Brad has left the building

With a new look that owes a huge debt to Elvis Presley, Brad Pitt set out to get a rock star's welcome in Mayfair today.

The actor seemed determined to cause as big a stir as possible as he left Claridge's.

Rather than exit by a side door, Pitt had his car brought conspicuously round to the front of the hotel.

He then waited an hour to allow a good-sized scrum of paparazzi to develop. With up to 300 passers-by also stopping to get a glimpse of what all the fuss was about, Mayfair was brought to a halt.

Eventually the star of Seven and Ocean's 11 emerged to a barrage of flash bulbs preceded by his heavily pregnant partner Angelina Jolie.

However the couple did not stop to lap up the adulation but leapt straight into the waiting black Audi and sped off.

One witness said: "It was crazy. They could easily have disappeared quietly out of the back door but instead they announced they would be coming out of the front by bringing their car round - he clearly doesn't get enough attention .

"There were photographers everywhere and their doubleparked cars were causing a nightmare on the roads outside.

"Quite a few restaurant customers and hotel guests simply had to give up trying to get through the scrum to get in - there was no way through for them. When they finally came out people were hanging out of windows to get a look at them. I've never seen anything like it."

One fan Helen Alsbrooks, 26, said: "I got right to the front of the crowds and could not believe I would really see them. When they came out it was amazing they both looked so healthy. You could tell that Angelina is pregnant. She and Brad looked great."

Pitt, 42, is believed to have dyed his hair to play outlaw Jesse James in a new film, The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford, based on a novel by Ron Hansen.

Last night he showed it off, along with his new sideburns, as he went out for dinner with Madonna, Guy Ritchie, Jamie Oliver and Patsy Kensit at Locanda Locatelli in Mayfair.