Marilyn Monroe: More Than Just a Sex Object

The timeless Marilyn Monroe.

Marilyn Monroe is one of the most written about women in history. Pictures of Marilyn still appear in magazines. She has been dead for over 50 years and still she is talked about. Elton John's original "Candle in the Wind" is about Marilyn Monroe. Hundreds of books have been written about her, including one by Gloria Steinem who made Marilyn into a feminist.

Her image is that of sex and Hollywood excess, but what do we really know about her? She is the product of a single mother. She had several apparently different husbands; a sailor, a baseball legend and a playwright. She took acting classes late in her career. Did she have sex with lots men to get to the top? Why did she do so many drugs and alcohol that it killed her? Why could she never find lasting love? We will never have these answers, and it's probably best. The answers would probably be more boring than we would imagine.

What we do know and have of Marilyn is her celluloid work. An array of films that show not only what a beauty she was on film, but also that she was a legitimate actress with surprising range. She did comedies, dramas, musicals and even an action western, River of No Return.

She started her career in lots of little parts, occasionally playing a scene opposite a big star like Groucho Marx or Bette Davis. Her early work was almost always little more than sexy scenery. In The Asphalt Jungle, her big scene was standing in a doorway with only her face and breasts sticking out. A few exceptions like Clash by Night and Don't Bother To Knock in which she plays a psycho babysitter occasionally came along.

In Niagara she was the supporting actress but she stole the entire picture. She plays the femme fatale in this movie for the first and last time. It is her first color film and she becomes a star with this movie. The posters for this film are that of a giant naked Marilyn lying sexually across Niagara Falls as the water pours over her good parts. She was just the supporting actress but the studio obviously saw her marketability.

Her next picture was Gentleman Prefer Blondes. Again she stole the movie. Only this time it was from veteran sex symbol Jane Russell. Here, she sings, dances and flirts with the camera better than any actress, excluding Rita Hayworth in Gilda. Her comic timing and delivery is excellent. Her sex appeal comes through so strong in this movie that it traps her forever in it.

Then she made The Seven Year Itch. This is really not a good movie. The publicity around it at the time was huge. The famous skirt raising scene is often talked about, but really this movie has little to offer. Marilyn here plays, besides maybe her character from How to Marry a Millionaire, her dumbest blonde role. She uses the airy voice and basically walks around in tight clothes with her character being dumber than a door knob. Walter Matthau screen tested for the male lead but it went to Tom Ewell who originated the role on Broadway. It's a shame because Tom has zero screen presence. Perhaps Matthau could have played better off Monroe and this movie could have been more than just an overblown publicity stunt for Marilyn.

She would go on to do musicals like There's No Business Like Show Business and Lets Make Love. In each movie she is given sexy numbers to sing and dance to. She carried a tune and danced well enough. These routines generally involved a lot of hip shaking and the look. You know, where she partially closes her eyes and opens her mouth in an expression of orgasmic rapture.

One of her best performances was in Bus Stop. Here she plays a hapless lounge singer/waitress. Her character of Cheri stumbles through a rendition of "That Old Black Magic". Cheri isn't chasing a rich man like the characters from How to Marry a Millionaire and Gentleman Prefer Blondes. Cheri fends off love until it's met on her terms. Monroe really does a great job of acting in this film. It is a step away from her normal role but not so far that she is out of her league.

Some Like It Hot is one of the greatest comedies ever made, of course largely due to Jack Lemmon's hilarious performance. However, Marilyn's contribution to this movie should not be over looked. She literally glows in this movie. Some stories about the making of this movie is that she was drunk through most of it. She appears overweight. Though there were some who claimed it was a pregnancy. Either way she is almost ethereal in this film. Her bleached white hair and her amazing smile are almost phosphorescent. Even flawed she radiates.

If that isn't the luckiest sofa in the history of show business, I don't know what is.

Her last completed film was The Misfits. She stretches here big time. She has some scenes where she has to scream with frustration and cry. She pulls this all off quite well. It's just that these are scenes not normally expected of her so you are taken aback by them. Marilyn always played the docile sex object. Here she is the anti-Marilyn. Sure she is all dolled up in a few scenes, but she intentionally plays down the sexiness here. Her role in this film is of that of a woman who just wants happiness and love yet every man around her wants to make her into his idea of what she should be. In one poignant scene Clark Gable's cowboy tells Marilyn's depressed character that she glows from within and that she makes a man feel alive whenever he is around her. This movie was written by her then husband Arthur Miller and I think it is very symbolically autobiographical.

No matter what you think of Marilyn Monroe, she was a rare movie star that left an image on Hollywood that isn't likely to change soon. Through her films she gave us her beauty and infinite charisma. Her smile and vitality is always there whenever we wish to see it. Does it really matter if we know the real Marilyn?