Gay Icons - The Divas: Marilyn Monroe

The 1950s was the decade of conformity: the suburban married couple with two children and the house with the white picket fence. At the same time, it was a decade of paranoia and fear: the Cold War - and nuclear shelters under every house. And - by the way - the minorities, more marginalized than ever, were not entitled to the Great White Dream.

It's no wonder that the cultural icons of the decade were quite the opposite of these middle-class ideals. Instead of square-jawed men in their identical suits and manly walk going about their 9-to-5 routine, the idols came in the shape of hip-shaking Elvis, and the leather-and-denim-clad young rebels, led by Marlon Brando and James Dean. Also, we had a black actor (Sidney Poitier) who was the star of his movies rather than the sidekick or the comic relief - and a Rock'n'Roll star (Little Richard) who was not only black but also a flaming queen.

As far as women are concerned, idols who represented the virgin-until-marriage ideal came and went without leaving much of a cultural imprint, because the woman who was the absolute female cultural icon of the 50s was a Sex Goddess whose priorities had nothing to do with a husband and two children and a house with a white picket fence. A woman who was every straight man's wet dream, every gay man's Icon, and was even loved by women, who recognized in her vulnerability and emotional honesty not a rival but a trailblazer. We are, of course, talking about the inimitable Marilyn Monroe.

Before we take a dive into Marilyn's life and art, let me just say that the Divas in this series of portraits have been selected so that you can also have the pleasure of listening to songs, as well as reading about the person. For this reason, I have not presented Gay Icon Bette Davis and will not present another revered Diva, Elizabeth Taylor. Neither one of them has a noteworthy singing career parallel to the incredible acting ones that they have. Perhaps in another series, in the future... However, since we're on the subject of these two giants, I will honor each with a song and also with iconic scenes from their most famous films. First, here's Bette Davis singing They're Either Too Young or Too Old from Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943), a wartime musical meant to entertain the troops and mostly the folks back home, where most actors, including Bette, are playing themselves (no "with" in there, you naughty minds):

These are two great scenes from her all-time classic performance in All About Eve. This is the "Busy Little Bees" scene:

This is the "Bumpy Night" scene. There's a platinum blonde that's barely discernible on the first scene, but you can really observe her on the second scene. Her name: Marilyn Monroe...

This is Elizabeth Taylor giving us a rather decent version of one of the best songs of all-time (the lyrics are definitely all-time top 10), Sondheim's Send in the Clowns, from the film A Little Night Music:

... And here she is in her best role ever, in the classic Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. This is the "I swear if you existed I'd divorce you" scene:

This is the "Boxing Match" scene:

This is the "Getting Angry, Baby?" scene:

This is the "Bring up Baby" scene:

This is the film's final scene:

May I say that Liz deservedly won the Oscar that year and so did Sandy Dennis. It's a great pity Burton lost his, though. He totally deserved it. Now, back to Marilyn.

Let me introduce Marilyn by a favorite song of mine, Candle In The Wind, that was written by the fabulous gay artist, Elton John, in 1973. It is a loving tribute to Marilyn and was a hit in the UK and a number of European countries, while in the US it was the B-side to Elton's #1 smash Benny And The Jets. Then in the mid-1980s, a version of the song that was recorded live in Australia was released as a single - and the song was a hit again - this time also in the US. Then, after the death of Elton's close friend, Princess Diana, in 1997, Elton had his songwriting partner Bernie Taupin alter the lyrics to make it a tribute to Diana - he sang it at her funeral and released it as a single with the profits going to Diana-sponsored charities. It is the best-selling single of all-time. Still, the original version is the best. Here it is:

Marilyn (born Norma Jeane Mortenson on June 1, 1926) had suffered in the hands of men since she was a child. Born to an unknown father and a paranoid schizophrenic mother, who was institutionalized when Marilyn wasn't yet eight, she spent her childhood among foster parents - and her foster "dads" repeatedly abused her sexually, as early as the age of nine. It's ironic that one of her most iconic musical numbers is an ode to sugar daddies, Cole Porter's My Heart Belongs To Daddy from the movie Let's Make Love (1960):

A two-year stay at an orphanage didn't work any better: Monroe found being placed there traumatizing, as to her "it seemed that no one wanted me".

