Marilyn Monroe and The Misfits

Marilyn Monroe was born on this day in 1926. The American Film Institute ranks her as the sixth greatest female star of all time. (Clearly, it’s a somewhat subjective list: ahead of her are Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Audrey Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman and Greta Garbo, in that order.)

Monroe was married three times. Though all three ended in divorce, her marriage to playwright Arthur Miller seems to have been her most significant relationship. On the occasion of her birth, Writer’s Almanac today remembers their connection:

In 1956, she married playwright Arthur Miller, who wrote of her, “She was a whirling light to me then, all paradox and enticing mystery, street-tough one moment, then lifted by a lyrical and poetic sensitivity that few retain past early adolescence.” They first met in 1951, when he was still married to Mary Slattery, and he encouraged her to come to New York and study stage acting. He was the first person to take seriously her desire to improve as an actress, and he sent her a reading list; she began taking college classes in literature and art. They renewed their acquaintance, and began an affair, when she moved to New York to study with Lee and Paula Strasberg in 1955.

Their marriage was often filled with strife. Marilyn, who desperately wanted children, had several miscarriages, and she grew more and more erratic, and more dependent on painkillers and sedatives. They separated after filming her last movie, The Misfits, in 1960. Miller had written the screenplay for Monroe, to aid her quest to become a serious actress and, he later admitted, to try to heal their fractured relationship, but it had the opposite effect: She collapsed completely, and the marriage was over. He soon married photographer Inge Morath, whom he’d met on the set of The Misfits, and she began seeing Joe DiMaggio again. She died in August 1962, after an overdose of Nembutal.

Her personal secretary reported that Monroe ended her last interview with a plea: “What I really want to say: That what the world really needs is a real feeling of kinship. Everybody: stars, laborers, Negroes, Jews, Arabs. We are all brothers. Please don't make me a joke. End the interview with what I believe.” She pleaded in vain; her words did not appear in the article.

Above: Monroe and co-star Clark Gable light up The Misfits in 1961. It was to be her final completed film. Gable, meanwhile, died 10 days after the completion of filming.