Marilyn Monroe: Acting Brilliance Then Tragedy

Marilyn Monroe…Acting Brilliance Then Tragedy

If you are at the family table, or out with a group of friends, or in front of a high school class, or at your book club, or in your place of work, please ask everyone their opinion on who is the classic female beauty and icon of our day. We have been doing this since June first. Everyone says: “Give me a chance to think” and two minutes later they come up with a name or two.

If you asked this question in the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, or 80’s……

Every eighteen-month old just learning to talk,
Every housewife,
Every pimpled-faced teenager,
Every military person in all branches of the service,
Every artist and photographer, AND
Every movie lover would say……..Marilyn Monroe.

Don't Miss My Week With Marilyn: Michelle Williams Was Outstanding!

June first would have been Norma Jean’s eighty-seventh birthday and she would probably be dating one of the Rolling Stones if still alive.

Everyone looks past her award winning acting career to search for the negatives of depression, over medication, and lost soul syndrome.

However, she was an actress supreme. She won the American Golden Globe’s Award, the Italian Oscar, and the French Oscar for her movie work. She studied and traveled with Lee Strasburg, the dean of acting and her acting coach. She acted opposite the likes of Clark Gable, Joseph Cotton, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemon, Montgomery Clift, and an additional list of greats.

Of Monroe’s three husbands Joe DiMaggio, the New York Yankee legend, and Arthur Miller, the author and playwright, are the most interesting. She called DiMaggio an even grater lover than he was a ball player, though they were married after his playing career was over. His roses are still placed on her grave every June first.

Her last movie, the critically acclaimed The Misfits, deserves five minutes of your research time. It was like the Sports Illustrated cover appearance jinx. After the movie, she died, Clark Gable died, and a number of great luminaries working behind the scenes died. The critic site Rotten Tomatoes gave the movie a 100% approval rating. This is unheard of for this often critically brutal site.

Marilyn’s movie roles ranged from comedies like Some Like It Hot (Lemon and Tony Curtis co-stars) to cowboy epics like The Misfits to dramas like Bus Stop and Niagara. She received across the board accolades for each role. Her movies are making more in rentals than they made in the theater. Laugh tonight please with Some Like It Hot while listening to Can’t Get No Satisfaction from the Rolling Stones.

Here is the list of some of the beauty selections from our interview audience in no particular order. No military personnel or college students were part of this survey. They can still dream though!

1. Halle Berry
2. Gisele Budchen
3. Gwyneth Paltrow
4. Beyonce
5. Rihanna
6. Kate Upton
7. Brooklyn Decker
8. Pink
9. Scarlet Johanson
10. Jennifer Lawrence