When, not yet sixteen, she faced the possibility of having to return to the orphanage, she married the boy-next-door instead. Jim Dougherty was a 21-year-old factory worker who had nothing in common with Marilyn. She later stated that the "marriage didn't make me sad, but it didn't make me happy, either. My husband and I hardly spoke to each other. This wasn't because we were angry. We had nothing to say. I was dying of boredom."

He went into the military, she modeled, he disapproved, they divorced in 1946. She owned 400 books (including Tolstoy, Whitman, Milton), listened to Beethoven records, studied acting at the Actors' lab in Hollywood, and took literature courses at UCLA downtown. 20th Century Fox gave her a contract but let it lapse a year later. In 1948, Columbia gave her a six-month contract, turned her over to coach Natasha Lytess and featured her in the B movie Ladies of the Chorus (1948) in which she sang three numbers: Every Baby Needs a Da Da Daddy, Anyone Can See I Love You, and The Ladies of the Chorus. this is Every Baby Needs a Da Da Daddy (again with the daddy...):

This is Anyone Can See I Love You:

Monroe appeared in six films that were released in 1950. She had bit parts in Love Happy, A Ticket to Tomahawk, Right Cross, and The Fireball, but also made minor appearances in two critically acclaimed films: John Huston's crime film The Asphalt Jungle and Joseph Mankiewicz's drama All About Eve. Here she is, singing Oh, What a Forward Young Man You Are, from A Ticket to Tomahawk:

We have already shown a scene from All About Eve - here is a scene from The Asphalt Jungle:

Following Monroe's success in these roles, Hyde, her agent and lover, negotiated a seven-year contract with 20th Century-Fox in December 1950. It was in 1953 that Niagara and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes launched her as a sex symbol superstar. This is Kiss Me from Niagara:

In Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, she sang perhaps her definitive song, Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend:

In the above scene, you can see Marilyn's influence to so many that came later - from Brigitte Bardot to Madonna.

From the same film, this is Two Little Girls from Little Rock:

... And this is Bye Bye Baby:

A year earlier, in 1952, Marilyn began a highly publicized romance with retired New York Yankee Joe DiMaggio, who was one of the most famous sports personalities of the era. The following month, a scandal broke when she revealed in an interview that during 1949 she had posed for nude pictures, which were featured in calendars. Fox had learned of the photographs some weeks earlier, and to contain the potentially disastrous effects on her career, the studio and Monroe had decided to talk about them openly while stressing that she had only posed for the photos while she was in a dire financial situation. The strategy succeeded in getting her public sympathy and increased interest in her films: the following month, she was featured on the cover of Life as "The Talk of Hollywood".

Monroe's position as a leading sex symbol was confirmed in December 1953, when Hugh Hefner featured her on the cover and as the centerfold in the first issue of Playboy. The cover image was a photograph taken of her at the Miss America Pageant parade in 1952, and the centerfold featured one of her 1949 nude photographs.

Monroe's next film was Otto Preminger's Western River of No Return, which featured Robert Mitchum as her co-star. She called it a "Z-grade cowboy movie in which the acting finished second to the scenery and the CinemaScope process", although it was popular with audiences. This is the title track:

... This is One Silver Dollar:

... And this is I'm Gonna File My Claim:

Her next film in 1954 was the musical There's No Business Like Show Business, which she strongly disliked but the studio required her to do. From this film, this is After You Get What You Want You Don't Want It:

... This is Lazy:

... And this is Heat Wave:

Back in January 1954 Monroe and DiMaggio got married. The union had been troubled from the start by his jealousy and controlling attitude; Spoto and Banner have also asserted that he was physically abusive.

