What stands out for me is the underlying innocence on screen that cloaked the torment she was experiencing in real life.
Today she is considered to be a cultural icon as well as a quintessential sex symbol. But she was more than that....she was a model, an actress and a singer.
Marilyn had a tough childhood. It's not clear who her father was...she lived with foster parents....but at the age of 7, Marilyn was stuffed into a duffel bag by her birth mother who experienced psychotic episodes. Marilyn became a ward of the state and her guardian was Grace McKee. When Grace married....Marilyn was sent to an orphanage followed by a succession of foster homes.
While there were offers of adoption, Grace would have none of it....eventually, she moved back in with Grace and her husband. There is speculation that Grace's husband attempted many times to sexually molest Marilyn so she was sent to live in California with Grace's great aunt. While there Marilyn was molested by one of the sons.
In order to prevent being returned to the orphanage, Marilyn married a neighbor at a very young age. His name was James Dougherty. In her short lifetime she was also married to Joe DiMaggio, a baseball center fielder for the New York Yankees, in 1954. In 1956 she married Arthur Miller, a playwright.
It is well known that Marilyn caused delays whenever filming a movie. It is said that these delays had contributed to the death of screen legend Clark Gable when they were shooting the movie The Misfits.
Another famous scandal was disclosed when Marilyn sang Happy Birthday in the White House to President John F. Kennedy. There are rumours linking her involvement with not only the President, but with his brother Robert as well.
After Marilyn's death, Joe DiMaggio claimed her body and arranged her funeral. For 20 years he had a half dozen roses delivered to her crypt 3 times a week.
What is memorable of Marilyn is her legacy in films. I just want to touch on my favorites and also some of her more notable films....
In 1953 she acted in Niagara, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and How to Marry a Millionaire.
In 1954 it was River of No Return and There's No Business Like Show Business.
In 1955 it was Seven Year Itch.
In 1956...there was Bus Stop.
1959....Some Like It Hot
1961....The Misfits
1962...Something's Got to Give
Now as the the photo of Marilyn.....I picked this one....It is a pop art image of Marilyn by Andy Warhol.
He had several versions of this image like the Marilyn Diptych...
It had 50 images of her all based on a single publicity photograph for the film Niagara. The 25 pictures on the left side of the diptych (2 sided....I learned that in Art History classes....FYI a triptych....yup you guessed it...is 3 sided) are brightly colored, while the 25 on the right are in black and white. It has been suggested that the relation between the left side of the canvas and the right side of the canvas portrays the relation between her life and death.
The reason I picked the Andy Warhol image is because regular photo shots just didn't do her justice, in my opinion. Warhol's image speaks of her fame, her celebrity-ness.....not merely her sensuality.
Of course there are those that remember this next one.....
Well...it is said that scene from Seven Year Itch destroyed her marriage to Joe DiMaggio.
The last clip I want to leave you with is this interview with Susan Strasberg, the daughter of Marilyn's acting coach, Lee Strasberg.
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