Love, Marilyn (2012) - full transcript

If anybody ever asked
you what I was like,

What Marilyn Monroe was really
like, well, how would you

Answer them?

So much has been written about
Marilyn Monroe that details of

Her life become colored pieces
of glass in a kaleidoscope.

If you read enough and turn
them over enough, they fall

Into a pattern.

Relieve your mind now of all
the images that you have of

This person.

When I met her, she was a
simple, eager, young woman.

I was to know her
perhaps better than anyone



Had ever known her.

And yet I was to
know her not at all.

Sex was ice cream to her.

She haunts us with questions
that can never be answered.

All beauty is mystery.

What do I believe in?

What is truth?

I believe in myself,
even my most delicate

And tangible feelings.

Last night I was
awake all night again.

All this thought
and writing has

Made my hands tremble.

I just want to
keep pouring it out.

Oh, damn.



I wish that I were dead,
gone away from here.

For me to live decently and
productively, I must work.

Maybe I'll never be able
to do what I hope to, but at

Least I have hope.

Rolling.

This is the secluded Spanish
cottage in the exclusive

Brent wood section of Los
Angeles where actress Marilyn

Monroe died, a bottle of
sleeping pills near her bed.

Marilyn is gone.

She has slipped away from us
over the edge of the horizon

Of the last pill.

And now a force from outside
has proved stronger than her

Own power to weigh
down upon herself.

It is my conclusion that the
death of Marilyn Monroe was

Caused by a self-administered
overdose of sedative drugs and

That the mode of death
is probable suicide.

Of course, we don't know
if this is how she went.

She could easily have
blundered past the last

Border, blubbering in the
last corner of her heart and no

Voice she knew to reply.

She came to us in all
of her mother's doubt

And leaves in mystery.

Even if we don't believe that
Marilyn deliberately committed

Suicide, it's
perfectly reasonable to

Say we don't know.

We don't know what happened
that night, and we never will.

Marilyn Monroe was a legend.

She created a myth of what
a poor girl from a deprived

Background could attain.

And I have no words
to describe the

Myth and the legend.

I did not know this
Marilyn Monroe, nor did she.

We talk about Marilyn as a
kind of Cinderella figure.

The little orphan girl who
then grows up to be the most

Beautiful princess
and goes to the ball.

And then the story takes a
tragic turn, and she dies and

She's alone.

It's a kind of
modern Greek tragedy.

The ancient Greeks have
Oedipus, and we have Marilyn.

Monroe's personal and
intimate ability to inhabit

Our fantasies
has gone right on.

As I write this, she is still
better known than most living

Movie stars, most world
leaders, and most television

Personalities.

The surprise is that she has
really been taken seriously

Enough to ask why that is so.

As a small child intact first
desire was to be an actress.

And I spent years
playacting till I had jobs.

If I hadn't found a way to
work, I would be as I've been

Since consciousness, a fish
out of water, floundering and

Much, much more
nervous, hopeless.

There's nothing to hold onto,
but to realize the present.

Life starts from now.

My secretary rang and said,
Mr. Lyon, there's a very

Beautiful young girl here to
see you, but she doesn't have

An appointment.

I said, well, Mary, you
don't have to have an

Appointment to see me.

Send her in.

So a moment later, in walked
the most gorgeous young girl

You've ever seen in your life,
this golden hair, beautiful

Little print
dress, 22 years old.

And I said, what's
your ambition?

She said, to be a film star.

I said, we've got to
change your name if you're

Going to be a star.

To me, you're a Marilyn.

And she said,
that's a lovely name.

I said, all right,
that's your first name.

We couldn't find her second
name, but she suddenly turned

To me and said, Mr.
Lyon, could I use my

Grandmother's name?

I said, what was that?

She said, Monroe.

Marilyn Monroe.

Speed.

Camera.

We rehearsed my
first big scene.

And then I began the
scene and prayed silently.

This was my start.

The beginning of becoming
a motion picture actress.

This is what my big
scene consisted of.

I walked across the set, I had
to light a cigarette, inhale,

Then blow the smoke out, get
up, then go upstage, cross,

Look out a window, sit
down, come downstage,

And then exit set.

She would take dramatic
lessons for three hours.

She'd have lunch.

After lunch, she would take
dancing lessons for an hour,

Singing lessons for an hour,
fencing lessons for an hour,

And then go on the back
lot and ride horseback.

And I said to her
one day, Marilyn, why

Do you work so hard?

The other kids that are under
contract, I call sometimes at

11 o'clock, they're still
sleeping from being out the

Night before.

She said, well, Mr. Lyon,
I work hard because one day

Maybe opportunity will knock,
and I want to be prepared.

Must make effort
to do the following.

Take care of my instrument,

Personally and
bodily exercise.

Try to find someone
to take dancing from.

Body work, creative.

If possible, take
at least one class at

University in literature.

Keep looking around, only
much more so observing, but not

Only myself, but
others and everything.

Take things, it, for
what they, its, are worth.

I think she's a choreographer.

A choreographer?

Mr. Lewis?

I believe she
owns Harry's Bar.

In Venice?

Mr. Branford.

Could possibly this lovely
lady have something to do with

Marilyn Monroe?

Oh, Marilyn Monroe.

It began in 1948 when I was
employed as a dramatic at

Columbia Studio.

My employer telephoned me one
day to say he was sending a

New girl to see me.

Uh, her name is, um.

He hesitated, and I could hear
him rifling through the papers

On his desk.

Her name is Marilyn Monroe.

Just see what you
can do with her.

I was not impressed.

She was more than
inhibited, more than cramped.

She couldn't say
a word freely.

Her habit of speaking without
using her lips was unnatural.

Obviously superimposed.

And her voice, oh, a piping
sort or whimper that so got on

My nerves that I asked her not
to speak unnecessarily until

We had progressed.

But she loved the work,
and she came religiously

To work with me.

Must make much, much, much
more, more, more effort.

Natasha, like Tess, was
absolutely crucial to

Marilyn's acting.

She was with Marilyn for
six years and 22 pictures.

She developed the mannerisms,
the sort of whispery voice and

The wiggle.

She was trying to get her
to incorporate her body

Creatively into her acting.

Mr. Grunion, I
want you to help me.

I have a little sand left.

What seems to be the trouble?

Some men are following me.

Really?

I can't understand why.

I felt then, and I still
feel, that I put the

World at her feet.

People ask me if I
paint or write, and you

Know what I tell them?

Oh, sure I can paint.

I once painted a
whole apartment.

On writing?

I've written a few poems.

I keep them to myself.

They're personal.

All about just
what I've observed.

The girl had little education
and no knowledge except the

Knowledge of her
own experiences.

She was a simple, eager young
woman who rode a bike to the

Classes that she was taking.

A decent-hearted
kid that Hollywood

Brought down, legs parted.

All young actresses in that
time and place were thought of

As prey, to be overwhelmed
and topped by the male.

She started having affairs.

She slept with photographers,
she slept with producers.

I mean, everybody knows the
Hollywood studio system was

The casting couch system.

And if you wanted to
get a job, that was

What you had to do.

My god, how I wanted to
improve, to change, to learn.

I didn't want anything else.

Not men, not money, not
love, but the ability to act.

She wasn't particularly

Apologetic about it.

She's quite pragmatic.

And she just says, yeah, of
course I slept with producers.

Everybody did.

And if you didn't, you knew
that there was another girl

Waiting outside the
door who was going to.

You look good.

Thank you.

You look good here too.

And here we have
a French cowgirl.

No one ever seems to have
disagreed with the estimate

That Darryl Zanuck liked to
put his meat into a star's

Meat so that the
product was truly stamped

20th Century Fox.

Zanuck speaking.

Part of the problem with

Marilyn's film career was that
the studio head of Fox, Darryl

Zanuck, really didn't
like Marilyn, and he

Really didn't get her.