Marilyn's next film, in 1955, was The Seven Year Itch by Billy Wilder. Although the film was shot in Hollywood, the studio decided to generate advance publicity by staging the filming of a scene on Lexington Avenue in New York. In the shoot, Monroe is standing on a subway grate with the air blowing up the skirt of her white dress, which became one of the most famous scenes of her career. The shoot lasted for several hours and attracted a crowd of nearly 2,000 spectators, including professional photographers. While this publicity stunt placed Monroe on international front pages, it also marked the end of her marriage to DiMaggio, who was furious about the stunt. After returning to Hollywood, Monroe hired famous attorney Jerry Giesler and announced in October 1954 that she was filing for divorce. The Seven Year Itch was released the following June, and grossed over $4.5 million at the box office, making it one of the biggest commercial successes that year. For her role, Marilyn was nominated for a BAFTA (the British Oscar), but not for its US counterpart). This is the famous subway grate scene:

... And this is the "Chopsticks" scene:

After the failure of their marriage, DiMaggio had undergone therapy, stopped drinking alcohol, and after a while reconnected with Marilyn. He also expanded his interests beyond baseball: he and Marilyn read poetry together in the years before her death. 

After Monroe died from a suspected overdose aged 35 on 5 August 1962, there were reports she had been planning to remarry Joe, that she had left him an unfinished letter expressing hopes of making him happy again.

At the Los Angeles funeral, DiMaggio was inconsolable, weeping uncontrollably, leaning over Monroe's casket, kissing her on the lips and whispering: "I love you, I love you." The grief-stricken baseball star made a repeat order for flowers to be sent to her grave: "Six fresh long-stemmed red roses, three times a week... forever."

Marilyn was relatively poorly paid. Jane Russell was paid around 10 times as much as Marilyn when they co-starred in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Her salary for her final unfinished film, Something's Got to Give, was $100,000. Compare that with Elizabeth Taylor, who was getting a million dollars for Cleopatra; or even Marilyn’s co-star in the film, Dean Martin, who was on $500,000. She was also tired of being typecast, and her attempts to appear in films other than comedies or musicals had been thwarted by Zanuck, who had a strong personal dislike of her and did not think she would earn the studio as much revenue in dramas.

Marilyn was often mistreated, or looked down upon, by movie people, especially producers and directors. She was cast in films that she didn't like and her acting decisions were not respected. Her reaction to the former was to be chronically late and often altogether absent from the shoots. Her reaction to the latter was to force the director to keep shooting a scene and - after numerous failed takes - the despairing director let her have her way.

There was also another, more orthodox way to react: After filming for The Seven Year Itch wrapped, Monroe began a new battle for control over her career and left Hollywood for the East Coast, where she and photographer Milton Greene founded their own production company, Marilyn Monroe Productions (MMP) - an action that has later been called "instrumental" in the collapse of the studio system. Marilyn was only the second woman to head her own production company (Mary Pickford was the first).

Announcing its foundation in a press conference in January 1955, Monroe stated that she was "tired of the same old sex roles. I want to do better things. People have scope, you know." She asserted that she was no longer under contract to Fox, as the studio had not fulfilled its duties, such as paying her the promised bonus for The Seven Year Itch. This began a year-long legal battle between her and the studio. The press largely ridiculed Monroe for her actions and she was parodied in The Seven Year Itch writer George Axelrod's Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1955), in which her lookalike Jayne Mansfield played a dumb actress who starts her own production company.

Monroe dedicated 1955 to studying her craft. She moved to New York and began taking acting classes with Constance Collier and attending workshops on method acting at the Actors Studio, run by Lee Strasberg. She grew close to Strasberg and his wife Paula, receiving private lessons at their home due to her shyness, and soon became like a family member. She dismissed her old drama coach, Natasha Lytess, and replaced her with Paula; the Strasbergs remained an important influence for the rest of her career. Monroe also started undergoing psychoanalysis at the recommendation of Strasberg, who believed that an actor must confront their emotional traumas and use them in their performances.

