WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.279 Welcome to the Deep Dive. Today, we are cracking 00:00:03.279 --> 00:00:06.799 open the file on, well, perhaps the most enduring, 00:00:06.960 --> 00:00:09.800 most complex and arguably the most analyzed person 00:00:09.800 --> 00:00:13.099 of the 20th century. We are diving into the foundational 00:00:13.099 --> 00:00:16.820 history, the contradictions and the explosive 00:00:16.820 --> 00:00:20.339 legacy of Marilyn Monroe. It's a fascinating 00:00:20.339 --> 00:00:24.039 challenge. This is a story that has been so thoroughly 00:00:24.039 --> 00:00:26.679 mythologized. Right. The real woman, Norma Jean 00:00:26.679 --> 00:00:29.719 Mortensen, she often just gets lost in the, I 00:00:29.719 --> 00:00:32.289 guess, the platinum haze. Yeah, completely. Our 00:00:32.289 --> 00:00:35.109 mission today is to move past that simple, dumb, 00:00:35.189 --> 00:00:37.750 blonde caricature and really try to understand 00:00:37.750 --> 00:00:40.750 the profound shrewdness, the relentless ambition. 00:00:41.030 --> 00:00:43.090 And the struggle. And the deep abiding struggles 00:00:43.090 --> 00:00:45.369 of the woman who engineered one of the biggest 00:00:45.369 --> 00:00:47.729 cultural phenomena in history. And the success 00:00:47.729 --> 00:00:50.729 she achieved in her, what, her brief 36 years 00:00:50.729 --> 00:00:52.929 is just staggering. It's unbelievable. By the 00:00:52.929 --> 00:00:55.369 time of her death in 1962, her films had already 00:00:55.369 --> 00:00:57.750 grossed $200 million. We're talking about an 00:00:57.750 --> 00:01:00.850 equivalent of nearly $2 billion today. She wasn't 00:01:00.850 --> 00:01:03.329 just a movie star. She was, you know, alongside 00:01:03.329 --> 00:01:05.849 figures like Elvis Presley and Mickey Mouse, 00:01:05.969 --> 00:01:10.049 a true pillar of global popular culture. Exactly. 00:01:10.609 --> 00:01:14.129 And we need to trace that dramatic path starting 00:01:14.129 --> 00:01:16.269 from a truly unstable and traumatic childhood. 00:01:17.260 --> 00:01:20.599 Through the highly disciplined, intentional creation 00:01:20.599 --> 00:01:23.579 of the Marilyn persona, her revolutionary battles 00:01:23.579 --> 00:01:26.019 with the Hollywood studio system. The entrenched 00:01:26.019 --> 00:01:29.120 studio system. Right. And ultimately, her tragic 00:01:29.120 --> 00:01:32.079 final years. It was a short life, but every single 00:01:32.079 --> 00:01:35.319 year was packed with calculated defiance and 00:01:35.319 --> 00:01:37.859 just. devastating personal conflict let's unpack 00:01:37.859 --> 00:01:40.519 this you cannot understand the driving force 00:01:40.519 --> 00:01:42.780 behind maryland without first really digging 00:01:42.780 --> 00:01:46.219 into the profound insecurity and the emotional 00:01:46.219 --> 00:01:48.659 isolation that defined norman jane she was born 00:01:48.659 --> 00:01:52.099 on june 1st 1926 in los angeles and i mean right 00:01:52.099 --> 00:01:54.000 from the start there was huge uncertainty about 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:55.939 who her father was and that really set the tone 00:01:55.939 --> 00:01:58.040 for her whole life didn't it this search for 00:01:58.040 --> 00:02:00.200 identity for belonging absolutely that's the 00:02:00.200 --> 00:02:04.379 crux of her origin story It is. Her mother, Gladys 00:02:04.379 --> 00:02:07.379 Pearl Baker, who was a film negative cutter at 00:02:07.379 --> 00:02:10.319 the time, listed a man named Mortensen, misspelled 00:02:10.319 --> 00:02:13.300 as Mortensen, as the father on the birth certificate. 00:02:13.439 --> 00:02:15.479 But they weren't even together then. No. That 00:02:15.479 --> 00:02:17.520 union had already ended well before Gladys became 00:02:17.520 --> 00:02:21.520 pregnant. So biographers today, they widely suggest 00:02:21.520 --> 00:02:23.900 the biological father was actually Charles Stanley 00:02:23.900 --> 00:02:26.259 Gifford. Who was her boss, right? Her superior 00:02:26.259 --> 00:02:29.879 in RKO Studios, yeah. and that relationship was 00:02:29.879 --> 00:02:32.400 well it was basically confirmed by dna evidence 00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:35.139 just a few years ago back in 2022. so she starts 00:02:35.139 --> 00:02:38.560 her life surrounded by mystery instability and 00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:41.319 kind of the shadow of the film industry itself. 00:02:41.560 --> 00:02:44.680 And Gladys, by all accounts, was mentally and 00:02:44.680 --> 00:02:46.900 financially unprepared to raise a child. Not 00:02:46.900 --> 00:02:49.319 at all. And that led to this devastating pattern 00:02:49.319 --> 00:02:52.180 of abandonment. Which is really the crucial context 00:02:52.180 --> 00:02:55.300 here. It is. Norma Jean's earliest years, from 00:02:55.300 --> 00:02:57.979 birth until about age seven, were spent with 00:02:57.979 --> 00:03:00.599 evangelical Christian foster parents, the Bolanders, 00:03:00.800 --> 00:03:03.020 out in Hawthorne. And that ended around 1933 00:03:03.020 --> 00:03:05.919 when Gladys tried to sort of get her life together. 00:03:06.139 --> 00:03:08.020 Yeah, she managed to buy a small house in Hollywood 00:03:08.020 --> 00:03:12.110 and Norma Jean moved in with her. But this. A 00:03:12.110 --> 00:03:15.289 brief attempt at normalcy just completely collapsed 00:03:15.289 --> 00:03:17.830 in January 1934. That's when the instability 00:03:17.830 --> 00:03:20.210 became institutional. That's when Gladys suffered 00:03:20.210 --> 00:03:22.550 a severe mental breakdown. A very severe one. 00:03:22.629 --> 00:03:24.930 She was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. 00:03:25.370 --> 00:03:27.449 And committed. That's right. She was committed 00:03:27.449 --> 00:03:29.849 to the Metropolitan State Hospital. And from 00:03:29.849 --> 00:03:32.030 that moment on, she spent the rest of her life 00:03:32.030 --> 00:03:34.229 constantly moving in and out of care. Which left 00:03:34.229 --> 00:03:37.870 Norma Jean a legal ward of the state. And that 00:03:37.870 --> 00:03:40.530 history, you know, of mental health struggles 00:03:40.530 --> 00:03:43.330 and institutionalization, which Norma Jean saw 00:03:43.330 --> 00:03:46.189 firsthand, it would tragically echo later in 00:03:46.189 --> 00:03:48.009 Marilyn's own life. When she faced her own mental 00:03:48.009 --> 00:03:50.569 health crises, yeah. Exactly. And what followed 00:03:50.569 --> 00:03:53.289 was just this grueling, grim rotation of homes 00:03:53.289 --> 00:03:57.689 and, well, documented trauma. That's awful. The 00:03:57.689 --> 00:03:59.629 period immediately after her mother's commitment, 00:03:59.870 --> 00:04:01.949 she lived with these lodgers, the Atkinsons. 00:04:02.349 --> 00:04:04.590 And this is where many biographers believe she 00:04:04.590 --> 00:04:07.219 first experienced sexual abuse. And the psychological 00:04:07.219 --> 00:04:09.560 impact was immediate. Immediate and profound. 00:04:10.180 --> 00:04:13.240 The trauma caused her to develop a severe stutter 00:04:13.240 --> 00:04:16.000 and become incredibly withdrawn. Just a child. 00:04:16.240 --> 00:04:19.360 Yeah. And by the summer of 1935, after these 00:04:19.360 --> 00:04:21.899 brief, failed stays with a few different families, 00:04:22.459 --> 00:04:25.600 Gladys' friend, Grace Goddard, placed Norma Jean 00:04:25.600 --> 00:04:28.459 in the Los Angeles orphan's home. And even though 00:04:28.459 --> 00:04:30.939 the institution itself was described as well 00:04:30.939 --> 00:04:33.259 -run, a model institution, they called it. Right. 00:04:33.980 --> 00:04:36.220 The feeling for Norma Jean must have been just 00:04:36.220 --> 00:04:38.639 one of total abandonment. That feeling of being 00:04:38.639 --> 00:04:41.399 disposable, of being shuffled around. I mean, 00:04:41.420 --> 00:04:43.420 that defined her emotional landscape. And she 00:04:43.420 --> 00:04:45.100 was only there for about a year and a half. Right. 00:04:45.160 --> 00:04:47.399 Before Grace Goddard pulled her out. But the 00:04:47.399 --> 00:04:50.459 message was clear. You're unwanted. And the rotation 00:04:50.459 --> 00:04:53.860 didn't stop. No. She moved back in with the Goddards. 