The Beautiful Legendary American Screen Goddess Marilyn Monroe, may have left us in 1962 but her clever quips, quotes and phrases remain with us forever. Here I will post news and videos on our favourite Silver Screen idol
This is a version of the legendary Marilyn Monroe that you've never quite seen before. In the new graphic novel Marilyn’s Monsters, artist/writer Tommy Redolfi presents a surreal and hallucinatory version of events in the life of Norma Jean Baker, who rose to prominence as an actress and universal sex symbol Marilyn Monroe before tragically taking her own life at the age of 36. The real Monroe was born in Los Angeles on June 1, 1926, and spent her entire life there, first as Norma Jean Mortenson, then Norma Jean Baker, before eventually choosing the stage name Marilyn Monroe. In and out of foster homes and orphanages through her childhood and teen years, she was married at 16, divorced at 20, and signed to a modelling contract in 1945. She began acting after that, becoming a bona fide star in 1953 with roles in Niagara and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. She continued her box office streak with films like How to Marry a Millionaire, The Seven-Year Itch and Some Like It Hot, but also struggled with a turbulent personal life (she married and divorced baseball great Joe DiMaggio and playwright Arthur Miller, while also allegedly having affairs with President John F. Kennedy and others), bouts of depression and a severe addiction to barbiturates. She overdosed on the night of Aug. 5, 1962, at her home in the Brentwood neighbourhood of Los Angeles and was found lifeless the next morning, her death ruled a suicide.
In his graphic novel, Redolfi reimagines the famous Hollywood Hills as a strange, twisted forest populated with freaks and pockmarked with broken-down trailers. It's to this dark, shadowy land that Norma Jean Baker comes with dreams of making it big in Tinsel Town. But to achieve the success she desires, she will have to face all kinds of monsters in what is described by the publisher as an affecting allegory of abuse and exploitation.
But don't take our word for it: master filmmaker David Cronenberg called the book "a brilliant, hallucinatory meditation on the phenomenon of Marilyn Monroe. It will alter your understanding of both Hollywood and Marilyn." That's no faint praise coming from a director who has skewered the film business in movies like Maps to the Stars and who certainly knows how to create hallucinatory art himself.
Marilyn’s Monsters will arrive at retailers on Tuesday, Sept. 18. You may never look at a photo of Marilyn Monroe the same way again.
On 15 September 1954, Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe stood on top of a New York subway grate and an updraft of warm air caught her white dress like a parachute.
This moment – part of a scene she was filming for the movie The Seven Year Itch, directed by Billy Wilder –went on to become one of the most iconic in cinematic history.
But there is a painful story behind this classic image, one that reveals one of many dark times in Monroe’s tumultuous life.
At the time, Monroe was married to baseball superstar Joe DiMaggio, and this very scene allegedly was a catalyst for their acrimonious divorce, according to the Guardian.
The couple met in 1952. A then 25-year-old Monroe was on the brink of international success having just starred in Monkey Business and Don’t Bother to Knock, while DiMaggio – 12 years her senior – had just ended his legendary career as a New York Yankee early due to injuries.
After seeing publicity shots of Monroe in which she wore a baseball shirt and heels, DiMaggio arranged a dinner date with the star.
In her memoir, Marilyn: My Story, Monroe recalled meeting the ballplayer: “I had thought I was going to meet a loud, sporty fellow. Instead, I found myself smiling at a reserved gentleman in a grey suit, with a grey tie and a sprinkle of grey in his hair… If I hadn’t been told he was some sort of ballplayer, I would have guessed he was either a steel magnate or a congressman.”
She was also intrigued by the attention DiMaggio received.
She wrote: “Sitting next to Mr DiMaggio was like sitting next to a peacock with its tail spread… No woman has ever put me so much in the shade.”
They quickly became an item, marrying – second marriages for both – two years later in San Francisco. According to the Telegraph, the American media called the event “the marriage of the century”.
Their union, while glamorous, was also explosive and fraught with difficulties.
While DiMaggio, along with millions of other men, had been drawn to Monroe's "sex goddess" persona, he had never got used to her flaunting it.
According to biography, The Secret Life Of Marilyn Monroeby J. Randy Taraborrelli, DiMaggio didn't like Monroe's career. He thought she should be a traditional 1950s housewife and he was jealous of the attention she generated from other men.
In the same book, DiMaggio is described as controlling and even violent, furious that Monroe refused to give up her career for him.
And allegedly the iconic Seven Year Itch scene was the final straw for the marriage.