Marilyn simply did not fit
his concept of what to offer

The public, which is a
three-word secret formula of

Zanuck's which has brought
in great sums of money to 20th

Century Fox in the past.

The formula.

Make good shit.

Marilyn Monroe, much
too wicked for good shit.

He really didn't respect her,

And he really thought that she
was just this brainless bimbo.

And in the early years, he
mostly cast her as a gold

Digger and just
this kind of sexpot.

What do you say we
have dinner together?

Wonderful.

Where?

Oh, someplace where
we don't have to

Dress, like your apartment.

Oh, by the way, this is
my daughter, Mrs. Denham.

Barbara, this is
Joyce Mannering.

How do you do?

Honey, your father's been so
divine with me that something

Even I feel like
calling him Daddy.

Aren't you here early?

Oh, yes.

Mr. Oxley's been complaining
about my punctuation so I'm

Careful to get
here before 9:00.

If 1950 was the year that

Marilyn first began to be
noticed by audiences, 1952 was

The year that
she became a star.

They called on the set, the

Publicity department,
and said, uh, did

You pose for a calendar?

And I said, yes.

Anything wrong?

I will not be punished for it
or not be loved or be afraid

Of my genitals being
exposed, known and seen.

So what?

Now, when 20th learns from
her lips that yes, she posed

In the nude, a novelist
has the right to invent the

Following dialogue.

You spread your legs?

No.

Is your asshole showing?

Certainly not.

Any animals in it with you?

I'm alone.

It's just a nude.

You're going to deny you
ever took those pictures.

Some other blonde did the job,
someone who has the misfortune

Of looking like you.

There was great anxiety, and

says, you all.
Don't say you did.

Say you didn't.

I said, but I did.

And they were very
unhappy about it.

And then she realized, wait
a minute, we can use this.

She tells the truth to a
gossip columnist, which is to

Say that she passes along
the living factoidal truth.

In 1949, she was just
another scared young blonde,

Struggling to find
fame in the magic city.

She posed, stretched out on
crumpled red velvet for the

Artistic photo
three years ago.

Because I was broke,
and I needed the money.

I was now 25 years old.

Then orders were issued by
Mr. Zanuck to all producers to

Find a part for
me in their films.

And I began to appear in
one film after another.

She went from being a starlet

To being a big
name in America.

People knew who she was
because of this scandal.

But part of the scandal
was that Marilyn refused to

Apologize, she refused to be
ashamed, and she refused to

Deny it, which was
the most amazing part.

My body is my body.
Every part of it.

The world was ready for that.

Obviously the sexual mores
are changing, and she is at the

Vanguard of that.

She is anticipating a sexual
revolution that many people

Associate with Betty Friedan,
et cetera, a decade later that

Would not have happened
without Marilyn Monroe.

By the time Hugh Hefner

Launched "Playboy" at the
end of 1953, Marilyn was an

Enormous star, and he
purchased the nude calendar

Pictures and launched
"Playboy" on the back of

Marilyn's nude photos
and never paid her,

Never thanked her.

But his fortune is very much
built on the foundations of

Those pictures for
which Marilyn got $50.

Hey, get out the fire hose.

In the film "Niagara,"

They had that one shot of her

Walking away from the camera,

And her derriere is just doing

The most miraculous
sexual things.

And I think it was
that moment that kind of

Everybody went, what?

What are we looking at here?

Nobody had ever seen
anybody walk like

That on camera before.

She created it, and she
created her whole persona.

This was Marilyn's book.

This book is called "The
Thinking Body." It's about the

Breath and the
skeletal structure.

From this, she got
her way of talking

And her way of walking.

This is the book that she
created herself out of.

There's an exercise in there
to walk as though there's a

String coming out of the
top of your head, and it's

Attached to a cloud.

And you walk like you're
hanging from a cloud.

I mean, it does something to
your body when you do that.

We were walking down the
street one day, and she said,

Do you want to see me be her?

I had no ideia what she
meant, and I said, sure.

And suddenly she
did something.

I'm telling you, like,
she turned on a light bulb.

And suddenly, people were
going, oh my god, that's

Marilyn Monroe.

Oh, isn't that Marilyn Monroe?

We had to jump into a taxi
to get away because people

Started running after her.

She created that
Monroe figure on

Her own by makeup, hairstyle.

The clothes were sewn on
her to make them very tight.

Columnists were
saying, we've lost our

Reputation for sexiness.

The Italians are coming in
with the big-breasted babes

Like Gina Lollobrigida.

Marilyn read all that, and she
turned herself into the great

Sex symbol for the nation.

She learned when
she could put on

The persona of Marilyn Monroe
for her own purposes, and she

Knew also when she
could put it off.

From time to time I make it
rhyme, but don't hold that

Kind of thing against me.

Oh well, what the
hell, so it won't sell.

What I want to tell
is what's on my mind.

Tain't dishes, tain't wishes.

It's thoughts,
flinging by before I die

And to think in ink.

One of my best friends is a

Poet, and he always
sends me his poetry.

He says he knows that I'll
understand it, and I do,

Strangely enough.

We were mostly
offstage friends.

At film openings or official
receptions, she wore her mask.

I knew her without it.

She searched everywhere.

In life and books.

She liked poetry.

It was a shortcut for her.

She entered, at ease within
its complexity, at home in

Song and in feeling.

Oh damn, I wish
that I were dead.

Absolutely nonexistent,
gone away from here,

From everywhere.

But how would I do it?

There's always bridges.

The Brooklyn Bridge?

No.

No, not the Brooklyn
Bridge, because.

But I.

I love that bridge.

Everything is so
beautiful from there, and

The air is so clean.

Walking it seems peaceful,
even with all those crazy cars

Going underneath.

So it would have to
be some other bridge.

An ugly one and with no view.

Except I particularly like
in particular all bridges.

And besides, I've never
seen an ugly bridge.

We wanted her to win out, but
the world demanded more than

She could give.

Alone.

I am alone.

I am always alone,
no matter what.

Come on, baby.

Laugh and bounce it.

Give us love.

Save us.

Give us your sweet face
against our own black hearts.

Marilyn Monroe, the
moviegoers of America have

Voted you the most popular
actress of the year.

Marilyn, I'd like to present
to you the Look Achievement

Award as the most
outstanding feminine newcomer.

In recognition of your
sensational rise to stardom.

Oh, that's beautiful.

Look at all the nuts
you could put in there.

I want to thank
all of the public.

I thank you very much.

It's a great thrill, and I'm
very appreciative to all who.

Let's start again.

Marilyn Monroe, between 1953

And 1955, becomes the top
female star in the business.

OK, Marilyn.

It's a great thrill, and I'm
very appreciative to all who

Have made this possible.

We see her graduating from bit

Parts to eventually
starring roles.

Her big breakthrough
roles were "How to Marry a"

Millionaire" and
"Gentlemen Prefer Blondes."

Oh did you ever,
anywhere, anything like it?

All are real stones.

How do you put it
around your neck?

You don't, lovey.

It goes on your head.

You must think I
was born yesterday.

Marilyn never had a dressing

Room before, so they gave
her her first dressing room.

You had to be on
the set at 9 o'clock.

Well, Marilyn wasn't
there, and she'd been in

Since 5:00 or 5:30.

But she was afraid to
come out on the set.

She didn't know anybody out
there, and she was working

With someone that had made
a whole bunch of pictures.

The sense of insecurity always

Seemed to plague her
throughout her career.

And as she becomes a star
and, you know, she's carrying

Movies, the stakes are
much, much higher, and she's

Becoming more
and more insecure.

Remember, there is nothing
you lack, nothing to be

Self-conscious
about yourself.

You have everything but the
discipline and technique which

You are seeking on your own.

After all, nothing was
or is being given to you.

You haven't had this
work thrown at you.

You sought it.

It didn't seek you.

She never said that she was
ready to face that camera.

For that reason, she took two
hours to fix her lips or an

Hour and a half to
arrange her hair.

