Timeline of the Marilyn connections who have passed on...
Created by marilynfan on Oct 19, 2010
Last updated: 02/18/12 at 03:44 PM
Arnold (born April 21, 1912) was an American photojournalist. She joined Magnum Photos Agency in 1951.
Some of her best known images are candid shots of Marilyn Monroe. On the movie set of "The Misfits," Arnold captured the tension between Monroe and playwright Arthur Miller, her husband at the time and the screenwriter on the 1960 film.
"She liked my photographs and was canny enough to realize that they were a fresh approach for presenting her — a looser, more intimate look than the posed studio portraits she was used to in Hollywood," Arnold wrote of Monroe in "Film Journal."
It was a mutually beneficial arrangement. Arnold published several more books, "Marilyn Monroe: An Appreciation" and "Marilyn for Ever," both in 1987. She exhibited and sold the images repeatedly, for decades.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve_Arnold
From October 1957 through the next 5 years she served as Marilyn Monroe's New York maid. Pepitone claimed to have a close personal relationship with Marilyn. In 1979, Pepitone published her "autobiographical" account of her life with Marilyn. It was titled Marilyn Monroe Confidential. The book, which can be fairly described as tabloid trash, has been lambasted by Marilyn fans as being exploitative and vulgar.
Russell was an American film actress and was one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s.
Russell moved from the Midwest to California, where she had her first film role in 1943 with The Outlaw. In 1947, Russell delved into music before returning to films. After starring in multiple films in the 1950s, Russell again returned to music while completing several other films in the 1960s. She starred in over 20 films throughout her career.
Russell married three times and adopted three children and, in 1955, founded the World Adoption International Fund. For her achievements in film, she received several accolades including having her hand and foot prints immortalized in the forecourt of Grauman's Chinese Theatre along side her co-star Marilyn Monroe and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Jane starred with Marilyn in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and they got along really well. Jane felt protective of Marilyn and it comes across in the film.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Russell
Born June 3, 1925, Curtis was an American film actor whose career spanned six decades, but had his greatest popularity during the 1950s and early 1960s. He acted in over 60 films in roles covering a wide range of genres, from light comedy to serious drama. In his later years, Curtis made numerous television appearances.
Curtis gave what many believe was his best acting, in the comedy Some Like it Hot (1959). It was voted the number 1 funniest film in history from a survey done by the American Film Institute. It costarred Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe, and was directed by Billy Wilder.
Curtis famously likened kissing Marilyn Monroe in the film to kissing Hitler. Although Curtis backtracked from this statement in recent years.
In his later years he began to claim a close relationship with Marilyn. In his 2009 book "The Making of Some Like it Hot" he made the ridiculous claim that they dated on and off since 1950. Even more incredible, for the first time, he claimed that Marilyn had been pregnant with his child during Some Like it Hot when she suffered a miscarriage!! What an ass.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Curtis
Bacon was an American author and journalist who also worked as an actor in film and television. He wrote historical accounts of his years observing Hollywood and a biography of Jackie Gleason.
Bacon penned three books in the 1970s and 1980s. The first book, Hollywood is a Four Letter Town, was published in 1977; its sequel, Made in Hollywood, in 1978. Of note in these books were his close friendships with, among others, Jackie Gleason, Humphrey Bogart, Bob Hope, Milton Berle, and Desi Arnaz. Bacon also discussed his brief affair with Marilyn Monroe.
Over the years, Bacon turned his casual interactions with Marilyn into a career. He appeared in countless documentaries and Larry King specials claiming to have been Marilyn's lover and the one who picked her new name in Hollywood.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bacon_%28author%29
McCarthy was an American stage, film, and television actor, who appeared in over two hundred television and film roles. For his role in the 1951 film version of Death of a Salesman, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and won a Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year. McCarthy is probably best known for his starring role in Invasion of the Body Snatchers, a 1956 horror science fiction film.
McCarthy played the husband that Marilyn Monroe was divorcing in the film "The Misfits".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_McCarthy_%28actor%29
Born December 26, 1914, Widmark was an American actor of films, stage, radio and television.
He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as the villainous Tommy Udo in his debut film, Kiss of Death. Early in his career Widmark specialized in similar villainous or anti-hero roles in films noir, but he later branched out into more heroic leading and support roles in westerns, mainstream dramas and horror films, among others.
In 1952, Widmark costarred opposite Marilyn in "Don't Bother to Knock". Years later, in 1986, Widmark narrated the cable television documenatry "Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Widmark
Born, May 6, 1924 Patricia was an American socialite and the sixth of nine children of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald, sister to President John F. Kennedy, Senators Robert F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy.
