 In 1954 , Detroit real estate magnate Ben L. Silberstein bought the hotel for $ 5 @.@ 5 million . Courtright later became hotelier at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel . The reputation of the Beverly Hills Hotel , as a leading luxury hotel with glamorous patrons , took off during the 1950s and attracted eminent guests such as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor , Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon , King Albert of Belgium , the Crown Prince of Monaco and Grace Kelly , John Wayne and Henry Fonda . Elizabeth Taylor , one of the hotel 's best known guests , would stay with her numerous husbands in the bungalows , and spent six of her eight honeymoons there . Her father owned an art gallery on the ground floor of the hotel . The Polo Lounge became associated with Frank Sinatra , Dean Martin and the Rat Pack , where they held heavy drinking bouts . In 1956 , the pool of the hotel and cabana club was a filming location for Designing Women , starring Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall . Marilyn Monroe and Yves Montand stayed at the hotel during the production of George Cukor 's Let 's Make Love . Monroe 's favorite bungalow was No. 7 . George Hamilton and Rex Harrison enjoyed sunbathing at the hotel ; Harrison would sunbathe in the nude in Cabana One , and answer the door wearing " just a handkerchief over his private parts " . 
