Marilyn Monroe was a captivating presence on screen, but when the cameras were off, what was she like? Below other Hollywood talent talks about the iconic actress.
1. Mitzi Gaynor
“I never saw anybody work so hard. She did such a good job and personally, I think she stole the whole damn show. I just think she was thrown into a nest of vipers. Marilyn was very, very talented. Anybody that says that she wasn’t is crazy.”
2. Barbara Stanwyck
“She wasn’t disciplined, and she was often late, and she drove Bob Ryan, Paul Douglas and myself out of our minds… but she didn’t do it viciously, and there was a sort of magic about her which we all recognized at once.”
3. Don Murray
“She was trying to prove she was a serious actress and not just a movie star playing bimbo parts. She was trying to prove she was an actress of substance, and in my opinion she certainly did. She was a very experienced film actress, but she could forget so many of the mechanical techniques… I think it was a lack of confidence. For somebody who the camera loved, she was still terrified of going before the camera and broke out in a rash all over her body.”
4. Doris Roberts
“Marilyn would come in with a coat with a collar that she’d keep up and a ‘kerchief around her head and just hide in those clothes. She felt that she didn’t belong there, but she wanted to learn. And it was so sad to see that. She had no sense of herself. Yet, when we would do benefits and Marilyn Monroe would appear in a Monroe gown… she’d be the Marilyn Monroe that everyone knows. Totally different.”
5. Joseph Cotton
“If you wanted to talk about yourself, she listened. If you wanted to talk about her, she blushed. A rather lost little girl, I found her to be.”
6. Director Henry Hathaway
“She never had any confidence, never sure she was a good actress. The tragedy was that she was never allowed to be. But she was the best natural actress I ever directed.”