In 1962, she was married to Peter Lawford and saw a lot of Marilyn. Pat flew out from the East Coast to attend Marilyn's funeral. Joe DiMaggio did not admit her or any of Marilyn's hollywood friends, whom he blamed for her death.
Patricia Lawford divorced Peter not long after JFK was assassinated. Their son, Christopher Lawford, is also an actor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Kennedy_Lawford
Winters was an American actress who appeared in dozens of films, as well as on stage and television; her career spanned over fifty years until her death in 2006. Two-time Academy Award winner, Winters is probably most remembered for her roles in A Place in the Sun, The Big Knife, Lolita, The Night of the Hunter, Alfie, and The Poseidon Adventure. Marilyn and Shelley became friends in the late 1940's, and shared an apartment on Holloway Drive in 1951. As an early member of the Actors Studio, Winters was one of the first to recommend Lee Strasberg to Marilyn. Winters has written three auto-biographical books which contain references to Marilyn.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelley_Winters
James Edward Dougherty (born April 12, 1921) was an American policeman and later author who is best known for being the first husband of Marilyn Monroe.
Norma Jeane Baker (Marilyn Monroe) and James Dougherty married on June 19, 1942, at 8:30 pm, at the home of Chester Howell in Los Angeles.[1]
In 1943, Dougherty joined the United States Merchant Marine. Prior to that he worked with Robert Mitchum in a defense plant. He was ordered to boot camp on Santa Catalina Island, California, then sent overseas in 1944. Norma Jeane started to work for Radioplane Company, where she was discovered. She moved out of her mother-in-law's home and stopped writing to Dougherty. She filed for divorce in Las Vegas, Nevada; it was finalized on September 13, 1946.
Dougherty married Patricia Scoman in 1947, and joined the LAPD. He was one of the police officers who held back the crowd at the premiere of his former wife's movie, The Asphalt Jungle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Dougherty
Slatzer was born in Marion, Ohio, and by his early teens he knew he wanted to be a writer. After attending Ohio State University, he spent time as a newspaper reporter for the Columbus Dispatch. He relocated to Hollywood in 1946. He also wrote Hollywood biographies, including "Bing Crosby: The Hollow Man" and "Duke: The Life and Times of John Wayne." He was involved in a number film and television projects, including the 1970 film, "Bigfoot." He gained the media spotlight with his 1974 book "The Life and Curious Death of Marilyn Monroe," in which he claimed that he and Monroe had met when she was a struggling model and were secretly married in Mexico in 1952. He wrote that 20th Century Fox Studios head Darryl F. Zanuck ordered the marriage dissolved over concerns about Monroe's image, and that the documents were destroyed. In the 1980s, he sent a letter to county supervisors arguing that Monroe was murdered and a grand jury should investigate her death. The grand jury rejected the request. He wrote a second book on Monroe, "The Marilyn Files," that was published in 1992. Slatzer was never able to conclusively prove the marriage took place to the satisfaction of her many biographers or fans.
Arthur Miller was an American playwright (born October 17). He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include award-winning plays such as All My Sons, Death of a Salesman and The Crucible.
Miller was often in the public eye, particularly during the late 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s, a period during which he testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee, received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
He married Marilyn Monroe in June 1956 and the marriage lasted for 4 years. He wrote a screenplay for his wife called "The Misfits". It would turn out to be the last film Marilyn completed. Their marriage crumbled during the filming in 1961.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Miller
Born 9 October 1932, Colin Clark was a British writer and filmmaker who specialised in films for cinema and television about the arts.
Colin Clark's first job on leaving university was as an assistant director on the film The Prince and the Showgirl (1957), directed by Laurence Olivier and starring Olivier and Marilyn Monroe, an experience Clark later turned into two books, one a set of diaries (a TV documentary version of which was also made in 2004) and the other a memoir of his relationship with Monroe.
He went on to work with Olivier on The Entertainer, Titus Andronicus and other British stage productions.
Most fans agree Clark's first book is an interesting insight into the filming of Prince and the Showgirl. However, his second book released several years later is about a "relationship" he had with Marilyn. Why he would not mention this in his first book is obvious - because it didn't happen.
To make things worse, My Week with Marilyn is currently in production (as of November 2010) as a feature film starring Michelle Williams (see photo).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Clark_(filmmaker)
Born 22 June 1906, Wilder was an Austrian-born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist, and journalist, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age. Wilder is one of only five people who have won three Academy Awards for producing, directing and writing the same film (The Apartment).
