Marilyn Monroe: A Biography

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The Actors Studio and formation of Marilyn Monroe Productions

Greene had first met Monroe in 1953 when he was assigned to photograph her for Look magazine. While many photographers tried to emphasize her sexy image, Greene presented her in more modest poses, and she was pleased with his work. As a friendship developed between them, she confided in him her frustration with her 20th Century Fox contract, and the roles she was offered. Her salary for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes amounted to $18,000, while freelancer Jane Russell was paid more than $100,000.[59] Greene agreed that she could earn more by breaking away from 20th Century Fox. He gave up his job in 1954, mortgaged his home to finance Monroe, and allowed her to live with his family as they determined the future course of her career.[60]

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Truman Capote introduced Monroe to Constance Collier, who gave her acting lessons. She felt that Monroe was not suited to stage acting, but possessed a "lovely talent" that was "so fragile and subtle, it can only be caught by the camera." After only a few weeks of lessons, Collier died.[61] Monroe had met Paula Strasberg and her daughter Susan on the set of There's No Business Like Show Business,[62] and had previously said that she would like to study with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio. In March 1955, Monroe met with Cheryl Crawford, one of the founders of the Actors Studio, and convinced her to introduce her to Lee Strasberg, who interviewed her the following day, and agreed to accept her as a student.[63]

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In May 1955, Monroe started dating the playwright, Arthur Miller; they had met in Hollywood in 1950 and when Miller discovered she was in New York, he arranged for a mutual friend to reintroduce them.[64] On June 1, 1955, Monroe's birthday, Joe DiMaggio accompanied Monroe to the premiere of The Seven Year Itch in New York City. He later hosted a birthday party for her, but the evening ended with a public quarrel, and Monroe left the party without him. A lengthy period of estrangement followed.[65][66]

Throughout 1955, Monroe studied with the Actors Studio, and found that one of her biggest obstacles was her severe stage fright. She was befriended by the actors, Kevin McCarthy and Eli Wallach who each recalled her as studious and sincere in her approach to her studies, and noted that she tried to avoid attention by sitting quietly in the back of the class.[67] When Strasberg felt Monroe was ready to give a performance in front of her peers, Monroe and Maureen Stapleton chose the opening scene from Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie, and although she had faltered during each rehearsal, she was able to complete the performance without forgetting her lines.[68] Kim Stanley later recalled that students were discouraged from applauding, but that Monroe's performance had resulted in spontaneous applause from the audience.[68] While Monroe was a student, Lee Strasberg commented, "I have worked with hundreds and hundreds of actors and actresses, and there are only two that stand out way above the rest. Number one is Marlon Brando, and the second is Marilyn Monroe."[68

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Monroe's dramatic performance as Chérie, a saloon singer with little talent, marked a departure from her earlier comedies.

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The Seven Year Itch was released and became a success, earning an estimated $8 million.[69] Monroe received positive reviews for her performance, and was in a strong position to negotiate with 20th Century Fox.[69] On New Year's Eve 1955, they signed a new contract which required Monroe to make four films over a seven-year period. The newly formed Marilyn Monroe Productions would be paid $100,000 plus a share of profits for each film. In addition to being able to work for other studios, Monroe had the right to reject any script, director or cinematographer she did not approve of.[70][71]

The first film to be made under the contract and production company was Bus Stop directed by Joshua Logan. Logan had studied under Konstantin Stanislavsky, approved of method acting, and was supportive of Monroe.[72] Monroe severed contact with her drama coach, Natasha Lytess, replacing her with Paula Strasberg, who became a constant presence during the filming of Monroe's subsequent films.[73]

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In Bus Stop Monroe played Chérie, a saloon bar singer with little talent, who falls in love with a cowboy. Her costumes, make-up and hair reflected a character who lacked sophistication, and Monroe provided deliberately mediocre singing and dancing. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times proclaimed: "Hold on to your chairs, everybody, and get set for a rattling surprise. Marilyn Monroe has finally proved herself an actress." In his autobiography, Movie Stars, Real People and Me, director Logan wrote: "I found Marilyn to be one of the great talents of all time... she struck me as being a much brighter person than I had ever imagined, and I think that was the first time I learned that intelligence and, yes, brilliance have nothing to do with education." Logan championed Monroe for an Academy Award nomination and complimented her professionalism until the end of his life.[74] Though not nominated for an Academy Award,[75] she received a Golden Globe nomination.

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During this time, the relationship between Monroe and Miller had developed, and although the couple were able to maintain their privacy for almost a year, the press began to write about them as a couple,[76] often referred to as "The Egghead and The Hourglass."[77] The reports of their romance were soon overtaken by news that Miller had been called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee to explain his supposed communist affiliations. Called upon to identify communists he was acquainted with, Miller refused and was charged with contempt of Congress. He was acquitted on appeal.[78] During the investigation, Monroe was urged by film executives to abandon Miller, rather than risk her career but she refused, later branding them as "born cowards."[78] The press began to discuss an impending marriage, but Monroe and Miller refused to confirm the rumor. In June 1956, a reporter was following them by car, and as they attempted to elude him, the reporter's car crashed, killing a female passenger. Monroe became hysterical upon hearing the news, and their engagement was announced, partly in the expectation that it would reduce the excessive media interest they were being subjected to.[77] They were married on June 29, 1956.

