Close to fifty years after to her premature passing at the age of 36, there are few stars, living or dead, who have the same effect that Marilyn Monroe continues to have. An icon the likes of which the starlets of today simply can’t compete with, her legacy continues to loom large, despite a relatively brief time on top (less than fifteen years passed between her first speaking role and her final picture, “The Misfits“) and aided in no small part by her tumultuous personal life — three troubled marriages, including to playwright Arthur Miller and baseball legend Joe Di Maggio, and reported affairs with both President John F. Kennedy and his brother Bobby.
But it’s easy to overlook her screen achievements with the legend, and the woman born Norma Jeane Baker in Los Angeles in 1926 was a star for a reason. Despite being slighted as a weak actress by some, she was an accomplished comic talent, and capable of far more when she was allowed. With the new biopic “My Week With Marilyn,” starring an Oscar-tipped Michelle Williams as Monroe opening this week, it seemed like as good a time as any to pick out five key performances in Norma Jean’s career. Check them out below, and you’ll be able to see how Ms. Williams matches up when “My Week With Marilyn” opens on Wednesday, November 23rd.
“Niagara” (1953)
“Niagara” is, to be honest, no great shakes. A melodrama heavy film-noir, interesting mainly because of the ways in which it preempts “Vertigo” which followed five years later, it’s likely a film that would have passed into the ether, to be referred to only by genre obsessives. Except that it serves as Marilyn Monroe’s first leading role (after eighteen supporting turns, in films from “The Asphalt Jungle” to “All About Eve“), and the first of a trifecta of pictures in 1953 that saw her go supernova. “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” and “How To Marry A Millionaire” are more beloved, but the part of Rose in “Niagara” is more interesting, partly because of how different it is to many of her leads. There isn’t a trace of the comic blonde persona here. As one half of the destructive married couple the Loomis,’ alongside Joseph Cotten, Monroe lives up the trailer billing her as “A Raging Torrent of Emotion that even nature can’t control… a tantalizing temptress whose kisses fire men’s souls!” Canny and conniving, with the pure, naked sexuality that would become her trademark (not least in some scenes that were surprisingly suggestive, for the Production Code era), it’s a role that shows she was more than just a pretty face. Indeed, when she’s *spoiler* killed off before the third act *end spoiler*, the film loses most of its energy as a result. She’s the main reason to see it — it’s a little overblown in places, while nice, normal couple Max Showalter and Jean Peters are milquetoast leads — but there are other pleasures to be found, not least in the glorious Technicolor photography from Mexican DoP Joe McDonald, who went straight on to shoot “How To Marry A Millionaire” with Monroe.
She is until today the Only One that will stay forever in our minds, the most beautiful, the smile, her carisma, you just can't compare her with anyone else, I wish she could have lived longer!!!
Cudn't have comeup with a better list. Niagra is a personal fav. though!
She cud have given much more to cinema. Anyways, I also ran into this interesting writeup on Leisure Martini. Can't post the link, but do find it there.
Cudn't have comeup with a better list. Niagra is a personal fav. though!
She cud have given much more to cinema. Anyways, I also ran into this interesting writeup on Leisure Martini. Can't post the link, but do find it there.
Cudn't have comeup with a better list. Niagra is a personal fav. though!
She cud have given much more to cinema. Anyways, I also ran into this interesting writeup on Leisure Martini. Can't post the link, but do find it there.
Cudn't have comeup with a better list. Niagra is a personal fav. though!
She cud have given much more to cinema. Anyways, I also ran into this interesting writeup on Leisure Martini. Can't post the link, but do find it there.
Cudn't have comeup with a better list. Niagra is a personal fav. though!
She cud have given much more to cinema. Anyways, I also ran into this interesting writeup on Leisure Martini. Can't post the link, but do find it there.
Cudn't have comeup with a better list. Niagra is a personal fav. though!
She cud have given much more to cinema. Anyways, I also ran into this interesting writeup on Leisure Martini. Can't post the link, but do find it there.
Cudn't have comeup with a better list. Niagra is a personal fav. though!