00:04:53.980 --> 00:04:56.600 But this second stay ended very quickly because 00:04:56.600 --> 00:05:00.420 Grace's husband, Erwin Dockadard. allegedly molested 00:05:00.420 --> 00:05:03.060 her oh so she was then bounced between relatives 00:05:03.060 --> 00:05:06.300 and friends of grace for years never staying 00:05:06.300 --> 00:05:08.939 anywhere long enough to feel rooted constant 00:05:08.939 --> 00:05:11.720 emotional dislocation always dependent on the 00:05:11.720 --> 00:05:14.939 kindness of strangers who i mean so often failed 00:05:14.939 --> 00:05:18.199 her but amidst this grim reality the source material 00:05:18.199 --> 00:05:21.720 points to the genesis of her entire career the 00:05:21.720 --> 00:05:24.410 movies This is where we see the budding artist 00:05:24.410 --> 00:05:28.149 using her imagination as really a crucial defense 00:05:28.149 --> 00:05:31.149 mechanism. A refuge. A total refuge. She would 00:05:31.149 --> 00:05:33.709 say, I didn't like the world around me because 00:05:33.709 --> 00:05:36.689 it was kind of grim. When I heard that this was 00:05:36.689 --> 00:05:39.290 acting, I said, that's what I want to be. And 00:05:39.290 --> 00:05:41.509 she loved just sitting alone in the movie theater. 00:05:41.730 --> 00:05:44.870 All day. Up front, where the screen felt huge 00:05:44.870 --> 00:05:46.889 and immersive. She'd be there all day and into 00:05:46.889 --> 00:05:49.540 the night. It was her only reliable escape from 00:05:49.540 --> 00:05:51.259 the reality of her life. She was essentially 00:05:51.259 --> 00:05:53.819 practicing her future career by observing the 00:05:53.819 --> 00:05:56.939 glamour she was denied. Exactly. And this leads 00:05:56.939 --> 00:05:59.259 us to the inevitable pressure cooker of 1942 00:05:59.259 --> 00:06:02.459 and a decision that just irrevocably changed 00:06:02.459 --> 00:06:05.959 her life. Marriage at age 16. A purely pragmatic, 00:06:06.220 --> 00:06:09.350 almost desperate escape plan. Completely. Docodard's 00:06:09.350 --> 00:06:12.449 company relocated him to West Virginia, and crucially, 00:06:12.550 --> 00:06:15.189 California child protection laws prevented them 00:06:15.189 --> 00:06:17.490 from taking Norma Jean out of state. So her only 00:06:17.490 --> 00:06:19.850 alternative to going back to the state -run orphanage 00:06:19.850 --> 00:06:22.870 was marriage. That was it. So she married their 00:06:22.870 --> 00:06:25.709 neighbor, James Daugherty, a factory worker, 00:06:25.990 --> 00:06:30.029 shortly after her 16th birthday in June 1942. 00:06:30.670 --> 00:06:34.379 A marriage of pure necessity. Correct. She avoided 00:06:34.379 --> 00:06:36.560 the institution, which was her immediate priority. 00:06:36.819 --> 00:06:38.980 Right. But the source describes the marriage 00:06:38.980 --> 00:06:42.360 as mismatched and profoundly limiting for her. 00:06:42.459 --> 00:06:45.560 She later lamented to friends that she was dying 00:06:45.560 --> 00:06:49.379 of boredom. It shows the stability. While she 00:06:49.379 --> 00:06:51.839 wanted it, it wasn't enough to satisfy the fierce 00:06:51.839 --> 00:06:53.879 ambition that was already stirring inside her. 00:06:53.920 --> 00:06:56.680 And that marriage only lasted four years. But 00:06:56.680 --> 00:06:59.139 it bought her the space and time she needed to 00:06:59.139 --> 00:07:02.100 launch the next completely new phase of her life. 00:07:02.480 --> 00:07:05.439 That boredom was interrupted very decisively 00:07:05.439 --> 00:07:08.259 in 1944 when Daugherty enlisted in the Merchant 00:07:08.259 --> 00:07:09.959 Marine. And shipped out to the Pacific. Yeah. 00:07:10.040 --> 00:07:12.819 This moment of separation was the catalyst, wasn't 00:07:12.819 --> 00:07:15.600 it? It gave Norma Jean the physical and professional 00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:17.720 independence she craved. It was the moment she 00:07:17.720 --> 00:07:19.939 realized she had agency. She moved in with her 00:07:19.939 --> 00:07:21.819 in -laws, took a job at the radio plane company, 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:25.220 a munitions factory. I mean, the irony of working 00:07:25.220 --> 00:07:28.100 in a factory, making aerial targets for the military. 00:07:28.759 --> 00:07:30.860 only to become a global target of the media. 00:07:31.000 --> 00:07:33.540 It is striking, isn't it? And it was at the factory 00:07:33.540 --> 00:07:36.420 that she was discovered, purely by chance. Yes. 00:07:36.800 --> 00:07:39.759 She met a photographer, David Conover, who was 00:07:39.759 --> 00:07:42.279 shooting morale -boosting pictures of, you know, 00:07:42.300 --> 00:07:44.459 attractive female workers for the U .S. Army 00:07:44.459 --> 00:07:47.019 Air Force's first motion picture unit. But her 00:07:47.019 --> 00:07:49.100 photos didn't even make it into the campaign. 00:07:49.399 --> 00:07:52.610 No. But Conover recognized this unique photogenic 00:07:52.610 --> 00:07:55.870 quality she had, and he encouraged her. And she 00:07:55.870 --> 00:07:58.470 seized that opportunity with a force of will 00:07:58.470 --> 00:08:00.750 that just completely contradicts that fragile 00:08:00.750 --> 00:08:03.389 image we have of her. Oh, completely. She quit 00:08:03.389 --> 00:08:06.829 the factory in January 1945, defying her husband 00:08:06.829 --> 00:08:09.290 who was deployed, and his disapproving mother 00:08:09.290 --> 00:08:11.930 moved out on her own and started modeling for 00:08:11.930 --> 00:08:15.550 Conover and his friends. By August 1945, she 00:08:15.550 --> 00:08:18.040 signed with the Blue Book Model Agency. And the 00:08:18.040 --> 00:08:19.939 agency, they determined her figure was perfect 00:08:19.939 --> 00:08:22.000 for pinup modeling. You know, the kind that was 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:24.259 popular with servicemen. Not high fashion. Not 00:08:24.259 --> 00:08:26.579 high fashion, no. But she embraced this fully. 00:08:26.660 --> 00:08:29.319 She understood the power of that specific type 00:08:29.319 --> 00:08:33.320 of visual appeal. And this is when the true intentional 00:08:33.320 --> 00:08:36.299 physical transformation began. This wasn't just, 00:08:36.320 --> 00:08:39.059 you know, a casual dye job. Well, it was calculated. 00:08:39.480 --> 00:08:41.960 She straightened her naturally curly brown hair 00:08:41.960 --> 00:08:45.220 and dyed it platinum blonde. Wow. And the agency 00:08:45.220 --> 00:08:48.259 owner, Emmeline Snevely, she attested that Marilyn 00:08:48.259 --> 00:08:51.019 became almost frighteningly ambitious and disciplined. 00:08:51.299 --> 00:08:53.700 She was no longer Norma Jean. She was creating 00:08:53.700 --> 00:08:56.960 the prototype. By early 1946, she was appearing 00:08:56.960 --> 00:08:59.639 on dozens of magazine covers, sometimes testing 00:08:59.639 --> 00:09:02.080 out names like Jean Norman. The modeling success 00:09:02.080 --> 00:09:06.460 opened the door to Hollywood. In June 1946, she 00:09:06.460 --> 00:09:08.759 signed with an acting agency, which led to a 00:09:08.759 --> 00:09:11.759 screen test at 20th Century Fox. And a Fox executive, 00:09:11.960 --> 00:09:15.059 Ben Lyon, was impressed. He was. And they signed 00:09:15.059 --> 00:09:17.340 her partly just to keep her away from RKO pictures. 00:09:17.580 --> 00:09:19.639 Their head, Howard Hughes, was also interested 00:09:19.639 --> 00:09:21.919 in her. And this led to the iconic name change 00:09:21.919 --> 00:09:25.960 in August 1946. A fusion of old Hollywood glamour 00:09:25.960 --> 00:09:28.759 and her own personal history. Marilyn was suggested 00:09:28.759 --> 00:09:30.799 by Lyon because she reminded him of the star 00:09:30.799 --> 00:09:33.600 Marilyn Miller. Right. And Monroe was her mother's 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:36.299 maiden name, a nod to her biological roots. The 00:09:36.299 --> 00:09:38.519 moment that career path was set, the personal 00:09:38.519 --> 00:09:41.179 life had to be cleared away. She divorced Doherty 00:09:41.179 --> 00:09:45.870 in September 1946. He opposed her career path. 00:09:46.110 --> 00:09:49.269 That commitment just speaks volumes. It really 00:09:49.269 --> 00:09:51.769 shows she was already prioritizing her engineered 00:09:51.769 --> 00:09:54.529 future over her past and any kind of fleeting 00:09:54.529 --> 00:09:57.350 stability. And she then spent her first six months 00:09:57.350 --> 00:10:01.509 at Fox just intensively studying acting, singing, 00:10:01.669 --> 00:10:03.269 dancing. She studied at the Actors Laboratory 00:10:03.269 --> 00:10:06.129 Theater. Right, where she found her first taste 00:10:06.129 --> 00:10:08.629 of what real acting in a real drama could be. 00:10:08.809 --> 00:10:12.120 She was, in her own words, hooked. But her coaches 00:10:12.120 --> 00:10:14.100 at the time, they still thought she was too shy, 00:10:14.120 --> 00:10:16.379 too insecure for the big screen. They did. They 00:10:16.379 --> 00:10:18.419 often preferred the, you know, the technical 00:10:18.419 --> 00:10:21.419 polish of the old studio system to her raw emotionality. 