1950 Hebew MARILYN MONROE Israel PHOTO BOOK FRONT COVER Film THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH

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Seller: judaica-bookstore ✉️ (2,805) 100%, Location: TEL AVIV, IL, Ships to: WORLDWIDE, Item: 285624165559 1950 Hebew MARILYN MONROE Israel PHOTO BOOK FRONT COVER Film THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH. DESCRIPTION :  The Israeli publishers of this 1950's PULP Hebrew book named " Me and MY  GRADMOTHER " have picked a nice classic photographed image of MARILYN MONROE from the legendary film/movie "THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH" ( Fully credited within the book ) for the FRONT COVER.  On the back cover an advertisenent for "SINCERELY YOURS" of "Warner Bros. Pictures" . Very rare and almost impossible to find.  The publishing era is early-mid1950's . MARILYN MONROE photo SC . 4.5 x 6". 36 pp. Very good used condition. Pulp quality. Very slight wear. Tiny pen marks on cover. ( Pls watch the scan for reliable AS IS images ). Will be sent inside a protective rigid packaging .

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Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jeane Mortenson, June 1, 1926 – August 5, 1962) was an American actress and model. Famous for playing "dumb blonde" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s, emblematic of the era's attitudes towards sexuality. Although she was a top-billed actress for only a decade, her films grossed $200 million by the time of her unexpected death in 1962.[1] She continues to be considered a major popular culture icon.[2] Born and raised in Los Angeles, Monroe spent most of her childhood in foster homes and an orphanage and married for the first time at the age of sixteen. While working in a factory as part of the war effort in 1944, she met a photographer and began a successful pin-up modeling career. The work led to two short-lived film contracts withTwentieth Century-Fox (1946–47) and Columbia Pictures (1948). After a series of minor film roles, she signed a new contract with Fox in 1951. Over the next two years, she became a popular actress with roles in several comedies, including As Young as You Feel and Monkey Business, and in the dramas Clash by Night and Don't Bother to Knock. Monroe faced a scandal when it was revealed that she had posed for nude photos before becoming a star, but rather than damaging her career, the story increased interest in her films. By 1953, Monroe was one of the most bankable Hollywood stars, with leading roles in three films: the noir Niagara, which focused on her sex appeal, and the comedies Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire, which established her star image as a "dumb blonde". Although she played a significant role in the creation and management of her public image throughout her career, she was disappointed at being typecast and underpaid by the studio. She was briefly suspended in early 1954 for refusing a film project, but returned to star in one of the biggest box office successes of her career, The Seven Year Itch (1955). When the studio was still reluctant to change her contract, Monroe founded a film production company in late 1954, Marilyn Monroe Productions (MMP). She dedicated 1955 to building her company and began studying method acting at the Actors Studio. In late 1955, Fox gave her a new contract, which gave her more control and a larger salary. After giving a critically acclaimed performance in Bus Stop (1956) and acting in the first independent production of MMP, The Prince and the Showgirl (1957), she won aGolden Globe for Best Actress for Some Like It Hot (1959). Her last completed film was the drama The Misfits (1961). Monroe's troubled private life received much attention. She struggled with addiction, depression, and anxiety. She had two highly publicized marriages, to baseball player Joe DiMaggio and playwright Arthur Miller, which both ended in divorce. She died at the age of 36 from an overdose of barbiturates at her home in Los Angeles on August 5, 1962. Although the death was ruled a probable suicide, several conspiracy theories have been proposed in the decades following her death. Contents  [hide]  1 Life and career 1.1 Childhood and first marriage (1926–44) 1.2 Modeling and first film roles (1945–49) 1.3 Breakthrough (1950–52) 1.4 Rising star (1953) 1.5 Conflicts with 20th Century-Fox and marriage to Joe DiMaggio (1954–55) 1.6 Critical acclaim and marriage to Arthur Miller (1956–59) 1.7 Final films and personal difficulties (1960–62) 2 Death 3 Public image and reception 4 Legacy 5 Filmography 6 Notes 7 References 8 Sources 9 External links Life and career Childhood and first marriage (1926–44) A 1955 copy of Monroe's birth certificate, listing her name as Norma Jeane Mortenson Monroe was born Norma Jeane Mortenson at the Los Angeles County Hospital on June 1, 1926, as the third child of Gladys Pearl Monroe (1902–84), a negative-cutter at Columbia Pictures.[3] Gladys' older children, Robert (1917–33)[4]and Berniece (born 1919), were from her first marriage to John Newton Baker in 1917–23.[5] After she had filed for divorce in 1921, Baker had taken the children with him to his native Kentucky.[6] Monroe was not told that she had a sister until she was 12, and met her for the first time as an adult.[7] Gladys then married Martin Edward Mortensen in 1924, but they separated after only a few months and before she became pregnant with Monroe; they divorced in 1928.[8] The identity of Monroe's father is unknown.[9][a] During her childhood, Mortenson, Mortensen and Baker were all used as her surnames.[13] Gladys was mentally and financially unprepared for a child, and so placed Monroe with foster parents in Hawthorne, California, soon after the birth.[14] Albert and Ida Bolender were evangelical Christians and raised their foster children accordingly.[15] At first, Gladys lived with the Bolenders to care for the infant herself, until longer work shifts forced her to move back to Hollywood in early 1927.[16] She then began visiting her daughter on the weekends and planned on taking her back once she felt more stable.[17]Gladys was prompted to do this in June 1933, and within months bought a small house on Arbol Drive near the Hollywood Bowl, which they shared with lodgers, actors George and Maude Atkinson.[18] Only some months later in early 1934, Gladys had a mental breakdown and was hospitalized.[19] She was diagnosed withparanoid schizophrenia and was institutionalized at the Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk in 1935.[20] She spent the rest of her life in and out of hospitals, and was only occasionally in contact with Monroe.[21] "When I was five I think, that's when I started wanting to be an actress. I loved to play. I didn't like the world around me because it was kind of grim, but I loved to play house. It was like you could make your own boundaries... When I heard that this was acting, I said that's what I want to be... Some of my foster families used to send me to the movies to get me out of the house and there I'd sit all day and way into the night. Up in front, there with the screen so big, a little kid all alone, and I loved it."[22] —Monroe in an interview for Life in 1962 Monroe was declared a ward of the state, and one of her mother's friends, Grace McKee Goddard, took responsibility over her and her mother's affairs.[23] She lived with the Atkinsons on Arbol Drive until June 1935; she would later recount being sexually abused by a lodger when she was eight years old.[24][b] She then briefly stayed with Grace and her husband Erwin "Doc" Goddard and two other families,[30] until being placed in the Los Angeles Orphans Home in September 1935.[31] Grace became her legal guardian in 1936, and took Monroe out of the orphanage in June 1937.[32] She lived with the Goddards only until November as Doc molested her,[32] and in the following ten months stayed with her and Grace's relatives and friends in Los Angeles and Compton.[33] Monroe found a more permanent home in September 1938, when she began living with Grace's aunt, Ana Atchinson Lower, in West Los Angeles.[34] She was enrolled in Emerson Junior High School and was taken to weekly Christian Science services with Lower.[35] Due to the elderly Lower's health issues, Monroe returned to live with the Goddards in Van Nuys in either late 1940 or early 1941.[36]After graduating from Emerson, she began attending Van Nuys High School.[37] In early 1942, the company that Doc Goddard worked for required him to relocate to West Virginia.[38] California laws prevented the Goddards from taking Monroe out of state, and she faced the possibility of having to return to the orphanage.[39] As a solution, it was decided that she would marry the neighbors' 21-year-old son, James "Jim" Dougherty, a worker at the Lockheed Corporation.[40] Biographers disagree on whether they had already been dating or whether the marriage was entirely arranged by Grace.[41] They married on June 19, 1942, just after Monroe had turned 16, and she subsequently dropped out of high school.[40] She disliked being a housewife and later stated that the "marriage didn't make me sad, but it didn't make me happy, either. My husband and I hardly spoke to each other. This wasn't because we were angry. We had nothing to say. I was dying of boredom."[42] In 1943, Dougherty enlisted in the Merchant Marine.[43] He was initially stationed on Santa Catalina Island off the coast of Southern California, where she lived with him until he was shipped out to the Pacific in April 1944; he would remain there for most of the next two years.[43] After Dougherty left for the Pacific, Monroe moved in with his parents and began working at the Radioplane Munitions Factory as part of the war effort.[43] Modeling and first film roles (1945–49) Monroe photographed byDavid Conover while she was still working at the Radioplane factory in late 1944 In late 1944, Monroe met photographer David Conover, who had been sent by the U.S. Army Air Forces' First Motion Picture Unit(FMPU) to the factory to shoot morale-boosting pictures of female workers.[44] Although none of her pictures were used by the FMPU, she quit working at the factory in January 1945 and began modeling for Conover and his friends.[45][46] He also encouraged her to apply to the Blue Book Model Agency, run by Emmeline Snively, to which she was signed in August 1945.[47] She began to occasionally use the name Jean Norman when working, and had her curly brunette hair straightened and dyed blond to make her more employable.[48] As her figure was deemed more suitable for pin-up than fashion modeling, she was employed mostly for advertisements and men's magazines.[49] According to Snively, Monroe was one of the agency's most ambitious and hard-working models; by early 1946, she had appeared on 33 magazine covers for publications such as Pageant, U.S. Camera, Laff, andPeek.[50] Impressed by her success, Snively arranged a contract for Monroe with an acting agency in June 1946.[51] Through it, she met Ben Lyon, a 20th Century-Fox executive, who gave her a screen test. Head executive Darryl F. Zanuck was unenthusiastic about it,[52]but he was persuaded to give her a standard six-month contract to avoid her being signed by rival studio RKO Pictures.[c] Monroe began her contract in August 1946, and together with Lyon selected the screen name of "Marilyn Monroe".[54] The first name was picked by Lyon, who was reminded of Broadway star Marilyn Miller; the last was picked by Monroe after her mother's maiden name.[55] In September 1946, she was granted a divorce from Dougherty, allowing her to concentrate on her acting career.[56] Monroe in a studio publicity photo taken when she was a contract player at 20th Century-Fox in 1947. She appeared in two small film roles during the contract and was let go after a year. Monroe had no film roles during the first months of her contract and instead dedicated her days to acting, singing and dancing classes.[57] Eager to learn more about the film industry and to promote herself, she also spent time at the studio lot to observe others working.[58] Her contract was renewed in February 1947, and she was soon given her first two film roles: nine lines of dialogue as a waitress in the drama Dangerous Years (1947) and a one-line appearance in the comedyScudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! (1948).[59][d] The studio also enrolled her in the Actors' Laboratory Theatre, an acting school teaching the techniques of the Group Theatre.[61] Monroe's contract was not renewed in August 1947, and she returned to modeling.[62] She continued taking classes at the Actors' Lab, and in October appeared as a blonde vamp in the short-lived play Glamour Preferred at the Bliss-Hayden Theater, but the production was not reviewed by any major publication.[63] Monroe landed her next film contract in March 1948, this time with Columbia Pictures.[64] According to biographers Donald Spoto, Anthony Summers and Lois Banner, it was arranged for her by Fox executive Joseph M. Schenck, whose mistress she was at the time, and who was friends with Columbia's head executive, Harry Cohn.[65] At Columbia, Monroe began working with the studio's head drama coach, Natasha Lytess, who would remain her mentor until 1955, and had some changes made to her appearance: her hairline was raised by electrolysis and her hair was bleached even lighter, to platinum blond.