Screen legends have been brought back to life at a once exclusive Sussex hotel.

Past guests of Grand Ocean Hotel include screen legends Margot Fontaine, Bette Davis and Telly Savalas.

But as the resort of Saltdean - the place to be before the Second World War - gradually fell out of fashion, the famous faces moved on.

Now a dash of paint has brought the screen legends back for good.

Diners enjoying a meal in the restaurant of the plush hotel eat in the company of film greats including Cary Grant, Mae West, Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart.

The stars, newly painted on the walls in murals, hark back to the glamour of the hotel's heyday when stars escaped the pressures of public life to stay in the Sussex resort.

In 1938, the hotel's opening year, screen idol Bette Davis fled Hollywood and took refuge there after arguing with the bosses of the Warner Brothers Studios.

Rosie Marriott, interior designer for the listed hotel, said: "Hollywood stars often used to stay in the hotel when Saltdean was a fashionable resort before the war.

"Historically our customers are in their 60s to 80s and I thought it would be nice if we surrounded them with icons from their youth."

The facelift includes cruise liners and trains reflecting the era of travel and leisure typical of the Thirties.

Most of the stars are all pre-war but Fifties pin-up Marilyn Monroe made it because of her endearing popularity.

The murals, painted by Lancashire-based artist Steven Smith, have been designed to reflect the hotel's art deco architecture and are complemented with Thirties-style tables and chairs.