Marilyn Monroe (1926 - 1962)
Monroe is one of the great
Hollywood icons and the most famous sex goddess star. That label though
blighted her career and her memory because it tends to type her as a
blonde bimbo only suitable for the lightest of musicals and comedies.
In fact she was very intelligent and an excellent actress though she
rarely got the chance to demonstrate this to any great extent. Few of
her films made the most of her gifts but the legend continues to endure.
The legend starts with her sad childhood and a yearning to be accepted. It was her success as a model that led to the movie business in the late 40s though initially she made little impact. She made eye-catching appearances in two major films in 1950 : All About Eve and The Asphalt Jungle but it was her appearance in Niagara (1952) one of her very best movies that really made her a star.
A few frothy musicals consolidated her reputation : How To Marry A Millionaire (1953) and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). Monroe was a disciple of Lee Strasberg and the Actors' studio and this training was apparent in her performance in Bus Stop (1956) though audiences appeared to prefer the raunchy comedic Monroe of Billy Wilder's The Seven Year Itch (1956).
It was Wilder who directed her best performance in her best film Some Like It Hot (1959) but insecurities about her inability to have children and her worth as an actress were beginning to haunt Monroe. A marriage to playwright Arthur Miller was a mismatch from the start and was falling apart by the time of Marilyn's last film The Misfits (1961). It was a doom laden production also being Monroe's idol Clark Gable's last movie.
In 1962 she began work on Something's Gotta Give but the film was never completed, she was found dead in August of that year apparently due to an overdose of sleeping pills though the circumstances have never really been fully explained. According to biographer Donald Spoto, Monroe was approaching a new self awareness when she died which makes her loss all the more tragic though possibly her good looks might have faded with age. What is sure is that Monroe continues to be remembered as a timeless vulnerable beauty.
The legend starts with her sad childhood and a yearning to be accepted. It was her success as a model that led to the movie business in the late 40s though initially she made little impact. She made eye-catching appearances in two major films in 1950 : All About Eve and The Asphalt Jungle but it was her appearance in Niagara (1952) one of her very best movies that really made her a star.
A few frothy musicals consolidated her reputation : How To Marry A Millionaire (1953) and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). Monroe was a disciple of Lee Strasberg and the Actors' studio and this training was apparent in her performance in Bus Stop (1956) though audiences appeared to prefer the raunchy comedic Monroe of Billy Wilder's The Seven Year Itch (1956).
It was Wilder who directed her best performance in her best film Some Like It Hot (1959) but insecurities about her inability to have children and her worth as an actress were beginning to haunt Monroe. A marriage to playwright Arthur Miller was a mismatch from the start and was falling apart by the time of Marilyn's last film The Misfits (1961). It was a doom laden production also being Monroe's idol Clark Gable's last movie.
In 1962 she began work on Something's Gotta Give but the film was never completed, she was found dead in August of that year apparently due to an overdose of sleeping pills though the circumstances have never really been fully explained. According to biographer Donald Spoto, Monroe was approaching a new self awareness when she died which makes her loss all the more tragic though possibly her good looks might have faded with age. What is sure is that Monroe continues to be remembered as a timeless vulnerable beauty.
Written content copyright Derek McLellan,2005.
Copyright © The Fedora Chronicles
Marilyn Monroe Image from
http://www.nndb.com/people/219/000022153/