Beauty... it's difficult to know how 'beautiful' any actress was or is, including Marilyn Monroe, because so many of them had plastic surgery, including Marilyn (who at the very least, had a nose job).
Since none of us knew Marilyn, personally, we don't know what she was like in her real life, only in her roles. I have seen several acting 'stars' up close and personal (because I am a writer and occasionally a screenplay editor)... none of them have lived up to the hype. I was 2 feet away from Goldie Hawn when she was filming 'Bird on a Wire' (1989). She was so damned old looking, then, up close. Wrinkled hands, obviously just 'scrubbed' face (face lift). Plumped lips. Fake breasts (I think). Goldie was NOT beautiful.
I saw Shirley MacClaine in 1984 at a book convention in L.A. She was 'supposedly' 50 then, but man! she looked at LEAST 65. Heavy makeup, lots of face powder. VERY wrinkled neck and hands. In other words, in 1984, Shirley MacClaine 'looked her age'. But she wasn't beautiful.
Jack Nicholson up close and personal is, well, SHORT, and wrinkled and bald and not good looking. I saw him at a party in the company of Gomer Pyle... err, Jim Nabors. I would not have recognized Jim Nabors, my friend recognized him. This was circa 1993-4. Jim Nabors was so old-looking (wrinkled) that he was like a caricature of himself.
What we see on the screen is two-dimensional representations of someone. If that someone is photogenic, then he or she may appear to be handsome or beautiful when, in real life, you'd pass them on the street and not know them.
The only person I've ever met (stood close to / shook hand of) was President Clinton when he was new to his presidency. I didn't vote for him. I don't like him or his wife. But up close and personal? The man was damned fine looking, just like his picture and he truly EXUDED sexual energy. I was quite nonplussed at my sexual response to him, since I don't like him, but I sure did want to boff him!
So why do we think actors are 'beautiful'? We don't know if they are 'beautiful'. We can believe certain of their acted characters are 'beautiful', perhaps,
Life is a journey not a destination. Fear nothing.
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twiggyyy
17 years ago
If you really want a good look at Marilyn's beauty, this movie is not what you should base it off of.
Like someone earlier said, her looks fit her character. She looked pale, and her facial features seemed more severe, like a pretty girl who has had a tough time.
There are so many different types of beautifuls out there, and Marilyn just exudes the drop dead gorgeous blonde. You may not be able to see it here, but in other movies its practically undeniable, whether you like her or not.
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whybother7-1
17 years ago
I've seen all the pics of the young Marilyn before she perfected her signature look, and I would say she was pretty or cute at most. Certainly she had a photogenic face with symmetrical features, but I don't think she was ever the most beautiful woman. She knew how to use everything she had to work the camera. She even said, "I can make my face do anything". There were times you could see through the facade and see that she was quite regular looking when she wasn't trying to project for cameras. And sometimes she looked too made up her face almost appeared ghost-like or a mask, almost unreal. I actually think she looked more appealing in her less glamorous films like the Misfits and candid pictures where she doesn't seem so acutely aware of the camera.
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LatigoMeans
17 years ago
Beauty, or rather the perception of beauty, is a thing that does indeed change through time. And very often it's not even what we see as beauty but what media dictates. Yesterday it was the round, voluptuous 'sweater girls", or leggy pinups - today it's more trim, streamline or athletic types - somewhere in there was the emaciated "Twiggy" style and so on and so on...
Marilyn was indeed a stunning woman, but she was also one who exuded a certain sexuality that more than compensated for whatever she lacked in true beauty.
Elizabeth Taylor, in my opinion, was truly a beautiful woman. One has only to see the pictures of her in her prime. One look at that face and eyes tells the tale. And while she herself certainly had a great deal of sexuality, there was something even more compelling about Marilyn.
For me there's nothing quite so wonderful and sexy as Marilyn in those blue jeans in "River Of No Return."
~LjM
Step on it! And don't spare the atoms!
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