Elstree Studios - in pictures

George Bernard Shaw, seated, speaks to actors on a visit to Elstree studios, where he watched the filming of his play How He Lied To Her Husband in October 1930. Photograph: Popperfoto/Getty

The filming of While Parents Sleep in 1935. Photograph: Daily Herald Archive/Getty Images

Alfred Hitchcock uses a microphone to direct stuntmen during the filming of the shipwreck scene in the 1939 adaptation of Jamaica Inn. Photograph: Kurt Hutton/Getty Images

The Hasty Heart, starring Ronald Reagan, left, and Richard Todd, was filmed at Elstree studios in 1947. Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex Features

The 1955 war movie The Dam Busters was filmed at Elstree. Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive

The American actors Dana Andrews and Jeanne Crain shoot a scene for the movie Duel In The Jungle at Elstree in November 1953. Photograph: Keystone/Getty

British actress Diana Dors has publicity shots taken at Elstree studios for the 1956 film Yield to the Night. Photograph: Popperfoto/Getty Images

Cliff Richard shoots the 1963 film Summer Holiday at Elstree studios. Photograph: sportsphoto/Allstar

Ursula Andress talks to a London policeman in August 1964. The Swiss actress was in Britain to shoot She at Elstree. Photograph: Express/Getty Images

Director Stanley Kubrick filming 2001: A Space Odyssey. Photograph: Sportsphoto/Allstar

Simon Ward and Peter Cushing filmed 1969's Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed at Elstree studios. It was directed by Terence Fisher. Photograph: Sportsphoto/Allstar

An all-star cast including Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Sean Connery and Ingrid Bergman shoot the 1974 adaptation of Murder On The Orient Express at Elstree studios. Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive

Harrison Ford finds global fame as Han Solo in Star Wars, directed at Elstree in 1976 by George Lucas. Photograph: Sportsphoto/Allstar

Shelley Duvall and Danny Lloyd star in Stanley Kubrick's 1980 horror The Shining. Photograph: Sportsphoto/Allstar

Eric Idle, John Cleese and Michael Palin shoot a scene at Elstree for the 1983 film Monty Python's The Meaning Of Life. Photograph: Cinetext/Allstar

Bob Hoskins stars in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, filmed at Elstree studios in 1987. Photograph: Rex Features

Helen Mirren reads on the set of The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, during the filming at Elstree of Peter Greenaway's 1989 movie. Photograph: Steve Pyke/Getty Images

The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, starring Martin Freeman, Sam Rockwell, Mos Def and Zooey Deschanel, was filmed at Elstree in 2004. Photograph: Everett/Rex Features

Chloe Moretz stars as Hit-Girl in 2010's Kick-Ass.
Photograph: Rex Features