She wanted so much
to be so perfect.

But the moment she arrived in
front of the camera, there was

This romance, this love affair
between her and the lens.

Don't you know that a man
being rich is like a girl

Being pretty?

You might not marry a girl
just because she's pretty, but

My goodness, doesn't it help?

Say, they told me
you were stupid.

You don't sound stupid to me.

I can be smart when
it's important, but most

Men don't like it.

One night, I called Marilyn.

I have wonderful news!

Oh, wait till you
here, she said.

I'm going to get married.

He comes all the way down
from San Francisco just to have

Dinner with me, she said.

And we haven't
even done it yet.

Who, I said.

Who are you talking about?

Joe, she said.

He's not like
these movie people.

He's dignified.

Top romance of the season.

The wedding at San Francisco
City Hall of movie actress

Marilyn Monroe
to former Yankee

Baseball hero Joe DiMaggio.

Their marriage, though long
rumored, was a sudden affair.

Joe was divine.

He hit 56, 57 straight games.

A swing, a hit, a homer.

The first time he
called and said,

Hello, this is Joe
DiMaggio, I almost fainted.

He was a very conservative
Boston Italian.

He loved her very much, but he

Possessed her too much.

He said, look, we'll have a
big family, a lot of bambinos.

He wanted a wife who would not

Have a career, who
would be there to cook

Pasta in the evening.

Spaghetti and ravioli and all

That kind of stuff.

And be an Italian housewife.

Oops.

Sew up or clamp birds, put
chicken or turkey in 350 oven.

Cooks 30 minutes to one pound.

Vinegar, oil, onion, spices.

Let cook in own juice.

Put potatoes, mushroom-button
canned, peas fresh.

I hear that you're getting
to be quite a cook too.

Joe says you can really
broil a mean steak.

Well, I'm learning.
A little slow, but.

I said to her, why
did you marry Joe?

He's not your type.

He doesn't understand
the business you're in.

He doesn't understand the
scandal you create every time

You step out of the door.

He doesn't
understand you at all.

And she looked at me and
said, he's terrific in bed.

I said, OK, that's the
end of that conversation.

Oh, do you feel the
breeze from the subway?

Isn't it delicious?

Oh, god the famous night
of her skirt blowing up on

Lexington Avenue, I was
standing next to him.

I was wearing a sheer white
billowy sleeveless dress.

When the subway train
rode by, it would send up a

Blast of cool air.

This sent my dress flying
waist high, revealing my legs

And white panties.

A crowd had gathered
even though it was 2:00

Or 3:00 in the morning.

They consisted mostly of men
who somehow had heard about

Our late-night filming.

They advertised in the

Newspapers that Marilyn Monroe
was going to stand over a

Subway grate and her skirt
was going to be blown up.

They held it in the
middle of the night.

There were 1,500 men there and
about 150 male photographers.

At first it was all
innocent and fun.

When Billy Wilder kept
shooting the scene over and

Over, the crowd of men kept on
applauding and shouting, more,

More, Marilyn. Let's see more.

Joe became upset, especially
when the director's camera

Kept coming in, focusing
only on my vagina.

The whistles and the yelling
from the male audience became

Too much for my husband.

It was like a burlesque show.

And what was meant to be a
fun scene turned into a sex

Scene, and Joe took off.

The man began to tremble.

He was so furious about his
wife showing off her panties.

He said to me, tell her.

Through clenched teeth.

Tell her I will meet
her back at the hotel.

She was having a good time.

And after each take, people
would clap and yell, and more

People would come and
more people would come.

Finally we had
to call the cops.

Joe got her back at a hotel,
and he really let her have it.

And the people next door heard
all that noise and screaming,

And they wondered if
he was hitting her or

Beating her or what.

I am not going to say
anything about Joe DiMaggio,

Because he is one of my gods.

So suffice it to say, he
didn't beat her up that night.

How do they know he
beat her up that night?

Maybe that's because
he was an Italian,

And Italians are
very possessive.

I tried to fight what with my
being I knew was true, due to

Pressures that have
come in my work.

It's funny.

I've always accepted
even the worst.

He could not endure.

He is from another land.

I've seen what he intends
me to see, and I am strangely

Calm with I catch my breath.

Let me know, fellas,
when you get the speed up.

Miss Monroe will have
nothing to say this morning.

All I can say, as her
attorney, is that this is what

We would say, with the
conflict of careers.

Marilyn Monroe said at one

Time, people expect so much
of me as a sex symbol that

They've created in their minds
but that I've created too.

So she knew that
she had done this.

It wasn't something that
somebody had done to her.

And yet she felt
straitjacketed by it.

I'm MM.

I'm not permitted problems,
nervousness, humanness,

Blunders, mistakes,
and my own thoughts.

She's fighting the studio,
and they are fighting back.

She wants more money and the
right to choose her script and

Director, and they refuse.

By the end of 1953, "Niagara,"
"Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,"

And "How to Marry a
Millionaire" will gross $25

Million, and that's more than
any other movie star will earn

For a studio in
those 12 months.

At a cost salary of
$50,000 a year, she has

Brought back $25 million.

A return of 500 to 1.

The accounting books of Fox

Studios show that in the
1950s, when Fox was actually

In a lot of financial trouble,
two things kept Fox afloat.

Cinemascope and the
films of Marilyn Monroe.

And they never paid her
anything like what her

Commercial value
would suggest that she

Should have been paid.

And importantly, they
were paying other stars.

Most notably Elizabeth Taylor.

Enormously larger salaries.

But also often her costars
were getting paid more than

She was in the films
that she was starring in.

They were under a lot of
pressure to get as many

Marilyn Monroe pictures as
they could, and there were

Often things that
she didn't want to do.

Cable to Darryl F.
Zanuck, January 25, 1954.

I finally received script.

Am exceedingly sorry,
but I do not like it.

Sincerely, Marilyn Monroe.

She lived with
Milton Greene, a

Very famous photographer,
and his wife Amy

And their sons in Connecticut.

This will be my home from now

On, and when I retire, I'm
going to retire to Brooklyn.

That's my favorite place
in the world so far.

She badly wanted New York.

She wanted to possess
its theater, its

Intellectual crowd.

She'd fallen in love with it.

We talked about
actors and acting.

Everybody says
that I can't act.

They said the same thing
about Elizabeth Taylor,

And they were wrong.

I'll never get the right part.

Anything I really want.

My looks are against me.

They're too specific.

We talked some more
about Elizabeth Taylor.

She wanted to know if I
knew her, and I said yes.

She said, well,
what is she like?

What is she really like?

I said, well, she's
a little bit like you.

She wears her heart on
her sleeve, talks salty.

And Marilyn said, fuck you,
and said, well, if somebody

Asked me what Marilyn Monroe
was like, what was Marilyn

Monroe really like,
what would I say?

And I said, uh, that I'd
have to think about that.

Good evening.

I'm Ed Murrow.

The name of the
program is "Person to"

"Person." It's all live.

There's no film.

Tonight we'll be going first
to Weston, Connecticut, where

Photographer Milton Greene,
his wife, and their friend and

House guest Marilyn Monroe
will be waiting for us.

Uh, Amy, tell me,
does Marilyn know her

Way around the kitchen?

Is she help around the house?

Yes, she does.

I was madly in love

With Edward R. Murrow.

Marilyn and Milton presented
Edward R. Murrow to me because

They knew that I had
a mad crush on him.

That's how this started.

Then it also involved that
that's where they announced

Marilyn Monroe productions.

Clever?

Marilyn what's the basic

Reason for this corporation?

Why, merely to contribute
to help making good pictures.

Well, would it be fair to say

That, uh, you got rather tired
of playing the same kind of

Roles all the time
and. And wanted to

Try something different?

It's not that I
object to doing

Musicals or comedies.

In fact, I rather enjoy it.

But I would like to do
also dramatic parts too.