00:10:21.559 --> 00:10:23.519 And this is key. She was initially considered 00:10:23.519 --> 00:10:26.799 a weak actress. Very weak. Her early contracts, 00:10:27.039 --> 00:10:29.159 first at Fox, then later at Columbia Pictures, 00:10:29.379 --> 00:10:32.159 they were short -lived precisely because the 00:10:32.159 --> 00:10:35.100 head of Fox, Daryl F. Zanuck, he just didn't 00:10:35.100 --> 00:10:37.259 see her potential at first. Yet she continued 00:10:37.259 --> 00:10:41.100 to study diligently. Constantly. She worked closely 00:10:41.100 --> 00:10:43.960 with a drama coach named Natasha Laitz until 00:10:43.960 --> 00:10:47.860 1955. She was always trying to improve the craft 00:10:47.860 --> 00:10:49.940 that Hollywood seemed determined to deny her. 00:10:50.059 --> 00:10:51.919 Okay, so let's talk about the defining moment 00:10:51.919 --> 00:10:55.100 that launched her from aspiring contract player 00:10:55.100 --> 00:10:57.809 to... A household name. The calendar scandal. 00:10:58.090 --> 00:11:00.470 Which she handled with just incredible strategic 00:11:00.470 --> 00:11:02.769 skill. The nude calendar scandal, yeah. Yeah. 00:11:02.809 --> 00:11:06.309 After her Columbia contract ended in 1949, she 00:11:06.309 --> 00:11:08.870 was genuinely broke. Desperately. Completely. 00:11:08.870 --> 00:11:11.889 She posed for a set of artistic nude photographs 00:11:11.889 --> 00:11:16.389 for Tom Kelly for $50. She's the pseudonym Mona 00:11:16.389 --> 00:11:19.789 Monroe. $50. Just to pay the rent. Mm -hmm. So 00:11:19.789 --> 00:11:22.600 fast forward to March 1952. She's starting to 00:11:22.600 --> 00:11:24.539 gain traction and the press breaks the story. 00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:26.860 This should have been a career ending crisis 00:11:26.860 --> 00:11:30.139 in conservative 1950s America. And this is where 00:11:30.139 --> 00:11:32.320 the shrewdness of Marilyn Monroe truly emerges. 00:11:32.740 --> 00:11:34.960 Fox and Monroe handled this masterfully. Instead 00:11:34.960 --> 00:11:37.139 of denying it. Which would have led to an immediate 00:11:37.139 --> 00:11:39.440 witch hunt. Yeah. She and her team decided to 00:11:39.440 --> 00:11:41.259 preempt the damage by admitting she had posed, 00:11:41.440 --> 00:11:43.120 but stressing she had been completely broke and 00:11:43.120 --> 00:11:45.100 desperate at the time. So she framed it as a 00:11:45.100 --> 00:11:48.100 story of survival. A working class girl doing 00:11:48.100 --> 00:11:51.029 what she had to do to eat. Exactly. And that 00:11:51.029 --> 00:11:53.169 strategy immediately gained her public sympathy. 00:11:53.549 --> 00:11:56.549 She was relatable, you know, not just some decadent 00:11:56.549 --> 00:11:59.909 star. And crucially, it dramatically increased 00:11:59.909 --> 00:12:02.490 public interest in her films. It turned a potential 00:12:02.490 --> 00:12:05.549 disaster into a massive marketing win. A huge 00:12:05.549 --> 00:12:08.830 one. Suddenly, she was getting top billing, featured 00:12:08.830 --> 00:12:12.190 on the cover of Life magazine as the talk of 00:12:12.190 --> 00:12:15.049 Hollywood. They dubbed her the cheesecake queen 00:12:15.049 --> 00:12:18.210 turned. box office smash. And at the same time, 00:12:18.230 --> 00:12:20.049 she was actively fighting the pigeonhole that 00:12:20.049 --> 00:12:22.549 she had just created. Right. While she was earning 00:12:22.549 --> 00:12:26.090 titles like Miss Cheesecake of 1951, she was 00:12:26.090 --> 00:12:28.309 studying with serious teachers like Michael Chekhov 00:12:28.309 --> 00:12:30.710 and the mime Lotte Gosselaar. And she demonstrated 00:12:30.710 --> 00:12:33.850 this range early in 1952. She took roles that 00:12:33.850 --> 00:12:36.129 explicitly contradicted the bombshell image. 00:12:36.350 --> 00:12:39.049 She did. Like playing a fish cannery worker in 00:12:39.049 --> 00:12:41.299 the film Noir Clash by Night. which earned her 00:12:41.299 --> 00:12:44.220 positive reviews. And a mentally disturbed babysitter 00:12:44.220 --> 00:12:46.580 in the psychological thriller Don't Bother to 00:12:46.580 --> 00:12:49.039 Knock. She was desperately trying to show Hollywood 00:12:49.039 --> 00:12:51.779 there was more depth beneath the platinum exterior. 00:12:52.179 --> 00:12:55.019 But this era also saw the beginning of her infamous 00:12:55.019 --> 00:12:58.340 reputation for being difficult. The lateness, 00:12:58.519 --> 00:13:01.779 forgetting lines, demanding retakes. People often 00:13:01.779 --> 00:13:04.279 reduce this to just simple diva behavior, but 00:13:04.279 --> 00:13:06.639 it's more complex. It's a very complex reaction. 00:13:07.689 --> 00:13:09.730 Biographers now recognize it as a combination 00:13:09.730 --> 00:13:13.190 of crippling stage fright, low self -esteem fueled 00:13:13.190 --> 00:13:16.190 by years of rejection, and her perfectionism. 00:13:16.190 --> 00:13:19.250 Which manifested as anxiety. And perhaps most 00:13:19.250 --> 00:13:21.330 significantly, it stemmed from her deep dislike 00:13:21.330 --> 00:13:23.870 of the lack of creative control on film sets, 00:13:24.090 --> 00:13:26.330 especially when directors were condescending 00:13:26.330 --> 00:13:28.769 or dismissive. And we also see the start of her 00:13:28.769 --> 00:13:32.779 attempts to self -medicate. turning to barbiturates, 00:13:32.820 --> 00:13:35.399 amphetamines, and alcohol to cope with chronic 00:13:35.399 --> 00:13:38.860 insomnia and anxiety. The severe addiction issues 00:13:38.860 --> 00:13:40.879 didn't fully take hold for a few more years, 00:13:40.980 --> 00:13:43.740 though. It's essential context, though. As writers 00:13:43.740 --> 00:13:46.240 like Sarah Churchwell noted, some of this difficult 00:13:46.240 --> 00:13:48.519 behavior was also a necessary defense mechanism 00:13:48.519 --> 00:13:50.960 against the condescension and sexism she endured. 00:13:51.259 --> 00:13:54.139 It was an early, disorganized attempt to assert 00:13:54.139 --> 00:13:57.039 control in a system designed to exploit and discard 00:13:57.039 --> 00:14:00.419 her. So 1953 was the year Marilyn Monroe became 00:14:00.419 --> 00:14:04.220 an absolute global force. Absolutely. She solidified 00:14:04.220 --> 00:14:06.820 the blonde bombshell persona and became one of 00:14:06.820 --> 00:14:09.379 Hollywood's most bankable performers. Complete 00:14:09.379 --> 00:14:11.919 with the trademark look, those dark arched brows, 00:14:12.299 --> 00:14:15.279 the pale skin, red lips, and that iconic beauty 00:14:15.279 --> 00:14:17.600 mark. And the films from this year are the very 00:14:17.600 --> 00:14:20.700 definition of that bombshell persona. First, 00:14:20.860 --> 00:14:23.779 there was the film Noir Niagara. Which overtly 00:14:23.779 --> 00:14:26.320 relied on her sex appeal. It featured scenes 00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:28.580 that were considered, I mean, truly shocking 00:14:28.580 --> 00:14:31.240 for the era. Oh, yeah. Her character's body covered 00:14:31.240 --> 00:14:33.960 only by a sheet or a towel. And the studio marketed 00:14:33.960 --> 00:14:37.100 that aggressively. They used the iconic 30 -second 00:14:37.100 --> 00:14:39.100 long shot of her walking with that distinctive 00:14:39.100 --> 00:14:41.639 hip sway as the core of the marketing campaign. 