He directed Marilyn in The Seven Year Itch (1955) and Some Like it Hot (1959). Filming Some Like it Hot was a difficult time and Wilder and Monroe were barely speaking when the film wrapped. They apparently made up at a party for the success of The Apartment.
Over the years WIlder has been critical of Marilyn but also acknowledged her talent.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Wilder
Lemmon was an American actor. He starred in more than 60 films including Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Mister Roberts (for which he won the 1955 Best Supporting Actor Academy Award), Days of Wine and Roses, The Great Race, Irma la Douce, The Odd Couple, Save the Tiger (for which he won the 1973 Best Actor Academy Award), The Out-of-Towners, The China Syndrome, Missing, Glengarry Glen Ross, Grumpy Old Men and Grumpier Old Men.
Some Like it Hot is famous for the difficult filming with Marilyn in which they would have to do upwards of 50 takes for a simple scene. Regardless, over the years Lemmon has been kind to Marilyn's memory while still being honest about what it was like to work with her.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_lemmon
Joseph Paul DiMaggio Jr. was born Oct. 23, 1941, in San Francisco. After his parents divorced three years later, he spent much of his early life in summer camps and military schools, including the now-defunct Black Foxe Military Institute, a few blocks west of Paramount Studios in Hollywood. It was known as the school of choice for the sons of Hollywood celebrities. As he entered his teen years, the youth split his time between his mother, who was pursuing her acting career in Hollywood, and his father, who had begun seeing Monroe. Young Joe and Monroe were reportedly close, and the boy often accompanied the couple on dates. He spent his high school years at a prep school in New Jersey, where he shunned baseball to play football. He was the kicker on the team and by all accounts a bright student. However, his father, who was living in New York, had little time for his son and never saw his games. Young DiMaggio enrolled at Yale University as a freshman in 1960 but quit after the first year because he had grown to hate the Eastern winters. He returned to Los Angeles and worked at odd jobs before deciding to join the Marine Corps. Despite his father's divorce from Monroe, young Joe remained close to the actress. He phoned her about 8:30 on the night of Aug. 4, 1962, to tell her that he had broken off his engagement to the daughter of a wealthy San Diego contractor. The next day, DiMaggio Jr. learned that Monroe had died from an apparent overdose of drugs and alcohol. Joe Jr accompanied his father at Marilyn's funeral dressed in his military uniform.
Sam Shaw, photographer and movie producer, befriended Marilyn in the mid-1950's. In 1955, Shaw was hired by 20th Century Fox to shoot publicity stills of MM for The Seven Year Itch. Twenty-four years later, The Joy of Marilyn in the Camera Eye included those photos. Shaw's third book of MM photographs, Marilyn: Among Friends was published in 1987. In addition to his MM-related work, Shaw has produced photo essays on many film directors and movie stars. He has also served as the executive producer on the majority of films directed by his friend, John Cassavetes.
http://www.samshaw.com/
Joe DiMaggio (born November 25, 1914) was an American baseball player for the New York Yankees. He was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1955.
DiMaggio was a 3-time MVP winner and 13-time All-Star (the only player to be selected for the All-Star Game in every season he played). He is perhaps best known for his 56-game hitting streak (May 15–July 16, 1941), a record that still stands.
According to her autobiography, Marilyn Monroe originally did not want to meet DiMaggio, fearing he was a stereotypical arrogant athlete. They eloped at San Francisco City Hall on January 14, 1954 and were divorced 9 months later.
DiMaggio re-entered Monroe's life as her marriage to Arthur Miller was ending. On February 10, 1961, he secured her release from Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic. She joined him in Florida where he was a batting coach for the Yankees. Their "just friends" claim did not stop remarriage rumors from flying.
Devastated by her death in 1962, he claimed her body and arranged her funeral, barring Hollywood's elite. He had a half-dozen red roses delivered 3 times a week to her crypt for 20 years. Unlike her other two husbands or others who knew her (or claimed to), he refused to talk about her publicly or otherwise exploit their relationship. He never married again.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_dimaggio
Susan Elizabeth Strasberg (born May 22, 1938) was the daughter of theatre director and drama coach Lee Strasberg and former actress Paula Strasberg.
After a widely praised performance as a teenager in Picnic, Strasberg originated the title role in the Broadway production of The Diary of Anne Frank at the age of 18 and was nominated for a Tony Award. Strasberg also starred in the Italian holocaust film Kapò, which was nominated for an Academy Award as best foreign film of 1960.