I guess that covers it.

Uh, have you had
any offers yet?

Ooh, there's the
telephone, Ed.

That's another offer.

Marilyn's decision to break

Her contract with Fox
Studios was a really big deal.

It was very rare for a star to
become big enough and powerful

Enough to break with the
studio and to go independent.

Well, Marilyn, now that you're

A New Yorker, how do you
like this city anyway?

Oh, I love it.

Everyone's very friendly,
and it's a very optimistic,

Friendly city.

She was a young woman who was

Absorbing life.

She was a sponge.

She knew that she had
so much more to learn.

That's why she
moved to New York.

She had dropped out of high

School, and she was always
sensitive about that lack of

Formal education.

She loved books,
and she read and

Read and read.

Masaccio, 1401 to 1428,
father of modern art.

Reality, poverty, carelessness
about his paintings.

His work never recognized
until after his death.

Grand-nobles.

Giovanni Di Bicci, 1428.

Cosimo, Pater Patriae.

Lorenzo, 1424,
first public library.

Piero, Giovanni, Lorenzo
the Magnificent, Giuliano,

Machiavelli, 1469, 1527.

Botticelli.

The thing I'd like the most is

To become a real actress.

And I realize more and more
the responsibility, and it is

A responsibility,
to be a good actress.

She always wanted
to be an actress

And therefore felt
somehow unfulfilled.

The more success there was,
the more unfulfilled she was,

So that she wanted
to make the break.

The logic of a scene is what
would happen here if the scene

Wasn't written.

How would these people behave?

What would they
really want to say?

What would motivate
me to behave that way?

Must have the discipline
to do the following.

Z, go to class, my own,
always, without fail; X, go as

Often as possible to observe
Strasberg's other private

Classes; G, never miss my
Actor's Studio sessions; U,

Start attending Clurman
lectures also Lee

Strasberg's directors
lectures at theater wing,

Inquire about both.

Words, find out their meaning.

To become a member of the
Actor's Studio was more

Important than getting
a job in Hollywood.

Even more important
than getting

Good reviews on Broadway.

To get into the Actor's
Studio was the max.

When Marilyn and people
like that were invited in, we

Resented that, quite frankly.

That these Hollywood people
were allowed in without the

Hard work we had
to go through.

Here was a girl who was this

Huge star and put herself into
an acting class with beginning

Acting students who
had contempt for her

And looked down on her

And that takes a certain
kind of courage and guts.

The women looked stern and
critical, unfriendly, and cold

In general.

Remembering when I couldn't
do a god damn thing and then

Trying to build myself up
with the fact that I have done

Things right that were even
good, and I've had moments

That were excellent.

But the bad is heavier
to carry around.

While I paid the check, she
left for the powder room, and

I wished I had a book to read.

Her visits to the powder room
sometimes lasted as long as an

Elephant's pregnancy.

After 20 minutes had passed,
I decided to investigate.

I found the ladies' room
and knocked on the door.

Inside she was confronting
a dimly lit mirror.

I said, what are you doing?

She said, looking at her.

Marilyn created that wonderful

Character, Marilyn Monroe.

But that wasn't her,

And Lee saw that.

He had kind of X-ray vision.

He could go beyond what you
present to what's behind what

You present and see
that and address it.

The way Lee taught, which was
using sense memory, where you

Create all of the sensory
elements of the experience,

You don't try and go for the
emotion of the experience, but

You go for the time of day and
where the sun was or where the

Light was coming in the
window, any smells that were

In the room, the clothes you
were wearing you get all of

Your senses activated.

And then the
memory comes alive.

Giving all you give
everything away.

And it's exactly what
is not to be done.

That's mechanical.

So what should I do?

The brain, the brain, the
brain has to get into there.

I've been working on it.

It's not working on
it, darling, because.

How can you say that?

Every day I work
on it, and every day

I'm not getting further.

Because you've got to become
aware of when you're doing

What, darling.

Sharp pain.

Pick a specific part of the
body where you've experienced

A sharp pain so the mind knows
where to focus concentration.

Now, try to recreate
that sensation.

Let the pain spread throughout
the whole body, not just the

Isolated area.

This is challenging,
because in life we try to rid

Ourselves of pain, not
relive and prolong it.

One of the things that Lee
Strasberg was doing with

Marilyn was to get
in touch with her

So-called tragic self.

Strasberg insisted that she go

Into therapy.

He would coach her about four

Times a week.

She would first go to her
session, and then she would go

To Lee for her emotional
memory exercises.

He hoped that he could
literally pull it out of her.

She was one of the two or
three most sensitive and most

Talented people that
I've seen in my life.

One of the others
is Marlon Brando.

To me, she had the same
kind of sensitivity.

At one point, Lee wanted her

To do this emotional memory
about when a relative almost

Suffocated her with a
pillow, and she could

Not stand doing that.

She becomes, obviously, more

Keenly aware in analysis
of the demons that have been

Driving her
throughout her life.

Marilyn Monroe was
an illegitimate child.

Her father disappeared
when her mother

Announced her pregnancy.

Her mother became mentally
ill, was sent to an institution.

The child's life became a
series of psychological jolts.

She bounced from foster home
to orphanage to foster home.

The lack of any
consistent love and caring.

A mistrust and fear of
the world was the result.

There were no benefits except
what it could teach me about

The basic needs of the
young, the sick, and the weak.

She was a well-behaved child.

We took her to
Sunday School with us.

She was a youngster who
looked as though she.

She wasn't well-cared for.

Her clothes separated
her a little bit from

The rest of the girls.

She just seemed like a.

A nice child, but.

But not very outgoing
and not very vibrant.

I remember she
painted these two

Self-portraits.

One is this sort of
sensual cat-woman.

And the other looks like this
little orphan girl with one

Sock falling down.

So you see there
the split in her.

Everyone's childhood
plays itself out.

No wonder no one knows
the other or can completely

Understand.

How do we know the pain of
another's earlier years, let

Alone all that
he drags with him?

I think to love bravely
is the best and accept as

Much as one can bear.

You're not a scared,
lonely girl anymore.

Remember, you can sit
on top of the world.

It doesn't feel like it.

You can have any help you want
personally or in your work or

Anything else.

Dear Lee, thank you
for your patience.

Everyone else I
speak with begins to

Think I'm off my rocker.

Dear Lee, one of the most
personally helpful things I've

Heard so far in my life was
what you said in class Friday.

Dear Lee.

Our home became one of her

Second homes.

She was sleeping in my
brother's room, and I'll never

Forget one night going, and.

And I looked through the door
which was open, and my father

Was holding Marilyn
in his arms and

Singing Brahms' Lullaby.

He just cradled her
in his arms, and she

Embraced him back.

Lee Strasberg has changed my

Life more than any other
human being that I've met.

He was one of the first people

To say to her that she had
real talent as an actress.

But it seemed to
exacerbate her insecurities

Rather than alleviate them.

Best finest surgeon,
Strasberg, to cut me open,

Which I don't mind, since,
doutor. H has prepared me, given me

Anesthetic and has also
diagnosed the case and agrees

With what has to be done in
operation, to bring myself

Back to life and to cure me
of this terrible dis-ease.

Whatever the hell it is.

They cut me open, and there
is absolutely nothing there.

Strasberg is deeply
disappointed but more even

Academically amazed that
he had made such a mistake.

He thought there was going
to be so much more than he had

Ever dreamed possible in
almost anyone, but instead

There was absolutely nothing.

All this thought and writing
has made my hands tremble.

I just want to keep pouring
it out until that great pot in

The mind is, though not empty.

Relieved.

What do I believe in?

What is truth?

I believe in myself,
even my most delicate

And tangible feelings.

I am both of your directions,
life, somehow remaining,

Hanging downward the most.

But strong as a cobweb in the
wind, I exist more with the

Cold, glistening frost.

But my beaded rays
have the colors

I've seen in a painting.

Ah, life.