Bus Stop was followed by The Prince and the Showgirl directed by Laurence Olivier, who also co-starred. Prior to filming, Olivier praised Monroe as "a brilliant comedienne, which to me means she is also an extremely skilled actress." During filming he resented Monroe's dependence on her drama coach, Paula Strasberg, regarding Strasberg as a fraud whose only talent was the ability to "butter Marilyn up." He recalled his attempts at explaining a scene to Monroe, only to hear Strasberg interject, "Honey - just think of Coca-Cola and Frank Sinatra."[79]

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Despite Monroe and Olivier clashing, Olivier later commented that in the film "Marilyn was quite wonderful, the best of all."[80] Monroe's performance was hailed by critics, especially in Europe, where she won the David di Donatello, the Italian equivalent of the Academy Award, as well as the French Crystal Star Award. She was also nominated for a BAFTA.

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In The Prince and the Showgirl (1957), Monroe co-starred with Sir Laurence Olivier, who also directed the film.

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Marilyn Monroe, appearing with the USO, poses for Soldiers in Korea after a performance at the 3rd U.S. Inf. Div. area during the Korean War. February 17, 1954.

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Later years

It was more than a year before Monroe began her next film; during her hiatus she lived with Miller in Amagansett, Long Island and suffered a miscarriage on August 1, 1957.[81][82] With Miller's encouragement she returned to Hollywood in August 1958, and filmed Some Like it Hot directed by Billy Wilder, and co-starring Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis. Although Wilder had experienced Monroe's tardiness, stage fright, and inability to remember lines during production of The Seven Year Itch, her behavior was more hostile, and was marked by refusals to participate in filming, and occasional outbursts of profanity.[83] She consistently refused to take direction from Wilder, or insisted on numerous retakes of simple scenes until she was satisfied.[84] She developed a rapport with Lemmon, but she disliked Curtis after hearing that he had described their love scenes as "like kissing Hitler."[85] Curtis later stated that the comment was intended as a joke.[86] During filming, Monroe discovered that she was pregnant, but suffered another miscarriage in December 1958, as filming was completed.[87]

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The film became a resounding success, and was nominated for five Academy Awards. Monroe was acclaimed for her performance and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. Wilder commented that the film was the biggest success he had ever been associated with.[88] He discussed the problems he encountered during filming, saying "Marilyn was so difficult because she was totally unpredictable. I never knew what kind of day we were going to have... would she be cooperative or obstructive?"[89] He had little patience with her method acting technique and said that instead of going to the Actors Studio "she should have gone to a train-engineer's school ... to learn something about arriving on schedule."[90] Wilder had become ill during filming, and explained, "We were in mid-flight – and there was a nut on the plane."[91] In hindsight, he discussed Monroe's "certain indefinable magic" and "absolute genius as a comic actress,"[89] and after Some Like it Hot was completed, he discussed other projects with her, including Irma La Douce which he later filmed with Shirley MacLaine.[92]

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in Some Like It Hot (1959)

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By this time, Monroe had only completed one film, Bus Stop, under her four picture contract with 20th Century Fox. She agreed to appear in Let's Make Love, which was to be directed by George Cukor, but she was not satisfied with the script, and Arthur Miller rewrote it.[93] Gregory Peck was originally cast in the male lead role, but he refused the role after Miller's rewrite; Cary Grant, Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner and Rock Hudson also refused the role before it was offered to Yves Montand.[94] Monroe and Miller befriended Montand and his wife, actress Simone Signoret, and filming progressed well until Miller was required to travel to Europe on business. Monroe began to leave the film set early and on several occasions failed to attend, but her attitude improved after Montand confronted her. Signoret returned to Europe to make a film, and Monroe and Montand began a brief affair that ended when Montand refused to leave Signoret.[95] The film was not a critical or commercial success.[96]

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Monroe's health deteriorated during this period, and she began to see a Los Angeles psychiatrist, Dr. Ralph Greenson. He later recalled that during this time she frequently complained of insomnia, and told Greenson that she visited several medical doctors to obtain what Greenson considered an excessive variety of drugs. He concluded that she was progressing to the point of addiction, but also noted that she could give up the drugs for extended periods, without suffering any withdrawal symptoms.[97] According to Greenson, the marriage between Miller and Monroe was strained; he said that Miller appeared to genuinely care for Monroe and was willing to help her, but that Monroe rebuffed while also expressing resentment towards him for not doing more to help her.[98] Greenson stated that his main objective at the time was to enforce a drastic reduction in Monroe's drug intake.[99]

In 1956 Arthur Miller had lived briefly in Nevada and wrote a short story about some of the local people he had become acquainted with, a divorced woman and some aging cowboys. By 1960 he had developed the short story into a screenplay, and envisioned it as a suitable role for Monroe. It became her last completed film, The Misfits, directed by John Huston and costarring Clark Gable, Montgomery Clift and Thelma Ritter. Filming commenced in July 1960, with most of it taking place in the hot Northern Nevada Black Rock Desert. Monroe was frequently ill and unable to perform, and away from the influence of Dr. Greenson, had resumed her consumption of sleeping pills and alcohol.[99] A visitor to the set, Susan Strasberg, later described Monroe as "mortally injured in some way,"[