Star Of The Month-Marilyn Monroe

 

MARILYN MONROE

BIRTH: June 1, 1926

DEATH: August 4, 1962

AGED: 36 yrs

DIED FROM: Overdose, ruled a suicide, but I do believe she was murdered

REAL NAME: Norma Jean Mortensen or Baker

MARRIED: 3 times- James Dougherty, Joe DiMaggio, Arthur Miller

AFFAIRS: where does one start…Johnny Hyde( famous agent), Yves Montana, Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Elia Kazan, Milton Berle, Charlie Chaplin Jnr. And his brother, Sydney, Elia Kazan, Andre De Dienes and JFK and RFK

CHILDREN:Sadly, none-3 miscarriages

FRIENDS: Jane Russell, Dorothy Dandridge, Hildegard Knef and Ella Fitzgerald Whom she helped get into higher end clubs that she, normally, couldn’t have entered due to her colour. Monroe got her in and made sure she used the front door!

OSCAR NOMINATIONS: none!

TALENT: her ability to know how to model and use her face and body. Wrote poetry, painting

KNOWN FOR: loving books, a stutterer( got help from diction coaches), wore glasses, loved children and animals. Active equal rights activist, her mental instabilities, lateness and anxieties.

There are over 60 books about her not counting all the film books that mention her, of which I have quite a few few. June 1st was her 100th birthday( today is my birthday, but I’m just 62 which is why I am late with this today), but she died, way too young, at 36. If she would have lived, I bet she would have had. Weight problem, like Elizabeth Taylor, she would have gone to Studio 54 and would have ended up at the Betty Ford Centre. I do believe she would have been a co-star on the Love Boat, helped Bob Hope entertain more troops and made more films finally being nominated, if not winning, an Oscar….If only.

Her childhood was horrible start8 g with a mom, who did love her, but suffered from mental health problems often ending up in a sanitarium. Monroe ended up in Foster Care, bouncing from one place to another and being raped by one of foster parents when she was 11. By the time she was 16, she was told  she would have to go back to the orphanage or marry. She ended up marrying a childhood friend, James Dougherty, who went off to war soon after. She was one of the many gals who started working in a factory when, now sure how, Ronald Reagan saw her, and singled her out to be in films. She was already modeling, so she decided tht it was time to become a movie star. When her husband came back home,she g e him a kiss goodbye and off she went. She did a few extra roles, but times were tough which is when she posed for those famous nude photos. When they were “found”, she spoke to the reporters openly and said she was very hungry and needed the money. When asked what she had on, she famously said, “The radio”. You can see her climb the movie ladder from her short role in, “Love Happy” with the Marx Brothers to her breakout roles in “The Ashphalt Jungle” and “All About Eve”. When she finally hit the big time, she said, “Thank God that’s the last cock I have to suck”. She knew all about the casting couch and used it to get to the big times. 

Today, they make it that she was raped by big time producers like Darryl Zanuck, but she used her assets to get a head, er, sort of speak. Today, she would be part of the Me Too movement, but there was no such thing back in her day. I  have been reading and seeing videos making Monroe out to be the next Einstein, but, sorry, she was not this extremely intelligent woman who knew how to get more money by being late on the set and delaying production for her equal rights blah, blah, blah. She was average, but she was very curious and, never having a proper education, she was a veracious reader and loved learning. One director did note that he saw her start many books, but not sure she ever read the whole book. Unfortunately, she did inherit her mom’s mental issues and deal with extreme anxiety, depression and, later got hooked on barbiturates and alcohol. She was constantly very, very late on the set, stuck in her trailer, not wanting to come out and do the scene. The actors were often, very frustrated and angry with her because they would start at 8am and she would not come out of her trailer, often until 3, 4, or 5 pm! Sometimes, the actor or actress would be of great help like Jane Russell from “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” but you had Tony Curtis who claimed “Kissing Monroe was like kissing Hitler.” Because of his extreme frustration working with her on the set of “Some Like It Hot”. He later claimed they had an affair during this time but I don’t believe him. He never said he had an affair with her until decades later when he was writing his tell all book plus he was just too narcissistic in praising his prowess. Marilyn relied too much on her acting coaches, like Natasha Lytress and Lee Strassberg and his daughter, Paula Strassberg creating tensions on the set. Finally, her last film, “The Misfits” was hell to make. She was acting along side her teen-age crush, Clark Gable, but her marriage to Arthur Miller was failing and her mental health was not the best. Her delays on the set was upsetting Clark Gable who was always prompt making this set full of friction. Gable did many of his own stunts ( being dragged by a horse, for example) in high heat and with  all these issues, he had a severe heart attack. While recuperating in the hospital, he suffered mother heart attack and died at just 59. 

Marilyn, according to director/writer Billy Wilder, did not show any huge allure when you met her in person, but the camera captured something our eyes could not see. She looked beyond luminous and captured her sexual vulnerability on film. Despite not being able to remember her lines ( they did 76 takes when she walked into Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis’s room asking where the bourbon was. Wilder finally, pasted the line in the dresser when she opens up the drawer), being late, having major anxieties, she brought effervescence, gaiety, and gret humour to her roles. She enjoyed being photographed and having fun which Richard Avedon found when she created looks of the famous film stars from the turn of the century to the early 30s. She called her friend/lover, Andrede Dienes in the middle of the night to capture her inner feelings which is very haunting and sad. She wanted children so badly but suffered from endometriosis and suffered 3 miscarriages. She was rekindling her love for Joe DiMaggio at the end of her life and was going to have a Press Conference to talk about JFK and RFK when she died. It is, officially, ruled a suicide but, I do believe, she was murdered. She was a mess, mentally and hooked on drugs and alcohol, so it is easy to say she called it a day, but I don’t buy it. I watched an excellent documentary, years ago, about JFK’s death and all the people associated with his murder. It took a step by step approach about his murder and how over 170 people all died within the first 5 to 6 years after his death. The famous scene where Jack Ruby gunned down Lee Harvey Oswald to the many low lying people who just knew too much. Dorothy Kilgore was said to have committed suicide, but she was just way too logical to do this. Plus she stated she had the proof that JFK was shot by someone else and was going to go to the News with this, when she died.  All her papers were gone. Marilyn showed no signs of the barbiturates in her stomach which would have shown up in the autopsy. They did find a needle mark between her toes! The maid could not open the door so, rather than calling the police, after she looked in Marilyn’s bedroom window, she went to the home in the back of Monroe’s yard to Peter Lawford who was the brother in law to JFK and RFK. He looked in and was on the phone with god knows who. It was a couple of hours before the police were called. Her diary, certain papers were ripped out, and other papers were gone. It is circumstantial but it does make one think.  OK, this is lengthy, but she is an icon. I am going to showcase her unique photos by Richard Avedon and then the very sad images that Monroe said captured her soul, by Andrede Dienes.

Marilyn as Lillian Russell

Marilyn as Theda Bara

Marilyn as Jean Harlow

Marilyn as Clara Bow

Marilyn as Marlene Dietrich

2 pictures of Marilyn from Andre de Dienes

FILMS- MY FAVOURITES 

1. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes-1953

2. Some Like It Hot-1959

3. Seven Year Itch-1955

4. Bus Stop-1956

5. Niagara-1953

6. How To Marry A Millionaire-1953

7. There’s No Business Like Show Business-1954

8. The Misfits-1961

9. River Of No Return-1954

10. Don’t Bother To Knock-1952