00:14:41.960 --> 00:14:44.740 It was a successful gamble. Women's clubs protested 00:14:44.740 --> 00:14:47.480 the film as immoral, but audiences just flocked 00:14:47.480 --> 00:14:49.980 to it. The New York Times review commented dryly 00:14:49.980 --> 00:14:52.019 that The Falls and Miss Monroe are something 00:14:52.019 --> 00:14:55.139 to see. noting that while she might not be the 00:14:55.139 --> 00:14:57.720 perfect actress at this point, she can be seductive 00:14:57.720 --> 00:15:00.759 even when she walks. The walk itself became a 00:15:00.759 --> 00:15:02.779 globally recognized piece of performance art. 00:15:02.919 --> 00:15:04.899 She immediately followed that up with Gentlemen 00:15:04.899 --> 00:15:08.120 Prefer Blondes. Which cemented the dumb blonde 00:15:08.120 --> 00:15:10.820 persona, where she played the gold -digging Lorelei 00:15:10.820 --> 00:15:13.059 Lee. This was the film that truly launched her 00:15:13.059 --> 00:15:15.519 into the stratosphere, wasn't it? It was. Fast, 00:15:15.720 --> 00:15:18.580 eclipsing Betty Grable. who had been Fox's biggest 00:15:18.580 --> 00:15:22.080 blonde star in the 40s. Her performance of Diamonds 00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:24.799 Are a Girl's Best Friend is legendary. It's still 00:15:24.799 --> 00:15:27.240 considered the definitive cinematic portrayal 00:15:27.240 --> 00:15:30.700 of that trope. And then came How to Marry a Millionaire, 00:15:30.740 --> 00:15:34.059 co -starring Grable and Lauren Bacall. This was 00:15:34.059 --> 00:15:37.059 a massive technical and commercial win. It was 00:15:37.059 --> 00:15:40.059 only the second film ever released in CinemaScope, 00:15:40.120 --> 00:15:43.320 showcasing her on this giant immersive screen. 00:15:43.600 --> 00:15:45.899 And it became her biggest... box office success 00:15:45.899 --> 00:15:48.860 up to that point. She was declared the top 10 00:15:48.860 --> 00:15:52.659 money -making star for both 1953 and 1954. Fox 00:15:52.659 --> 00:15:54.919 historian Aubrey Solomon called her the studio's 00:15:54.919 --> 00:15:57.779 greatest asset alongside the new CinemaScope 00:15:57.779 --> 00:16:00.539 technology. But wait, if she was the studio's 00:16:00.539 --> 00:16:03.100 greatest asset, generating billions in today's 00:16:03.100 --> 00:16:05.379 dollars, how was she being paid? Because the 00:16:05.379 --> 00:16:07.360 sources suggest she was being exploited financially. 00:16:08.019 --> 00:16:10.820 Massively exploited. Her original 1950 contract 00:16:10.820 --> 00:16:14.159 paid her far, far less than others of her stature. 00:16:14.429 --> 00:16:16.529 That's the typical studio system contract, right? 00:16:16.590 --> 00:16:19.269 Long -term, high volume. And low control. On 00:16:19.269 --> 00:16:21.990 top of the financial constraints, studio head 00:16:21.990 --> 00:16:25.350 Daryl F. Zunuck actively disliked her. He referred 00:16:25.350 --> 00:16:28.450 to her simply as the body. And he resisted giving 00:16:28.450 --> 00:16:31.649 her any serious dramatic roles, cementing the 00:16:31.649 --> 00:16:34.929 typecast she hated. Exactly. And this exploitation 00:16:34.929 --> 00:16:38.590 even extended into her personal imagery. In December 00:16:38.590 --> 00:16:41.870 1953, Hugh Hefner launched Playboy using her. 00:16:41.970 --> 00:16:44.870 Without her consent. He featured her 1949 nude 00:16:44.870 --> 00:16:47.909 photos as the centerfold and cover of the very 00:16:47.909 --> 00:16:50.289 first issue, and she did not consent to that 00:16:50.289 --> 00:16:52.759 publication. Her image was being used to launch 00:16:52.759 --> 00:16:54.820 a cultural revolution without her permission 00:16:54.820 --> 00:16:56.980 or payment. It perfectly illustrates her lack 00:16:56.980 --> 00:16:59.200 of control over her own image despite her fame. 00:16:59.299 --> 00:17:01.360 That brings us to the boiling point in January 00:17:01.360 --> 00:17:04.680 1954 when Fox suspended her for refusing to shoot 00:17:04.680 --> 00:17:07.180 the musical comedy The Girl in Pink Tights. She 00:17:07.180 --> 00:17:09.339 was drawing a line in the sand. And this is where 00:17:09.339 --> 00:17:11.720 we see her strategic brilliance emerge under 00:17:11.720 --> 00:17:14.839 immense pressure. She understood that she needed 00:17:14.839 --> 00:17:17.839 a distraction, a huge counter narrative to fight 00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:20.079 the negative publicity. So she married retired 00:17:20.079 --> 00:17:24.200 baseball star Joe DiMaggio on January 14, 1954. 00:17:24.599 --> 00:17:27.240 The American sweetheart and the retired baseball 00:17:27.240 --> 00:17:29.890 legend. An instantly high -profile marriage. 00:17:30.150 --> 00:17:32.549 It was a perfect piece of public relations. And 00:17:32.549 --> 00:17:34.829 she followed it up with the most improbable honeymoon 00:17:34.829 --> 00:17:38.410 imaginable. A trip to Japan combined with a USO 00:17:38.410 --> 00:17:41.509 show in Korea. Where she sang for over 60 ,000 00:17:41.509 --> 00:17:44.890 US Marines over four days in freezing temperatures. 00:17:45.190 --> 00:17:48.930 Wow. DiMaggio reportedly hated the entire spectacle. 00:17:49.170 --> 00:17:51.230 He couldn't stand the sight of other men looking 00:17:51.230 --> 00:17:53.690 at her. But the strategy worked. She generated 00:17:53.690 --> 00:17:56.529 this enormous positive publicity wave that she 00:17:56.529 --> 00:17:58.789 leveraged perfectly against the studio suspension. 00:17:59.450 --> 00:18:01.670 It was a short -term win. She settled with Fox. 00:18:01.809 --> 00:18:03.809 They promised a new contract, and she agreed 00:18:03.809 --> 00:18:06.470 to star in The Seven -Year Itch in 1955. And 00:18:06.470 --> 00:18:08.569 that production gave us perhaps the most iconic 00:18:08.569 --> 00:18:11.069 image of her career. The subway great scene on 00:18:11.069 --> 00:18:13.369 Lexington Avenue. They staged that whole thing 00:18:13.369 --> 00:18:15.769 right out in the open in Manhattan, attracting 00:18:15.769 --> 00:18:19.009 nearly 2 ,000 spectators. Which put her instantly 00:18:19.009 --> 00:18:21.630 on international front pages. It was pure, raw 00:18:21.630 --> 00:18:24.369 publicity. But here's where it gets really interesting. 00:18:25.049 --> 00:18:28.589 That sheer, massive display of public attention. 00:18:28.970 --> 00:18:30.970 That crystallization of her sex symbol status. 00:18:31.109 --> 00:18:33.289 It was a catnip for the press, but it was absolutely 00:18:33.289 --> 00:18:35.730 poison for her already troubled relationship 00:18:35.730 --> 00:18:40.029 with DiMaggio. The union was defined by his extreme 00:18:40.029 --> 00:18:43.930 jealousy and documented physical abuse. The public 00:18:43.930 --> 00:18:46.430 triumph marked the immediate end of her marriage. 00:18:46.650 --> 00:18:48.769 So the highest peak of her fame led directly 00:18:48.769 --> 00:18:52.049 to a devastating personal collapse. She filed 00:18:52.049 --> 00:18:55.289 for divorce in October 1954. And after finishing 00:18:55.289 --> 00:18:58.210 the seven -year itch, she made her defining revolutionary 00:18:58.210 --> 00:19:00.529 power move against the studio system itself. 00:19:00.789 --> 00:19:02.990 She left Hollywood. Moved to New York. And with 00:19:02.990 --> 00:19:05.109 photographer Milton Green, she founded Marilyn 00:19:05.109 --> 00:19:08.950 Monroe Productions, or MMP, in late 1954. This 00:19:08.950 --> 00:19:11.190 wasn't just a vanity project. This was a direct, 00:19:11.309 --> 00:19:14.049 calculated assault on the standard studio contract. 00:19:14.430 --> 00:19:17.700 It changed everything. Standard contracts locked 00:19:17.700 --> 00:19:20.299 actors into seven -year terms where the studio 00:19:20.299 --> 00:19:23.039 owned their image, controlled their roles, and 00:19:23.039 --> 00:19:25.519 dictated their salary. And Monroe, by forming 00:19:25.519 --> 00:19:27.960 her own company, she unilaterally asserted that 00:19:27.960 --> 00:19:30.200 she was no longer under contract to Fox. Right, 00:19:30.220 --> 00:19:32.819 and that she would choose her projects. This 00:19:32.819 --> 00:19:36.680 action, historians agree, was instrumental in 00:19:36.680 --> 00:19:39.130 the eventual collapse of the studio system. She 00:19:39.130 --> 00:19:41.349 basically set the precedent for star independence. 