he Marilyn Myth
Exactly 50 years ago, Marilyn Monroe, 36-year-old Hollywood sex symbol, was found dead in bed in her luxury bungalow, her bedside table littered with 30 pill bottles, including thirty bottles, including an empty sleeping pills phial. Discovered naked, as she always slept, she was half covered by a sheet.
This tragic end to a short, stormy, brilliant career involving a famous -calendar-nude photo, through an iconic Playboy centre-fold spread, to legendary movie appearances before eventually being sacked from the film Something's Got To Give for lateness.
Myth2
Before turning in on that fateful night, Marilyn had called out a cheery Goodnight, honey farewell to her housekeeper, apparently happy despite having been for 3 years undergoing psychiatric treatment. Her personal life had been a mess, to be sure, with three failed marriages, but Marilyn was far from being the dumb blonde she so faultlessly portrayed in her movies.
In actual fact, Marilyn was to some extent a a sacrificial victim of her own success, a woman who, though naturally intelligent, because of a disturbed childhood lacked education, therefore desperate to improve herself, as her career began to blossom.
In actual fact, Marilyn was to some extent a a sacrificial victim of her own success, a woman who, though naturally intelligent, because of a disturbed childhood lacked education, therefore desperate to improve herself, as her career began to blossom.
Myth3
Desperately anxious to increase her knowledge, Marilyn gathered together quite a library - over 400 books - anxious for self-improvement despite being both dyslexic and bipolar.
Monroe, with an IQ of 163,frequently wrote poetry, and as her fame grew, surrounded herself with intelligent people, as she saw it collecting experts in many fields to help her achieve her desired aims, certain that association with people who were better read than she was would further those ambitions.
Monroe, with an IQ of 163,frequently wrote poetry, and as her fame grew, surrounded herself with intelligent people, as she saw it collecting experts in many fields to help her achieve her desired aims, certain that association with people who were better read than she was would further those ambitions.
Myth4
This was the prime reason for her befriending literary heavyweights - Saul Bellow Truman Capote, Isak Dinesen amongst them - she even married playwright Arthur Miller, though it did not last long. These actions were hardly those of an air-head, but more the hallmarks of a most intelligent woman, despite no formal schooling. Marilyn was not only self-educated but brilliantly so, and possibly only played dumb blondes to keep her fans happy.
Many people believed that her image was in actuality the person she was but nothing could have been further from the truth, as President John F Kennedy would happily have testified, Marilyn was, sadly, one of the only actresses ever whom people managed to confuse with the parts she played, but in truth she was always trying to better herself, even if she could never truly have been referred to as a great thinker or debater. Marilyn was well aware of her shortcomings, but worked hard at improving herself.
There is no doubt whatever that this iconic sex symbol knew how to make the most of her considerable physical assets - as millions of men would cheerfully attest to - but she was also anything but the dumb blonde she so loved to portray, and her death a half century ago was truly a massive loss to the world, a misunderstood icon who never really got a fair deal.
Many people believed that her image was in actuality the person she was but nothing could have been further from the truth, as President John F Kennedy would happily have testified, Marilyn was, sadly, one of the only actresses ever whom people managed to confuse with the parts she played, but in truth she was always trying to better herself, even if she could never truly have been referred to as a great thinker or debater. Marilyn was well aware of her shortcomings, but worked hard at improving herself.
There is no doubt whatever that this iconic sex symbol knew how to make the most of her considerable physical assets - as millions of men would cheerfully attest to - but she was also anything but the dumb blonde she so loved to portray, and her death a half century ago was truly a massive loss to the world, a misunderstood icon who never really got a fair deal.
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