Natasha Lytess, had worked with her for six years and 22 films, clashing with directors, whose authority she challenged, and studio heads, who paid her bills. (Marilyn also paid her a wage.) Paula Strasberg, unlike Lytess, who tried to direct Marilyn’s every movement from behind the camera, was more discreetly consulted between takes.

In her private life, Monroe continued her relationship with DiMaggio despite the ongoing divorce proceedings; she also dated actor Marlon Brando and playwright Arthur Miller. She had first been introduced to Miller by Kazan in the early 1950s. The affair between Monroe and Miller became increasingly serious after October 1955, when her divorce from DiMaggio was finalized, and Miller separated from his wife. The FBI also opened a file on her. The studio feared that Monroe would be blacklisted and urged her to end the affair, as Miller was being investigated by the FBI for allegations of communism and had been subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Despite the risk to her career, Monroe refused to end the relationship, later calling the studio heads "born cowards".

By the end of the year, Monroe and Fox had come to an agreement about a new seven-year contract. It was clear that MMP would not be able to finance films alone, and Fox was eager to have Monroe working again. The contract required her to make four movies for Fox during the seven years. The studio would pay her $100,000 for each movie, and granted her the right to choose her own projects, directors, and cinematographers. She would also be free to make one film with MMP per each completed film for Fox.

Monroe began 1956 by announcing her win over 20th Century-Fox; the press, which had previously derided her, now wrote favorably about her decision to fight the studio. Time called her a "shrewd businesswoman" and Look predicted that the win would be "an example of the individual against the herd for years to come". In March, she officially changed her name to Marilyn Monroe.

Monroe and Miller were married in a civil ceremony in White Plains, New York, on June 29, and two days later had a Jewish ceremony at his agent's house at Waccabuc, New York. Monroe converted to Judaism with the marriage, which led Egypt to ban all of her films. The media saw the union as mismatched given her star image as a sex symbol and his position as an intellectual, as demonstrated by Variety's headline "Egghead Weds Hourglass".

The drama Bus Stop was the first film that Monroe chose to make under the new contract; the movie was released in August 1956. She played Chérie, a saloon singer whose dreams of stardom are complicated by a naïve cowboy who falls in love with her. For the role, she learned an Ozark accent, chose costumes and make-up that lacked the glamour of her earlier films, and provided deliberately mediocre singing and dancing. Broadway director Joshua Logan agreed to direct, despite initially doubting her acting abilities and knowing of her reputation for being difficult. The filming took place in Idaho and Arizona in early 1956, with Monroe "technically in charge" as the head of MMP, occasionally making decisions on cinematography and with Logan adapting to her chronic lateness and perfectionism.

The experience changed Logan's opinion of Monroe, and he later compared her to Charlie Chaplin in her ability to blend comedy and tragedy. Bus Stop became a box office success, grossing $4.25 million, and received mainly favorable reviews. The Saturday Review of Literature wrote that Monroe's performance "effectively dispels once and for all the notion that she is merely a glamor personality" and Crowther proclaimed: "Hold on to your chairs, everybody, and get set for a rattling surprise. Marilyn Monroe has finally proved herself an actress." She received a Golden Globe for Best Actress nomination for her performance. However, the Oscar nomination went to her co-star, Don Murray. In this film, she sings That Old Black Magic:

The Millers then went to England where she made The Prince and the Showgirl (1957) with Laurence Olivier, fighting with him and falling further prey to alcohol, barbiturates, and amphetamines. Two miscarriages and gynecological surgery followed. During that time, she dismissed Greene from MMP and bought his share of the company as they could not settle their disagreements and she had begun to suspect that he was embezzling money from the company.