[64] Her only film at the studio was the low-budget musical Ladies of the Chorus (1948), in which she had her first starring role as a chorus girl who is courted by a wealthy man.[60] During the production, she began an affair with her vocal coach, Fred Karger, who paid to have her slight overbite corrected.[66] Despite the starring role, Monroe's contract was not renewed.[67] Ladies of the Chorus was released in October and was not a success.[68] After leaving Columbia in September 1948, Monroe became a protégée of Johnny Hyde, vice president of the William Morris Agency. Hyde began representing her and their relationship soon became sexual, although she refused his proposals of marriage.[69] To advance Monroe's career, he paid for a silicone prosthesis to be implanted in her jaw and possibly for a rhinoplasty, and arranged a bit part in the Marx Brothers film Love Happy (1950).[70] Monroe also continued modeling, and in May 1949 posed for nude photos taken by Tom Kelley.[71] Although her role in Love Happy was very small, she was chosen to participate in the film's promotional tour in New York that year.[72] Breakthrough (1950–52) Monroe as gangster's moll Angela in John Huston's The Asphalt Jungle(1950), one of her first performances to be noted by the critics Monroe appeared in six films released in 1950. She had bit parts in Love Happy, A Ticket to Tomahawk, Right Cross andThe Fireball, but also made minor appearances in two critically acclaimed films: John Huston's crime film The Asphalt Jungle and Joseph Mankiewicz's drama All About Eve.[73] In the former, Monroe played Angela, the young mistress of an aging criminal.[74] Although only on the screen for five minutes, she gained a mention in Photoplay and according to Spoto "moved effectively from movie model to serious actress".[74] In All About Eve, Monroe played Miss Caswell, a naïve young actress.[75] Following Monroe's success in these roles, Hyde negotiated a seven-year contract with 20th Century-Fox in December 1950.[76] He died of a heart attack only days later, leaving her devastated.[77] Despite her grief, 1951 became the year in which she gained more visibility. In March, she was a presenter at the 23rd Academy Awards and in September, Collier'sbecame the first national magazine to publish a full-length profile of her.[78] She had supporting roles in four low-budget films: in the MGM drama Home Town Story, and in three moderately successful comedies for Fox, As Young as You Feel,Love Nest, and Let's Make It Legal.[79] According to Spoto all four films featured her "essentially [as] a sexy ornament", but she received some praise from critics: Bosley Crowther of The New York Times described her as "superb" in As Young As You Feel and Ezra Goodman of the Los Angeles Daily News called her "one of the brightest up-and-coming [actresses]" for Love Nest.[80] To develop her acting skills, Monroe began taking classes withMichael Chekhov.[81] Her popularity with audiences was also growing: she received several thousand letters of fan mail a week, and was declared "MissCheesecake of 1951" by the army newspaper Stars and Stripes, reflecting the preferences of soldiers in the Korean War.[82] In her private life, Monroe was in a relationship with director Elia Kazan, and also briefly dated several other men, including directors Nicholas Ray and Yul Brynner and actor Peter Lawford.[83] The second year of the Fox contract saw Monroe become a top-billed actress, with gossip columnist Florabel Muir naming her the year's "it girl" and Hedda Hopperdescribing her as the "cheesecake queen" turned "box office smash".[84][85] In February, she was named the "best young box office personality" by the Foreign Press Association of Hollywood,[86] and began a highly publicized romance with retired New York Yankee Joe DiMaggio, one of the most famous sports personalities of the era.[87] The following month, a scandal broke when she revealed in an interview that she had posed for nude pictures in 1949, which were featured in calendars.[88] The studio had learned of the photographs some weeks earlier, and to contain the potentially disastrous effects on her career, they and Monroe had decided to talk about them openly while stressing that she had only posed for them in a dire financial situation.[89] The strategy succeeded in getting her public sympathy and increased interest in her films: the following month, she was featured on the cover of Life as "The Talk of Hollywood".[90] Monroe added to her reputation as a new sex symbol with other publicity stunts that year, such as wearing a revealing dress when acting as Grand Marshal at the Miss America Pageant parade, and by stating to gossip columnist Earl Wilson that she usually wore no underwear.[91] With co-star Keith Andesin Clash by Night (1952). The film allowed Monroe to display more of her acting range in a dramatic role. Monroe appeared in three commercially successful films in mid-1952.[92] The first was Fritz Lang's drama Clash by Night, for which she was loaned to RKO and featured in an atypical role as a fish cannery worker, allowing her to show more of her acting range.[93]Monroe received positive reviews for her performance: The Hollywood Reporter stated that "she deserves starring status with her excellent interpretation", and Variety wrote that she "has an ease of delivery which makes her a cinch for popularity".[94][95] She then starred as a beauty pageant contestant in the comedy We're Not Married! and as a mentally disturbed babysitter in the thrillerDon't Bother to Knock. According to its writer Nunnally Johnson, the former role was created solely to "present Marilyn in two bathing suits",[96] but the latter film was intended as a vehicle to show that she could act in heavier dramatic roles.[97] It received mixed reviews from critics, with Crowther deeming her too inexperienced for the difficult role,[98] and Variety blaming the script for the film's problems.[99][100] Monroe next played a secretary opposite Cary Grant in Howard Hawks' screwball comedy Monkey Business. Released in October, it was one of the first films to feature her as a "dumb, childish blonde, innocently unaware of the havoc her sexiness causes around her", marking the beginning of typecasting in her career.[101] Monroe's final film of the year was O. Henry's Full House, in which she had a minor role as a prostitute.[101] During this period Monroe gained a reputation for being difficult on film sets, which worsened as her career progressed: she was often late or did not show up at all, could not remember her lines, and would demand several re-takes before she was satisfied with her performance.[102] A dependence on her acting coaches, first Natasha Lytess and later Paula Strasberg, also irritated directors.[103] Monroe's problems have been attributed to a combination of perfectionism, low self-esteem, stage fright, and her gradually escalating use of barbiturates, amphetamines and alcohol, which most likely began during this period to aid with her anxiety and chronic insomnia.[104] The use of medication to assist sleeping and to provide energy was not unusual in the 1950s, and was reportedly very common in the film industry.[105] Rising star (1953) As Rose Loomis in the film noirNiagara (1953), which dwelled on her sex appeal Monroe starred in three movies released in 1953, emerging as a major sex symbol and one of Hollywood's most bankable performers.[106][107] The first of these was the Technicolor film noir Niagara, in which she played a femme fatale scheming to murder her husband, played by Joseph Cotten.[108] By then, Monroe and her make-up artist Allan "Whitey" Snyder had developed the make-up look that became associated with her: dark arched brows, pale skin, "glistening" red lips and a beauty mark.[109] According to Sarah Churchwell, Niagara was one of the most overtly sexual films of Monroe's career, and it included scenes in which her body was covered only by a sheet or a towel, considered shocking by contemporary audiences.[110] Its most famous scene is a 30-second long shot of Monroe shown walking from behind with her hips swaying, which was heavily used in the film's marketing.[110] Upon Niagara's release in January, women's clubs protested against it as immoral.[111] While Variety deemed it "clichéd" and "morbid", The New York Times commented that "the falls and Miss Monroe are something to see", as although Monroe may not be "the perfect actress at this point ... she can be seductive – even when she walks".[112][113] Monroe continued to attract attention with her revealing outfits in publicity events, most famously at the Photoplay awards in January 1953, where she won the "Fastest Rising Star" award.[114] She wore a skin-tight gold lamé dress, which prompted veteran star Joan Crawford to describe her behavior as "unbecoming an actress and a lady" to the press.[114] Performing "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) While Niagara made Monroe a sex symbol and established her "look", her second film of the year, musical comedyGentlemen Prefer Blondes, established her star image as a "dumb blonde".[115] Based on Anita Loos' bestselling novel andits Broadway version, the film focuses on two "gold-digging" showgirls, Lorelei Lee and Dorothy Shaw, played by Monroe and Jane Russell. The role of Lorelei was originally intended for Betty Grable, who had been 20th Century-Fox's most popular "blonde bombshell" in the 1940s; Monroe was fast eclipsing her as a star who could appeal to both male and female audiences.[116] As part of the film's publicity campaign, she and Russell pressed their hand and footprints in wet concrete outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre in June.[117] Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was released shortly after and became one of the biggest box office successes of the year by grossing $5.3 million, more than double its production costs.[118] Crowther of The New York Times and William Brogdon of Variety both commented favorably on Monroe, especially noting her performance of "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend"; according to the latter, she demonstrated the "ability to sex a song as well as point up the eye values of a scene by her presence".[119][120] With Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall in How to Marry a Millionaire(1953), her biggest box office success of the year In September, Monroe made her television debut in the Jack Benny Show, playing Jack's fantasy woman in the episode "Honolulu Trip".[121] Her third movie of the year, How to Marry a Millionaire, co-starred Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall and was released in November. It featured Monroe in the role of a naïve model who teams up with her friends to find rich husbands, repeating the successful formula of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. It was the second film ever released in CinemaScope, a widescreen format which Fox hoped would draw audiences back to theaters as television was beginning to cause losses to film studios.[122] Despite mixed reviews, the film was Monroe's biggest box office success so far, earning $8 million in world rentals.[123] Monroe was listed in the annual Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll in both 1953 and 1954,[107] and according to Fox historian Aubrey Solomon became the studio's "greatest asset" alongside CinemaScope.[124] Monroe's position as a leading sex symbol was confirmed in December, when Hugh Hefner featured her on the cover and as centerfold in the first issue of Playboy.[125] The cover image was a shot of her at the Miss America Pageant parade in 1952, and the centerfold featured one of her 1949 nude photographs.[125] Conflicts with 20th Century-Fox and marriage to Joe DiMaggio (1954–55) With second husband Joe DiMaggio. They married in January 1954 and separated nine months later. Posing for soldiers in Korea after aUSO performance in February 1954, during her suspension by the studio Although Monroe had become one of 20th Century-Fox's biggest stars, her contract had not changed since 1950, meaning that she was paid far less than other stars of her stature and could not choose her projects or co-workers.[126] She was also tired of being typecast, and her attempts to appear in films other than comedies or musicals had been thwarted by Zanuck.[126] When she refused to begin shooting yet another musical comedy, a film version of The Girl in Pink Tights, which was to co-star Frank Sinatra, the studio suspended her on January 4, 1954.[127] The suspension was front page news and Monroe immediately began a publicity campaign to counter any negative press and to strengthen her position in the conflict. On January 14, she and Joe DiMaggio, whose relationship had been subject to constant media attention since 1952, were married at the San Francisco City Hall.[128] They then traveled to Japan, combining a honeymoon with his business trip.[129] From there, she traveled alone to Korea, where she performed songs from her films as part of a USO show for over 60,000 U.S. Marines over a four-day period.[130] After returning to Hollywood in February, she was awarded Photoplay's "Most Popular Female Star" prize.[131] She reached a settlement with the studio in March: it included a new contract to be made later in the year, and a starring role in the film version of the Broadway playThe Seven Year Itch, for which she was to receive a bonus of $100,000.