Agencies
NEW YORK: It is June 1. Happy birthday, Marilyn Monroe.
Hollywood’s iconic blonde bombshell, who was born Norma Jeane in a Los Angeles hospital on this day (June 1, 1926) and died of a drug overdose at the age of 36 in August 1962, was much more than the sex symbol that film studios had created for her.
After the success of her films such as The Seven Year Itch (1953) and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1955) Hollywood studios wanted to keep her as their saleable sex symbol. But Marilyn didn’t want that as she had become a big star now. She wanted to be taken seriously by the studios and given serious roles. She went to New York in 1954 to join Lee Strasberg’s Actors Studio so that she would get serious roles later.
Marilyn never knew who her real father was. Probably that’s why she was drawn to father figures, to intellectual men who were much older than herself. That explains her marriage to America’s best playwright and much older Arthur Miller – from 1956 to 1960.
Marilyn and actress Shelley Winters were roommates for one year when they were young struggling actresses in Hollywood.
Shelley, who went on to win two Oscars, said in a 1987 TV interview that she and Marilyn “were both very young and struggling. We were blonde Hollywood babies. We used to sit in Schwab’s drugstore (famous pharmacy on Sunset Boulevard where young aspiring actors frequenting Hollywood studios used to meet) and fantasize about the future…having glorious careers and of course one of the prefect husbands and prefect children.’’
Shelley said Marilyn respected intellect. “While I was busy going out with handsome young movie stars, she was attracted to father figures…old men who were very smart.’’
Recalling Marilyn’s fantasy for old intellectual men, Shelley said on David Letterman’s Late Night Show in 1989, “Marilyn didn’t like anybody under 50…if you didn’t have grey hair. One day, we were both getting unhappy over our love affairs and we decided that why shouldn’t we be like men…just go over and sleep with who you think is attractive. Anyway, we decided that we will make a list (of attractive men) and show each other after an hour. On her (Marilyn’s) list were people like Einstein, Ralph Bunche…. On my list were Clark Gable, Brando and things like that.”
Marilyn Monroe Albert Einstein affair happened?
On seeing Albert Einstein’s name on Marilyn’s list, Shelley told her, “Marilyn, there’s no way you can sleep with Albert Einstein. He’s the most famous scientist of the century. Besides, he’s an old man.â€Â
Marilyn’s reply was, “That has nothing to do with it. I hear he’s very healthy.â€Â
Did Marilyn ever meet Einstein and have a love affair with him?
Shelley told David Letterman on his show, “Many years after her (Marilyn’s) death, I was in the Strasbergs’ apartment (in New York) and there was a silver framed picture of Albert Einstein on a piano and on it was written: `With love, respect and thanks. Albert Einstein’.’’
The Strasbergs – Lee and Paula – were Marilyn’s foster parents and much of her estate after her death went to them.
According to Shelley, Marilyn was no dumb blonde as she was a voracious reader, with a collection of over 400 books.
But the studios wanted Marilyn Monroe to keep the `dumb blonde’ image forever despite that the fact she was a great comedian as well, Shelley added.
“She (Marilyn) really didn’t believe that she was such a (good) comedian and she was. In Some Like It Hot, she was brilliant. I saw her in Actors Studio where she was brilliant…she read a lot of interesting books about civil rights, politics, and she really got involved in those things. But she didn’t have a support group, she was afraid of people.’’ÂÂ
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