Strasberg wrote two best-selling books: Bittersweet, an autobiography, in which she discussed her tumultuous relationships with actors Richard Burton and Christopher Jones, as well as her daughter's struggles with a serious heart defect, and Marilyn and Me: sisters, rivals, friends which recounted her relationship with her "surrogate sister," Marilyn Monroe, who was a "member" of the Strasberg family for many years.
Strasberg died in 1999 after a long battle with breast cancer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Strasberg
Marilyn Monroe first met Frank in 1954, when 20th Century Fox had slated him them to costar opposite one another in the ill-fated venture The Girl in Pink Tights. They began dating shortly thereafter, following MM's split from Sinatra's friend, Joe DiMaggio. Reportedly, it was Sinatra's house that she sought refuge following her divorce. In the mid-50's, during her New York period, Marilyn continued to see Sinatra on occasion. Once while Frank was performing at the Copacabana Club, Marilyn showed up with the Greenes with no tickets. Frank stopped his show and had them put a table next to the stage for her. Sinatra was rumored to play the Jack Lemmon part in Some Like it Hot but it never came to be. It seems Marilyn and Frank were never destined to be in a film together. In 1960, following her split from Miller, she resumed her courtship with Frank. She was an occasional visitor to the Cal-Neva Lodge, a casino and resort owned by Frank. They remained friends for the rest of Marilyn's life. On the night she died, as she always did, Marilyn listened to a stack of Frank Sinatra records. He was, of course, her favourite singer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Sinatra
Poet Norman Rosten was one of Marilyn Monroe's closet friends - from her New York period, circa 1945, until her death.
It was photographer Sam Shaw who introduced Marilyn to Norman and Hedda Rosten in the spring of 1955. At that time, the Rostens were also good friends with Arthur Miller, whom Marilyn was "secretly" dating. In fact, it was at the Rosten's Brooklyn home that Miller and Marilyn would frequently meet. For further privacy, they would also occasionally visit the Rosten summer home in Port Jefferson, Long Island. And, after Arthur and Marilyn married, in 1956, the Rostens were frequent visitors to their famous friends East 57th Street Apartment in NYC. It was Rosten that Marilyn shared her poetry, which contained, presumably, her innermost thoughts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Rosten
Ewell was an american actor. His most successful and arguably most identifiable role came in 1952 when he began the Broadway production of The Seven Year Itch. With Vanessa Brown as "The Girl", the show ran for almost three years, and Ewell played the part more than 900 times. He won a 1953 Tony Award for this role.
He reprised his role in the 1955 film version, with Brown replaced by Marilyn Monroe. The scene of Ewell slyly admiring Monroe as she stood over a subway grate with her skirt billowing has become one of the most iconic moments in films. He won a Golden Globe Award for his performance.
He often spoke highly of his co-star Monroe, saying that he "adored" her and that she was "such a lovely person to work with".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Ewell
Allan "Whitey" Snyder (born 7 August 1914) was an American Hollywood make-up artist and is best remembered as the personal make-up artist of Marilyn Monroe.
Allan Snyder had a long and immensely successful career as a film make-up artist, beginning in 1948, with his appointment as assistant make-up artist on the film The Walls of Jericho.
Whitey Snyder was Marilyn Monroe's makeup artist throughout her career: from her first screen test at Twentieth Century Fox in 1946 to her funeral makeup in 1962. The pair developed a very close working relationship. Towards the end of her life, Monroe asked Snyder to prepare her face if she were to die before him. This was a promise that he fulfilled, after her death in 1962. Snyder was also a pall-bearer at the funeral.
For his work, Snyder was twice nominated for Primetime Emmy awards, under the category of Outstanding Achievement in Make-Up. These nominations came in 1978, for his work on the TV Biopic Marilyn: The Untold Story and in 1981, for Little House on the Prairie. His last project was the 1984 television series, Highway to Heaven.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_%22Whitey%22_Snyder
Murray (born March 3, 1902) is notable for being Marilyn Monroe's housekeeper who was present in the actress' house at the time she died there. Eunice Murray has been accused by many tabloid authors and LAPD Sergeant Jack Clemmons of being involved in a cover-up of Monroe's death, although no one has proven such innuendo.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eunice_Murray
In 1953, filmmaker Jean Negulesco had somewhat of a reputation as a "woman's director" within the motion picture industry. Thus, it must have seemed appropriate to the front office at 20th Century Fox that Negulesco helm Fox's major 1953 Cinemascope production of How to Marry a Millionaire. Not only was that film set to star the then-slipping-queen of the Fox lot, Betty Grable, as well as the almost regal presence of Lauren Bacall, it was also set to trumpet the arrival of the new queen of the lot - Marilyn Monroe. Jean Negulesco was the first director, since John Huston, that Marilyn Monroe got along well with. During the production of How to Marry a Millionaire. Negulesco the artist painted a portrait of Marilyn.He also lent her books, which they discussed. But, despite the fact the film was a major success for Marilyn, Negulesco was not included on Marilyn's 1956 list of "approved" directors.