Monroe returned to Hollywood in July 1958 to act opposite Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis in Billy Wilder's comedy on gender roles, Some Like It Hot. Although she considered the role of Sugar Kane another "dumb blonde", she accepted it due to Miller's encouragement and the offer of receiving ten percent of the film's profits in addition to her standard pay. The difficulties during the film's production have since become "legendary". Monroe would demand dozens of re-takes, and could not remember her lines or act as directed – Curtis famously stated that kissing her was "like kissing Hitler" due to the number of re-takes. Monroe herself privately likened the production to a sinking ship and commented on her co-stars and director saying "[but] why should I worry, I have no phallic symbol to lose." Many of the problems stemmed from a conflict between her and Wilder, who also had a reputation for being difficult, on how she should play the character. Monroe made Wilder angry by asking him to alter many of her scenes, which in turn made her stage fright worse, and it is suggested that she deliberately ruined several scenes to act them her way.

In the end, Wilder was happy with Monroe's performance, stating: "Anyone can remember lines, but it takes a real artist to come on the set and not know her lines and yet give the performance she did!" Despite the difficulties of its production, Some Like It Hot became a critical and commercial success when it was released in March 1959. Monroe's performance earned her a Golden Globe for Best Actress, and prompted Variety to call her "a comedienne with that combination of sex appeal and timing that just can't be beat". It has been voted one of the best films ever made in polls by the BBC, the American Film Institute, and Sight & Sound.

I Wanna Be Loved by You was included in the film:

... So was Running Wild:

... As well as I'm Thru with Love:

Some Like It Hot was recorded for the film, but wasn't used:

After Some Like It Hot, Monroe took another hiatus until late 1959, when she returned to Hollywood and starred in the musical comedy Let's Make Love, about an actress and a millionaire who fall in love when performing in a satirical play. She chose George Cukor to direct and Miller re-wrote portions of the script, which she considered weak; she accepted the part solely because she was behind on her contract with Fox, having only made one of four promised films. The film's production was delayed by her frequent absences from the set. She had an affair with Yves Montand, her co-star, which was widely reported by the press and used in the film's publicity campaign.

We've already played My Heart Belongs To Daddy from this movie, let's now listen to the title track:

This is Specialization. Former subjects of this blog are referenced in the song (Maria Callas, Elvis Presley):

This is Incurably Romantic (with Yves Montand):

Marilyn may have had a hard time with producers and directors, but writers loved her. Jean-Paul Sartre wanted her to play the role of a hysterical patient in the film Freud, for which he wrote the first draft of a screenplay; she was Truman Capote’s first choice for the part of Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. 

The last film that Monroe completed was John Huston's The Misfits, which Miller had written to provide her with a dramatic role. She played Roslyn, a recently divorced woman who becomes friends with three aging cowboys, played by Clark Gable, Eli Wallach, and Montgomery Clift. The filming in the Nevada desert between July and November 1960 was again difficult. The four-year marriage of Monroe and Miller was effectively over, and he began a new relationship with set photographer Inge Morath. Monroe disliked that he had based her role partly on her life, and thought it inferior to the male roles; she also struggled with Miller's habit of re-writing scenes the night before filming. Her health was also failing: she was in pain from gallstones, and her drug addiction was so severe that her make-up usually had to be applied while she was still asleep under the influence of barbiturates. In August, filming was halted for her to spend a week detoxing in a Los Angeles hospital. Despite her problems, Huston stated that when Monroe was playing Roslyn, she "was not pretending to an emotion. It was the real thing. She would go deep down within herself and find it and bring it up into consciousness."

The film - and Marilyn's performance - were critically acclaimed, but after her death. At the time, the reviews were mixed. The movie was also a commercial failure.

Monroe spent the first six months of 1961 preoccupied with health problems. She underwent surgery for her endometriosis, had a cholecystectomy, and spent four weeks in hospital care - including a brief stint in a mental ward – for depression. She was helped by her ex-husband Joe DiMaggio, with whom she now rekindled a friendship. In spring 1961, Monroe also moved back to California after six years on the East Coast. She dated Frank Sinatra for several months, and in early 1962 purchased a house in Brentwood, Los Angeles.

