall in 1953. Image: DC Thomson.
Did the Chairman of the Board enjoy a pint in the Phoenix back in 1953? Image: DC Thomson/Shutterstock.

The “top-line American crooner” — as he was described at the time — played a double header at the Caird Hall on July 13 1953 as part of a mini-Scottish tour.

Sinatra stayed overnight at the Queen’s Hotel before watching The Open at Carnoustie the following day.

His legacy lived on for many years in Dundee when a pub in King Street named Sinatra’s opened in 1981.

And his visit also sparking one of the city’s finest urban myths… did Ol’ Blue Eyes enjoy a pint in The Phoenix bar ahead of his Caird Hall gig?

11 – Colin Firth

Oscar credentials: Best Actor for The King’s Speech (2010)

Visited: Perth

Colin Firth on the platform at Perth Railway Station
Colin Firth on the platform at Perth Railway Station. Image: Shutterstock.

Colin Firth played Eric Lomax in The Railway Man in 2012 alongside Nicole Kidman.

And he was stopped in his tracks at Perth station when local man Grant George accidently wandered in front of the cameras mid-scene, causing the crew to abandon filming and start all over again.

Firth let out an exasperated sigh at the interruption.

12 – Catherine Zeta-Jones

Oscar credentials: Best Supporting Actress for Chicago (2002)

Visited: Fife and Angus

Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas relax at the Old Course in 1999.
Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas relax at the Old Course in 1999. Image: PA.

Catherine Zeta-Jones and Hollywood star Michael Douglas spent an early part of their romance together playing golf in Carnoustie and St Andrews.

The couple stayed at the Carnoustie Golf Hotel during the 1999 Open.

Zeta-Jones said it was a dream come true when she played in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in 2023 across Carnoustie, Kingsbarns and St Andrews.

13 – Clint Eastwood

Oscar credentials: Best Director for Unforgiven (1993) and Million Dollar Baby (2005)

Visited: St Andrews

Clint Eastwood feeling lucky at the Old Course in 2000.
Clint Eastwood feeling lucky at the Old Course in 2000. Image: DC Thomson.

Michael Murphy’s Golf in the Kingdom is one of the best-selling golf books of all time and Eastwood clung to the film rights for a decade.

Eastwood, now 94, arrived in a helicopter at the Old Course Hotel in September 1993 with Wayne Duband and Billy Gerber from Warner Bros.

They played the Old Course in a steady drizzle while seeking a suitable location for the film but he later abandoned the project.

The Hollywood veteran – famed for his roles in the likes of Dirty Harry, A Fistful of Dollars and Escape From Alcatraz – returned to play golf at St Andrews in 2000.

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