Montand was an Italian-born French actor and singer. In 1951, he married the actress Simone Signoret, and they co-starred in several films throughout their careers. The marriage was, by all accounts, fairly harmonious, lasting until her death in 1985, although Montand had a number of well-publicised affairs, notably with Marilyn Monroe, with whom he starred in one of her last films, Let's Make Love.
Montand embarked on an affair with Marilyn Monroe during filming of the ill fated film Let's Make Love. He had been personally recommended by Arthur Miller (who was married to Monroe) after Miller saw him acting in a foreign movie version of his play The Crucible called Les Sorcières de Salem.
You can listen to the following podcast episode I dedicated to Yves featuring excerpts from his autobiography and interviews he did where he talked about his relationship with Marilyn.
http://media.libsyn.com/media/mymarilyn/MM-02-03-08.mp3
A Rhodes scholar, Mr. Allan left a career in journalism in 1955 to become a publicity agent. In addition to Miss Monroe, he represented stars like Bette Davis, Steve McQueen, Rock Hudson, Marlene Dietrich, Gina Lollobrigida, Jeanne Moreau, Catherine Deneuve and Melina Mercouri. In 1952, Allan was the West Coast editor of LOOK magazine. It was Allan, in tandem with Fox publicist Roy Craft, who was responsible for Marilyn's first LOOK cover. In time, Allan became Marilyn's friend, art counselor and personal publicist. In 1960, toward the end of The Misfits shooting, Allan left his post with Marilyn for a more lucrative job offer. Rupert M. Allan Jr., a public relations agent who represented Marilyn Monroe and other film stars, died Saturday. He was 78 years old and lived in Beverly Hills.
He was an American costume designer for theatre, film, and television. He is perhaps best-known for dressing Marilyn Monroe in eight of her films. By 1952 he was close friends with Marilyn Monroe and created the costumes for Don't Bother to Knock and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. He went on to design the costumes for several more of her films. Later in 1953, Travilla created one of the most iconic costumes in all of film. It was a snow white cocktail dress Marilyn wore in the film The Seven Year Itch. She is wearing it as she stands on a New York subway ventilation grate and the dress raises up around her as a train passes below ground. This photographs of this scene have become synonymous with Monroe herself. She once wrote to Travilla "Billy Dear, please dress me forever. I love you, Marilyn."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Travilla
Sir Laurence Olivier is commonly acknowledged as the finest actor - stage or screen - of our time. He was born in 1907 and knighted forty years later. He appeared in a plethora of film classics, among them Wuthering Heights (1939), Rebecca (1940), Henry V (for which he won a 1944 Oscar), Hamlet (for which he won a 1948 Oscar), Richard III (1956), The Entertainer (1960), Sleuth (1972), and The Marathon Man (1976).
When Marilyn Monroe announced to the world in 1956 that she would team with Laurence Olivier to produce The Prince and the Showgirl, she was ridiculed for what was termed her pretensions. Nevertheless, Marilyn did produce Prince. Moreover, she starred in it and even had the audacity to give herself top billing over Lord Olivier, who, by the way, directed.
The relationship was strained from the start with Olivier instructing her with "Be sexy" and Marilyn only taking direction from Paula Strasberg.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Olivier
Logan was an American stage and film director and writer.
He directed Marilyn in 1956's "Bus Stop" and has had nothing but glowing remarks like " I found her to be one of the greatest talents of our time."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Logan
American film director, screenwriter and actor. Huston wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered "classics": The Maltese Falcon (1941), The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), Key Largo (1948), The Asphalt Jungle (1950), The African Queen (1951), Moulin Rouge (1952), The Misfits (1961), and The Man Who Would Be King (1975). During his 46-year career, Huston received 15 Oscar nominations, winning twice, and directed both his father, Walter Huston, and daughter, Anjelica Huston to Oscar wins in different films.
Houston gave Marilyn a break in The Asphalt Jungle and later directed her in the Misfits. He was known as a hard-drinking, hard-gambling type of person.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Huston
The movies most beloved sophisticate, Cary Grant was born Archibald Leach in 1904. His thirty-year film career included such gems as She Done Him Wrong (1933), Bringing up Baby (1938), His Girl Friday (1940), The Philadephia Story (1940), Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), To Catch a Thief (1955), North by Northwest (1959).