It is rumored that through Sinatra and his pal Peter Lawford Marilyn met the Kennedys and had affairs with both John as well as Robert. She did sing "Happy Birthday To You" on stage at President John F. Kennedy's birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden in New York. She drew attention with her costume: a beige, skintight dress covered in rhinestones, which made her appear nude. It is rumored that the final stitches on the dress were made while she was wearing it - and, because it was so tight, they had to unsew it off her body. This is Marilyn with what is perhaps the most famous rendition of "Happy Birthday" ever:

Monroe returned to the public eye in spring 1962: she received a "World Film Favorite" Golden Globe Award and began to shoot a new film for 20th Century Fox, Something's Got to Give, a remake of My Favorite Wife (1940). It was to be co-produced by MMP, directed by George Cukor and to co-star Dean Martin and Cyd Charisse. Days before filming began, Monroe caught sinusitis; despite medical advice to postpone the production, Fox began it as planned in late April. Monroe was too ill to work for the majority of the next six weeks, but despite confirmations by multiple doctors, the studio tried to put pressure on her by alleging publicly that she was faking it.

When she was again on sick leave for several days, Fox decided that it could not afford to have another film running behind schedule when it was already struggling to cover the rising costs of Cleopatra (1963). On June 7, Fox fired Monroe and sued her for $750,000 in damages. She was replaced by Lee Remick, but after Martin refused to make the film with anyone other than Monroe, Fox sued him as well and shut down the production. The studio blamed Monroe for the film's demise and began spreading negative publicity about her, even alleging that she was mentally disturbed.

On August 4, 1962, Marilyn Monroe's day began with unpleasant phone calls. Dr. Ralph Greenson, Marilyn's physician, came over the following day and quoted later in a document "felt it was possible that Marilyn Monroe had felt rejected by some of the people she had been close to". Apart from being upset that her publicist slept too long, she seemed fine. Pat Newcombe, who had stayed the previous night at Marilyn's house, left in the early evening as did Greenson who had a dinner date. Marilyn was upset he couldn't stay, and around 7:30pm she telephoned him while she was to tell him that her second husband's son had called him. Peter Lawford also called Marilyn, inviting her to dinner, but she declined. Lawford later said her speech was slurred. As the dark and depressing evening for Marilyn wore on there were other phone calls, including one from José Bolaños, who said he thought she sounded fine. According to the funeral directors, Marilyn died sometime between 9:30pm and 11:30pm. Her maid, unable to raise her but seeing a light under her locked door, called the police shortly after midnight. She also phoned Ralph Greenson who, on arrival, could not break down the bedroom door. He eventually broke in through French windows and found Marilyn dead in bed. The coroner stated she had died from acute barbiturate poisoning, and Marilyn's death was ruled a "probable suicide", but toxicology tests were only carried out on her liver. When the deputy coroner, Thomas Noguchi, tried to obtain her other organs for testing, he was told they'd been destroyed. 

Many of her friends believed she was murdered. Among the potential suspects: Robert Kennedy (with whom she had had an affair); John F Kennedy (ditto); mafioso Sam Giancana; the FBI; the CIA; her psychiatrist, Ralph Greenson. Veronica Hamel, an actress (Hill Street Blues), who bought Marilyn’s house in 1972, claimed that when she was renovating the house she discovered an extensive system of wire-taps. 

We have already described DiMaggio's reaction to her death. As for Arthur Miller; he didn't attend the funeral. In his handwritten essay, which Miller started on 8 August 1962, the day of the funeral, he appears to have explained: "Instead of jetting [from New York] to the funeral to get my picture taken I decided to stay home and let the public mourners finish the mockery. Not that everyone there will be false, but enough. Most of them there destroyed her, ladies and gentlemen."

"She was destroyed by many things and some of those things are you. And some of those things are destroying you. Destroying you now. Now as you stand there weeping and gawking, glad that it is not you going into the earth, glad that it is this lovely girl who you at last killed."

