Marilyn Monroe, eternally alive on the 58th anniversary of her death.
Every August 5 we remember the disappearance of a movie legend, Marilyn Monroe. The actress lived fast and died young: she passed away at the age of 36 from a barbiturate overdose. Her body was found dead in her home in Brentwood (California) and the forensic report determined that she had committed suicide. That hot morning in the summer of 1962, the myth of the eternal Hollywood blonde was born.
Marilyn had a life as glamorous as it was abrupt. Behind the star who only slept with a few drops of Chanel No. 5 was Norma Jean Baker (born June 1, 1926), whose first years of life did not have as much light as the last. She never knew her father and her mother was admitted to a mental hospital when she was a child. Her childhood and adolescence passed between orphanages and houses of the families that adopted her.
But Marilyn was destined to make a mark in history. Discovered by a fashion photographer who was struck by her beauty, the young woman began her career as a model and actress with insignificant roles in various films. At that time she had brown hair, until her representative, Emmeline Snively, suggested she dye it platinum blonde and transform her image forever.
After several years playing secondary characters, he got his chance with works such as Eva in the nude (1950), Niagara (1953), The gentlemen prefer blondes (1953) or The temptation lives up (1955) and With skirts ya lo loco (1959). ). Although she got the first relevant roles of her, she forged the image of her as "dumb blonde" and without a brain. Something that bothered the actress and led her to take acting classes at Actors Studio, the academy that the director and playwright Lee Strasberg had in New York.
Turned into a goddess of the seventh art and one of the greatest sexual icons of all time, she seduced some of the most handsome men of the time such as Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando, Elia Kazan or Yves Montand. And she, despite being her most desired woman, she always felt alone. She was married three times: her first wedding was prematurely at 17; the second, in 1964, with the baseball player, Joe DiMaggio (from whom she separated after a few months); and the third, in 1956 with the writer Arthur Miller.
Despite the failure of his marriage, Miller gifted his wife with the best role of his career. In 1961, John Huston directed Rebel Lives based on the playwright's novel and for which he featured Clark Gable, Montgomery Clift and Marilyn Monroe. The three of them had several things in common: they were great acting figures and they were in the twilight of their lives.
The amorous conquest would have been the president of the most powerful country in the world, John Fitzgerald Kennedy. His sensual and unforgettable performance of "Happy Birthday, Mister President" sparked rumors of a relationship between the Democrat and the artist.
This suggestive congratulation took place on May 19, 1962 at Madison Square Garden (New York), two months before Monroe's death. Although the case about her death was closed, many speculated that it was a conspiracy of assassination behind which were high echelons of the North American country. To this day, her death remains a mystery.
On the occasion of the 58th anniversary of the loss of blonde ambition, La 2 airs the documentary Love, Marilyn this Wednesday, August 5, at 10:00 p.m. The film, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2012, collects annotations from the actress in diaries, poems and letters written between 1943 and 1962.
These texts were found 50 years after her death at the home of her friend, Lee Strasberg, and reveal thoughts and reflections from deep within her soul. The film is based on the book by Stanley F. Buchthal and Bernard Comment Fragments: Poems, Intimate Notes, Letters.