The scene was filmed in public to generate publicity for the movie, and DiMaggio was among the crowd. Director Billy Wilder described the "look of death" on DiMaggio's face as Monroe's skirt flew up and onlookers cheered, as reported byThe Telegraph.
George S. Zimbel, one of many photographers on set, recalled DiMaggio becoming irate and storming off, riled up by the uproarious press and onlookers who were gathered to watch the scene.
According to Taraborrelli's biography, DiMaggio returned to the couple's hotel room and waited for his wife. He later allegedly took out his rage by 'slapping her around the room'. In the book, Gladys Witten, the studio hairdresser recalls finding bruises on Marilyn's shoulders.
"But we covered them with makeup," she said.
Just a month later, in October 1954, Monroe divorced DiMaggio on the grounds of 'mental cruelty'.
On 15 September 1954, Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe stood on top of a New York subway grate and an updraft of warm air caught her white dress like a parachute.
This moment – part of a scene she was filming for the movie The Seven Year Itch, directed by Billy Wilder –went on to become one of the most iconic in cinematic history.
But there is a painful story behind this classic image, one that reveals one of many dark times in Monroe’s tumultuous life.
At the time, Monroe was married to baseball superstar Joe DiMaggio, and this very scene allegedly was a catalyst for their acrimonious divorce, according to the Guardian.
The couple met in 1952. A then 25-year-old Monroe was on the brink of international success having just starred in Monkey Business and Don’t Bother to Knock, while DiMaggio – 12 years her senior – had just ended his legendary career as a New York Yankee early due to injuries.
After seeing publicity shots of Monroe in which she wore a baseball shirt and heels, DiMaggio arranged a dinner date with the star.
In her memoir, Marilyn: My Story, Monroe recalled meeting the ballplayer: “I had thought I was going to meet a loud, sporty fellow. Instead I found myself smiling at a reserved gentleman in a grey suit, with a grey tie and a sprinkle of grey in his hair… If I hadn’t been told he was some sort of ballplayer, I would have guessed he was either a steel magnate or a congressman.”
She was also intrigued by the attention DiMaggio received.
She wrote: “Sitting next to Mr DiMaggio was like sitting next to a peacock with its tail spread… No woman has ever put me so much in the shade.”
They quickly became an item, marrying – second marriages for both – two years later in San Francisco. According to the Telegraph, the American media called the event “the marriage of the century”.
Monroe and DiMaggio together on the beach. Image: Getty
Their union, while glamorous, was also explosive and fraught with difficulties.
While DiMaggio, along with millions of other men, had been drawn to Monroe's "sex goddess" persona, he had never got used to her flaunting it.
According to biography, The Secret Life Of Marilyn Monroeby J. Randy Taraborrelli, DiMaggio didn't like Monroe's career. He thought she should be a traditional 1950s housewife and he was jealous of the attention she generated from other men.
In the same book, DiMaggio is described as controlling and even violent, furious that Monroe refused to give up her career for him.
And allegedly the iconic Seven Year Itch scene was the final straw for the marriage.
The couple's wedding in San Fransisco. Image: Getty
The scene was filmed in public to generate publicity for the movie, and DiMaggio was among the crowd. Director Billy Wilder described the "look of death" on DiMaggio's face as Monroe's skirt flew up and onlookers cheered, as reported byThe Telegraph.
George S. Zimbel, one of many photographers on set, recalled DiMaggio becoming irate and storming off, riled up by the uproarious press and onlookers who were gathered to watch the scene.
According to Taraborrelli's biography, DiMaggio returned to the couple's hotel room and waited for his wife. He later allegedly took out his rage by 'slapping her around the room'. In the book, Gladys Witten, the studio hairdresser recalls finding bruises on Marilyn's shoulders.
"But we covered them with makeup," she said.
Just a month later, in October 1954, Monroe divorced DiMaggio on the grounds of 'mental cruelty'.
Monroe immediately after signing divorce papers. Image: Getty
According to Time, in the courtroom, a tearful Monroe told the judge that her husband was "cold" and "moody".
DiMaggio begged for forgiveness but Monroe was done with him.
The couple was married for just 274 days.
Monroe went on to marry playwright Arthur Miller in 1956, divorcing five years later. DiMaggio never remarried and allegedly pursued a second chance with Monroe for many years.
According to People magazine, after Monroe died of a suspected drug overdose in 1962, DiMaggio arranged her funeral and had six long-stemmed red roses sent to her grave every week until his own death in 1999.