They have cheated you.

Marilyn will be in New York
more than a year before she

Goes back to Hollywood.

"The Seven Year Itch" will
come out to rave reviews,

Movie crowds waiting in lines,
thereby demonstrating to 20th

How desperate they had
better be to get her back.

It took one year from the
time we started this until the

Contract was signed, and
she had picture approval,

Publicity approval,
director approval.

Which she had
never had before.

We only know the

Rumors we hear, you know.

I would rather say, uh, that
I have director approval,

And that is true.

Well, I hardly know how
to answer that, since they

Misinterpret that, meaning.

In inches or something.

I'm not talking about that

She used and abused 20th
Century Fox as much as they

Used and abused her.

She just went off and got
suspended, and Fox got gave

Her a bigger contract
when she came back.

So she knew how to play them.

She knew how to
play the bosses.

I think I'm about the same.

No, I'm the same person.

But it's a different suit.

"Bus Stop" was an important
film for Marilyn because it

Was the first film that she
made on her new contract with

Fox, where she would get a
decent salary and would have

Some control
over the material.

What she'd been always
fighting against were these

Very flat and very simplistic
comedic roles, whereas Cherie

Is a full character and
she's got a back story.

I've been trying
to be somebody.

It was the first film that she

Made after she had
started studying

At the Actor's Studio.

Lee's wife, Paula Strasberg,

Became Marilyn's coach.

When Lee wasn't with
her, Paula was with her.

Do you think you
can ever forgive me?

I guess I've been
treated worse in my life.

Well, I reckon that's
all there is to be said.

I wish you luck, Cherie.

I wish you the same, Bo.

Her costar, Don Murray, who

Was a respected Broadway
actor, said that she was

Blowing him off the
screen because she knew

How to act on screen.

I think she is one of the
most extraordinary actresses

That ever lived.

I think she is
a combination of

Greta Garbo and
Charlie Chaplin.

When I do trust myself about
certain things I do fully.

She made the cover of "Time"

Magazine, which proclaims,
surprise, this is a major

Actress of significant
depth and talent.

I'm still unorganized,
but glimpsing faintly my

Responsibilities mostly
to myself, I must and

Miraculously do endure.

You will be best known as
a playwright, of course.

You might be second
best known as one of

Marilyn Monroe's husbands.

You were married
for five years.

I don't suppose there's a man
who ever laid eyes on her that

Can't remember vividly
his first reaction.

Do you remember yours?

Well, actually, she was
weeping when I first saw her.

And, uh, I thought she
was one of the saddest

People I had ever seen.

I sensed that
she had a troubled

Heart from the beginning.

One night, Charlie Feldman
gave a party for Arthur Miller

Who had won the Pulitzer Prize

And was a celebrity now.

I asked Art to cover
for me with Marilyn.

When he called to tell her
he'd pick her up, she said,

No, she'd she'd, uh, take a
taxi and meet us, him and me,

At Feldman's.

Art wouldn't allow it.

He'd come and pick her up.

Again she demurred.

He said, don't worry about it.

She's used to that.

But Art insisted.

And and the first thing that
impressed Marilyn about her

Future husband was that he
refused to let her come to the

Party in a taxi.

How little these glamour girls
expect out of life, I thought.

Kazan sort of handed her off

To Miller, at least,
as the story goes.

And Miller really was a
romantic, and he fell deeply

In love with her.

She saw in him a
father, a man with

Knowledge, a creative person.

Arthur writes me every day.

I can't get used to the fact
that he loves me, and I keep

Waiting for him to
stop loving me, though I

Hope he never will.

I took her at her own
evaluation, which very few

People did, because she
generally was thought of as

Being a rather lightheaded,
if not silly, human being.

I thought she was a very
serious girl way back.

That's 'cause I loved
her, so I took that

Attitude toward her.

And, uh, so the best of her
she thought was in my eye.

Therefore the hope
she had was with me.

When I arrived, I could see
that need had met need, and

The lovely light of
desire was in their eyes.

I watched them dance.

Art was a good dancer.

And how happy she
was in his arms.

Not only was he tall and
handsome in a Lincolnesque

Way, but he was a
Pulitzer Prize playwright.

All of her doubts about her
worth were being satisfied in

One package.

On your testimony inside,
sir, have did you say that

You've never been under
Communist discipline?

Absolutely.

Arthur Miller was called to

The McCarthy hearings, and
he was asked to testify about

Past Communist behavior
and past association with

Communists.

His passport was
going to be taken away.

He was being accused
of being un-American.

He was going to go up in
front of the committee.

And Marilyn threw all of the

Weight of her popularity
behind him, and she was

Immensely popular at this
point, and stood by him.

Mr. Miller, Representative
Wallace said this afternoon

He'll have to cite
you for contempt.

Have you heard that?

No, I haven't.

A lot of people

Were running for cover.

It was a very
frightening time.

And so it was genuinely
courageous of her.

When he was being
investigated by the Senate

Un-American Activities, he was
playing with something in his

Hands like the Greeks
play with worry beads.

And a senator said, what
is that in your answer, sir?

And he said, earrings
of the woman I love.

Who is the woman
you love, sir?

Marilyn Monroe.

He got his passport
in two days.

I'm so concerned about
protecting Arthur.

I love him, and he is the only
person I have ever known that

I could love not only as a
man to which I am attracted,

Practically out of my senses
about, but he is the only

Person that I trust
as much as myself.

She thoroughly admired him.

She thought he
was a great writer.

I'm afraid, I
think, he used her.

The way he announced her
engagement was, uh, bizarre.

Mr. Miller, why did you file
an application for a passport?

I want to go to England?

For what reason?

- You guess.
- We'd like you to.

I wanted to be with the woman
who is going to be my wife.

- You mean Marilyn Monroe?
- That's correct.

He announced it to the press
in Washington when he was up

There for the House on
Un-American Affairs Committee

And then telephoned
her in New York and told

Her what he'd done.

Have you been engaged long?

No, just a few days.

Yes, he announced it
to the press first.

I didn't want
to bring that up.

Yes.

When did the ideia of
marriage first come up?

Just, um, the last few months.

How long ago did you
decide to get married?

Was there talk about it
before the formal engagement?

Well, it, um.

A little, maybe.

How did she feel?

How does anyone.
I mean, she cried.

That's when I said, you're
gonna marry this creep?

And I said, don't tell
me he's terrific in

Bed because I don't.

I doubt it.

We were in a car,
and this French

Journalist was chasing us.

And we were trying
to lose them.

And we made one turn,
and they didn't make

It, and they crashed.

And then she
became hysterical.

It's all my fault.

That was the week
before the wedding.

And she figured at the
beginning of the marriage with

Arthur, there was a death.

I feel as if it's all
happening to someone right

Next to me.

I'm close.

I can feel it, hear it,
but it's not really me.

I'm not going to say where we
will be married because, uh,

I think it's time enough
for everybody to know when it

Happens and to leave
us with a little bit of

Peace until it happens.

So that's about it.

It's interesting how

Contemporary the debates
about her marriages feel.

Something very modern happens,
which is that there begins to

Be this story about
whether she can have it all.

Can you work and have a
family at the same time?

Mrs. Miller, do you think
your marriage plan is going to

Change your career any?

Well, uh, I don't think so.

I mean, he's known
as a playwright.

I think he would like for
me to be a good actress too.

Do you intend to
continue your career?

July 15 I'm going to England.

Yes.

Is Mr. Miller going with you?

I hope he'll be with me. Yes.

Suppose Mr. Miller
doesn't get a passport.

Are you prepared to
change your plans?

There's no change of plans.

No change of plans.

Then after this picture, do
you intend to continue your

Work here in this country?

Well, that that depends.

Probably so.

When are you planning
to have some children?

Well, I'm not
married yet, dear.

The very inappropriateness of
our being together was to me

The sign that it
was appropriate.