00:19:41.829 --> 00:19:44.250 She did. She clearly stated she was tired of 00:19:44.250 --> 00:19:48.930 the same old sex roles. And she spent 1955 immersing 00:19:48.930 --> 00:19:51.650 herself in serious acting, studying method acting 00:19:51.650 --> 00:19:54.430 under Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio. Where 00:19:54.430 --> 00:19:56.809 she grew very close to Lee and his wife, Paula. 00:19:57.089 --> 00:19:59.589 This was another layer of her strategic reinvention. 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:02.539 She embraced the Strasbergs, who became her crucial 00:20:02.539 --> 00:20:04.740 new influences. And method acting, which was 00:20:04.740 --> 00:20:07.380 still relatively new and often ridiculed by Hollywood. 00:20:07.619 --> 00:20:10.359 Right. It required actors to confront and use 00:20:10.359 --> 00:20:12.200 their emotional traumas in their performance. 00:20:12.579 --> 00:20:15.259 For Norma Jean, who had decades of unresolved 00:20:15.259 --> 00:20:17.700 trauma, this was deeply compelling. But also 00:20:17.700 --> 00:20:20.660 incredibly destructive. And by the end of 1955, 00:20:21.240 --> 00:20:24.420 Fox capitulated. The studio simply couldn't afford 00:20:24.420 --> 00:20:26.720 to let their greatest asset remain a revolutionary 00:20:26.720 --> 00:20:29.259 in New York. They had no choice but to negotiate 00:20:29.259 --> 00:20:32.079 on her terms. The new seven -year contract was 00:20:32.079 --> 00:20:35.319 revolutionary for the time. $400 ,000 for four 00:20:35.319 --> 00:20:38.349 films. A massive increase. Plus the right to 00:20:38.349 --> 00:20:40.869 choose her own projects, directors, and cinematographers. 00:20:41.049 --> 00:20:44.089 And the freedom to make one MMP film for every 00:20:44.089 --> 00:20:46.609 completed Fox film. Time magazine acknowledged 00:20:46.609 --> 00:20:49.470 this stunning victory. They called her a shrewd 00:20:49.470 --> 00:20:52.150 businesswoman. She not only survived the system, 00:20:52.289 --> 00:20:54.430 she publicly beat it. So having won the professional 00:20:54.430 --> 00:20:57.690 war, she began 1956 by formalizing her identity. 00:20:58.069 --> 00:21:00.210 She legally changed her name to Marilyn Monroe 00:21:00.210 --> 00:21:03.500 on February 23rd. But this entire period is really 00:21:03.500 --> 00:21:06.059 defined by her push into intellectual circles, 00:21:06.279 --> 00:21:09.240 specifically her marriage to playwright Arthur 00:21:09.240 --> 00:21:12.940 Miller in June 1956. This was the ultimate collision 00:21:12.940 --> 00:21:16.079 of high culture and low culture. The union the 00:21:16.079 --> 00:21:19.119 media immediately nicknamed Egghead Weds Hourglass. 00:21:19.400 --> 00:21:21.059 And this marriage wasn't just a personal choice, 00:21:21.119 --> 00:21:23.000 was it? It was a conscious statement about her 00:21:23.000 --> 00:21:26.240 intellectual aspirations. And her desire to be 00:21:26.240 --> 00:21:28.940 taken seriously beyond the confines of Hollywood 00:21:28.940 --> 00:21:31.819 glamour. And the studio, Fox, actually urged 00:21:31.819 --> 00:21:33.880 her to end the affair because Miller was being 00:21:33.880 --> 00:21:36.579 investigated by the FBI for alleged communism. 00:21:36.980 --> 00:21:40.319 The political context here is vital. This was 00:21:40.319 --> 00:21:42.400 the era of the House Un -American Activities 00:21:42.400 --> 00:21:45.180 Committee, HUAC. And Miller had been subpoenaed. 00:21:45.279 --> 00:21:47.380 The studio was terrified of being associated 00:21:47.380 --> 00:21:50.240 with blacklisted individuals fearing financial 00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:53.880 disaster. But Monroe refused to back down. It 00:21:53.880 --> 00:21:56.200 was a tremendous act of loyalty and political 00:21:56.200 --> 00:21:58.759 defiance. And the FBI, because of her association 00:21:58.759 --> 00:22:02.319 with Miller, even opened a file on her. Though 00:22:02.319 --> 00:22:05.079 they concluded her leftist views, if she held 00:22:05.079 --> 00:22:07.359 them, were not actively used by the Communist 00:22:07.359 --> 00:22:09.619 Party. She was searching for a deeper connection, 00:22:09.859 --> 00:22:12.420 a stability that Hollywood couldn't offer. And 00:22:12.420 --> 00:22:15.700 she converted to Judaism to be part of Miller's 00:22:15.700 --> 00:22:18.059 family, explicitly identifying with the Jewish 00:22:18.059 --> 00:22:20.819 people as a... dispossessed group. That shows 00:22:20.819 --> 00:22:23.359 her searching for identity and solidarity. But 00:22:23.359 --> 00:22:25.660 this conversion was significant geopolitically. 00:22:26.079 --> 00:22:28.400 Egypt banned all her films until their divorce 00:22:28.400 --> 00:22:31.680 in 1961. Wow. Yeah. Her first film under that 00:22:31.680 --> 00:22:35.380 new powerful contract marked a true triumph as 00:22:35.380 --> 00:22:39.200 a serious actress. Bus stop in 1956. This was 00:22:39.200 --> 00:22:42.259 the test case for the new serious Marilyn. She 00:22:42.259 --> 00:22:45.880 played Cherie, a complex, vulnerable saloon singer. 00:22:46.079 --> 00:22:49.460 With an Ozark accent and intentionally non -glamorous 00:22:49.460 --> 00:22:53.039 costume. And the director, Joshua Logan, who 00:22:53.039 --> 00:22:55.200 had been skeptical, was completely converted 00:22:55.200 --> 00:22:57.680 by her performance. He compared her talent to 00:22:57.680 --> 00:23:00.019 that of Charlie Chaplin in her ability to blend 00:23:00.019 --> 00:23:02.579 comedy and profound tragedy. That critical reception 00:23:02.579 --> 00:23:04.740 must have been profoundly validating for her. 00:23:04.839 --> 00:23:07.779 Immense. Bosley Crowther, one of the most powerful 00:23:07.779 --> 00:23:10.000 critics of the era, proclaimed, Hold on to your 00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:11.720 chairs, everybody, and get set for a rattling 00:23:11.720 --> 00:23:14.279 surprise. Marilyn Monroe has finally proved herself 00:23:14.279 --> 00:23:16.559 an actress. And she got a Golden Globe nomination. 00:23:16.920 --> 00:23:19.519 She had achieved the serious recognition she'd 00:23:19.519 --> 00:23:21.240 been fighting for since she first enrolled in 00:23:21.240 --> 00:23:24.200 the Actors Laboratory. She had. But the fight 00:23:24.200 --> 00:23:26.579 for respect was far from over, as evidenced by 00:23:26.579 --> 00:23:28.940 the absolute spectacular conflict that defined 00:23:28.940 --> 00:23:31.779 her first independent MMP production. The Prince 00:23:31.779 --> 00:23:34.720 and the Showgirl. 1957. co -starring and directed 00:23:34.720 --> 00:23:37.220 by the venerable Sir Lawrence Olivier. The tension 00:23:37.220 --> 00:23:40.339 was immediate and historic. It was a clash between 00:23:40.339 --> 00:23:42.900 the old theatrical guard and the new method vulnerability. 00:23:43.339 --> 00:23:46.720 Olivier, who viewed her talent as entirely physical, 00:23:46.980 --> 00:23:50.660 patronized her on set. He said, all you have 00:23:50.660 --> 00:23:53.299 to do is be sexy. And Monroe, armed with her 00:23:53.299 --> 00:23:56.420 new contract and her method training, she retaliated. 00:23:56.460 --> 00:23:59.400 She retaliated by being deliberately late and 00:23:59.400 --> 00:24:02.009 uncooperative. It was a professional declaration 00:24:02.009 --> 00:24:04.710 of war against the condescension of the established 00:24:04.710 --> 00:24:07.990 elite. A conscious pushback. She explicitly stated 00:24:07.990 --> 00:24:10.529 to the press that if you don't respect your artists, 00:24:10.789 --> 00:24:13.390 they can't work well. Right. She was fighting 00:24:13.390 --> 00:24:15.990 for the respect that her talent demanded. However, 00:24:16.230 --> 00:24:18.390 this professional struggle came at a crippling 00:24:18.390 --> 00:24:20.450 personal cost. Her pharmaceutical dependence 00:24:20.450 --> 00:24:23.990 increased dramatically. And she suffered a miscarriage 00:24:23.990 --> 00:24:26.829 during the grueling shoot. Yet, despite the on 00:24:26.829 --> 00:24:29.009 -set conflict and all that chaos, the film itself 00:24:29.009 --> 00:24:30.789 was critically acclaimed. Especially in Europe, 00:24:30.869 --> 00:24:33.490 yeah. It earned her a BAFTA nomination and the 00:24:33.490 --> 00:24:36.029 David DiDonatello Award. The irony is that the 00:24:36.029 --> 00:24:39.690 chaos produced great art. Hmm. And following 00:24:39.690 --> 00:24:42.970 the shoot, she took an 18 -month hiatus. She 00:24:42.970 --> 00:24:45.250 suffered intense personal losses during that 00:24:45.250 --> 00:24:48.509 time, including an ecopic pregnancy and another 00:24:48.509 --> 00:24:51.470 miscarriage, likely linked to her chronic endometriosis. 