|
Biography
Her mother was a film-cutter at RKO who, widowed and insane,
abandoned her to sequence of foster homes. She was almost smothered
to death at two, nearly raped at six. At nine the LA Orphans' Home
paid her a nickel a month for kitchen work while taking back a
penny every Sunday for church. At sixteen she worked in an aircraft
plant and married a man she called Daddy; he went into the
military, she modeled, they divorced in 1946. She owned 200 books
(including Tolstoy, Whitman, Milton), listened to Beethoven
records, studied acting at the Actors' lab in Hollywood, and took
literature courses at UCLA downtown. 20th Century Fox gave her a
contract but let it lapse a year later. In 1948 Columbia gave her a
six-month contract, turned her over to coach 'Natasha Lytess' (qv)
and featured her in the B movie "Ladies of the Chorus" for which
she sang two numbers. Joseph Mankiewicz saw her in a small part in
_Asphalt Jungle, The (1950)_ (qv) and put her in "All About Eve",
because of which 20th Century re-signed her to a seven-year
contract. _Niagara (1953)_ (qv) and _Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
(1953)_ (qv) launched her as a sex symbol superstar. When she went
to a supper honoring her _Seven Year Itch, The (1955)_ (qv) she
arrived in a red chiffon gown borrowed from the studio (she had
never owned a gown). The same year she married and divorced
baseball great 'Joe Dimaggio' (qv) (their wedding night was spent
in Paso Robles CA). After "Itch" she wanted serious acting to
replace the sexpot image and went to New York's Actors Studio. She
worked with director 'Lee Strasberg' (qv) and also underwent
psychoanalysis to learn more about herself. Critics praised her
transformation in _Bus Stop (1956)_ (qv) and the press was stunned
by her marriage to playwright Arthur Miller. True to form, she had
no veil to match her beige wedding dress so she dyed one in coffee;
he wore one of the two suits he owned. They went to England that
fall where she made "The Prince and the Showgirl" with Lawrence
Olivier, fighting with him and falling further prey to alcohol and
pills. Two miscarriages and gynecological surgery followed. So did
an affair with 'Yves Montand' (qv). Work on her last picture
_Misfits, The (1961)_ (qv), written for her by departing husband
Miller) was interrupted by exhaustion. She was dropped from
"Something's Got to Give" due to chronic lateness and drug
dependency. Four months later she was found dead in her Brentwood
home of a drug overdose, adjudged suicide.
Biography courtesy of the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com).
|
Marilyn Monroe
