What movie roles do you wish you could have seen Marilyn in if she hadn't died in 1962?
Here are some that I think could have been interesting and different for her, if she had been allowed to test her meddle:
Chris McNeil (the mom) in "The Excorcist"
Mrs. Robinson in "The Graduate"
Edwina in "Terms of Endearment"
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shareSorry, that's "mettle"
shareI'm sorry, that's "Aurora" from Terms of Endearment, not Edwina... I don't know why I thought Edwina.
shareWell, her image and her career in general would have had to have transitioned a great deal to imagine her in what was available in the 1960's and beyond. I've always felt she would have been superb in Hitchcock's "Marnie." And it would nice to think of Billy Wilder conceiving a role just for her, to help her get through her transition--a sophisticated comedy, one that did not rely on the T & A of "Itch" and "Hot."
Otherwise...there weren't many options for a middle-aged Marilyn Monroe. (In Hollywood, in 1962, 36 was indeed considered middle-age for a glamor girl. And unlike, say, Ava or Lana, Monroe had never even been nominated for an Oscar--and that sort of thing went a long way as those other ladies matured into, well--mature glamor girls.)
Marilyn had just cost a studio a lot of money, in the film, Something Got to Give, where she was fired for holding up production, and wasn’t performing as she previously had.share
Ms. Monroe was becoming an emotional basket case, was seeing a shink, drinking heavily, and had overdose twice before her death.
As gorgous and talented as she had once been, she was now known as a temperamental actress. Her best years as a carefree sexy actress were over.
Unless she once again buckled down and cleaned up her personal life, her galmour years as a bombshell comedic actress were over.
Marilyn had become in flatuated with turning into her own depressed mother, who had abandoned her. Failed marriages added to her unstablity. She was searching for something that might give meaning to her personally , and was grasping at straws.
Her last hurrah was seeking to tie herself to the Kennedy’s, first JFK, then Bobby. RFK saw her on the last night she was alive, stating her quest for a Kennedy was over.
Could Marilyn pull herself together? She could temporarily had a career in Las Vegas. She would still have been strong draw. But Marilyn wasn’t a strong stand alone woman. The amount of emotional baggage she carried around would be toug on anyone a near her, let alone dealing with it by herself, even with psychiatric help and booze.
Beauty is fleeting. It is tough to believe that Marilyn could possibly revive her Hollywood career like Betty Davis. Ms. Monroe would just become an aging woman, with most people only remembering her brief time in the Hollywood glitter of yesterdays.
Denis-38, yes "Marnie" was something else I had pondered. But I wonder if that would have been a bit too close to home for her. I also wondered about how she would have done in "Vertigo". Vertigo is my most favorite Hitchcock movie of all time... Really among my top 10 of all movies. It is difficult to imagine anybody else but Kim Novak in that role... But I do wonder about Marilyn. Hitchcock didn't care for her. She was too sexy, obvious and mannered for his taste. But, if only he could have seen past that. Maybe work with her to do away with the damage done by Natasha Lytess. I can even imagine the initial conversation that Hitchcock would have with her- "My dear... I need you to not be Marilyn Monroe. Can you do that?" Do you think that she would have been ok with the modest gray suit, and with being a brunette for part of the movie?
sharelisibet...
She would have been fine with "Marnie." I mean, she didn't break down after "Don't Bother to Knock" and that was fairly close to the bone. I love Kim in "Vertigo" but it is a role I can imagine MM doing. Ditto "Suddenly Last Summer." (The years with Miller were such a waste.)
By the time of "Marnie" Monroe had been done with Natasha for years. Alas, although her mannerisms decreased, the Strasberg influence, with Paula on set, would have been a total no-go for Hitch. He figured the movie out in his head and in story-boarding. The actors had to adjust themselves to him and his wants and needs. Not the best thing for MM. Although her life and certainly her career would have benefited from practicing that kind of discipline and professionalism.
Marilyn often said how much she needed and wanted good, sensitive directors--director approval was a vital aspect of her 1956 Fox contract. But she would then proceed to apparently disregard all attempts to actually direct her! Perhaps it was some holdover from her childhood, or the early years in Hollywood, but MM seemed to have a real and unfortunate aversion to being told what to do, by a man, in a position of power. (Wonder how would she have fared with a female director?)
Like I said, she would have had to undergo an almost complete transformation in her professional and personal habits to survive with her stardom and dignity intact as the 1960s rolled in.
In my best-case imaginary scenario, she does prevail. (In that fantasy, she heads to Europe, where they adored her, the material was more interesting and her age not nearly the issue it was in America.)
Realistically, looking at the way things stood in August of '62, probably not.
I see her in "Gilligan's island". Or perhaps as an extra on Hee-Haw. Sitcoms were her only hope.
shareHer career probably wouldn't have lasted much longer if she'd lived. Her unprofessionalism, the recent flops, aging out of sexy-girl roles would have been enough to end anyone's time at the top, and then tastes were about to change.share
She wouldn't have got into the pop culture of the sixties, although if she'd lived she might have liked the hippies. And their new and interesting drugs.
—Anonymous
reply 7 an hour ago
Hey - *I* wrote that! I'M FAMOUS!!!
Seriously, I think the Sixties would have been very rough for her if she'd have lived. In the early sixties she wouldn't have been offered much except playing the sexy wife of Dean Martin or Tony Curtis in the slick comedies of the era, and she'd have gotten more and more fed up with Hollywood.
And then the whole hippie-druggie-youth culture-revolutionary thing came along. It might have been very appealing to someone who hated her life in Hollywood, and who liked her mind-altering substances.
The Carperbaggers
Harlow
Movie with Sinatra
There's been a rumor floating around for decades that shortly before her demise, Sinatra had set her up to be gang-raped on camera at his Cal-Neva lodge. So if there's any shred of truth to the rumor, she wouldn't have worked with him.
As for "The Carpetbaggers" and "Harlow", those roles called for someone younger. Monroe would have been 38-39 when they were released, she was still beautiful, but she didn't look 22.
I don't believe that rumour.
shareI neither believe nor disbelieve the rumor, I wasn't there so I wouldn't know.
I'm just not willing to dismiss it as impossible. Sinatra was an awful human being and he associated with career criminals, to put it politely, I wouldn't say he was incapable of being mixed up in something that shady.
Kiss me stupid
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