00:24:52.029 --> 00:24:54.349 We see just how serious her physical struggles 00:24:54.349 --> 00:24:56.710 were, given that she actually had a clause in 00:24:56.710 --> 00:24:58.890 her new contract allowing her time off during 00:24:58.890 --> 00:25:01.789 her period. Her body was failing her under the 00:25:01.789 --> 00:25:04.529 pressure of the career she had engineered. She 00:25:04.529 --> 00:25:07.089 was also briefly hospitalized for a barbiturate 00:25:07.089 --> 00:25:09.930 overdose during this time, showing the incredible 00:25:09.930 --> 00:25:12.089 fragility beneath the professional successes. 00:25:12.490 --> 00:25:14.849 And she even bought out Milton Green's share 00:25:14.849 --> 00:25:17.569 of MMP. After they disagreed on how to run the 00:25:17.569 --> 00:25:19.940 company, yeah. Proving she was determined to 00:25:19.940 --> 00:25:22.019 maintain that hard -won professional control, 00:25:22.220 --> 00:25:24.920 even if it meant isolating herself. Despite the 00:25:24.920 --> 00:25:27.099 struggle, she returned to Hollywood for the greatest 00:25:27.099 --> 00:25:29.220 commercial and critical success of her career. 00:25:29.519 --> 00:25:32.859 Some Like It Hot, 1959. Billy Wilder's cross 00:25:32.859 --> 00:25:35.460 -dressing comedy. And she initially resisted 00:25:35.460 --> 00:25:37.940 the role of Sugarcane. She did. She viewed it 00:25:37.940 --> 00:25:40.779 as yet another iteration of the dumb blonde part 00:25:40.779 --> 00:25:43.680 she hated. So why did she take it? She only accepted 00:25:43.680 --> 00:25:46.519 after Miller encouraged her, and she was offered 00:25:46.519 --> 00:25:49.279 a substantial 10 % cut of the Thurm's profits. 00:25:49.559 --> 00:25:51.759 So she would financially benefit from the typecasting 00:25:51.759 --> 00:25:54.240 she was forced to endure. Exactly. And the production 00:25:54.240 --> 00:25:56.599 for this film became legendary for its difficulty. 00:25:56.880 --> 00:25:59.480 The stories from the set are absolute Hollywood 00:25:59.480 --> 00:26:03.119 lore. Famously so. She was often hours late, 00:26:03.259 --> 00:26:05.700 sometimes requiring dozens of takes for simple 00:26:05.700 --> 00:26:09.559 scenes. Tony Curtis famously compared... kissing 00:26:09.559 --> 00:26:11.640 her to kissing Hitler because of the endless 00:26:11.640 --> 00:26:14.299 retakes. Kissing Hitler, I mean, that's vicious, 00:26:14.460 --> 00:26:17.160 but it tells you so much about the chaos. How 00:26:17.160 --> 00:26:20.579 did Wilder manage to extract genius out of a 00:26:20.579 --> 00:26:24.359 set that was, by all accounts, hellish? Wilder, 00:26:24.359 --> 00:26:27.299 despite his frustration, he recognized her unique 00:26:27.299 --> 00:26:29.559 quality. He noted that even though she didn't 00:26:29.559 --> 00:26:31.779 know her lines, she delivered a performance that 00:26:31.779 --> 00:26:34.279 just transcended the text. She had an ineffable 00:26:34.279 --> 00:26:36.779 magical quality on screen. That no amount of 00:26:36.779 --> 00:26:38.640 studio discipline could replace. So what does 00:26:38.640 --> 00:26:40.740 this all mean? She's difficult, but the result 00:26:40.740 --> 00:26:44.599 was undeniable magic. Precisely. The film was 00:26:44.599 --> 00:26:48.299 a massive Critical and commercial hit. It earned 00:26:48.299 --> 00:26:50.599 her the Golden Globe for Best Actress. Variety 00:26:50.599 --> 00:26:53.319 called her a comedian with that combination of 00:26:53.319 --> 00:26:55.460 sex appeal and timing that just can't be beat. 00:26:55.599 --> 00:26:58.420 It was the ultimate commercially successful expression 00:26:58.420 --> 00:27:01.480 of the persona she had created. Even as the personal 00:27:01.480 --> 00:27:03.940 cost continued to mount. After some like it hot, 00:27:04.119 --> 00:27:07.259 the success momentum began to falter noticeably. 00:27:07.660 --> 00:27:11.180 Her next project, Let's Make Love in 1960, was 00:27:11.180 --> 00:27:13.539 done only to fulfill her Fox contract, suffered 00:27:13.539 --> 00:27:16.299 major delays, and was marked by a widely reported 00:27:16.299 --> 00:27:19.380 affair with co -star Yves Montand. Critics were 00:27:19.380 --> 00:27:21.720 unimpressed. Bosley Crowther found her rather 00:27:21.720 --> 00:27:25.539 untidy and lacking her old Monroe dynamism. was 00:27:25.539 --> 00:27:28.000 also unsuccessful at the box office. And crucially, 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:30.380 she lost the role of Holly Golightly in Breakfast 00:27:30.380 --> 00:27:32.759 at Tiffany's. Yeah, because producers feared 00:27:32.759 --> 00:27:34.920 she would complicate the production. That's a 00:27:34.920 --> 00:27:36.559 sign that her reputation for being unpredictable 00:27:36.559 --> 00:27:39.180 was now actively destroying her career opportunities. 00:27:39.539 --> 00:27:42.099 Her last completed film, The Misfits from 1961, 00:27:42.660 --> 00:27:45.079 was written by Arthur Miller specifically for 00:27:45.079 --> 00:27:47.779 her as a dramatic vehicle. Which sounds like 00:27:47.779 --> 00:27:50.180 an emotionally charged environment already, even 00:27:50.180 --> 00:27:52.509 before cameras started rolling. An emotional 00:27:52.509 --> 00:27:55.369 disaster zone. Filmed in the oppressive Nevada 00:27:55.369 --> 00:27:58.990 desert heat, the entire production was plagued 00:27:58.990 --> 00:28:01.910 by personal trauma. Her marriage to Miller was 00:28:01.910 --> 00:28:04.690 ending. He was already openly involved with the 00:28:04.690 --> 00:28:07.109 on -set photographer. Anna Moreau resented the 00:28:07.109 --> 00:28:10.210 character of Rosalyn. Which was partly based 00:28:10.210 --> 00:28:13.170 on her own vulnerabilities, yeah. She struggled 00:28:13.170 --> 00:28:15.569 constantly with Miller rewriting scenes the night 00:28:15.569 --> 00:28:18.890 before filming, leaving her incapable of memorizing 00:28:18.890 --> 00:28:21.130 new dialogue. And her health crisis was just 00:28:21.130 --> 00:28:23.960 spiraling out of control during the shoot. Her 00:28:23.960 --> 00:28:26.519 health crisis was severe and impossible to hide. 00:28:26.680 --> 00:28:29.140 She was dealing with intense pain from gallstones, 00:28:29.259 --> 00:28:31.559 and her drug addiction was so acute that she 00:28:31.559 --> 00:28:34.180 was regularly receiving high doses of barbiturates. 00:28:34.299 --> 00:28:36.579 The anecdotes from the set are terrifying. They 00:28:36.579 --> 00:28:39.119 are. Makeup artists had to apply her makeup while 00:28:39.119 --> 00:28:40.880 she was sleeping under the influence of the drugs. 00:28:41.579 --> 00:28:43.680 Filming had to be halted entirely so she could 00:28:43.680 --> 00:28:45.960 spend a week in a hospital detox to stabilize. 00:28:46.619 --> 00:28:48.839 Despite all the chaos and the personal collapse, 00:28:49.119 --> 00:28:51.460 what was the ultimate critical judgment on her 00:28:51.460 --> 00:28:54.299 performance in The Misfits? Her coworkers and 00:28:54.299 --> 00:28:57.619 the director, John Huston, they recognized the 00:28:57.619 --> 00:29:00.509 raw truth in her acting. Houston said that when 00:29:00.509 --> 00:29:02.410 she was acting, she was not pretending to an 00:29:02.410 --> 00:29:05.230 emotion. It was the real thing. But initial reviews 00:29:05.230 --> 00:29:08.410 were mixed. They were. Some critics, like Crowther, 00:29:08.529 --> 00:29:11.630 called her completely blank and unfathomable. 