She was sensuous and
life-loving, it seemed, when

In the center of it, there was
a darkness and a tragedy that

I didn't know the
dimensions of at the time.

A honeymoon couple
arrive at London Airport.

Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Miller.

Mrs. Miller is better
known as Marilyn Monroe.

Arthur is one of America's
most brilliant playwrights.

He wrote "Death of a
Salesman." Marilyn's come to

England to film with Sir
Laurence Olivier, who's here

With his wife to meet them.

A marriage of brains and
beauty, but don't let anyone

Tell you Arthur's
got all the brains.

Oh, it would have been
marvelous, but, um, it wasn't.

She was a very difficult girl.

I think she had a deep-seeded

Resistance to
being an actress.

She had no resistance
to being a star.

But I think there was
something about acting that

Innately frightened her
that she didn't know about.

I can't really stand
human beings sometimes.

Ah, Miss Marina, won't
you have some champagne?

Oh, I don't know,
your Grand Ducal.

You really think I ought?

Well, maybe just a sip.

Maybe just up to.

Uau!

I beg your pardon?

You said something?

Oh, no.

Just playing a little game
over here all by myself.

Good.

Cheerio.

She acted Laurence Olivier
right off the screen.

He gave one of his
few bad performances.

She was simply magical.

Dear, I do not altogether
understand you, Miss Marina.

Oh, now don't pull
the Grand Duke with me.

You made a pact,
and I turned it down.

That's all that happened.

We can still be friendly.

Milton was there trying to

Control everything.

Paula Strasberg, Lee's wife,
was there, not being very

Helpful, unfortunately.

She became ill and
wasn't at her best.

If Marilyn had had a very hard

Day filming, she and Paula
would ring Lee in New York,

And Lee would try and give her
some advice and encouragement.

Don't ever entirely
rely on the director.

He can't control your
thoughts or emotions.

In our work, we encourage the
actor to create independently

Of the director.

Olivier saw this as a
tremendous act of sabotage.

He felt that he had to
reassert his authority over

Marilyn all the time.

Early on in the filming, she

Asked for some direction
about her motivation.

He said, just
be sexy, Marilyn.

Isn't that what you do?

She was so angry at him.

And after that, any
possibility that they might

Have had a cordial working
relationship was over.

And she later said, I
started being bad with him.

She punished him
by not showing up,

Not knowing her lines.

She was an extraordinary
character, very interesting.

But very painful if
you had to get a day's

Work done with her.

I tried to tell him for
his own good that you can't

Approach Marilyn
technically or mechanically.

She's not that
kind of an actress.

She works our way.

If you just explain to her
what you want emotionally,

She'll give it to you.

He was rather annoyed with me.

He acted as if I were
pretending to tell him how to

Direct, and as a result,
they had terrible difficulty.

Oh, she came off
very well, and he.

He should've come off
equally well, but he didn't.

Fraud, from the first five
minutes, because I should have

Agreed she was a joke.

A beautiful piece trying
to take herself seriously.

Why did I lie to her?

I swear to you, I did get to
where I couldn't imagine what

I'd ever been ashamed
of, but it was too late.

I wanted to face the worst
thing I could imagine.

That I could not love.

And I wrote it down,
like a letter from hell.

Marilyn found Arthur's

Notebook, and she opened
it and leafed through it and

Found some extremely
derogatory comments about her.

And it made her work
immensely difficult.

My husband, the great American
playwright, Arthur Miller,

Thinks I'm dumb and incapable.

And she'd work
herself into insomnia.

Oh, silence, you stillness,
hurt my head, jars my head

With the stillness of sounds
unbearable, unendurable.

On a screen of pitch darkness,
the monsters come, my most

Steadfast companions.

Oh, peace, I need you.

Even a peaceful monster.

She always suffered
from insomnia.

There were good
nights and bad nights.

But Arthur was
when she started to

Get addicted to pills.

Miller was supposed to be her

Savior, yet she felt
more and more inadequate.

She had so much power and in
such a vacuum, it's no wonder

The three men, each possessed
with their own artistic

Integrity, would compete
to fill that vacuum.

Arthur Miller, Milton Greene,
and Lee Strasberg jockeyed one

Another for the
control of her mind and

Possession of her life.

Arthur made Marilyn Monroe

Productions break up because
he was jealous of Milton.

They spent too much
time together for Arthur.

When it came time to break
the contracts, Milton cruised

Arthur and said,
Arthur, you're a schmuck

And walked out.

Marilyn called within an hour
and said, I'm so sorry, and

They were both
crying on the phone.

This, then, meant that she was

Once again literally out of
work and trying to support

Arthur Miller.

So they came back to
Hollywood, and she made "Some"

"Like it Hot," one for
her most popular films.

Mr. Arthur Miller,
444 East 57th Street,

New York, New York.

Straight telegram.

Telegram, February 12,
1959, 9:04 AM, Bill Wilder.

Dear Arthur, this having
been my second picture with

Marilyn, I understand
her problems.

Her biggest problem is that
she doesn't understand anyone

Else's problems.

Marilyn was frustrated
because the part of Sugar Kane

Is another dumb blonde.

She couldn't believe she was
playing a blonde who was so

Dumb that she didn't even
realize that the two women she

Was with were guys.

I'm not very bright, I guess.

I wouldn't say that.

Careless maybe.

No, just dumb.

If I had any brains, I
wouldn't be on this crummy

Train with this
crummy girl's band.

She had a gift of creating

Complications and.

And spreading a little misery.

We would have, like, 300
extras, and she would show up

At 2:00 in the afternoon.

And I said, what happened.

And she says.

She said, I lost my way.

I recall one typical morning
when she showed up 2 and 1/2

Hours late, carrying a copy of
Thomas Payne's "The Rights of"

"Man." And when a second
assistant director knocked on

Her dressing room door and
humbly asked if she was ready,

Her humanity shone through,
and she replied, quote, "Drop"

"Dead," unquote.

She's not the first actress
who must follow her own path

To a performance.

Given her evident excellence,
it was your job as director

Not to reject her
approach because it was

Unfamiliar to you.

She did not have the.

The disposition, the evenness

Or the, uh the talents
of some other actors.

There's no question.

But what she was doing was
fighting and using more of

What she had.

It was more of a
struggle for her.

I think that the help that
she got from her studies with

Various acting groups, I
think, only confused her.

We believe that the actor
becomes the character.

Actress must have
no mouth, no feet.

Actress must have no
mouth, feet, shoulder.

Everything, though.

Actress must have no
mouth, feet, shoulders.

Girdle hangs light.

So loose, so.

No.

Actress must have no mouth,
feet, shoulder, girdle hangs

Light, so loose.

Everything focused on
partner, feelings in

The end of my fingers.

Billy had given her
every conceivable kind of

Direction.

Using obstacles,
counterpoints, relating to

Your grandmother's raincoat.

Whatever.

I have never heard such
brilliant, marvelous,

Diversified direction given
to one actor in my life.

All of them legitimate, all
of them within the realm of

Legitimate behavior of
that character in that

Circumstance.

Nothing worked.

Still it would be, sorry.
And the hands would go again.

There was just some
demons inside her that was

There all the time.

The sensitivity is so full
and so strong it is dangerous,

Because the emotions can
and do rule everything.

You do things out of fear,
and you must start to do things

Out of strength.

My question, where
do I get the strength?

Had you, dear Arthur, been
not her husband but her writer

And director and been
subjected to all the

Indignities I was, you'd have
thrown her out on her can,

Thermos bottle and all, to
avoid a nervous breakdown.

I did the braver thing.

I had a nervous breakdown.

Respectfully, Billy Wilder.

We sat and talked, and
Marilyn said, I hate funerals.

I'm glad I won't
have to go to my own.

Only I don't want a funeral.

Just my ashes cast on
waves by one of my kids

If I ever have any.

She talked publicly and
privately about her desire to

Have a child.