The books she was reading at the time of her death were Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and Captain Newman MD, a novel by Leo Rosten based on the life of Monroe’s psychiatrist, Ralph Greenson. Earlier, when she met Nikita Khrushchev, they discussed The Brothers Karamazov. She dreamed of playing the part of Grushenka in a film of the book. Even in the late 1940s, as I've already mentioned, when she was young and unknown, she owned 400 books (including Tolstoy, Whitman, Milton), listened to Beethoven records, studied acting at the Actors' lab in Hollywood, and took literature courses at UCLA downtown. So much for the "dumb blonde" myth...

Marilyn Monroe has always been a gay icon, but did you know that the screen siren loved the gays right back? The book called Marilyn Monroe: My Little Secret tells the story of Jane Lawrence - Marilyn's fan club president at Fox–as written by author Tony Jerris.

According to the book, when Jane was 14, she told Marilyn that she'd met someone special. Named Kimberly.

Marilyn didn't flinch in the least, but replied, "I like that name. Sounds very girly. She's lucky because you're the best, kiddo."

Marilyn added that she wanted to meet Kimberly, "to make sure she's good enough for my Janie."

"You think it's OK if I like another girl?" wondered Janie, filled with uncertainty. "Of course it's OK," assured Marilyn, taking her hand. "When two people love each other, who cares what color or flavor or religion they are? It's two human beings. It's beautiful. Love is beautiful. It's that simple."

Alas, Janie's fears that Joe DiMaggio may have overheard the whole conversation seemed to be confirmed when Janie left and heard the married couple engaging in a heated argument. Marilyn stood up for lesbian rights to Joltin' Joe!

Was Marilyn herself bisexual? The jury is still out. Boze Hadleigh, in his 2017 book Marilyn Forever, says:

"Lytess was a lesbian, or at least a bisexual, with whom Monroe may or may not have had a dalliance in the early 1950s. Then there are the stories of Joan Crawford offering the newcomer quality cast-offs if Monroe would only try them on in Joan's bedroom. And not to be overlooked is the close friendship that developed between veteran actress Barbara Stanwyck and her lovely young costar in Clash by Night (1952). Marilyn herself questioned her sexuality but her status as a heterosexual sex symbol made it impossible for her to reveal this side of herself to her public."

Then Hadleigh quotes various famous people, past and present:

"I discovered Dr. Anna Freud’s findings when she analyzed Marilyn during a week in London in 1956. According to Anna [daughter of Sigmund Freud], Marilyn was bisexual." - Dr. Lois Banner, Ph.D. and MM researcher and biographer

"Marilyn Monroe gave a quote that was shockingly honest for its time - and ours, or else it would be famous: 'A man who had kissed me once said it was very possible I was a lesbian because I apparently had no response to males - meaning him. I didn't contradict him because I didn't know what I was.' What a revealing and candid admission. Talk about courageous, even if she guessed her comment would scarcely be reproduced anywhere. Then or now. Check out the quote yourself. That woman is my hero!" - k.d. lang

"Oh, I loved Marilyn! What a delight she was. I realize she was being pitched to the gentlemen, but... ladies of a certain persuasion loved Marilyn - in both senses of the word." - Nancy Kulp (aka Jane Hathaway on The Beverly Hillbillies)

"When you think of Marilyn, or when I do, two words come to mind. Beautiful. Vulnerable." - Ellen DeGeneres

"Ladies are prettier than menfolk, and I always liked the prettiest. That was Marilyn Monroe. She was the top, like in the Cole Porter song. Marilyn was 'the impossible dream' that a lot of us sepia ladies liked to dream about. It didn't come better than that." - Nellie Lutcher, a singer who at age eleven was playing piano for Ma Rainey, 'Mother of the Blues'