00:29:11.930 --> 00:29:14.589 But modern critics now regard it as the most 00:29:14.589 --> 00:29:17.509 mature interpretation of her career. And the 00:29:17.509 --> 00:29:20.289 film is a classic. It was a performance fueled 00:29:20.289 --> 00:29:24.250 by her real -life breakdown. Following the film, 00:29:24.589 --> 00:29:27.589 She divorced Miller in January 1961 and spent 00:29:27.589 --> 00:29:29.869 that year focused almost entirely on her health, 00:29:30.009 --> 00:29:32.410 undergoing surgeries and hospitalization for 00:29:32.410 --> 00:29:34.849 depression. And she faced devastating setbacks 00:29:34.849 --> 00:29:37.410 even in her treatment. Right. She was admitted 00:29:37.410 --> 00:29:39.289 to the prestigious Payne -Whitney Psychiatric 00:29:39.289 --> 00:29:41.529 Clinic. It was mistakenly placed on a ward for 00:29:41.529 --> 00:29:44.509 psychosis, locked in a padded cell. That environment 00:29:44.509 --> 00:29:47.130 was terrifying and re -traumatizing for her, 00:29:47.269 --> 00:29:49.690 echoing her mother's institutional history. It 00:29:49.690 --> 00:29:52.470 was. But the kindness of her past stepped in 00:29:52.470 --> 00:29:54.910 in a very surprising reversal. Her second ex 00:29:54.910 --> 00:29:57.930 -husband, Joe DiMaggio, rushed in, secured her 00:29:57.930 --> 00:30:00.170 release, and helped move her to a more suitable 00:30:00.170 --> 00:30:03.759 center. This act of care, this fierce protective 00:30:03.759 --> 00:30:06.460 friendship, it contrasts so sharply with the 00:30:06.460 --> 00:30:09.000 brief, tempestuous abuse of marriage they had 00:30:09.000 --> 00:30:11.640 years earlier. It shows how deep the bond of 00:30:11.640 --> 00:30:14.279 their shared history ran. It did. She then purchased 00:30:14.279 --> 00:30:17.779 her famous home in Brentwood, Los Angeles, 12305 00:30:17.779 --> 00:30:21.400 5th Helena Drive, and returned to work in 1962 00:30:21.400 --> 00:30:24.500 for Fox's ill -fated Something's Gotta Give. 00:30:24.779 --> 00:30:27.700 A disastrous attempt at a comeback, plagued by 00:30:27.700 --> 00:30:30.220 suspicion and hostility. She was already sick 00:30:30.220 --> 00:30:32.009 with something. sinusitis before filming began, 00:30:32.190 --> 00:30:34.670 but Fox was highly suspicious and pressured her 00:30:34.670 --> 00:30:36.710 to continue. They choose her faking illness. 00:30:36.970 --> 00:30:39.339 Yeah. They were especially keen to scapegoat 00:30:39.339 --> 00:30:41.579 her because the studio was hemorrhaging money 00:30:41.579 --> 00:30:43.819 due to the spiraling costs and delays on the 00:30:43.819 --> 00:30:46.240 epic production of Cleopatra. The famous non 00:30:46.240 --> 00:30:49.740 -film public appearance came in May 1962. Yes, 00:30:49.839 --> 00:30:51.700 the happy birthday, Mr. President moment for 00:30:51.700 --> 00:30:54.359 JFK at Madison Square Garden. She wore that stunning, 00:30:54.460 --> 00:30:57.160 sheer, skin -tight, rhinestone -covered dress. 00:30:57.420 --> 00:30:59.460 And this highly visible break from the set further 00:30:59.460 --> 00:31:02.079 enraged the Fox executives who viewed it as a 00:31:02.079 --> 00:31:04.440 gross professional dereliction of duty. Shortly 00:31:04.440 --> 00:31:07.200 after, she generated her final piece of strategic 00:31:07.200 --> 00:31:10.980 publicity, filming a nude swimming pool scene 00:31:10.980 --> 00:31:14.059 for Something's Gotta Give. This was a deliberate 00:31:14.059 --> 00:31:16.519 act of image control, seizing the narrative back 00:31:16.519 --> 00:31:19.099 from the studio. It made her the first major 00:31:19.099 --> 00:31:21.279 star to pose nude at the height of their career, 00:31:21.440 --> 00:31:24.579 generating enormous global buzz. But the studio 00:31:24.579 --> 00:31:27.480 was out of patience. Completely. When she took 00:31:27.480 --> 00:31:30.140 yet another sick leave, Fox fired her on June 00:31:30.140 --> 00:31:34.539 7th and sued her for a huge $750 ,000. And the 00:31:34.539 --> 00:31:36.720 production shut down because her co -star, Dean 00:31:36.720 --> 00:31:38.819 Martin, refused to make the film with anyone 00:31:38.819 --> 00:31:41.779 else. Forcing Fox to completely halt the project 00:31:41.779 --> 00:31:44.700 and openly blame Monroe in the press. Yet even 00:31:44.700 --> 00:31:47.180 in the immediate aftermath of this firing, she 00:31:47.180 --> 00:31:49.500 was still so valuable that Fox regretted the 00:31:49.500 --> 00:31:51.559 decision. And was actively negotiating a new 00:31:51.559 --> 00:31:54.200 contract with her, including plans for a biopic 00:31:54.200 --> 00:31:56.829 of Jean Harlow when she died. They knew they 00:31:56.829 --> 00:31:58.750 could not replace her. Which brings us to the 00:31:58.750 --> 00:32:02.930 tragic conclusion. August 4th, 1962. She was 00:32:02.930 --> 00:32:05.410 found dead at age 36 in her Brentwood home by 00:32:05.410 --> 00:32:07.829 her housekeeper, Eunice Murray, at around 3 a 00:32:07.829 --> 00:32:10.009 .m. And the circumstances were immediately suspicious 00:32:10.009 --> 00:32:14.049 due to the delay in calling the police. Her psychiatrist, 00:32:14.369 --> 00:32:16.809 Ralph Greenson, and physician were called first. 00:32:17.309 --> 00:32:19.109 When the police were finally notified around 00:32:19.109 --> 00:32:23.109 4 to 5 a .m., she was found nude in bed. Covered 00:32:23.109 --> 00:32:25.150 by a sheet, her hand clamped around the telephone 00:32:25.150 --> 00:32:27.410 receiver. The cause of death was definitively 00:32:27.410 --> 00:32:30.650 ruled as acute arbitrate poisoning. Specifically, 00:32:30.869 --> 00:32:34.309 several times, the lethal limit of chloral hydrate 00:32:34.309 --> 00:32:36.869 and pentobarbital found in her blood and liver. 00:32:37.069 --> 00:32:39.930 And due to the extremely high dosage, the ruling 00:32:39.930 --> 00:32:44.009 was a probable suicide. Mm -hmm. Her doctors 00:32:44.009 --> 00:32:47.109 reported a history of severe fears, depressions. 00:32:47.390 --> 00:32:49.890 unpredictable mood changes and previous overdose 00:32:49.890 --> 00:32:52.789 attempts. Her death was global front page news. 00:32:52.970 --> 00:32:55.789 It created immediate and widespread shock. It 00:32:55.789 --> 00:32:57.509 is truly chilling that the suicide rate in Los 00:32:57.509 --> 00:32:59.690 Angeles reportedly doubled that month. Her death 00:32:59.690 --> 00:33:02.269 unleashed this massive public outpouring of grief 00:33:02.269 --> 00:33:05.099 and speculation. It did. And Joe DiMaggio arranged 00:33:05.099 --> 00:33:07.599 the private funeral, pointedly barring most of 00:33:07.599 --> 00:33:09.480 Hollywood, believing they were directly responsible 00:33:09.480 --> 00:33:11.720 for her demise. And while conspiracy theories 00:33:11.720 --> 00:33:14.259 about murder or accidental overboast proliferated 00:33:14.259 --> 00:33:17.440 for decades. Right. A major threshold investigation 00:33:17.440 --> 00:33:20.019 by the L .A. County District Attorney in 1982 00:33:20.019 --> 00:33:23.960 found no credible evidence of foul play, confirming 00:33:23.960 --> 00:33:26.690 the original probable suicide ruling. We have 00:33:26.690 --> 00:33:28.970 traced the professional path she carved, but 00:33:28.970 --> 00:33:31.150 now we have to step back and look at the image 00:33:31.150 --> 00:33:34.029 she engineered and why it resonated so powerfully 00:33:34.029 --> 00:33:37.589 in 1950s America. This persona was deliberately 00:33:37.589 --> 00:33:40.750 and brilliantly crafted by Monroe and Fox for 00:33:40.750 --> 00:33:43.130 the post -war male gaze. Serving as a replacement 00:33:43.130 --> 00:33:46.170 for the aging Betty Grable and offering a new 00:33:46.170 --> 00:33:48.910 accessible form of sexuality. And she consciously 00:33:48.910 --> 00:33:51.910 aligned herself with the ultimate 1930s bombshell, 00:33:52.029 --> 00:33:55.519 Jean Harlow. She even hired Harlow's hairstylist. 