When she suffered two
miscarriages while married to

Arthur Miller, the press
made much of this anomaly.

The sex goddess who
could not bear children.

I think I am very lonely.

My mind jumps.

I see myself in the
mirror now, brow furrowed.

If I lean close, I'll see
what I don't want to know.

Tension, sadness,
disappointment.

My eyes dulled, cheeks
flushed with capillaries that

Look like rivers on a map,
hair lying like snakes.

My mouth makes me the
saddest, next to my dead eyes.

There is a dark line between
the lips and the outline of

Several waves in
a turbulent storm.

It says.

It says, don't kiss me.

Don't fool me.

I'm a dancer who cannot dance.

What makes you so sad?

I think you're the
saddest girl I ever met.

You're the first man
that ever said that.

I'm usually told
how happy I am.

It was supposed to be a

Valentine for her, but
actually, she was incredibly

Disappointed in the character.

The character
was called Roslyn,

Spelled L-Y-N,
like Marilyn.

It's this woman as muse, but
not as a thinking human being

Who has her own ideas.

Marilyn read the script and
thought, this is supposed to

Be my valentine.

This this is what
you think of me?

More than that, he made it

Virtually into a template,
or a stencil, of Marilyn

Monroe's own life.

Oh, you've changed
things around.

And, uh, how do you like it?

Oh, don't look at those.

They're nothing.

Gay just hung
them up for a joke.

The ideia that he would have
her say of her own persona

That it's just a joke and shut
the door on it, I think it's

Really unkind.

Come on, let's
have lots of drinks.

Come on.

She treated Miller
very badly on the film.

They even shared a flat,

And then he moved out.

And she was very unhappy
during that whole period.

A dream had gone.

When one wants to stay alone,
as my love, Arthur, indicates

The other must stay apart.

There were days on end where

She wouldn't emerge
from her trailer.

Meantime John Huston, he's

Going to the tables and
dropping $10,000 a night,

Which puts the whole
production in jeopardy,

Because the studio is
giving John money to gamble.

And they have to shut down the
film for three weeks because

They have no money to
pay the cast and crew.

How are they going to explain
this to the stockholders of

The studio?

Easy.

Marilyn Monroe
was uncooperative.

We had to stop the picture.

She was a very sick girl.

They took her to a hospital in
Los Angeles, and she was under

Care of a psychiatrist
to get her off the drugs.

Some biographers, notably

Donald Spoto, have argued that
basically Marilyn was fine and

That the studio was
scapegoating her.

And I think there's
something to that.

But you can see
it in her face.

She's not well.

Help.

Help, help, help,
help, help, help, help.

I feel life coming
closer when all I want

To do is die, scream.

You began and ended in air,
but where was the middle?

You eat those pills to blind
yourself, but if you could

Only say, I have
been cruel, this

Frightening room would open.

If you could say, I have been
kicked around, but I have been

Just as inexcusably vicious
to others, called my husband

Idiot in public.

I have been utterly selfish
despite my generosity.

I have been hurt by
a long line of men.

But I have cooperated
with my persecutors.

Marilyn was ill physically.

She was distraught
psychologically.

Everything was coming to a
crisis at the same time she

Was having to do the
first dramatic role she'd

Ever tried to do.

It was precisely at that
time. It was a very difficult

Time when you met Inge
Morath, who has become your

Wife and who you've
lived with ever since.

She was you met her on the
set of "The Misfits," didn't

You, at that very moment?

She was one of several
photographers who came out to

Photograph "The Misfits." We
did meet there, and then I met

Her again some months
later in New York.

By this time, I.

I was no longer with Marilyn.

I guess I've always been
deeply terrified to really be

Someone's wife, since I know
from life that one cannot love

Another ever really.

Marilyn, what's the reason for

The breakup? Can you tell us?

I'm sorry.

I'm.

I.

I can't talk about
my personal life.

Things were
starting to unravel.

Marilyn started seeing a
couple of psychoanalysts.

On the East Coast, she started
seeing a woman called Marianne

Kris and a well-known
Hollywood psychoanalyst called

Ralph Greens on, who's kind
of psychoanalyst to the stars.

I was her therapist, the
good father who would.

Who would not disappoint her,
who would bring her insights.

And if not insights,
just kindness.

I had become the most
important person in her life.

Dear Dr. Greens on, I'm having
May Reis type this because

It's not very clearly written,
but I have also included these

Notes, and you will
see when I mean.

MM.

March 2, 1961.

Last night I was
awake all night again.

And sometimes I wonder
what the nighttime is for.

It almost doesn't
exist for me.

It all seems like one
long, long, horrible day.

Anyway, I thought I'd try to
be constructive about it, and

I started to read the
letters of Sigmund Freud.

She sinks into a
depression so severe that

Her analyst is worried.

Perhaps there is
a suicide attempt.

She is admitted
to Payne Whitney, a

Hospital for mental disorders.

Until now, she
has not been told

Anything about this hospital.

What are you doing
to me, she cries out.

What kind of place is this?

When she came in
to my floor, I was.

I was not expecting her.

Her outside doctor had lied to
her and told her she was just

Coming into a nice,
quiet, you know,

Hotel-like place for a rest.

The moment the door closed
and locked behind her, she

Panicked and pounded
on the door and

Pleaded with me
to let her out.

She just kept saying it
very quietly and in a very

Controlled fashion.

She'd say, open the
door and let me out.

I won't cause any trouble.

Just open the door,
and I'll go quietly.

Please.

Dear Lee and Paula.

Doctor Kris has had me put
into the New York Hospital,

Psychiatric division, under
the care of two idiot doctors.

They both should
not be my doctors.

You haven't heard from me
because I'm locked up with all

These poor, nutty people.

I'm sure to end up a nut
if I stay in this nightmare.

Please help me, Lee.

This is the last
place I should be.

Maybe if you called Doctor
Kris and assured her of my

Sensitivity and that I
must get back to class.

Please help me.

If Doctor Kris assures you
that I am all right, you can

Assure her that I am not.

I do not belong here.

I love you both.

Marilyn.

The most important
thing was to watch

Her for suicide and to
take her off barbiturates.

My understanding is that she
got out of them during her

Marriage to Arthur Miller.

She had no ego to start
with, and it left her less.

This is right after
the separation.

He didn't write, call, cable.

Nothing.

He left her there, and
he knew she was there.

There was no empathy
at Payne Whitney.

It had a very bad effect.

And they asked me, after
putting me in a cell.

I mean, cement blocks and all
for very disturbed, depressed

Patients, except I felt I was
in some kind of a prison for a

Crime I hadn't committed.

And they asked me why
I wasn't happy there.

They asked me why I
wasn't happy there.

Everything was under lock
and key things like electric

Lights, dresser drawers,
bathrooms, closets.

I answered, well, I'd have
to be nuts if I liked it here.

They asked me to mingle with
the patients, to go out to

Occupational therapy.

I said, and do what?

They said, you could sew or
play checkers, even cards, and

Maybe knit.

I tried to explain that the
day I did that they would have

A nut on their hands.

They asked me why I felt I
was different from the other

Patients, I guess.

So I decided, if they were
really that stupid, I must

Give them a very
simple answer.

So I said, I just am.

Soon, gossip is
blazing like brush fire.

Then the press hold vigil
outside Payne Whitney's walls.

There were, like,
500 photographers and

Reporters in the lobby, and
they were following the nurses

Home, and it was chaos.

You can't very well have
somebody get well under these

Conditions.

Finally she was able to get a

Letter out to Joe, who
came and took her home.

He went to the hospital and
said, if you don't release her

Into my care, we'll
take this building

Apart, brick by brick.

March, 1961.

Joe said he pulled himself
up by his own bootstraps after

The divorce, but he told me
also that if he had been me,

He would have
divorced him too.

Christmas night, he sent a
forest full of poinsettias.

I asked who they were from.

My friend said, I don't know.

The card just says.

Best, Joe.