[132] The following month saw the release of Otto Preminger's Western River of No Return, in which Monroe appeared oppositeRobert Mitchum. She called it a "Z-grade cowboy movie in which the acting finished second to the scenery and the CinemaScope process", although it was popular with audiences.[133] The first film she made after returning to Fox was the musical There's No Business Like Show Business, which she strongly disliked but the studio required her to do in exchange for dropping The Girl in Pink Tights.[132] The musical was unsuccessful upon its release in December, and Monroe's performance was considered vulgar by many critics.[134] Posing for photographers while filming the subway grate scene for The Seven Year Itch in September 1954 In September 1954, Monroe began filming Billy Wilder's comedy The Seven Year Itch, in which she starred opposite Tom Ewell as a woman who becomes the object of her married neighbor's sexual fantasies. Although the film was shot in Hollywood, the studio decided to generate advance publicity by staging the filming of one scene on Lexington Avenue in New York.[135] In it, Monroe is standing on a subway grate with the air blowing up the skirt of her white dress, which became one of the most famous scenes of her career. The shoot lasted for several hours and attracted a crowd of nearly 2,000 spectators, including professional photographers.[135] While the publicity stunt placed Monroe on front pages all over the world, it also marked the end of her marriage to DiMaggio, who was furious about it.[136] The union had been troubled from the start by his jealousy and controlling attitude; Spoto and Banner have also asserted that he was physically abusive.[137] After returning to Hollywood, Monroe hired famous attorney Jerry Giesler and announced that she was filing for divorce in October 1954.[138] The Seven Year Itch was released the following June, and grossed over $4.5 million at the box office, making it one of the biggest commercial successes that year.[139] After filming for Itch wrapped in November, Monroe began a new battle for control over her career and left Hollywood for the East Coast, where she and photographer Milton Greene founded their own production company, Marilyn Monroe Productions (MMP)  – an action that has later been called "instrumental" in the collapse of the studio system.[140][e] Monroe and Greene asserted that she was no longer under contract to Fox, as the studio had not fulfilled its duties, such as paying her the promised bonus for The Seven Year Itch.[142] This began a year-long legal battle between her and the studio.[143] The press largely ridiculed Monroe for her actions and she was parodied in Itch writer George Axelrod's Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?(1955), in which her lookalike Jayne Mansfield played a dumb actress who starts her own production company.[144] With Tom Ewell in Billy Wilder's The Seven Year Itch, one of the most successful films of Monroe's career Monroe dedicated 1955 to studying her craft. She moved to New York and began taking acting classes with Constance Collier and attending workshops on method acting at the Actors Studio, run by Lee Strasberg.[145] She grew close to Strasberg and his wife Paula, receiving private lessons at their home due to her shyness, and soon became like a family member.[146] She dismissed her old drama coach, Natasha Lytess, and replaced her with Paula; the Strasbergs remained an important influence for the rest of her career.[147] Monroe also started undergoing psychoanalysis at the recommendation of Strasberg, who believed that an actor must confront their emotional traumas and use them in their performances.[148][f] To remain in the public eye, Monroe arranged publicity for herself throughout the year.[150][g] In her private life, she continued her relationship with DiMaggio despite the ongoing divorce proceedings while also dating actor Marlon Brando and playwright Arthur Miller.[151] She had first been introduced to Miller by Kazan in the early 1950s.[151] The affair between Monroe and Miller became increasingly serious after October 1955, when her divorce from DiMaggio was finalized, and Miller separated from his wife.[152] The studio feared that Monroe would be blacklisted and urged her to end the affair, as Miller was being investigated by the FBI for allegations of communism and had been subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee.[153] The FBI also opened a file on her.[154] Despite the risk to her career, Monroe refused to end the relationship, later calling the studio heads "born cowards".[155] By the end of the year, Monroe and Fox had come to an agreement about a new seven-year contract. It was clear that MMP would not be able to finance films alone, and the studio was eager to have Monroe working again.[143] The contract required her to make four movies for Fox during the seven years.[156] The studio would pay her $100,000 for each movie, and granted her the right to choose her own projects, directors and cinematographers.[156] She would also be free to make one film with MMP per each completed film for Fox.[156] Critical acclaim and marriage to Arthur Miller (1956–59) Monroe's dramatic performance as Chérie in Bus Stop (1956), a saloon singer with little talent, marked a departure from her earlier comedies. Monroe began 1956 by announcing her win over 20th Century-Fox, which prompted Time to call her a "shrewd businesswoman".[157] She also officially changed her name to Marilyn Monroe in March.[158] Her relationship with Miller prompted some negative comments from the press, including Walter Winchell's statement that "America's best-known blonde moving picture star is now the darling of the left-wing intelligentsia."[159] Monroe and Miller were married at the Westchester County Court in White Plains, New York on June 29, and two days later had a Jewish ceremony at his agent's house near Katonah, New York.[160] Monroe converted to Judaism with the marriage, which led Egypt to ban all of her films.[161][h] The media saw the union as mismatched given her star image as a "dumb blonde" and his position as an intellectual, as demonstrated by Variety's headline "Egghead Weds Hourglass".[163] The first film that Monroe made under the new contract was Bus Stop, released in August 1956. She played Chérie, a saloon singer whose dreams of stardom are complicated by a naïve cowboy who falls in love with her. For the role, she learnt an Ozark accent, chose costumes and make-up that lacked the glamour of her earlier films, and provided deliberately mediocre singing and dancing.[164] Broadway director Joshua Logan agreed to direct, despite doubting her acting abilities and knowing of her reputation for being difficult.[165] The filming took place in Idaho and Arizona in early 1956, and proceeded well after Logan adapted to her chronic lateness and perfectionism, and allowed her to run the production the way she wanted it.[166] Bus Stop became a box office success, grossing $4.25 million, and received mainly favorable reviews, with Crowther proclaiming: "Hold on to your chairs, everybody, and get set for a rattling surprise. Marilyn Monroe has finally proved herself an actress."[167]She received a Golden Globe for Best Actress nomination for her performance.[86] With third husband Arthur Miller at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, 1957 In August 1956, Monroe began filming MMP's first independent production, The Prince and the Showgirl, at Pinewood Studios in England.[168] It was based on Terrence Rattigan's The Sleeping Prince, a play about an affair between a showgirl and a prince in the 1910s. The main roles had first been played on stage by Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh; he reprised his role and directed and co-produced the film.[157] The production was complicated by conflicts between him and Monroe.[169] He angered her with the patronizing statement "All you have to do is be sexy", and by wanting her to replicate Leigh's interpretation.[170] He also disliked the constant presence of Paula Strasberg, Monroe's acting coach, on set.[171] In retaliation to what she considered Olivier's "condescending" behavior, Monroe started arriving late and became uncooperative, stating later that "if you don't respect your artists, they can't work well."[169] Her drug use increased and, according to Spoto, she became pregnant and miscarried during the production.[172] She also had arguments with Greene over how MMP should be run, including whether Miller should join the company.[172] Despite the difficulties, the film was completed on schedule by the end of the year.[173] It was released in June 1957 to mixed reviews, and proved unpopular with American audiences.[174] It was better received in Europe, where she was awarded the Italian David di Donatello and the French Crystal Star awards, and was nominated for a BAFTA.[175] After returning from England, Monroe took an 18-month hiatus from work to concentrate on married life on the East Coast. She and Miller split their time between New York and Roxbury, Connecticut, and spent the summer in Amagansett, Long Island.[176] She became pregnant in mid-1957, but it was ectopic and had to be terminated.[177] She suffered a miscarriage a year later.[178] Her gynecological problems were largely caused by endometriosis, a disease from which she suffered throughout her adult life.[179][i] During the hiatus, she dismissed Greene from MMP and bought his share of the company as they could not settle their disagreements.[182] With Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmonin Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot(1959), for which she won a Golden Globe Monroe returned to Hollywood in July 1958 to act opposite Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis in Billy Wilder's comedy Some Like It Hot. Although she considered the role of Sugar Kane another "dumb blonde", she accepted it due to Miller's encouragement and the offer of receiving ten percent of the film's profits in addition to her standard pay.[183] The difficulties of the film's production have since become "legendary".[184] Monroe would demand dozens of re-takes, and could not remember her lines or act as directed – Curtis famously stated that kissing her was "like kissing Hitler" due to the number of re-takes.[185] Many of the problems stemmed from a conflict with Wilder, who also had a reputation for being difficult, on how she should play the character.[186] Monroe made Wilder angry by asking him to alter many of her scenes, which in turn made her stage fright worse, and it is suggested that she deliberately ruined several scenes to act it her way.[186] In the end, Wilder was happy with Monroe's performance, stating: "Anyone can remember lines, but it takes a real artist to come on the set and not know her lines and yet give the performance she did!"[187] Despite the difficulties of its production, when Some Like It Hot was released in March 1959, it became a critical and commercial success.[188] Monroe's performance earned her a Golden Globe for Best Actress, and prompted Variety to call her "a comedienne with that combination of sex appeal and timing that just can't be beat".[175][189] It has been voted one of the best films ever made in polls by the American Film Institute and Sight & Sound.[190][191] Final films and personal difficulties (1960–62) After Some Like It Hot, Monroe took another hiatus from working until late 1959, when she returned to Hollywood to star in the musical comedy Let's Make Love, about an actress and a millionaire who fall in love when performing in a satirical play.[192] She chose George Cukor to direct and Miller re-wrote portions of the script, which she considered weak; she accepted the part solely because she was behind on her contract with Fox, having only made one of four promised films.[193] Its production was delayed by her frequent absences from set.[192] She had an affair with Yves Montand, her co-star, which was widely reported by the press and used in the film's publicity campaign.[194] Let's Make Love was unsuccessful upon its release in September 1960;[195] Crowther described Monroe as appearing "rather untidy" and "lacking ... the old Monroe dynamism",[196] and Hedda Hopper called the film "the most vulgar picture she's ever done".[197] Truman Capote lobbied for her to play Holly Golightly in a film adaptation of Breakfast at Tiffany's, but the role went to Audrey Hepburn as its producers feared that Monroe would complicate the production.[198] With Clark Gable, Montgomery Cliftand Thelma Ritter in The Misfits. It was both Monroe's and Gable's last completed film. The last film that Monroe completed was John Huston's The Misfits, which Miller had written to provide her with a dramatic role.[199] She played a recently divorced woman who becomes friends with three aging cowboys, played by Clark Gable, Eli Wallach and Montgomery Clift. Its filming in the Nevada desert between July and November 1960 was again difficult.[200]Monroe and Miller's four-year marriage was effectively over, and he began a new relationship.[199] Monroe disliked that he had based her role partly on her life, and thought it inferior to the male roles; she also struggled with Miller's habit of re-writing scenes the night before filming.