In 1952, Grant starred in Howard Hawks' Monkey Business which costarred Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn reported wanted Grant as her co-star in Let's Make Love, however, he rejected the proposition. It has been printed that Grant spoke with MM over the phone the night before she died. He later stated that he regretted not having tried harder to help her.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cary_Grant
Marilyn Monroe did not like Otto Preminger, and the sentiment was more than reciprocated. Otto Preminger was the Austrian director of such notable American films as Laura (1944), The Moon is Blue (1953), Carmen Jones (1954), The Man with the Golden Arm (1956), and Anatomy of a Murder (1959).
In 1953, Preminger directed the hottest new star in hollywood, Marilyn Monroe, in a contrived, mediocre western, River of No Return. During the shooting, there was a considerable amount of tension between MM and Preminger, particularly due to the presence of Natasha Lytess, whom Preminger had tried, unsuccessfully, to ban from the set. During production, Marilyn was said to have referred to Preminger as that "pompous ass". In 1960, Preminger was asked whether or not he would ever make another film with MM. He stated, predictably, that he would not - not for a million dollars.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Preminger
Milton H. Greene (born March 14, 1922) was a fashion and celebrity photographer. He was active for over four decades. He is best known for the photoshoots he did with Marilyn Monroe.
reene first encountered Marilyn Monroe on assignment for Look Magazine. They quickly became close friends and ultimately formed their own film production company, which produced Bus Stop and The Prince and the Showgirl. Before marrying Arthur Miller, Monroe lived with Greene and his family in their Connecticut farmhouse. During this period, Greene captured some of the most famous photographs taken of Monroe. During their four years together, Greene photographed Monroe in 52 photographic sessions, including the famous “Black Sitting".
Monroe entrusted Greene with her autobiography, called My Story. He would later collaborate with Norman Mailer on a fictional auto-biography of Monroe, entitled Of Women and Their Elegance.
http://www.archiveimages.com/
Andre De Dienes is, unquestionably, one of the best still photographers that Marilyn Monroe ever worked with. His many, many shots, circa 1945-1949, are the most exquisite documentation of early Marilyn Monroe. De Dienes took Norma Jeane on an extended photo expedition that took them to Las Vegas, Oregon, the Mojave and Yosemite. And, according to de Dienes, two significant things happened during the location shooting. First, he took Norma Jeane to Portland, Oregon, to be reunited with her mother, Gladys Baker. The second thing was that he fell in love with Norma Jeane and they had a brief relationship.
Born September 7, 1923 Lawford, was an English-American actor. He was a member of the "Rat Pack," and brother-in-law to President John F. Kennedy, perhaps more noted in later years for his off-screen activities as a celebrity than for his acting.
Marilyn was known to frequent the Lawford beach house and it is rumored on some occasions it was to meet up with JFK. Lawford was one of the last people to speak with Marilyn the night she died.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Lawford
Without a doubt, Marilyn's childhood contributed to her insecurity and unhappiness later in life. Although Marilyn did sometimes exaggerate the horrors of her upbringing, there can be no denying that it was indeed a grim and difficult experience for her. Illegitimate at birth, little Norma Jeane Mortensen (she was baptized with the surname Baker), entered the world on June 1st, 1926. Without a father, Norma Jeane was left in the care of her mother, Gladys Baker. Unfortunately, this did not last. Gladys, whose family had a history of mental illness, had a break-down and was institutionalized. She remained this way until her death in 1984.
In 1945, David Conover was an Army photographer for the Hal Roach Studios in Culver City, CA. As fate would have it, Conover was assigned to shoot photographs of women working to aid the war effort. Accordingly, Conover went to Radio Plane Company, where he spotted 18-year-old Norma Jean Dougherty, who amply filled out her tight overalls. Conover reportedly asked NJ if she had a sweater that she could put on. She did, and unbeknownst to him, he took what were to become the first professional photos ever taken of Marilyn Monroe. Conover's photos of Norma Jeane eventually landed her first magazine cover.
In 1981, Conover published a book about his discovery and (of course) his relationship with Marilyn. He claims they were lovers and that she seduced him (Yeah, sure). The book was called Finding Marilyn: A Romance.
http://www.dconover.com/default.htm
Cukor was an American film director. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO and later MGM, where he directed What Price Hollywood? (1932), A Bill of Divorcement (1932), Dinner at Eight (1933), Little Women (1933), David Copperfield (1935), Romeo and Juliet (1936) and Camille (1936).
