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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Pat Kenny Show. With Timber Living Log Cabins. Saturday and Sunday from 10am on Newstalk.
Conversation that counts. She remains one of the most recognisable and fascinating figures of the 20th century. A Hollywood icon whose image has endured for generations, but whose real life was far more complex than the blonde bombshell persona the world came to know.
As the world marks what would have been Marilyn Monroe's 100th birthday, my next guest has spent years exploring the woman behind the myth. Best-selling author and biographer Michelle Morgan joins us now to talk about Marilyn's life and her legacy and why the world remains so fascinated by her a century after her birth. Michelle, good morning and welcome.
Good morning. Thank you for having me.
Chapter 2: What makes Marilyn Monroe a fascinating figure even today?
Tell me, when did your fascination with Marilyn begin?
It was 1985 and I was 15 years old and she'd sort of been on my radar, of course, because, you know, she was Marilyn and she was everywhere. But I was on holiday with my family and I saw a picture of her and I just couldn't get it out of my mind. And then that evening I said, I think I'm going to buy a book about her just so I can read it on the beach. And I did. And I did read it on the beach.
And then the rest is history. I was completely hooked from the moment I started to learn about her life.
Why do you think we remain so fascinated by her?
You know, I really don't know. This is the number one question that I get asked and every single time I answer it. I say something different and I think that there lies the clue that I have no idea why everyone is so fascinated by her other than it's very different for every single person.
Some people just love the way she looked on camera, other people love the way that she was so strong and she tried to do her best and she tried to learn and she never stopped learning and going after her dreams and things like that. It's quite a mystery as to why her memory is still so alive in everybody's minds, except that she's something different for everybody.
Now, the kind of roles she played, actually, we'll give our listeners a sample of Marilyn singing Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend. A kiss on the hand may be quite continental, but diamonds are a girl's best friend. A kiss may be grand, but it won't pay the rental on your humble flat or help.
So that was Marilyn, and that's how people remember her, that kind of high singing voice and, you know, whimsical, but not very deep as a personality. You would say that is not the real Marilyn.
Yeah, I mean, that was a character that she was playing. You know, Lorelei Lee, who she played in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, is a character. And this has always been quite a mystery to me as to why people think that Marilyn was the people she played. You know, nobody thinks that Arnie is really the Terminator. Nobody thinks that Johnny Depp is really a pirate.
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Chapter 3: How did Michelle Morgan's fascination with Marilyn Monroe begin?
Yeah, I mean, you know, it was just a performance. It was something that she was putting on. The same as any other singer who goes on stage. You know, Robbie Williams puts on a performance when he's on stage. That's a completely different person on stage to who he is in real life. You know, she was an actress, she was a singer, she was a performer and an entertainer.
And in real life, she was very different.
Now, talk to me about the real life, because her childhood was troubled. There's no question about that. And it kind of, you know, the expression, the child is father to the man. Well, in this case, the child is mother to the Marilyn to come.
Mm hmm. Yeah, I mean, she wasn't an orphan, but she was raised that way. She had a mother who had problems, emotional, mental problems, and she had an absent father. So she was raised in foster homes and an orphanage. She was also sort of part of an arranged marriage when she was 16 because she didn't want to go back into the orphanage again.
So, yeah, all of those things stayed with her during her life. You know, there was a lot of trauma in her childhood and it wasn't very secure and at times it wasn't very safe. So all of those things played a part in who she became, just as, you know, with everybody else. Everyone has trauma in their lives that has molded them in some way.
Now, she became fairly successful fairly quickly and then, of course, became massive. To what extent did she have control over the roles she played in the films she starred in?
at first she didn't have any control at all um you know they she was a contract player they would put her in all sorts of different movies that she sometimes she hadn't even seen the script for before she arrived on set for the first day and then it came to sort of 1953 and she was starting to question things and they they wanted to put her into
um a film that she didn't appreciate she'd heard about it but she didn't like the idea of the character they wouldn't show her the script and she just thought you know what i i think i'm going to take this a bit more seriously and i'm going to say no and the studio hated that and they suspended her and everything else but she really stuck to her guns and said no i i want a part to play that i actually want to play
um such as the girl in in um the seven year rich or sheree in bus stop she wanted to play those roles and she fought for those roles whereas before in the very very beginning she was just put into anything that they wanted her to play in she had the reputation which has come down the years whether it was really true or not of being difficult on set was she
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Chapter 4: Why is Marilyn Monroe still a subject of fascination after 100 years?
Yeah, I think that, you know, it's run and run, and Or if you look on YouTube, you know, there'll always be somebody uploading that song together with some Marilyn videos and, you know, pictures and things like that. So, yeah, it has really helped. And it's a beautiful song.
Talk to me about her choice of men because she was associated with rather famous and celebrated men in different genres. I mean, the baseball, literature, politics.
Mm-hmm.
yeah i mean she you know yes she went out with joe dimaggio and married joe dimaggio she went out with him for a couple of years and then they their marriage um sadly wasn't what she expected it to be but they remained friends for for the rest of her life um and then she married arthur miller in 1956 who of course was a very famous playwright and i think
I mean, there's a big discussion always with fans, you know, who is the best husband. But I think that while Arthur Miller did have his problems, I think that he was very well suited to her. He, you know, he really sort of shone the torch for her career. He believed in her as a serious actress and he shared, you know, work with her. He obviously wrote The Misfits for her, things like that.
But sadly, the marriage failed.
broke down in the end but i do think that in the beginning at least they were very well suited to each other because it's always portrayed as kind of this geeky writer and this very glamorous blonde and how ill-suited they were but you can think of people like sophia lorraine who married carlo ponti the producer and they did not seem to sit well together as a couple but obviously they were mad about each other that marriage lasted a long long time
I have a clip I want to play for you of Marilyn in an interview reflecting on the limited view that people have of her and the perception, as we've been talking about, that she was merely a dumb blonde.
You know, it's interesting that people associate, if you happen to have blonde hair, you know, naturally or not naturally, however, or if you're not out of shape in some way, you're absolutely dumb. I mean, you're considered dumb. I don't know why that is. I think it's a very limited view.
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Chapter 5: What roles did Marilyn Monroe play that shaped her public persona?
Yes, it's very tragic and I'm 56 now, so I'm 20 years older than she was when she died. And I honestly think that my life didn't start until that kind of an age. And in many ways, it still feels as though I'm just at the beginning of my career and my life and everything. So to pass away at the age of 36 is an absolute tragedy. It's the same with Princess Diana, exactly the same age.
But, you know, we just have to look at the positives, look what she left behind and how wonderful it was and everything else. And it's very, very sad. But, you know, let's celebrate her and celebrate everything that she achieved in the 36 years she had.
She would have been 100 tomorrow. Michelle Morgan, bestselling historical novelist and Marilyn Monroe biographer. Thank you very much for joining us on the programme.
The Pat Kenny Show on Newstalk with Timber Living Log Cabins.