[201] Her health was also failing: she was in pain from gall stones, and her drug addiction was so severe that her make-up usually had to be applied while she was still asleep under the influence of barbiturates.[202] In August, filming was halted for her to spend a week detoxing in a Los Angeles hospital.[202] Monroe and Miller separated after filming wrapped, and she was granted a quick divorce in Mexico in January 1961.[203] The Misfits was released the following month, failing at the box office.[204] Its reviews were mixed,[204] with Bosley Crowther calling Monroe "completely blank and unfathomable" and stating that "unfortunately for the film's structure, everything turns upon her".[205]Despite the film's initial failure, in 2015 Geoff Andrew of the British Film Institute described it as a classic.[206] Monroe was next to star in a television adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's short story Rain for NBC, but the project fell through as the channel did not want to hire her choice of director, Lee Strasberg.[207] Instead of working, she spent a large part of 1961 preoccupied by health problems, undergoing surgery for her endometriosis and a cholecystectomy, and spending four weeks in hospital care – including a brief stint in a mental ward – for depression.[208][j] She was helped by her ex-husband Joe DiMaggio, with whom she had not been in contact since the finalization of their divorce in 1955; they now rekindled their friendship.[210] In early 1961, Monroe moved back to Los Angeles after six years in New York.[211] She began a relationship with Frank Sinatra, and in early 1962 purchased a house inBrentwood.[211] In one of her last photo shoots, by George Barris forCosmopolitan in July 1962 Monroe returned to the public eye in 1962; she received a "World Film Favorite" Golden Globe award in March and began to shoot a new film for 20th Century-Fox, Something's Got to Give, a re-make of My Favorite Wife (1940), in late April.[212] It was to be co-produced by MMP, directed by George Cukor and to co-star Dean Martin and Cyd Charisse.[213] Monroe was absent for the first two weeks of filming due to the flu; biographers have also attributed her absence to sinusitis or her ongoing drug addiction.[214] On May 19, she took a break from filming to sing "Happy Birthday" on stage at President John F. Kennedy's birthday celebration atMadison Square Garden in New York.[215] She drew attention with her costume: a beige, skintight dress covered in rhinestones, which made her appear nude.[215] Most of Monroe's biographers agree that she had an affair with Kennedy at some point in the last two years of her life, although they disagree on its length and timing.[216] Monroe next filmed a scene for Something's Got to Give in which she swam naked in a swimming pool.[217] To generate advance publicity, the press were invited to take photographs of the scene, which were later published in Life; this was the first time that a major star had posed nude while at the height of their career.[218] When she was again absent from set for several days, the studio fired her on June 7 and sued her for breach of contract, demanding $750,000 in damages.[219] She was replaced by Lee Remick, but after Martin refused to make the film with anyone other than Monroe, Fox sued him as well and shut down the production.[220]The studio publicly blamed Monroe's drug addiction and alleged lack of professionalism for the demise of the film, even claiming that she was mentally disturbed.[219][k] To counter the claims, Monroe engaged in several publicity ventures, including interviews for Life and Cosmopolitan and her first photo shoot for Vogue.[223] For Vogue, Monroe and photographer Bert Stern collaborated for two series of photographs, one a standard fashion editorial and another of her posing nude, which were both later published posthumously with the title The Last Sitting.[224] In the last weeks of her life, Monroe began negotiations with Fox about resuming filming on Something's Got to Give, and made plans for starring in What a Way to Go! (1964) and a biopic about Jean Harlow.[225] Death Main article: Death of Marilyn Monroe Front page of the New York Daily Mirror on August 6, 1962 Monroe was found dead in the bedroom of her Brentwood home by her psychiatrist, Dr. Ralph Greenson, in the early morning hours of August 5, 1962. Greenson had been called there by her housekeeper Eunice Murray, who was staying overnight and had awoken at 3:00 a.m. "sensing that something was wrong". Murray had seen light from under Monroe's bedroom door, but had not been able to get a response and found the door locked.[226] The death was officially confirmed by Monroe's physician, Dr. Hyman Engelberg, who arrived at the house at around 3:50 a.m.[226] At 4:25 a.m., they notified the Los Angeles Police Department.[226] The Los Angeles County Coroners Office was assisted in their investigation by experts from the Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Team.[227] It was estimated that Monroe had died between 8:30 and 10:30 p.m.,[228] and the toxicological analysis concluded that the cause of death was acute barbiturate poisoning, as she had 8 mg% of chloral hydrate and 4.5 mg% of pentobarbital (Nembutal) in her blood, and a further 13 mg% of pentobarbital in her liver.[229] Empty bottles containing these medicines were found next to her bed.[227] The possibility of Monroe having accidentally overdosed was ruled out as the dosages found in her body were several times over the lethal limit.[230] Her doctors and psychiatrists stated that she had been prone to "severe fears and frequent depressions" with "abrupt and unpredictable" mood changes, and had overdosed several times in the past, possibly intentionally.[230][231] Due to these facts and the lack of any indication of foul play, her death was classified a probable suicide.[232] Monroe's crypt at theWestwood Memorial Park Monroe's unexpected death was front-page news in the United States and Europe.[233] According to Lois Banner, "it's said that the suicide rate in Los Angeles doubled the month after she died; the circulation rate of most newspapers expanded that month",[233] and the Chicago Tribune reported that they had received hundreds of phone calls from members of the public requesting information about her death.[234] French artist Jean Cocteau commented that her death "should serve as a terrible lesson to all those, whose chief occupation consists of spying on and tormenting film stars", her former co-star Laurence Olivier deemed her "the complete victim of ballyhoo and sensation", and Bus Stop director Joshua Logan stated that she was "one of the most unappreciated people in the world".[235] Her funeral, held at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemeteryon August 8, was private and attended by only her closest associates.[236] It was arranged by Joe DiMaggio and her business manager Inez Melson.[236] Hundreds of spectators crowded the streets around the cemetery.[236] Monroe was later interred at crypt No. 24 at the Corridor of Memories.[237] Several conspiracy theories about Monroe's death have been proposed in the decades afterwards, including murder and accidental overdose.[238] The murder speculations first gained mainstream attention with the publication of Norman Mailer's Marilyn: A Biography in 1973, and in the following years became widespread enough for the Los Angeles County District Attorney John Van de Kamp to conduct a "threshold investigation" in 1982 to see whether a criminal investigation should be opened.[239] No evidence of foul play was found.[240] Public image and reception "I never quite understood it, this sex symbol. I always thought symbols were those things you clash together! That's the trouble, a sex symbol becomes a thing. I just hate to be a thing. But if I'm going to be a symbol of something I'd rather have it sex than some other things they've got symbols of."[241] —Monroe in an interview for Life in 1962 When beginning to develop her star image, 20th Century-Fox wanted Monroe to replace the aging Betty Grable, their most popular "blonde bombshell" of the 1940s.[242] While the 1940s had been the heyday of actresses perceived as tough and smart, such as Katharine Hepburn and Barbara Stanwyck, who appealed to women-dominated audiences, the studio wanted Monroe to be a star of the new decade that would draw men to movie theaters.[242] She played a significant part in the creation of her public image from the beginning, and towards the end of her career exerted almost full control over it.[243][244] Monroe was responsible for many of her publicity strategies, cultivated friendships with gossip columnists such as Sidney Skolsky and Louella Parsons, and controlled the use of her images.[245]Besides Grable, she was often compared to another iconic blonde, 1930s film star Jean Harlow.[246] The comparison was partly prompted by Monroe, who named Harlow as her childhood idol, wanted to play her in a biopic, and even employed Harlow's hair stylist to color her hair.[247] Monroe was also influenced by Mae West, stating: "I learned a few tricks from her – that impression of laughing at, or mocking, her own sexuality".[248] With Jane Russell at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in 1953 Monroe's star image centered on her blond hair, and the stereotypes associated with it, especially dumbness, sexual availability and artificiality.[249] Having begun her career as a pin-up model, this style carried over to her films, and she became noted for her hourglass figure.[250] Film scholar Richard Dyer has noted that Monroe was often positioned so that her curvy silhouette was on display, and in her publicity photos often posed like a pin-up.[250] Her distinctive, hip-swinging walk also drew attention to her body, earning her the nickname "the girl with the horizontal walk".[101] Monroe's clothing choices played an important part in her star image. She often wore white to emphasize her blondness, and drew attention by wearing revealing outfits that showed off her figure.[251] Her publicity stunts often revolved around her clothing exposing large amounts of her body or even malfunctioning, such as when one of the shoulder straps of her dress suddenly snapped during a press conference.[252] To emphasize her "innocence" and "dumbness", Monroe often used a breathy, childish voice in her films, and in interviews parodied herself with double entendres that came to be known as "Monroeisms".[253] For example, when she was asked whether she had anything on during the 1949 nude photo shoot, she replied, "I had the radio on".[254]She was portrayed as the embodiment of the American Dream, as a girl who had risen from a miserable childhood to Hollywood stardom.[255] Stories of her time spent in foster families and an orphanage were exaggerated and even partly fabricated in her studio biographies.[256]According to film scholar Thomas Harris, her working class roots and lack of family also made her appear more sexually available, "the ideal playmate", in contrast to her contemporary Grace Kelly, who was also marketed as an attractive blonde, but due to her upper-class background came to be seen as a sophisticated actress, unattainable for the majority of male viewers.[257] In Gentlemen Prefer Blondes(1953), one of the films that portrayed Monroe as a sexually attractive and naïve "dumb blonde" According to Dyer, Monroe became "virtually a household name for sex" in the 1950s and "her image has to be situated in the flux of ideas about morality and sexuality that characterised the fifties in America", such as Freudian ideas about sex, the Kinsey report (1953), and Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique (1963).[258] According to him, Monroe's star image was created mainly for the male gaze as characterized in film roles where she generally played "the girl", who is defined solely by her gender.[259] Her roles were almost always chorus girls, secretaries, or models; occupations where "the woman is on show, there for the pleasure of men."[259] Dyer also sees Monroe as the first sex symbol to combine "naturalness" and sexuality, in contrast to the 1940s femme fatales.[260] This alleged artlessness and lack of shame about her sexuality was closely linked to her image as a dumb and vulnerable woman.[260] According to Norman Mailer, "Marilyn suggested sex might be difficult and dangerous with others, but ice cream with her."[261] Similarly, Molly Haskell has written that "she was the fifties fiction, the lie that a woman had no sexual needs, that she is there to cater to, or enhance, a man's needs."[262]She has also stated that before her death, Monroe was less popular with women than with men, as they "couldn't identify with her and didn't support her".[263] The importance of blondness to Monroe's star image has also been analyzed by film historians. Dyer has argued that platinum blonde hair became such a defining feature of her because it made her "racially unambiguous" and exclusively white, and that she should be seen as emblematic of racism in twentieth-century popular culture.[264] Lois Banner agrees that it may not be a coincidence that Monroe launched a trend of platinum blonde actresses at the same time as the Civil Rights Movement was beginning, but has also criticized Dyer, pointing out that in her highly publicized private life Monroe associated with people who were seen as "white ethnics", such as Joe DiMaggio (Italian-American) and Arthur Miller (Jewish).