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Marilyn at 80 - and at her best
Fellow blogger Ron Rollins has pointed out the rather incredible fact that Marilyn Monroe would have been 80 years old today.
He asks what is it about her that so attracts us? Some might cynically respond that it was her physical assets, but anyone who thinks Marilyn was a star simply for her face and her body obviously isn’t paying attention. Jayne Mansfield was even more well-endowed than Marilyn was, but you never see her in any lists of the greatest stars of all time. Marilyn is near the top of most of them.
There were certainly better actresses, and more beautiful and elegant women — Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn come to mind — but the camera loved Marilyn Monroe like it has loved no other actress, before or since. Her image practically breathes “Hollywood” in the most seductive whisper possible.
For the best evidence of that, check out some of her best movies.
The Asphalt Jungle/All About Eve: She had only small parts in, respectively, a John Huston noir and the most peerless of all backstage dramas, but even amid the overall excellence of those movies, she stands out. You can’t take your eyes off her.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: Marilyn may have excelled at playing the “dumb blonde,” but no one gave it the sass and spark Marilyn did when she sang about diamonds being a girl’s best friend. Listen for references to Dayton.
The Seven Year Itch: Billy Wilder’s comedy in which Marilyn plays an unnamed va-va-voom neighbor hasn’t aged that well, but this is the film that cemented her screen image with a certain subway grate scene.
Bus Stop: If anything, this movie has aged even less well than Seven-Year Itch but it was the first inkling that many people had of Marilyn being a genuine actress. She plumbs depths of sadness in her character that only enhanced her screen power.
Some Like It Hot: Marilyn’s personal life had seriously unraveled by the time she shot this, and she would die only three years later. But she is a large part of of why this is considered the funniest movie of all time. “Nobody’s perfect,” indeed, but as a movie star, Marilyn came awfully close.
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