She cud have given much more to cinema. Anyways, I also ran into this interesting writeup on Leisure Martini. Can't post the link, but do find it there.
Cudn't have comeup with a better list. Niagra is a personal fav. though!
She cud have given much more to cinema. Anyways, I also ran into this interesting writeup on Leisure Martini. Can't post the link, but do find it there.
Cudn't have comeup with a better list. Niagra is a personal fav. though!
She cud have given much more to cinema. Anyways, I also ran into this interesting writeup on Leisure Martini. Can't post the link, but do find it there.
Cudn't have comeup with a better list. Niagra is a personal fav. though!
She cud have given much more to cinema. Anyways, I also ran into this interesting writeup on Leisure Martini. Can't post the link, but do find it there.
Cudn't have comeup with a better list. Niagra is a personal fav. though!
She cud have given much more to cinema. Anyways, I also ran into this interesting writeup on Leisure Martini. Can't post the link, but do find it there.
Cudn't have comeup with a better list. Niagra is a personal fav. though!
She cud have given much more to cinema. Anyways, I also ran into this interesting writeup on Leisure Martini. Can't post the link, but do find it there.
Cudn't have comeup with a better list. Niagra is a personal fav. though!
She cud have given much more to cinema. Anyways, I also ran into this interesting writeup on Leisure Martini. Can't post the link, but do find it there.
Cudn't have comeup with a better list. Niagra is a personal fav. though!
She cud have given much more to cinema. Anyways, I also ran into this interesting writeup on Leisure Martini. Can't post the link, but do find it there.
Cudn't have comeup with a better list. Niagra is a personal fav. though!
She cud have given much more to cinema. Anyways, I also ran into this interesting writeup on Leisure Martini. Can't post the link, but do find it there.
Cudn't have comeup with a better list. Niagra is a personal fav. though!
She cud have given much more to cinema. Anyways, I also ran into this interesting writeup on Leisure Martini. Can't post the link, but do find it there.
Cudn't have comeup with a better list. Niagra is a personal fav. though!
She cud have given much more to cinema. Anyways, I also ran into this interesting writeup on Leisure Martini. Can't post the link, but do find it there.
Cudn't have comeup with a better list. Niagra is a personal fav. though!
She cud have given much more to cinema. Anyways, I also ran into this interesting writeup on Leisure Martini. Can't post the link, but do find it there.
Cudn't have comeup with a better list. Niagra is a personal fav. though!
She cud have given much more to cinema. Anyways, I also ran into this interesting writeup on Leisure Martini. Can't post the link, but do find it there.
I just wish she had lived more, though she wudn't hav been d mystery she is now. Also found a beautiful piece on Monroe on the website of Leisure Martini. Can't post the link though
I just wish she had lived more, though she wudn't hav been d mystery she is now. Also found a beautiful piece on Monroe on the website of Leisure Martini. Can't post the link though
I just wish she had lived more, though she wudn't hav been d mystery she is now. Also found a beautiful piece on Monroe on the website of Leisure Martini. Can't post the link though
I just wish she had lived more, though she wudn't hav been d mystery she is now. Also found a beautiful piece on Monroe on the website of Leisure Martini. Can't post the link though
I just wish she had lived more, though she wudn't hav been d mystery she is now. Also found a beautiful piece on Monroe on the website of Leisure Martini. Can't post the link though
I just wish she had lived more, though she wudn't hav been d mystery she is now. Also found a beautiful piece on Monroe on the website of Leisure Martini. Can't post the link though
I just wish she had lived more, though she wudn't hav been d mystery she is now. Also found a beautiful piece on Monroe on the website of Leisure Martini. Can't post the link though
I just wish she had lived more, though she wudn't hav been d mystery she is now. Also found a beautiful piece on Monroe on the website of Leisure Martini. Can't post the link though