[265] According to Banner, she sometimes challenged prevailing racial norms in her publicity photographs; for example, in an image featured in Look in 1951, she was shown in revealing clothes while practicing with African-American singing coach Phil Moore.[266] As well as being a sex symbol, Monroe was perceived as a specifically American star, "a national institution as well known as hot dogs, apple pie, or baseball" according to Photoplay.[267] Historian Fiona Handyside writes that the French female audiences associated whiteness/blondness with American modernity and cleanliness, and so Monroe came to symbolize a modern, "liberated" woman whose life takes place in the public sphere.[268] Film historian Laura Mulvey has written of her as an endorsement for American consumer culture: If America was to export the democracy of glamour into post-war, impoverished Europe, the movies could be its shop window ... Marilyn Monroe, with her all American attributes and streamlined sexuality, came to epitomise in a single image this complex interface of the economic, the political, and the erotic. By the mid 1950s, she stood for a brand of classless glamour, available to anyone using American cosmetics, nylons and peroxide.[269] To profit from Monroe's popularity, 20th Century-Fox cultivated several lookalike actresses, including Jayne Mansfield and Sheree North.[270] Other studios also attempted to create their own Monroes: Universal Pictures with Mamie Van Doren,[271] Columbia Pictures with Kim Novak,[272] and Rank Organisation with Diana Dors.[273] Legacy See also: Marilyn Monroe in popular culture Monroe depicted with rock star John Lennon and composer Frédéric Chopin inBeppe Devalle's Guardandovi (2010) According to The Guide to United States Popular Culture, "as an icon of American popular culture, Monroe's few rivals in popularity include Elvis Presley and Mickey Mouse ... no other star has ever inspired such a wide range of emotions – from lust to pity, from envy to remorse."[274] The American Film Institute has named her the sixth greatest female screen legend in American film history, Smithsonian Institution included her on their list of "100 Most Significant Americans of All Time",[275] and both Variety and VH1 have placed her in the top ten in their rankings of the greatest popular culture icons of the twentieth century.[276][277] Hundreds of books have been written about Monroe, she has been the subject of films, plays, operas, and songs, and has influenced artists and entertainers such as Andy Warhol and Madonna.[278][279] She also remains a valuable brand:[280] her image and name have been licensed for hundreds of products, and she has been featured in advertising for multinational corporations such as Max Factor, Chanel, Mercedes Benz, and Absolut Vodka.[281][282] Monroe's enduring popularity is linked to her conflicted public image.[283] On the one hand, she remains a sex symbol, beauty icon and one of the most famous stars of classical Hollywood cinema.[284][285][286] On the other, she is also remembered for her troubled private life, unstable childhood, struggle for professional respect, and her death and the conspiracy theories surrounding it.[287]She has been written about by scholars and journalists interested in gender and feminism,[288] such as Gloria Steinem, Jacqueline Rose,[289] Molly Haskell,[290]Sarah Churchwell,[282] and Lois Banner.[291] Some, such as Steinem, have viewed her as a victim of the studio system.[288][292] Others, such as Haskell,[293]Rose,[289] and Churchwell,[282] have instead stressed Monroe's proactive role in her career and her participation in the creation of her public persona. Left panel from pop artist James Gill's painting Marilyn Triptych (1962) Due to the contrast between her stardom and troubled private life, Monroe is closely linked to broader discussions about modern phenomena such as mass media, fame, and consumer culture.[294] According to academic Susanne Hamscha, because of her continued relevance to ongoing discussions about modern society, Monroe is "never completely situated in one time or place" but has become "a surface on which narratives of American culture can be (re-)constructed", and "functions as a cultural type that can be reproduced, transformed, translated into new contexts, and enacted by other people".[294] Similarly, Banner has called Monroe the "eternal shapeshifter" who is re-created by "each generation, even each individual ... to their own specifications".[295] While Monroe remains a cultural icon, critics are divided on her legacy as an actress. David Thomson called her body of work "insubstantial"[296] and Pauline Kael wrote that she could not act, but rather "used her lack of an actress's skills to amuse the public. She had the wit or crassness or desperation to turn cheesecake into acting – and vice versa; she did what others had the 'good taste' not to do".[297] In contrast, according to Peter Bradshaw, Monroe was a talented comedian who "understood how comedy achieved its effects",[298] and Jonathan Rosenbaum stated that "she subtly subverted the sexist content of her material" and that "the difficulty some people have discerning Monroe's intelligence as an actress seems rooted in the ideology of a repressive era, when superfeminine women weren't supposed to be smart".[299] Filmography Main article: Marilyn Monroe performances and awards Dangerous Years (1947) Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! (1948) Ladies of the Chorus (1948) Love Happy (1949) A Ticket to Tomahawk (1950) The Asphalt Jungle (1950) All About Eve (1950) The Fireball (1950) Right Cross (1951) Home Town Story (1951) As Young as You Feel (1951) Love Nest (1951) Let's Make It Legal (1951) Clash by Night (1952) We're Not Married! (1952) Don't Bother to Knock (1952) Monkey Business (1952) O. Henry's Full House (1952) Niagara (1953) Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) River of No Return (1954) There's No Business Like Show Business (1954) The Seven Year Itch (1955) Bus Stop (1956) The Prince and the Showgirl (1957) Some Like It Hot (1959) Let's Make Love (1960) The Misfits (1961) Something's Got to Give (1962) Notes Jump up^ While Gladys named Mortensen as Monroe's father in the birth certificate (although the name was misspelled),[10] biographers Fred Guiles and Lois Bannerhave stated that her father was most likely Charles Stanley Gifford, a co-worker with whom Gladys had an affair in 1925 and whose photograph she allegedly showed Monroe, telling her it was her father.[11] Although Donald Spoto agrees that Mortensen most likely was not Monroe's father, he does not believe that she had any certainty about her father's identity, and has stated that any of Gladys' male acquaintances in 1925 may have been the father.[12] Jump up^ Monroe spoke about the abuse to her biographers Ben Hecht in 1953–54 andMaurice Zolotow in 1960, and in interviews for Paris Match and Cosmopolitan.[25]Although she refused to name the abuser, Banner believes he was George Atkinson, as he was a lodger at Arbol Dr. and fostered Monroe when she was eight; Banner also states that Monroe's description of the abuser fits other descriptions of Atkinson.[26] Banner has argued that the abuse may have been a major causative factor in Monroe's later mental health problems, and has also noted that as the subject was taboo in mid-century United States, Monroe was unusual in daring to speak about it publicly.[27] Spoto does not mention the incident but states that Monroe was sexually abused by Grace's husband in 1937 and by a cousin while living with a relative in 1938.[28] Barbara Leaming believes that Monroe was truthful when speaking about enduring abuse aged eight, while earlier biographers Fred Guiles, Anthony Summers and Carl Rollyson have expressed some doubt over the factuality of the incident due to lack of evidence beyond Monroe's account.[29] Jump up^ RKO's owner Howard Hughes had expressed an interest in Monroe after seeing her on a magazine cover.[53] Jump up^ It has sometimes been erroneously claimed that Monroe appeared as an extra in other Fox films during this period, including Green Grass of Wyoming, The Shocking Miss Pilgrim, and You Were Meant For Me, but there is no evidence to support this.[60] Jump up^ Monroe and Greene had first met and had a brief affair in 1949, and met again in 1953, when he photographed her for Look. She told him about her grievances with the studio, and Greene suggested that they start their own production company.[141] Jump up^ Monroe underwent psychoanalysis regularly from 1955 until her death in 1962. Her analysts were psychiatrists Margaret Hohenberg (1955–57), Anna Freud(1957), Marianne Kris (1957–61), and Ralph Greenson (1960–62).[149] Jump up^ These included riding an elephant at the Ringling Brothers Circus Charity Gala in Madison Square Garden, appearing with Greene and his wife Amy in the television program Person to Person, and attending the centennial celebrations ofBement, Illinois, the site of the Lincoln-Douglas debates.[150] Jump up^ Monroe identified with the Jewish people as a "dispossessed group" and wanted to convert to make herself part of Miller's family.[162] She was instructed by Rabbi Robert Goldberg, but according to Miller, he "sat with Marilyn for a couple of hours and that was it. I'm not religious, but she wanted to be one of us and that's why she took some instruction."[161] Her certificate of conversion states that she "was received into the Jewish faith on July 1, 1956."[161] Monroe referred to herself as a "Jewish atheist" and after her divorce from Miller, showed little interest in the religion aside from retaining some religious items.[161] Egypt also lifted her ban after the divorce was finalized in 1961.[161] Jump up^ It also caused her to experience severe menstrual pain throughout her life, necessitating a clause in her contract allowing her to be absent from work during her period, and required several surgeries.[179] It has sometimes been alleged that Monroe underwent several abortions, and that unsafe abortions made by persons without proper medical training would have contributed to her inability to maintain a pregnancy.[180] The abortion rumors began from statements made by Amy Greene, the wife of Milton Greene, but have not been confirmed by any concrete evidence.[181] Furthermore, Monroe's autopsy report did not note any evidence of abortions.[181] Jump up^ Monroe first admitted herself to the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic in New York, at the suggestion of her psychiatrist Marianne Kris.[209] Kris later stated that her choice of hospital was a mistake: Monroe was placed on a ward meant for severely mentally ill people with psychosis, where she was locked in a padded celland was not allowed to move to a more suitable ward or to leave the hospital.[209]Monroe was finally able to leave the hospital after three days with the help of Joe DiMaggio, and moved to the Columbia University Medical Center, spending a further 23 days there.[209] Jump up^ Their version remained largely uncontested until 1990, when the surviving footage from Something's Got to Give was released, showing that when Monroe had turned up on set, she had been coherent and able to film several scenes.[221]According to a later statement by the film's producer Henry Weinstein, her dismissal was linked to the studio's severe financial problems and the inexperience of head executive Peter Levathes, rather than solely caused by her being difficult to work with.