He was replaced as the director of Gone with the Wind (1939), but he went on to direct The Philadelphia Story (1940), Adam's Rib (1949), Born Yesterday (1950), A Star Is Born (1954) and My Fair Lady (1964). He continued to work into the 1980s.
He directed Marilyn in Let's Make Love and the ill-fated Something's Got to Give, an updated remake of the 1940 screwball comedy My Favorite Wife. Cukor liked leading lady Marilyn Monroe but found it difficult to deal with her erratic work habits, frequent absences from the set, and the constant presence of her acting coach, Paula Strasberg. After thirty-two days of shooting, the director had only 7½ minutes of usable film. Then Monroe travelled to New York to appear at a birthday celebration for John F. Kennedy at Madison Square Garden, where she famously serenaded the President. Studio documents released after Monroe's death confirmed that her appearance at the political fundraising event was approved by Fox executives. The production came to a halt when Cukor had filmed every scene not involving Monroe and the actress remained unavailable. 20th Century Fox executive Peter Levathes fired her and hired Lee Remick to replace her, prompting co-star Dean Martin to quit, since his contract guaranteed he would be playing opposite Monroe. With the production already $2 million over budget and everyone back at the starting gate, the studio pulled the plug on the project. Less than two months later, Monroe was found dead in her home.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Cukor
Lee Strasberg (born November 17, 1901) is generally regarded as one of the most prolific acting coaches of our time.
In 1948, Lee Strasberg became the artistic director of the Actors Studio in New York. He gained worldwide recognition for his teaching of "The Method" style of acting, as well as for his impressive celebrity-studded student body.
By the spring of 1955, Marilyn had fled from Hollywood and was determined to improve her acting skills. For three months, Marilyn was given private instruction by Strasberg before she was deemed ready to join the regular classes at the Actors Studio.
Lee became much more to Marilyn than a coach. He introduced her to psychoanalysis and encouraged and entertained Marilyn's aspirations of acting greatness.
Strasberg "gave away the bride" at Marilyn and Arthur's wedding in New York. Six years later, on the opposite coast, he delivered the eulogy at Marilyn's funeral.
Marilyn left all of her personal belongings to Lee, which he kept in storage. When he passed away the items were left to his second wife, Anna Strasberg (who ever met Marilyn). Anna sold these items at auction in 1999 and she also runs and profits from Marilyn's estate.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Strasberg
Howard Hawks was one of the most noted directors in Hollywood history. By the time he made Monkey Business (1952) and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), Hawks had helmed such American Classics as Scarface (1932), Bringing up Baby (1938), His Girl Friday (1940), To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946) and Red River (1948).
Anatagonism developed between MM and Hawks on the set of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes because Marilyn continously held up shooting. When the fox front office asked Hawks how he could speed up the slowly progressing production, Hawks was quoted as suggesting, "I have three wonderful ideas. Replace Marilyn, rewrite the script and make it shorter, and get a new director."
On Marilyn, Hawks said, "Marilyn was just a frightened girl. She never felt that she was good enough to do the things she did. It was hard to get her out of her dressing room. When she got out there, it was easy. We had a lot of fun doing Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, but there were a lot of times when I was ready to give up the ghost."
Hawks, sometimes known as "the man who discovered" Lauren Bacall, joined Henry Hathaway by being conspicuously absent from MM's 1955 list of approved directors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Hawks
Her iconic bathing suit photo made her the number-one pin-up girl of the World War II era. Grable was particularly noted for having the most beautiful legs in Hollywood and studio publicity widely dispersed photos featuring them. Grable's legs were famously insured by her studio for $1,000,000 with Lloyds of London.
In 1952, Marilyn was cast ahead of Grable for the lead role in Gentlemen Prefers Blondes, despite Grable's keeness for the part. For her next movie, Marilyn was pitted opposite the outgoing Screen Queen, Grable. Far from showing bitterness, Gable was graciousness personified and often came to Marilyn's defense. One day she said to Marilyn, "Honey, I've had it. Go and get yours."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Grable
Born October 17, 1920, Clift was an American film and stage actor. Clift received four Academy Award nominations during his career, three for Best Actor and one for Best Supporting Actor.
On May 12, 1956, while filming Raintree County, he smashed his car into a telephone pole after leaving a party at the Beverly Hills home of his Raintree County co-star and close friend Elizabeth Taylor and her then-husband Michael Wilding. He suffered a broken jaw and nose, a fractured sinus, and several facial lacerations which required plastic surgery.
The pain of the accident led him to rely on alcohol and pills for relief, as he had done after an earlier bout with dysentery left him with chronic intestinal problems. As a result, Clift's health and looks deteriorated considerably.