00:33:55.579 --> 00:33:58.259 And her persona focused entirely on the blonde 00:33:58.259 --> 00:34:01.940 stereotypes. The dumbness, the naivete, the sexual 00:34:01.940 --> 00:34:05.140 availability. And even the artificiality. all 00:34:05.140 --> 00:34:07.480 delivered with that breathy, childish voice and 00:34:07.480 --> 00:34:10.739 signature double entendres or Monroeisms. Those 00:34:10.739 --> 00:34:12.719 Monroeisms were a critical part of the branding, 00:34:12.820 --> 00:34:14.760 weren't they? Oh, yeah. When she was famously 00:34:14.760 --> 00:34:16.900 asked what she had on in the nude photo shoot, 00:34:16.980 --> 00:34:19.920 her reply, I had the radio on, projected an innocence 00:34:19.920 --> 00:34:22.820 that made her overt sexuality seem natural and 00:34:22.820 --> 00:34:25.599 without danger. This contrasted sharply with 00:34:25.599 --> 00:34:28.179 the dangerous, mysterious femme fatales of the 00:34:28.179 --> 00:34:32.400 1940s. She embodied a specific version of the 00:34:32.400 --> 00:34:35.320 American dream. She did. Her carefully cultivated 00:34:35.320 --> 00:34:37.860 stories of rising from a working -class, broken 00:34:37.860 --> 00:34:40.539 childhood made her seem far more accessible, 00:34:40.739 --> 00:34:44.699 the ideal playmate, than her contemporary, the 00:34:44.699 --> 00:34:47.559 sophisticated, upper -class blonde Grace Kelly. 00:34:47.900 --> 00:34:50.719 Monroe stood for a brand of classless glamour 00:34:50.719 --> 00:34:53.079 available to anyone using American cosmetics, 00:34:53.500 --> 00:34:56.139 nylons, and peroxide. She became the physical 00:34:56.139 --> 00:34:58.739 symbol of Populux and American consumer culture 00:34:58.739 --> 00:35:01.719 itself. But the expert consensus is clear. The 00:35:01.719 --> 00:35:03.900 image of the dumb blonde was the biggest, most 00:35:03.900 --> 00:35:06.280 successful piece of acting she ever pulled off. 00:35:06.340 --> 00:35:08.559 That and the ultimate contradiction. Biographers 00:35:08.559 --> 00:35:11.019 like Sarah Churchwell and Lois Banner are definitive. 00:35:11.199 --> 00:35:13.579 The biggest myth is that she was dumb. The second 00:35:13.579 --> 00:35:15.780 is that she was fragile. The third is that she 00:35:15.780 --> 00:35:18.099 couldn't act. She was incredibly smart, highly 00:35:18.099 --> 00:35:20.480 literate, and exceptionally tough. You had to 00:35:20.480 --> 00:35:22.739 be to manipulate, defy, and eventually defeat 00:35:22.739 --> 00:35:25.119 the mighty studio system. And she constantly 00:35:25.119 --> 00:35:27.579 signaled that self -awareness to her audience. 00:35:27.900 --> 00:35:30.780 She parodied the sex symbol status she was forced 00:35:30.780 --> 00:35:33.019 to maintain. She learned from Mae West's methods, 00:35:33.159 --> 00:35:36.340 that ability to be laughing at or mocking her 00:35:36.340 --> 00:35:39.539 own sexuality, that self -awareness is key to 00:35:39.539 --> 00:35:42.019 her genius. Think of the line she insisted be 00:35:42.019 --> 00:35:45.400 added to her dialogue in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. 00:35:45.440 --> 00:35:48.219 I can be smart when it's important, but most 00:35:48.219 --> 00:35:51.179 men don't like it. That single line is a brilliant 00:35:51.179 --> 00:35:54.639 self -aware critique of the 1950s gender politics 00:35:54.639 --> 00:35:56.960 that defined her career. Culturally, she was 00:35:56.960 --> 00:36:00.280 massive, virtually a household name for sex perceived 00:36:00.280 --> 00:36:03.260 as a specifically American icon compared to hot 00:36:03.260 --> 00:36:05.980 dogs, apple pie or baseball. And while the public 00:36:05.980 --> 00:36:07.940 saw the bombshell, she was deeply interested 00:36:07.940 --> 00:36:10.239 in politics and intellectual pursuits. She was 00:36:10.239 --> 00:36:12.900 a registered Democrat, openly admired Abraham 00:36:12.900 --> 00:36:15.139 Lincoln, seeing him as a paternal figure she 00:36:15.139 --> 00:36:17.869 never had. and actively questioned Robert F. 00:36:17.949 --> 00:36:20.050 Kennedy about civil rights issues. It demonstrates 00:36:20.050 --> 00:36:22.750 her serious intellectual engagement far beyond 00:36:22.750 --> 00:36:25.690 what her public image suggested. Finally, let's 00:36:25.690 --> 00:36:28.230 look at her legacy as an actress. The complexity 00:36:28.230 --> 00:36:30.829 of her career continues to divide critics decades 00:36:30.829 --> 00:36:34.230 later. It does. Some, like David Thompson, found 00:36:34.230 --> 00:36:37.250 her body of work insubstantial, or, as Pauline 00:36:37.250 --> 00:36:39.730 Kael put it, relying on turning cheesecake into 00:36:39.730 --> 00:36:42.489 acting. But other powerful voices like Roger 00:36:42.489 --> 00:36:45.230 Ebert and Jonathan Rosenbaum argue she was magical 00:36:45.230 --> 00:36:48.849 on screen. A talented comedian who, quote, subtly 00:36:48.849 --> 00:36:51.130 subverted the sexist content of her material. 00:36:51.630 --> 00:36:53.610 Rosenbaum suggested that the difficulty people 00:36:53.610 --> 00:36:55.949 had in discerning her intelligence was actually 00:36:55.949 --> 00:36:58.230 rooted in the ideology of the repressive era 00:36:58.230 --> 00:37:00.429 she worked in. Her intelligence was simply too 00:37:00.429 --> 00:37:02.449 threatening to be acknowledged alongside her 00:37:02.449 --> 00:37:04.769 overwhelming sexuality. Exactly. And the brand, 00:37:04.849 --> 00:37:07.329 of course, endures. She remains a hugely valuable 00:37:07.329 --> 00:37:10.570 licensed brand from Chanel to absolute vodka. 00:37:10.869 --> 00:37:14.130 Her conflicted image, the sex symbol versus the 00:37:14.130 --> 00:37:16.730 troubled victim, ensures she remains central 00:37:16.730 --> 00:37:19.349 to discussions about fame, feminism, and mass 00:37:19.349 --> 00:37:22.090 media. Her Los Angeles home was even designated 00:37:22.090 --> 00:37:26.030 a historic cultural monument in 2024. She truly 00:37:26.030 --> 00:37:28.969 is the eternal shapeshifter. What an incredible, 00:37:29.110 --> 00:37:31.929 condensed journey through a life defined by extraordinary 00:37:31.929 --> 00:37:35.530 extremes. The sheer force of will it took Norma 00:37:35.530 --> 00:37:37.889 Jean to not only survive an unstable childhood, 00:37:38.090 --> 00:37:40.969 but to achieve the global fame of Marilyn Monroe. 00:37:41.190 --> 00:37:43.289 And then to fight tooth and nail for control 00:37:43.289 --> 00:37:46.610 of that persona. It's astonishing. She leveraged 00:37:46.610 --> 00:37:49.570 her sexuality to gain power and autonomy, only 00:37:49.570 --> 00:37:52.510 to be profoundly damaged by the very public machinery 00:37:52.510 --> 00:37:55.250 she helped elevate and ultimately attempted to 00:37:55.250 --> 00:37:57.769 dismantle. The complexity of her duality just 00:37:57.769 --> 00:38:00.050 cannot be overstated. She was simultaneously 00:38:00.050 --> 00:38:03.409 a hyper -aware producer of her own iconic image, 00:38:03.650 --> 00:38:06.590 the shrewd businesswoman who used MMP to beat 00:38:06.590 --> 00:38:09.869 Fox, and a profoundly damaged individual struggling 00:38:09.869 --> 00:38:11.909 with severe addiction and debilitating mental 00:38:11.909 --> 00:38:13.920 health challenges. All rooted in her. childhood 00:38:13.920 --> 00:38:16.480 trauma. Right. Her genius lay in her ability 00:38:16.480 --> 00:38:19.159 to synthesize high culture through her associations 00:38:19.159 --> 00:38:21.760 with figures like Arthur Miller and Lee Strasberg 00:38:21.760 --> 00:38:24.219 with the most potent symbols of low culture and 00:38:24.219 --> 00:38:26.860 pinup glamour. She mastered the performance of 00:38:26.860 --> 00:38:29.320 celebrity before anyone else. It's a devastating 00:38:29.320 --> 00:38:31.559 arc that makes you wonder about the future she 00:38:31.559 --> 00:38:33.940 was aiming for, especially given the seriousness 00:38:33.940 --> 00:38:37.860 of her final professional negotiations. And if 00:38:37.860 --> 00:38:39.699 we connect this to the bigger picture of her 00:38:39.699 --> 00:38:43.739 final years, founding MMP, winning control, signing 00:38:43.739 --> 00:38:46.260 a new contract, and actively seeking serious 00:38:46.260 --> 00:38:49.380 dramatic roles like the Jean Harlow biopic, this 00:38:49.380 --> 00:38:50.900 raises an important question for you to think 00:38:50.900 --> 00:38:54.340 about. Had Marilyn Monroe lived beyond 36, could 00:38:54.340 --> 00:38:56.880 the shrewd businesswoman have completely overthrown 00:38:56.880 --> 00:38:59.460 the dumb blonde persona, redefining her legacy 00:38:59.460 --> 00:39:02.500 in the 1960s as a serious dramatic force, much 00:39:02.500 --> 00:39:04.380 as she had redefined her contract status in the 00:39:04.380 --> 00:39:06.699 1950s? We leave that for you to mull over.