U.S. Stars Flock To London Stage

American movie star Daryl Hannah was a little nervous on opening night of The Seven-Year Itchon London's West End. After more than 40 films, this was her first play.

"Obviously all of us actors are a little bit hard on ourselves," Hannah told CBS News Correspondent Tom Fenton. She characterized the performance as "okay."

"We always want it to be even better. We're perfectionists," she said.

Hannah is playing the role made famous by Marilyn Monroe in the 1955 movie version of The Seven Year Itch.

It's a growing trend in London: big American stars on the West End stages. Jerry Hall is also currently starring in The Graduate, a role she took over from Kathleen Turner.

Theater critic Sheridan Morley (son of actor Robert Morley) points out that the average theatergoer is a tourist and American.

"You need names they can recognize and the large majority of tourists, as we know, is American," explained Morley. "So film stars are very seductive in that you can sell tickets on them before the show opens. The name of a big star will help the box office."

Still to come this fall: Macaulay Culkin in Madame Melville and Jessica Lange in Long Day's Journey Into Night.

What is it about working in the theater that attracts American stars to go to London and get paid peanuts?

Long Day's Journey Into Night producer Bill Kenwright says actors love the applause and the crowd. "People work in the theater because there's nothing quite like it."

It's been tough for Daryl Hannah so far, as most of the critics panned the show. But her name on the marquee is bound to sell a lot of tickets.