Top Gun, Mission: Impossible, Vanilla Sky, Minority Report, Days of Thunder – these are just some of the many blockbuster films that have starred former Stanmore resident Tom Cruise – that’s right, he stayed in Stanmore!
Back in the late 1990s – early 2000s, Tom Cruise along with his then-wife Nicole Kidman, temporarily moved to a property in Stanmore Hill, just off Stanmore Broadway – they could be frequently seen along the parade of shops around the same time period.
The pair were rumoured to be staying at Stanmore Hall, an 18th-century mansion famous for its views across Harrow and not far from the top of the hill, however, this has since been denied.
At the time, Cruise was filming Eyes Wide Shut, the 1999 phycological drama, and whilst Tom was filming most of the scenes in Pinewood Studios, he and his famous wife, stayed at a mansion in Stanmore Hill for travel convenience.
It was around this time that Tom found himself at the centre of a rather bizarre story with Blockbuster Video (don’t you miss that place?), as he attempted to join the branch in nearby Bushey Heath but was rejected due to lack of ID.
The pair were rumoured to be looking at purchasing a property in Stanmore in view of a permanent move but alas, this never transpired and back to Hollywood went the famous couple never to return to the area again.
Should they have decided to move, they would not be the only famous Stanmore residents with the likes of Matt Lucas, Barbara Windsor and Roger Moore all once living in the area at one time or another.
Many Harrow residents still fondly remember the time however, it’s not every day that you bump into A-list celebrities in Harrow, and Tom and Nicole would have no doubt been welcome as permanent residents of the borough.