[222] Marilyn Monroe Biography Film Actress, Pin-up (1926–1962) 15.5K SHARES 3.6K 0 0 QUICK FACTS NAME Marilyn Monroe OCCUPATION Film Actress, Pin-up BIRTH DATE June 1, 1926 DEATH DATE August 5, 1962 PLACE OF BIRTH Los Angeles, California PLACE OF DEATH Los Angeles, California ORIGINALLY Norma Jeane Mortenson AKA Norma Mortenson Norma Jeane Baker FULL NAME Marilyn Monroe SYNOPSIS EARLY LIFE FAMED CAREER VIDEOS RELATED VIDEOS CITE THIS PAGE Actress Marilyn Monroe overcame a difficult childhood to become one of the world's biggest and most enduring sex symbols. She died of a drug overdose in 1962. IN THESE GROUPS FAMOUS PEOPLE WHO OVERDOSED USO ENTERTAINERS MYSTERIOUS DEATHS FAMOUS LEFTIES Show All Groups 1 of 5 « » QUOTES “Being a sex symbol is a heavy load to carry, especially when one is tired, hurt and bewildered.” —Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe - Mini Biography (TV-14; 4:11) A short biography of Marilyn Monroe who became the greatest sex symbol of all time. Her roles in films such as "Gentleman Prefer Blondes," made her a Hollywood icon. She died of an overdose on August 5, 1962. Synopsis Actress Marilyn Monroe was born as Norma Jeane Mortenson on June 1, 1926 in Los Angeles, California. During her all-too-brief life, Marilyn Monroe overcame a difficult childhood to become one of the world's biggest and most enduring sex symbols. During her career, Monroe's films grossed more than $200 million. Monroe died of a drug overdose on A ugust 5, 1962, at only 36 years old. 48 GALLERY 48 Images Early Life Marilyn Monroe was born as Norma Jeane Mortenson (later baptized as Norma Jeane Baker) on June 1, 1926, in Los Angeles, California. During her all-too-brief life, Marilyn Monroe overcame a difficult childhood to become one of the world's biggest and most enduring sex symbols. She never knew her father, and once thought Clark Gable to be her father—a story repeated often enough for a version of it to gain some currency. However, there's no evidence that Gable ever met or knew Monroe's mother, Gladys, who developed psychiatric problems and was eventually placed in a mental institution. As an adult, Monroe would maintain that one of her earliest memories was of her mother trying to smother her in her crib with a pillow. Monroe had a half-sister, to whom she was not close; they met only a half-dozen times. Growing up, Monroe spent much of her time in foster care and in an orphanage. In 1937, a family friend and her husband, Grace and Doc Goddard, took care of Monroe for a few years. The Goddards were paid $25 weekly by Monroe's mother to raise her. The couple was deeply religious and followed fundamentalist doctrines; among other prohibited activities, Monroe was not allowed to go to the movies. But when Doc's job was transferred in 1942 to the East Coast, the couple could not afford to bring Monroe with them. At 7 years old, Monroe returned to a life in foster homes, where she was on several occasions sexually assaulted; she later said that she had been raped when she was 11 years old. But she had one way out—get married. She wed her boyfriend Jimmy Dougherty on June 19, 1942, at the age of 16. By that time, Monroe had dropped out of high school (age 15). A merchant marine, Dougherty was later sent to the South Pacific. Monroe went to work in a munitions factory in Burbank, California, where she was discovered by a photographer. By the time Dougherty returned in 1946, Monroe had a successful career as a model, and had changed her name to Marilyn Monroe in preparation for an acting career. She dreamt of becoming an actress like Jean Harlow and Lana Turner. Famed Career Monroe's marriage to Dougherty fizzled out as she focused more on her career. The couple divorced in 1946—the same year that Monroe signed her first movie contract. With the movie contract came a new name and image; she began calling herself "Marilyn Monroe" and dyed her hair blonde. But her acting career didn't really take off until the 1950s. Her small part in John Huston's crime drama The Asphalt Jungle (1950) garnered her a lot of attention. That same year, she impressed audiences and critics alike with her performance as Claudia Caswell in All About Eve, starring Bette Davis. She would soon become one of Hollywood's most famous actresses; though she wasn't initially considered to be star acting material, she later proved her skill by winning various honors and attracting large audiences to her films. In 1953, Monroe made a star-making turn in Niagara, starring as a young married woman out to kill her husband with help from her lover. The emerging sex symbol was paired with another bombshell, Jane Russell, for the musical comedy Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). The film was a hit and Monroe continued to find success in a string of light comedic fare, such as How to Marry a Millionaire with Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall, There's No Business like Show Business (1954) with Ethel Merman and Donald O'Connor, and The Seven Year Itch (1955). "Being a sex symbol is a heavy load to carry, especially when one is tired, hurt and bewildered." With her breathy voice and hourglass figure, Monroe became a much-admired international star, despite her chronic insecurities regarding her acting abilities. Monroe suffered from pre-performance anxiety that sometimes made her physically ill and was often the root cause of her legendary tardiness on films sets, which was so extreme that it often infuriated her co-stars and crew. "She would be the greatest if she ran like a watch," director Billy Wilder once said of her. "I have an aunt Minnie who's very punctual, but who would pay to see Aunt Minnie?" Throughout her career, Monroe was signed and released from several contracts with film studios. Tired of bubbly, dumb blonde roles, Monroe moved to New York City to study acting with Lee Strasberg at the Actors' Studio. She returned to the screen in the dramatic comedy Bus Stop (1956), playing a saloon singer kidnapped by a rancher who has fallen in love with her. She received mostly praise for her performance.  In 1957, Monroe starred in The Prince and the Showgirl with Laurence Olivier, who also directed and produced the film. She often didn't show up for filming and her erratic behavior on set created a tense relationship with her co-stars, the crew and Olivier. The film received mixed reviews and was a box office hit in Britain, but not as popular in the United States. The troubled production was the backdrop for the 2011 film My Week with Marilyn, starring Michelle Williams as Monroe. In 1959, Monroe returned to familiar territory with the wildly popular comedySome Like It Hot, with Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis. She played Sugar Kane Kowalczyk, a singer who hopes to marry a millionaire in this humorous film, in which Lemmon and Curtis pretend to be women. They are on the run from the mob after witnessing the St. Valentine's Day Massacre and hide out with an all-girl orchestra featuring Monroe. Her work on the film earned her the honor of "Best Actress in a Comedy" in 1959, at Golden Globe Awards. Reunited with John Huston, Monroe starred opposite Clark Gable and Montgomery Clift in The Misfits (1961). Set in Nevada, this adventure drama features Monroe, who falls for Gable's cowboy but battles him over the fate of some wild mustangs. This was her last completed film. In 1962, Monroe was dismissed from Something's Got to Give—also starring Dean Martin—for missing so many days of filming. According to an article in The New York Times, the actress claimed that the absences were due to illness. Martin declined to make the film without her, so the studio shelved the picture. At the time, Monroe's professional and personal life seemed to be in turmoil. Her last two films, Let's Make Love (1960) and The Misfits (1961) were box office disappointments. "A career is wonderful, but you can't curl up with it on a cold night." In her personal life, she had a string of unsuccessful marriages and relationships. Her 1954 marriage to baseball great Joe DiMaggio only lasted nine months (she wed playwright Arthur Miller from 1956 to 1961). On May 19, 1962, Monroe made her now-famous performance at John F. Kennedy's birthday celebration, singing "Happy Birthday, Mr. President." Death and Legacy On August 5, 1962, at only 36 years old, Marilyn Monroe died at her Los Angeles home. An empty bottle of sleeping pills was found by her bed. There has been some speculation over the years that she may have been murdered, but the cause of her death was officially ruled as a drug overdose. There have been rumors that Monroe was involved with President John F. Kennedy and/or his brother Robert around the time of her death. Monroe was buried in her favorite Emilio Pucci dress, in what was known as a "Cadillac casket"—the most high-end casket available, made of heavy-gauge solid bronze and lined with champagne-colored silk. Lee Strasberg delivered a eulogy before a small group of friends and family. Hugh Hefner bought the crypt directly next to Monroe's, and Monroe's ex-husband, Joe DiMaggio, famously had red roses delivered to her crypt for the next 20 years. “She was the victim of ballyhoo and sensation — exploited beyond anyone’s means.” — Sir Laurence Olivier Monroe did not own a house until the last year of her life, and had surprisingly few possessions. One that she prized was an autographed photo of Albert Einstein, which included an inscription: "To Marilyn, with respect and love and thanks." During her career, Marilyn Monroe's films grossed more than $200 million. Today, she is still considered the world's most popular icon of sex appeal and beauty, and is remembered for her idiosyncratic sense of humor and sly wit; once asked by a reporter what she wore to bed, she replied, "Chanel Number 5." On another occasion, she was asked what she thought of Hollywood. "If I close my eyes and think of Hollywood, all I see is one big varicose vein," she replied. Monroe is also remembered for her romantic relationships with Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Yves Montand and director Elia Kazan, in addition to her three marriages. Monroe has been imitated over the years by a number of celebrities, including Madonna, Lady Gaga and Gwen Stefani.  In 2011, several rarely seen photos of Marilyn Monroe were published in a book of photographs by famed photographer Sam Shaw. August 5, 2012 marked the 50th anniversary of Monroe's death. Now more than a half century later, the world is still fascinated by her beauty and talent.*********The Seven Year Itch is a 1955 American romantic comedy film based on a 1952 three-act play with the same name by George Axelrod. The film was co-written and directed by Billy Wilder, and stars Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell, reprising his Broadway role from the play. It contains one of the most notable images of the 20th century – Monroe standing on a subway grate as her white dress[1] is blown upwards by a passing train. The titular phrase, which refers to declining interest in a monogamous relationship after seven years of marriage, has been used by psychologists.[2] Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Soundtrack 4 Production 5 Release 5.1 Box office 5.2 Critical response 5.3 Awards and honors 6 See also 7 References 8 External links Plot[edit] Richard Sherman (Tom Ewell) is a nerdy, faithful, middle-aged publishing executive with an overactive imagination and a mid-life crisis, whose wife, Helen (Evelyn Keyes), and son, Ricky (Butch Bernard), are spending the summer in Maine. When he returns home with the kayak paddle Ricky accidentally left behind, he meets a woman (Marilyn Monroe), who is a commercial actress and former model who rents the apartment upstairs while in town to make television spots for a brand of toothpaste. That evening, he works on reading the manuscript of a book in which psychiatrist Dr. Brubaker (Oskar Homolka) claims that almost all men are driven to have extra-marital affairs in the seventh year of marriage. Sherman has an imaginary conversation with Helen, trying to convince her, in three fantasy sequences, that he is irresistible to women, including his secretary, a nurse, and Helen's bridesmaid, but she laughs it off. A tomato plant then crashes into his lounge chair; the woman upstairs apologizes for accidentally knocking it off the balcony, and Richard invites her down for a drink. Tom Ewell reprised his Broadway role with Monroe replacing Vanessa Brown. He waits for her to get dressed, including in underwear she says she keeps cool in her icebox. When she arrives, a vision in pink, they have a drink and he lies about being married. When she sees his wedding ring, he backtracks but she is unconcerned, having no designs on him, only on his air-conditioning. He has a fantasy that she is a femme fatale overcome by his playing of Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto. In reality, she prefers Chopsticks, which they play together. Richard, overcome by his fantasies, awkwardly grabs at her, causing them to fall off the piano bench. He apologizes for his indiscretion but she says it happens to her all the time. Guilt-ridden, however, he asks her to leave. Over the next few days, they spend more time together and Richard imagines that they are growing closer, although she is immune to his imagined charms. Helen continually calls her husband, asking him to send the paddle so Ricky can use the kayak, but Richard is repeatedly distracted. His waning resolve to resist temptation fuels his fear that he is succumbing to the "Seven Year Itch". He seeks help from Dr. Brubaker, but to no avail. His imagination then runs even wilder: the young woman tells a visiting plumber (Victor Moore) how Richard is "just like the Creature from the Black Lagoon"; the plumber repeats her story to neighbor McKenzie, whom Helen had asked to drop by to pick up Ricky's paddle. Richard imagines his wife with McKenzie on a hayride which actually takes place but into which he injects his paranoia, guilt and jealousy. After seeing The Creature from the Black Lagoon, the young woman stands over the subway grate to experience the breeze – Monroe in the iconic scene in the pleated white halterneck dress, blowing her skirt in the wind. Eventually coming to his senses, and fearing his wife's retribution (which he imagines in a fantasy scene) Richard, paddle in hand, tells the young woman she can stay in his apartment – he then runs off to catch the next train to Maine to be with Helen and Ricky. Cast[edit] Monroe posing for photographers while filming the subway grate scene for The Seven Year Itch in September 1954 Marilyn Monroe as The Girl (credited as such, though Richard Sherman satirically remarks "maybe she's Marilyn Monroe") Tom Ewell as Richard Sherman (billed as Tommy Ewell) Evelyn Keyes as Helen Sherman Sonny Tufts as Tom MacKenzie Robert Strauss as Kruhulik Oscar Homolka as Dr. Brubaker Marguerite Chapman as Miss Morris Victor Moore as Plumber Donald MacBride as Mr. Brady Roxanne as Elaine Carolyn Jones as Nurse Finch Tom Nolan as Ricky Sherman (uncredited) Doro Merande as Waitress at Vegetarian Restaurant (uncredited) Kathleen Freeman as Woman at Vegetarian Restaurant (uncredited) Soundtrack[edit] Song[3] Performer(s) Note(s) "Piano Concerto No. 2" Gary Graffman, Leonard Bernstein, & the NYPO[4] Played on a record and often in the score "Sentimental Journey" — Played often in the score "Chopsticks" Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell — Production[edit] Marilyn Monroe's skirt blows upwards in the film. The depiction of Monroe over the grate has been compared to a similar event in the 1901 short film What Happened on Twenty-third Street, New York City.