He costarred in John Huston's The Misfits (1961), which turned out to be Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable's last film. Monroe, who was also having emotional problems at the time, famously described Clift as, "The only person I know who is in worse shape than I am." They were very close during the filming and confided in each other about their problems.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgomery_Clift
Paula Miller Strasberg (born 1909) was a former stage actress who became actor and teacher Lee Strasberg's second wife, mother of actors John and Susan Strasberg as well as Marilyn Monroe's acting coach and confidante.
Paula guided Marilyn through each of her films, beginning with Bus Stop in 1956. Paula was not liked by most of Marilyn's movie-making associates. Many referred to her as "Black Bart" because of her wardrobe of black.
Paula passed away from cancer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paula_Strasberg
Marilyn Monroe was twenty-five minutes late for her first meeting with Natasha Lytess. It was April 1948, Marilyn had recently been signed to a six-month contract with Columbia Pictures. At that time, Natasha was Columbia's head drama coach. Columbia asked Natasha to work with Marilyn on Ladies of the Chorus. Natasha and Marilyn developed an important, intense relationship that lasted seven years, until the completion of The Seven Year Itch (1955) shooting. Natasha took Marilyn seriously as an actress at a time when no one else did. So strong was Natasha's belief in her pupil that, when Marilyn was signed for The Asphalt Jungle (1950), Lytess quit her job so that she could coach MM from the sidelines. After 1951, beginning with Clash by Night (1952), Marilyn refused to do a scene until Natasha was present on set. Marilyn became increasingly dependent on Natasha. Marilyn even lived with Natasha at her Hollywood home on Harper Avenue. With the exception of Billy Wilder, Natasha was regarded as an obstacle. Rumors spread in underground Hollywood that Marilyn was involved in a lesbian affair with Natasha. At any rate, Natasha did not approve of Marilyn's personal involvement with Joe DiMaggio. As this relationship intensified the other deteriorated. In 1956, when Marilyn returned to Hollywood to shoot Bus Stop, she needed to confront Natasha to let her know her services were no longer needed. While in New York, Marilyn had picked up a new acting coach, Paula Strasberg. However, instead of personally informing Natasha, Marilyn had a law firm send her an impersonal telegram. Marilyn also refused to see or talk to Natasha, who was understandably miffed.
JFK was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. John Kennedy met his future wife, Jacqueline Bouvier, when he was a congressman. Kennedy and his wife were younger in comparison to the presidents and first ladies that preceded them, and both were popular in ways more common to pop singers and movie stars than politicians, influencing fashion trends and becoming the subjects of numerous photo spreads in popular magazines.
Over the years, rumors of a relationship with Marilyn Monroe have persisted. They reportedly spent time together at Peter Lawford's beach house and at Bing Crosby's in Palm Springs. On May 19, 1962 - Marilyn famously sang Happy Birthday to him live in Madison Square Gardens.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy
Gable was an American film actor, nicknamed "The King of Hollywood" in his heyday. Gable's most famous role was Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh. His performance earned him his third nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor; he won for It Happened One Night (1934) and was also nominated for Mutiny on the Bounty (1935). Later performances were in Run Silent, Run Deep, a submarine war film, and his final film, The Misfits (1961), which paired Gable with Marilyn Monroe in her last screen appearance.
Young Norma Jeane grew up thinking of Gable as her father since he resembled a photo her mother had once shown her. When she worked with Gable in The Misfits (which turned out to be the last film for both of them) she was under severe emotional pressure. Gable was a gentlemen and showed great patience during her difficulties on the set. The day after completion of shooting at Paramount Studios he suffered a massive heart attack. Eleven days later was followed by a fatal coronary. At the time it was rumored that Gable's heart attack had been brought on by the strains of working with Marilyn. It was more likely due to the difficult stunts that Gable insisted on doing himself.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clark_Gable
Johnny Hyde (born 23 April 1895) was a Russian-born American talent agent, and vice-president of the William Morris Agency's West Coast office in the 1930s and 1940s.
Although he represented some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry at the time, Hyde is best-known for handling then-unknown Marilyn Monroe, whom he met in 1948. Hyde left his wife for her. Monroe repeatedly refused his marriage proposals; she loved Hyde, but was not in love with him.
His influence helped her land the roles of Angela in The Asphalt Jungle, and Miss Caswell in All About Eve. The buzz generated by her performances enabled Hyde to negotiate a contract for Monroe with 20th Century Fox.
Hyde died of a massive heart attack which Marilyn took very hard.
http://www.marilynmonroe.ca/camera/collection/check/index.html
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