So I said, well,
there's just one Joe.

I called him up and asked him
why he had sent the flowers.

He said, first of all,
because I thought you would

Call me to thank me.

And then he said, besides,
who in the hell else

Do you have in the world?

She was in intense therapy

With Greens on.

In what we would now consider
very bad therapeutic practice,

He invited Marilyn into his
home and started to create yet

Another surrogate
family for Marilyn.

Rich and famous people need
the therapist 24 hours a day.

Psychiatrists must be willing
to become emotionally involved

With their patients if they
hope to establish a reliable

Therapeutic relationship.

He was under her spell,
thrilled to be Marilyn

Monroe's doctor and I think
was willing to give her any

Shots, any
prescriptions she wanted.

The administering of the pill
was an attempt to give her

Something of me to swallow,
to take in, so that she could

Overcome the sense of
terrible emptiness that would

Depress and infuriate her.

For years, I've been
struggling to find some

Emotional security with.

With little success.

My work is the only
trustworthy hope I have.

My work is the only
trustworthy hope that I have.

It is April, 1962.

She has four months to live.

And work is ready to start
on a film she will do for 20th

For her contract.

It will be called
"Something's Got to Give."

It was going to be her last
film for the 20th Century Fox

Studios under a
seven-year contract.

It's questionable whether she
was ready to go back to work

After an incredibly
difficult year.

Lights, camera.

Ww.

Can we start again?

Yes.

I can do my work
as fully as I wish.

I will be as sensitive as I
am without being ashamed of it.

Go this way?

No, no, no.

This way.

Always this way.

All right.

All righty?

365.

Lights, camera.

683.

Speed.

Lights, camera.

699.

OK.

Rolling?

OK.

Everyone that worked with

Monroe understood the downside

Counterbalanced
with the upside.

And I would not put George
Cukor in that category.

Marilyn's finally
gone around the bend.

She doesn't remember her lines
and acts as though she were

Underwater.

In the afternoon,
she's under alcohol.

74.

Speed.

All right, now
start real hard work.

There were enormous costs
already piled up against the

Picture five or six scripts
by expensive writers, 34 days

Over the shooting schedule
in the first quarter of

Production, further weakening
the already shaky position of

20th Century Fox.

20th Century Fox was going
bankrupt because of a little

Movie called "Cleopatra."

It was a huge, expensive star

Vehicle that became the most
expensive movie ever made.

They shut down virtually every

Other production except
"Something's Got to Give" and

"Cleopatra." Elizabeth Taylor
was making $1 million, as

Opposed to Marilyn's 100,000,
and Marilyn was acutely aware

Of the difference
in the way that

Elizabeth Taylor
was being treated.

Here, Jeb. Jeb.

Watch it.

Jeb, speak.

Jeb, speak. Speak.

Speak, boy.

Come on, speak.

Jeb.

Jeb, Jeb.

Speak.

Come on, speak.

Here, Jeb.

Come on.

Jeb.

Come on, Jeb.

Whether anything will come
of this project I do not know,

But it certainly diverts
me to think about it.

It would be the
definitive Hollywood story.

Here, Jeb.

Watch it.

Speak.

Jeb, speak.

Speak.

Come on, speak.

Speak.

Oh, for the good old days of
the industry when the studios

Arranged things so adroitly
and were not so hit and miss

And confusing.

I start like.

382.

Marilyn went down for three

Weeks with a high fever
and a sinus infection.

You have a cold?

How dare you have a cold?

I mean, the executives can
get colds and stay home for.

You know, forever
and phone it in.

But how dare you get a cold?

The straw that broke the

Camel's back was her decision
to appear at Madison Square

Garden to sing that
little birthday song.

Mr. President, the
late Marilyn Monroe.

Remarkably, Fox had told her

That she couldn't go.

From her point of view, going
to sing "Happy Birthday" for

The President was something
she was not going to miss.

We were both astonished
that she had gone.

Cukor particularly was angry.

You know, he was
starting to feel,

I think, a kind of,
uh, helplessness.

20th Century Fox
accused Marilyn

Monroe of insubordination
and of leaving the production

Without permission,
and she was fired.

She was devastated.

It was the worst thing that
could happen to her, because

Her acting career
would be over.

She was deemed not employable.

The studio began a smear

Campaign after it fired her to
say that the footage that they

Had was unusable, that she'd
been in such a fog that they

Couldn't possibly have
continued to work with her.

So she was the big bad wolf.

And Fox thought they got
away with almost murder.

She mounted a counter offense.

She basically fought back.

She started taking pictures to
show how good she looked, and

She started giving interviews.

I mean, the things
they sent out

About me, that this
corporation, who I'm prepared

To leave nameless,
we're not machines.

No matter how much they want
to say we are, we are not.

If I am a star, the
people made me a star.

It was no studio
and no person.

I would like very much
to be a fine actress.

I would like to be happy, but
trying to be happy is almost

As difficult as trying
to be a good actress.

Only about 10 or 15 years ago

It was discovered in the Fox
archives a contract that they

Had rehired her for $1
million, for the money that

She had been
fighting for so hard.

They rehired her just a
few days before she died.

Dear Lee, this is an
important personal letter, and

Please don't start to read
it until you have the time to

Give it your careful thought.

This letter concerns my future
plans and therefore concerns

Yours as well, since my future
development as an artist is

Based on our working together.

My attorneys and I are
planning to set up an

Independent production unit,
in which we have envisaged an

Important position for you.

As far as I'm concerned,
the happiest time

Of my life is now.

There's a future, and I
can't wait to get to it.

My love to all of you.

Marilyn.

The light was leaving.

She seemed to fade with it,

Blend with the sky and clouds,

Proceed beyond them.

I wanted to lift my voice
louder than the seagulls'

Cries and call her back.

Marilyn, Marilyn.

Why did everything have
to turn out the way it did?

Many of us remember the
precise moment on August 5,

1962 when we first
heard of her death.

We remember where we
were, what the room looked

Like, who was there.

It's a sense memory usually
reserved for the death of a

President or a member
of our own family.

One simple reason for her
life story's endurance is the

Premature end of it.

When the past dies, there is
mourning, but when the future

Dies, our imaginations are
compelled to carry it on.

The more I think of
it, the more I realize

There are no answers.

Life is to be lived.

And since it is
comparatively so short.

Maybe too short,
maybe too long.

The only thing I know
for sure, it isn't easy.

Now that I want to live and
I feel suddenly not old, not

Concerned about previous
things except to protect

Myself, my life,
and to desperately

Pray tell the universe.

I trust it.

Do you, uh, keep a

Diary, by the way?

Well, not exactly a diary.

Sometimes when things
used to happen, I

Used to write it down.

But then I used to tear it up.

I'm gonna read it like this.

This is what you want, right?

Like this.

Three echo, take one, 80 mark.

Not a scared lonely
little girl anymore.

Not a scared
lonely. Not a scared

Lonely little girl anymore.

Please don't talk about me no.

Please don't talk
about me when I'm gone.

God.

Oh.

It's good to be back.

I'm flattered.

I'm honored.

So you're a happy girl now?

Yeah.

I'm MM.

Let's take that one more time.

I got a little
turned up here we go.

Internal, internal, internal.

OK, starting.

I used to appear on.
When I was modeling.

On, uh, men's magazine covers,
such as, uh, I don't know,

"Squint," "Peep,"
"Pick-a-Peep," all those.

Let me go back.

I'm good, though.

I'm good.

I'm sorry.

Ah!

Shall we start over?

Shabby sounding.

Let's do it one more time.

I think Judge Griffith
was right in penalizing me.

I don't really believe in
ignoring traffic citations.

Dear Darryl, I
got your script.

It stinks.

Love you, Marilyn Monroe.

Oh, that almost made me cry.

That's so sweet of her.

I trust it.

That sucked.

Would you say that you take

Acting very seriously?

I'm afraid I do.