[5][6] The Seven Year Itch was filmed between September and November 1954, and was the only Billy Wilder film released by 20th Century-Fox. The characters of Elaine (Dolores Rosedale), Marie, and the inner voices of Sherman and The Girl were dropped from the play; the characters of the Plumber, Miss Finch (Carolyn Jones), the Waitress (Doro Merande), and Kruhulik the janitor (Robert Strauss) were added. Many lines and scenes from the play were cut or re-written because they were deemed indecent by the Hays office. Axelrod and Wilder complained that the film was being made under straitjacketed conditions. This led to a major plot change: in the play, Sherman and The Girl had sex; in the movie, the romance is all in his head. (At least for the most part. Romance between the two is still suggested. Sherman and the Girl kiss twice, once outside the movie theater, the other time before Sherman goes to take Ricky's paddle to Ricky.) The footage of Monroe's dress billowing over a subway grate was shot twice: the first take was shot on location outside the Trans-Lux 52nd Street Theater, then located at 586 Lexington Avenue in Manhattan, while the second take was on a sound stage. Both eventually made their way into the finished film,[citation needed] despite the often-held belief that the original on-location footage's sound had been rendered useless by the overexcited crowd present during filming in New York. The exterior shooting location of Richard's apartment was 164 East 61st Street in Manhattan.[7] Release[edit] Box office[edit] The film earned $6 million in rentals at the North American box office.[8] Critical response[edit] The original 1955 review by Variety was largely positive. Though Hollywood production codes prohibited writer-director Billy Wilder from filming a comedy where adultery takes place, the review expressed disappointment that Sherman remains chaste.[9] Some critics compared Richard Sherman to the fantasizing lead character in James Thurber's short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty."[10] Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 87% based on 30 reviews and an average score of 7.2/10.[11] In the 1970s Wilder called the movie "a nothing picture because the picture should be done today without censorship... Unless the husband, left alone in New York while the wife and kid are away for the summer, has an affair with that girl there’s nothing. But you couldn’t do that in those days, so I was just straitjacketed. It just didn’t come off one bit, and there’s nothing I can say about it except I wish I hadn’t made it. I wish I had the property now."[12] Awards and honors[edit] Date of ceremony Award Category Recipients and nominees Result January 29, 1956[13][14] Directors Guild of America Award Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures Billy Wilder Nominated February 23, 1956[15][16] Golden Globe Awards Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Tom Ewell Won In 2000, American Film Institute included the film as #51 in AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs.[17] See also[edit] List of American films of 1955 Forever Marilyn – a giant statue of Monroe in the white dress, by John Seward Johnson II **** Tom Ewell (born Samuel Yewell Tompkins, April 29, 1909 – September 12, 1994) was an American film, stage and television actor, and producer.[1] His most successful and arguably most identifiable role was that of Richard Sherman in The Seven Year Itch, a role that he originated in the Broadway stage production (1952–1954) and reprised in the 1955 Hollywood film adaptation. He received a Tony Award for the play and a Golden Globe Award for the film. He appeared in several other light comedies of the 1950s, most notably The Girl Can't Help It (1956), though he preferred the stage.[2] Contents 1 Early life and career 1.1 Television 2 Personal life 3 Death 4 Legacy 5 Filmography 6 References 7 External links Early life and career[edit] Ewell was born in Owensboro, Kentucky, the son of Martine (née Yewell) and Samuel William Tompkins.[3] His family expected him to follow in their footsteps as lawyers or whiskey and tobacco dealers, but Ewell decided to pursue acting instead. He began acting in summer stock in 1928 with Don Ameche before moving to New York City in 1931. He enrolled in the Actors Studio. He made his Broadway debut in 1934 and his film debut in 1940, and for several years, he played comic supporting roles. His acting career was interrupted during World War II when he served in the United States Navy.[1][4] After World War II, Ewell attracted attention with a strong performance in the film Adam's Rib (1949), and he began to receive Hollywood roles more frequently. Ewell continued acting in summer stock through the 1940s: He starred opposite June Lockhart in Lawrence Riley's biographical play Kin Hubbard in 1951, the story of one of America's greatest humorists and cartoonists. With this play, he made his debut as a producer. In 1947, he won a Clarence Derwent Award for his portrayal of Fred Taylor in the original Broadway cast of John Loves Mary.[2][5] With Paulette Girard in the Broadway play, The Seven Year Itch (1952) His most successful and, arguably, most identifiable role came in 1952, when he joined the Broadway production of The Seven Year Itch as protagonist Richard Sherman. With Vanessa Brown as "The Girl", Ewell played the part more than 900 times over three years, as he indicated in a mystery guest appearance on the June 12, 1955 airing of What's My Line? to promote the 1955 film adaptation.[2][5] He earned both the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for portraying Sherman. He enjoyed other film successes, including The Lieutenant Wore Skirts with Sheree North and The Girl Can't Help It (both 1956) opposite Jayne Mansfield. In The Girl Can't Help It, Julie London appears as a mirage to Tom Miller (Ewell) singing her signature song, "Cry Me a River".[5] He played Abel Frake in the 1962 version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical State Fair. In 1956, at the Coconut Grove Playhouse, he co-starred with Bert Lahr in the U.S. premiere of Waiting for Godot. However, as his film and theater careers seemed to have reached their peaks, he turned his attention to television. Over several years, he played guest roles in numerous series, and received an Emmy Award nomination for his continuing role in Baretta. In 1982, he co-starred as the drunken town doctor in the short lived comedy Best of the West. His final acting performance was in a 1986 episode of Murder, She Wrote.[5] Television[edit] From September 1960 to May 1961, Ewell starred in his own television series, in the self-titled The Tom Ewell Show, which lasted for one season.[5] In 1970 Ewell appeared as Hoy Valentine in The Men From Shiloh (the rebranded name of The Virginian) in the episode titled "With Love, Bullets and Valentines." In the mid-1970s, Ewell enjoyed popular success with a recurring role as retired veteran policeman Billy Truman in the 1970s Emmy-winning TV series Baretta. Ewell appeared in 36 episodes of the TV-cop series, which starred Robert Blake as Detective Tony Baretta, until its end in 1978. In 1979, he was a guest star on the TV series Taxi. Ewell also co-starred from 1981 to 1982 in the short-lived TV series Best of the West.[5] Personal life[edit] In Adam's Rib (1949) On March 18, 1946, he married Ann Abbott, daughter of Broadway director George Abbott; the short-lived marriage ended in divorce a year later. Ewell then married Marjorie Sanborn on May 5, 1948; they had a son, Taylor.[citation needed] Death[edit] On September 12, 1994, Tom Ewell died of undisclosed causes, aged 85, at the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. His widow, Marjorie, said he had suffered a long series of illnesses. Ewell was also survived by his son, Taylor, and by his 105-year-old mother, Martine Yewell Tompkins (1889–1998),[6] who lived in Curdsville, Kentucky, where she died at age 109.[7] Legacy[edit] In 2003, Ewell was inducted into the Owensboro High School Hall of Fame.[citation needed] Filmography[edit] Year Title Role Notes 1940 They Knew What They Wanted New Hired Hand Uncredited 1941 Back in the Saddle Fight Spectator Uncredited 1941 Desert Bandit Ordway - Texas Ranger 1949 Adam's Rib Warren Attinger 1950 A Life of Her Own Tom Caraway 1950 American Guerrilla in the Philippines Jim Mitchell 1950 Mr. Music Haggerty 1951 Up Front Willie 1952 Finders Keepers Tiger Kipps 1952 Lost in Alaska Nugget Joe McDermott 1952 Back at the Front Willie 1955 The Seven Year Itch Richard Sherman 1956 The Lieutenant Wore Skirts Gregory Whitcomb 1956 The Great American Pastime Bruce Hallerton 1956 The Girl Can't Help It Tom Miller 1958 A Nice Little Bank That Should Be Robbed Max Rutgers 1962 Tender Is the Night Abe North 1962 State Fair Abel Frake 1970 Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came Billy Joe Davis 1972 To Find a Man Dr. Hargrove 1972 They Only Kill Their Masters Walter 1974 The Great Gatsby Mourner Uncredited 1979 Butterflies in Heat Hadley Crabtree 1983 Easy Money Scrappleton *** Like thousands of other Manhattanites, Tom Ewell annually packs his wife (Evelyn Keyes) and children off to summer vacation, staying behind to work at the office. This particular summer, the lonely Ewell begins fantasizing about the many women he'd foresworn upon getting married (in one of the fantasies, Ewell and Marguerite Chapman parody the beach rendezvous in From Here to Eternity). He is jolted back to reality when he meets his new neighbor--luscious model Marilyn Monroe. Inviting Monroe to dinner, Ewell intends to sweep her off her feet and into the boudoir. Things don't quite work out that way, thanks to Ewell's clumsiness (and essential decency) and Monroe's naivete. Still, Ewell becomes convinced that his impure thoughts will somehow be transmitted to his vacationing wife and to the rest of the world, leaving him wide open for scandal and ruination. In the original play, the husband and the next-door neighbor did have an affair, but both play and film arrived at the same happy ending, with Ewell and his missus contentedly reunited at summer's end. Featured in the cast of The Seven Year Itch are Robert Strauss as a lascivious handyman, Sonny Tufts as Evelyn Keye's former beau, Donald MacBride as Ewell's glad-handing boss, and veteran Broadway funny man Victor Moore in a cameo as a nervous plumber. ****  PHOTOGRAPHING MARILYN MONROE IN "THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH" Documentary photographer George Zimbel was in the right place at the right time the night a subway vent and a white dress conspired to immortalize Marilyn Monroe’s considerable physical charms.   By Dean Brierly . Marilyn in classic mode in Zimbel's photo titled "The Flower" (Photo copyright George Zimbel. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission)     When Marilyn Monroe stood atop a New York City subway grating—her white dress billowing above her waist as co-star Tom Ewell looked on with lecherous intent in director Billy Wilder’s The Seven Year Itch—she was already established as the era’s most potent sex symbol. But the film, and the subway imagery in particular, forever enshrined her as the screen’s quintessential love goddess.The scene was originally filmed during the early morning hours of September 15, 1954, at the corner of Lexington Avenue and 52nd Street. Heavily publicized beforehand, it attracted a thousand or more spectators like iron filings to a magnet. Also on hand were Monroe’s husband, Joe Dimaggio, scores of photographers, and a sizeable contingent of New York’s finest called in to maintain order. Under Wilder’s relaxed but firm direction, the lead actors undertook repeated takes exiting the famous Trans-Lux Theater and exchanging flirtatious banter until the magic moment when Monroe’s dress is blown heavenward, revealing her million dollar legs and—scandalously for the era—white underpants.The scene’s repercussions were immediate and enduring. The combination of Monroe’s exhibitionism and the crowd’s loudly libidinous response resulted in reams of publicity for the film, helping to make it the biggest box office hit of 1955. But it also spelled the end of Monroe’s brief marriage to Dimaggio, who was more than unhappy at what he perceived as a public transgression of the bounds of decency and decorum. The scene was eventually re-shot under controlled studio conditions (ostensibly because crowd noise rendered the location footage unusable) and toned down, with Monroe’s dress never rising much above her knees. However, the overtly sexual nature of the original shoot lived on in the film’s promotional ads and in photos reproduced around the world.   