From the Guardian archiveMia FarrowMia Farrow at the witness box
16 November 1968: The American actress finds herself at Bow Street Magistrates Court after 4am fracas outside hotel
Mia Farrow, the American actress, used a four-letter word at Bow Street Court, London, yesterday, when she was called as a witness in the case against Canadian producer Iain Quarrier on a charge of obstructing a police officer.
Quarrier, of West Eaton Place, Pimlico, London, who had pleaded not guilty, was convicted and fined £10.
The charge followed an incident at the Cavendish Hotel, St James’s, London, at 4 a.m. last Sunday. Quarrier, in company with Miss Farrow, Donyale Luna, a model, Donald Cammell, a film producer, and Steve Brandt, an American journalist, had been asked to leave the hotel because the men were not properly dressed and were causing a disturbance.
Mr Michael Wilmot, prosecuting, said police were called by the management and saw Quarrier and another man in a ground floor telephone box. Quarrier asked: “Have you come to throw me out?”
Struggle followed
Both men went to the first floor and joined another man and two women, Wilmot said. A struggle followed between Quarrier and two hotel employees and police went to their assistance, putting Quarrier, who was still struggling, out of the hotel.
He calmed down, but then tried to re-enter the hotel, although a police sergeant told him not to. He tried to push back the police sergeant and was arrested for obstructing him.
Miss Farrow said she went to Quarrier’s assistance during the scuffle with police and hotel staff. Asked whether she had used bad language, she asked: “What’s bad?”
Mr Wilmot said it was indecent language. “I don’t really recall,” said Miss Farrow. Then she used a four-letter word. “I think you have to go into the whole question of morality. If you said the word, that is the nicest thing you can wish someone.”
‘Lost a tooth’
Quarrier said in evidence that the three men were told at the hotel that they would not be allowed into the restaurant because they were not wearing ties. At one point during the incident he was “almost beaten up.” He said that during the struggle he had lost a tooth, his left leg was battered, and “I had a number of bruises on my body.”
The Magistrate, Mr Kenneth Harrington, said: “I don’t know what all this trouble was about. I am quite sure it had nothing whatsoever to do with Miss Luna’s colour.” At this Quarrier shouted from the dock: “That is not true.”
Iain Quarrier, an actor as well as producer, stopped working after the murder of his close friend Sharon Tate in August 1969.
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