I just wish she had lived more, though she wudn't hav been d mystery she is now. Also found a beautiful piece on Monroe on the website of Leisure Martini. Can't post the link though
I just wish she had lived more, though she wudn't hav been d mystery she is now. Also found a beautiful piece on Monroe on the website of Leisure Martini. Can't post the link though
I just wish she had lived more, though she wudn't hav been d mystery she is now. Also found a beautiful piece on Monroe on the website of Leisure Martini. Can't post the link though
I just wish she had lived more, though she wudn't hav been d mystery she is now. Also found a beautiful piece on Monroe on the website of Leisure Martini. Can't post the link though
I just wish she had lived more, though she wudn't hav been d mystery she is now. Also found a beautiful piece on Monroe on the website of Leisure Martini. Can't post the link though
I just wish she had lived more, though she wudn't hav been d mystery she is now. Also found a beautiful piece on Monroe on the website of Leisure Martini. Can't post the link though
I just wish she had lived more, though she wudn't hav been d mystery she is now. Also found a beautiful piece on Monroe on the website of Leisure Martini. Can't post the link though
I just wish she had lived more, though she wudn't hav been d mystery she is now. Also found a beautiful piece on Monroe on the website of Leisure Martini. Can't post the link though
I just wish she had lived more, though she wudn't hav been d mystery she is now. Also found a beautiful piece on Monroe on the website of Leisure Martini. Can't post the link though
I just wish she had lived more, though she wudn't hav been d mystery she is now. Also found a beautiful piece on Monroe on the website of Leisure Martini. Can't post the link though
I just wish she had lived more, though she wudn't hav been d mystery she is now. Also found a beautiful piece on Monroe on the website of Leisure Martini. Can't post the link though
I just wish she had lived more, though she wudn't hav been d mystery she is now. Also found a beautiful piece on Monroe on the website of Leisure Martini. Can't post the link though
I just wish she had lived more, though she wudn't hav been d mystery she is now. Also found a beautiful piece on Monroe on the website of Leisure Martini. Can't post the link though
I just wish she had lived more, though she wudn't hav been d mystery she is now. Also found a beautiful piece on Monroe on the website of Leisure Martini. Can't post the link though
I thought she was great in "Clash by night". Tough, spunky and vulnerable. She was both addicted and despised the Marilyn persona. marilyn admitted herself that it took enormous energy.
BUS STOP!!!.. that movie is just brilliantly Marilyn :))
IF YOU ARE A REAL MARILYN MONROE FAN LIKE I AM YOU HAVE TO SEE HER MOVIE "DON'T BOTHER TO KNOCK" THIS IS WHERE SHE IS AT HER BEST YOU WILL NEVER SEE HER LIKE THIS BUT SHE CARRIED THE FILM LIKE A PRO SHE IS THE BEST WHEN I COMES TO DOING WHAT SHE DOSE AND NO ONE CAN IMITATE HER SO STOP MAKING FILMS OF HER SHE NEVER WANTED TO HAVE FILMS MADE OF HER WHEN SHE WAS GONE SO STOP HOLLYWOOD LET HER REST IN PEACE
Oscar-tipped Michelle Williams?
There is no oscar winning performance in My Week With Marilyn. Since when does riding the fame of a beautiful legendary actress automatically make Michelle Williams an oscar nominee contender? The blonde hair is terrible and Michelle couldn't capture Marilyn's flirtatious
nature. Someone should have removed that stick that is up Michelle's behind before they started
filming because Michelle struggled to act like Marilyn Monroe.
I'm totally agree with the choice, even I adore all of her movies. Cheers from Italy
Your Comment I thought "Let's Make Love" was her last completed film.
Gentlemen Perfer Blondes?
I relate to Marilyn as she was abandoned by her Mother, as I was. She was always seeking love and approval as I have. I wish she could have completed the movie "River of No Return". But I loved her in "The Misfits".
My comment is the words of M.Brando-I lived when I called home every soldier's dream, this dream even see it …
I always loved her film Some like it Hot which is one of my favorite films. However I used to watch River of No Return all the time when I was younger, she was so beautiful in it and used her real voice not her Marilyn voice! And she sang that beautiful little song to the boy! 🙂