Among the photographers gathered to record the history-making scene was a 25-year-old stringer for the PIX photo agency named George Zimbel. Although not a particular fan of Monroe, Wilder or the ensuing film, he jumped at the chance to cover the event. His memories of that night remain undimmed by the intervening decades. Zimbel was especially struck by the charged atmosphere generated by the crowd’s anticipation, even though he was under no illusions about the underlying reason for the shoot. “I hate the term ‘photo-op,’ but this was certainly the most important photo-op ever staged, notwithstanding George W. Bush landing on a battleship,” he says.   But such considerations vanished when Monroe arrived round about midnight in that famous white dress. (A dress that Zimbel says did “wondrous things as she moved.”) Initially, Wilder ran Monroe through a number of warm-up poses over the grating until he was satisfied she had the physical aspects of the scene nailed. It was during these warm-ups that the 20 or so photographers (among them Garry Winogrand and Elliott Erwitt) were allowed to take pictures. Monroe played to the onlookers as much as the cameras, and Zimbel recalls their shocked delight each time her dress flew up and revealed more of her than the public was used to seeing. . Marilyn and Billy Wilder (Photo copyright George Zimbel. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission)   Though they came early in his career, Zimbel’s images of the event already demonstrated his hallmark combination of cinematic flair and emotional depth. Referring to these dual (but not incompatible) impulses, Zimbel says, “It is the way I see. I have the greatest respect for filmmakers. They are magical image-makers. I am not magic. I try to be real.” Zimbel’s photographs (particularly the sequence on page 85) graphically celebrate Monroe’s indelible physical charms while also revealing additional contextual layers—her joy in performance, her awareness of being sexually commodified, and her complicity in and control of that process. Even after getting kicked off the set for photographing during a take, Zimbel continued to make evocative images from behind the police line. His astute use of a silhouetted foreground figure in “Serious Marilyn” subverts the actress’ public image by suggesting the vulnerability and isolation that often dominated her off-screen life. Born in Woburn, Massachusetts in 1929, Zimbel began his photographic career at 14, was published in Life magazine at 19, and joined PIX at 20. He also studied that year at the New York Photo League with John Ebstel, who proved to be a pivotal early influence. “Ebstel let the honest man out of me photographically, and that man is compassionate and respectful of his subjects, a hallmark of the Photo League philosophy,” Zimbel says. “Respect is not a valuable commodity these days, exploitation is more popular, but that is who I am.”   The Monroe series represents but one chapter in a career inclusive of numerous photo essays for major publications and corporations; solo exhibitions in the United States, Canada and Spain; life membership in ASMP; and induction into the Royal Canadian Academy of Art. Now 79, Zimbel and his wife Elaine live in Montreal, Quebec. He still feels a connection to the images he made on Lexington Avenue back in 1954, and has no regrets about not trying to capitalize on them at the time. “They are now in nine major museum collections and have been in many exhibitions as well as private collections,” he says. “That makes me happy.” **** The 60-Year Itch: Re-Watching The Seven Year Itch on Its 60th Anniversary It introduced the world to the cinematic possibilities of the subway grate, but how does it hold up? BY MICAH NATHAN JUNE 3, 2015 © 20TH CENTURY FOX FILM CORP./EVERETT COLLECTION. This week marks the 60th anniversary of The Seven Year Itch, Billy Wilder’s film adaptation of George Axelrod’s play about a middle-aged husband—left alone for the summer while his wife and son vacation in Maine—and the girl in the apartment upstairs. In Axelrod’s version, the husband is a fumbling, conflicted adulterer; in Wilder’s version, the husband is a fumbling, conflicted castrato, neutered to appease the Hays Code. Marilyn Monroe is the girl upstairs, and Tom Ewell, reprising his role from the play, is the middle-aged husband. The movie is typical of its era: women are either sex bombs or doting mothers, and men are either jaw-agape dorks or rubber-faced cads. Wilder would later call The Seven Year Itch “a nothing picture” and claim he wish he’d never made it under such moral restrictions. How can a story about adultery not allow for adultery? Monroe, that’s how. Among other more obvious gifts, Monroe (who herself would have turned 89 this week) reflected our own pungent longings: a sister-in-sorrow for women in search of mentor and protégé; a perpetual Lolita for men who wanted to read her a bedtime story after a night of savage congress. Monroe’s cheeks begged to be pinched, her waist seemed made for hands to slip around, the way she threw her head back in throaty laughter—followed by those fluttering eyelids and the surprised pout—hinted at that most private of expressions: the orgasm. She promised easy seduction, as though it would only take one drink and a few laughs to make her pearlescent hair fall across our pillow. (Marilyn Monroe Platinum Blond must be a secret formula, like Ferrari Red or Charleston Green. The same can be said of her skin tone, for even when untrammeled by makeup, it retained the hue of a ripe, white peach.) She first appears in the doorway of Ewell’s brownstone, holding a bag of groceries and an electric fan, its cord trailing like a cat’s tail. Her polka-dotted dress is shrink-wrapped to her body. Her lips are red and wet. She asks Ewell to help untangle her cord, and Ewell—leering, fumbling—obliges. When she finally walks upstairs, in a slow ascent equal parts geisha swish and runway strut, Ewell cannot look away. Neither can we. Monroe’s luminescence is at full wattage here. I imagine a collective gasp coursing through the audience, the censors fanning themselves, NATO calling for air strikes. Whenever Monroe leaves the screen, so does our interest. The remaining set pieces—an overbearing boss, some prescient swipes at the health-food craze—are forgettable, save one: besotted, Ewell asks a psychoanalyst for advice. Get 1 year for $15. Join now  Husband: I’ve been married for seven years, and I’m afraid I’m coming down with what you and Dr. Steichel call the seven-year itch. What am I going to do? Doctor: If something itches, my dear sir, the natural tendency is to scratch. Sexual hysteria—pardon the prudish expression—follows. The husband kisses Monroe, he fantasizes about Monroe, but he does not scratch Monroe. We know how it ends before he does. The sanctity of marriage triumphs, as it must. Is Monroe’s weapons-grade sexuality enough to save this film? Barely. The iconic status of her subway-grate billowed white dress is the amber in which this movie is preserved, but most of the jokes are corny, the men are irritating, the women are caricatures, and the sex farce isn’t nearly sexual or farcical enough. Still, Monroe abides. She seems like she came from the future. She makes everyone around her obsolete. Monroe walks differently. She talks differently. Under her command, that rapid-fire, stage-derived staccato, an audial watermark of 1950s Hollywood, slows to a sensuous, breathy legato. Every color looks good on her; every angle is flattering. The camera cannot remain objective, and neither can we. Watching with 60 years’ worth of hindsight, it’s clear that The Seven Year Itch is about the sin of boredom, not lust. Left alone, the husband might do something he regrets, but under the supervision of his purring ingénue, he flirts harmlessly, drinks moderately, and makes a charming fool of himself. Monroe treats him the way a beautiful girl might treat the nice boy who lives next door. Her temptation reminds him of what matters most: family, or something like that. She ends their friendship with a three-second kiss, and Ewell flees his brownstone for the safety of Maine. Monroe waves good-bye from the window, smiling, wistful, wholesome, carnal. We don’t want to leave. We want to see her again. We want a girl like Monroe. But some itches are never scratched: in seven years, she would be dead. ****  Sincerely Yours (film) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search Sincerely Yours Directed by Gordon Douglas Produced by Henry Blanke Written by Irving Wallace Based on The Man Who Played God 1912 story by Gouverneur Morris 1914 play The Silent Voice by Jules Eckert Goodman Starring Liberace Joanne Dru Dorothy Malone Music by George Liberace Rudolf Friml Cinematography William H. Clothier Edited by Owen Marks Production company International Artists, Ltd. Distributed by Warner Bros. Release date 2 November 1955[1] Running time 118 min Country United States Language English Sincerely Yours is a 1955 Warner Color film romantic music comedy starring Liberace. It was Liberace's first starring motion picture and was a recreation of his concert performances and a remake of the Warner Bros. 1932 film The Man Who Played God, which was itself a remake of the 1922 film The Man Who Played God, also based on the 1914 Jules Eckert Goodman play The Silent Voice.[1] Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 4 Release and reception 5 See also 6 References 7 External links Plot[edit] Tony Warrin (Liberace) is a very successful pianist who can play practically any kind of music, from classical to Boogie-woogie. He has one ambition left, which is to play at Carnegie Hall. Although his manager, Sam Dunne (William Demarest), and secretary, Marion Moore (Joanne Dru)--who secretly loves him—feel Tony's playing has never been better, he decides to go see Zwolinski (Otto Waldis), the music teacher who made him the musician he is today. There he encounters Linda Curtis (Dorothy Malone), who mistakes him for Zwolinski and explains why she wishes to learn the piano. In a whirlwind courtship, Tony takes out Linda socially and also performs on the piano for her. He proposes marriage, but since they just met, Linda asks for more time. Before a concert appearance in San Francisco she makes the acquaintance of Howard Ferguson (Alex Nicol), a soldier who has just returned home and intends to resume his career as a composer. A concert date at Carnegie Hall is finally arranged, only to have tragedy befall Tony—a sudden loss of hearing. It is explained to him that an operation could either cure him or leave him totally deaf. Shaken by this turn of events, Tony turns reclusive and even suicidal inside his New York City penthouse. He learns lip-reading and begins to observe strangers in Central Park, including a young boy, Alvie (Richard Eyer), who also needs an operation. The boy helps persuade Tony to take a risk, so he undergoes surgery and his hearing returns. He also spies Linda through binoculars with Howard and realizes they are in love, but Linda has been staying with Tony out of sympathy for his situation. Tony plays a Carnegie Hall concert and gives the couple his blessing. When he sees the loyal Marion, he realizes that they can have a future together. Cast[edit] Liberace as Anthony Warrin Joanne Dru as Marion Moore Dorothy Malone as Linda Curtis Lori Nelson as Sarah Cosgrove William Demarest as Sam Dunne Richard Eyer as Alvie Lurene Tuttle as Mrs. McGinley Alex Nicol as Howard Production[edit] At the time, Liberace was at the height of his career when tapped by Warner Bros. for his first starring motion picture. In April 1955, Modern Screen magazine claimed Doris Day had been most often mentioned as Liberace’s leading lady, "but it is doubtful that Doris will play the role. Liberace’s name alone will pack theatres and generous Liberace would like to give a newcomer a break." Joanne Dru, an established movie actress, became the leading lady. Release and reception[edit] When the film was released, the studio mounted an ad and poster campaign with Liberace’s name in huge, eccentric, building-block letters above and much larger than the title. "Fabulously yours in his first starring motion picture!" was a tag line. The other players and staff were smallish at the bottom. The film opened at the Paramount Theatre in New York City on November 2, 1955[1] with appearances by Liberace but performed disappointingly for the rest of the week only grossing $38,000.[2] It closed the following week after just 13 days.[3] The film was a commercial failure since Liberace proved unable to translate his eccentric on-stage persona to that of a movie leading man. Warner quickly issued a pressbook ad supplement with new "Starring" billing below the title, in equal plain letters: "Liberace, Joanne Dru, Dorothy Malone". TCM's Robert Osborne recalls a more dramatic demotion: When Sincerely Yours played first run at the Orpheum in Seattle, the billing was altered even more: Joanne Dru, Dorothy Malone, and Alex Nicol above the title (with big head shots of all three) and below the title in much smaller letters: "with Liberace at the piano". Originally, Sincerely Yours was meant to be the first of a two-picture movie contract but the studio then bought back the contract, effectively paying Liberace not to make a second movie. The experience left Liberace so shaken that he largely abandoned his movie aspirations.

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