"Being a teenage girl with a crush on Marilyn Monroe isn't a lesbian thing, it's understandable and sensible. How can anyone possibly criticize that?" - Megan Mulally (Will and Grace)

"Some fans get crushes on more threatening figures like Brando or [Brigitte] Bardot or Elvis. Some go for a non-threatening sex symbol… like Marilyn Monroe. I think with her it's more of a romantic crush." - Emma Thompson

"The thing with Marilyn is that a woman can find her attractive, even sexually attractive, and still regard her as an icon, a sister, a friend, as somebody they identify with even if their looks and life situation don't resemble Marilyn's at all." - Kathy Najimy (Sister Act)

"Marilyn Monroe is a rare example of a star who was ideally beautiful that a woman doesn't have to feel jealous of. Today's women can feel for her in a way that women of her own era did not. Women were more programmed to dislike each other. There was minimal solidarity then."- Elaine Stritch

"Marilyn's one of the few female stars you can vicariously turn on to without feeling guilty about it. Like, who doesn't think she's a turn-on?" - Lili Taylor

"All the girls knew who was for other women in La-La Land and which marriages were phony-matri-phony. ... The true frisson for a lezzie and for some straight guys was the inside scoop on Marilyn Monroe and that Russian [female] acting coach she lived with and brought onto the soundstages of all her movies." - Patsy Kelly, openly gay comic actress

"The directors who objected to the presence and the required approval of Natasha Lytess were probably jealous of her. Probably assumed she got to sleep with Marilyn. A man director wants total control of his cast, especially his leading lady. With no competition." - Arthur Laurents, gay playwright-screenwriter (Gypsy)

"One of the bigger Hollywood mysteries was why Marilyn and Natasha split up. Almost inseparable one day, then… phfft! It couldn't have been Fox [MM's studio], because they'd already tried breaking them up, and Marilyn had stood firm." - Charles Nelson Reilly, gay actor and acting coach

"Natasha was with Marilyn almost from her career's inception. Their relationship ran from 1948 to 1953, the year Marilyn's superstardom was confirmed at the box office. During those years Natasha helped Marilyn to gain confidence and gave her the tools to act. ... Obviously, when Marilyn broke through big-time in 1953, pressure was applied to drop Natasha for Marilyn's image and her long-term acceptance by Middle America." - Dr. Betty Berzon, lesbian psychologist and author

"It may well be that Marilyn Monroe wanted to avoid a Sapphic reputation that would harm her public image and limit her roles. The repertoire afforded her was already pretty limited." - Jackie Cooper, former child star

"Another of Marilyn Monroe's tragedies is that if she were bisexually inclined and in love with a woman, she'd have had at all costs to hide it. There was no 'lesbian chic' then [during the McCarthy witch-hunt era], just bigotry and reprisal. So instead of possibly being happy with a woman, she had to go through grief with a series of men - husbands and lovers - who done her wrong." - Amanda Donohoe, bisexual British actress (L.A. Law)

"When you're new or relatively new to the scene, you can get away with a certain amount of nonconformity. But superstardom means mass stardom, and you have to not only appeal to the masses but conform to their standards. So if Marilyn was, so to speak, flaunting her female acting advisor as a new star, once she became a superstar she'd have to dance to the majority tune." - Ira Levin, playwright-author (Rosemary’s Baby)

"Apparently Marilyn had a healthy sexual curiosity. She didn't see sex or the human body in terms of sin. Yet Hollywood, which exploits sex for profit, is an institution that backs the socioreligious norm." - Cynthia Nixon

"One can see in her performance and even the way she wore clothes that Marilyn enjoyed her body and enjoyed other people enjoying it. She was truly a sensuous woman." - bisexual British actress Judy Carne

"I think a big reason Marilyn is such an enduringly appealing, sexy icon is that she's one of few actresses who looks like she'd actually want and enjoy sex." - openly bisexual Drew Barrymore

I will leave you with Marilyn's screen test for her last, albeit incomplete movie, Something's Got To Give. She was barely 36...