Marilyn: The Untold Story | |
---|---|
Genre | Biography Drama |
Based on | Marilyn: A Biography by Norman Mailer |
Screenplay by | Dalene Young |
Directed by | Jack Arnold John Flynn Lawrence Schiller |
Starring | Catherine Hicks Richard Basehart Frank Converse Jason Miller |
Music by | William Goldstein |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Producer | Lawrence Schiller |
Cinematography | Terry K. Meade |
Editors | Jack Gleason Patrick Roark |
Running time | 156 minutes |
Production company | Schiller Productions Inc. |
Original release | |
Network | ABC |
Release | September 28, 1980 |
Marilyn: The Untold Story is a 1980 television film, about the life of the 1950s sex symbol-movie star, Marilyn Monroe. The feature stars Catherine Hicks as Monroe; Richard Basehart as her early-career agent Johnny Hyde; Frank Converse as her second husband Joe DiMaggio; Jason Miller as her third husband Arthur Miller; Kevin Geer as her first husband James Dougherty; Viveca Lindfors as her acting coach Natasha Lytess; and Sheree North as her mother Gladys Pearl Baker.
The film premiered on September 28, 1980, and was greeted with positive reviews. [1] It was the second-highest-rated prime time program in the United States for the week. [2] Catherine Hicks was praised by the critics for her portrayal of Monroe, as were others including Richard Basehart, Frank Converse, Sheree North, and Jason Miller, playing fellow playwright Arthur Miller.
Norma Jeane is an orphan in California. She is seen growing up and having superstar dreams fill her head. She eventually marries, starts modelling, divorces, signs a contract with 20th Century Fox, and changes her moniker to Marilyn Monroe. Her personal life with her husbands, baseball-star Joe DiMaggio and playwright Arthur Miller are detailed along with her rise to stardom, her career peak, and her tragic final years ending with her death.
John Flynn later recalled:
I quit about two-thirds of the way through, because [producer] Schiller kept interfering with the production, changing my camera set-ups, changing the wardrobe. Schiller is a very bright guy, but he drove me up the wall with his constant meddling, to the point where I literally had my hands around his neck one day. So I left and Schiller brought in Jack Arnold to finish the picture. I shot all the footage with Richard Basehart, Catherine Hicks and John Ireland, who was terrific as director John Huston. I cast this picture very carefully. Sheree North was outstanding as Marilyn’s crazy mother. Jocelyn Brando (Marlon’s sister) had a small part as Marilyn’s grandmother, and she made the most of it. Catherine Hicks was good, but she was kind of an imitation of Marilyn Monroe. I begged Bonnie Bedelia to take the part of Marilyn, but she turned it down. She was a great actress and an absolute knockout back then. I thought Bonnie would have been brilliant as Marilyn. Even Schiller agreed to cast her, but Bonnie wouldn’t do it. [3]
Hicks auditioned three times for the role of Marilyn before given the role. [4] In an April 2015 radio interview, she said ABC wanted Ann Jillian for the part, but Larry Schiller fought for her.[ citation needed ]
Sheree North, who portrayed Marilyn's mother Gladys in the movie, was under contract to 20th Century Fox at the same time as Marilyn Monroe, and said she coached Catherine Hicks on playing Marilyn. [5]
Year | Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | Ref. |
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1981 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or a Special | Catherine Hicks | Nominated | [6] |
Outstanding Cinematography for a Limited Series or a Special | Terry K. Meade | Nominated | |||
Outstanding Art Direction for a Limited Series or a Special | Jan Scott, Sydney Z. Litwack, and Bill Harp | Nominated | |||
Outstanding Achievement in Makeup | Allan Snyder | Nominated |
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress and model. Known for playing comic "blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as well as an emblem of the era's sexual revolution. She was a top-billed actress for a decade, and her films grossed $200 million by the time of her death in 1962.
Joseph Paul DiMaggio, nicknamed "Joltin' Joe", "the Yankee Clipper" and "Joe D.", was an American baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees. Born to Italian immigrants in California, he is widely considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time and set the record for the longest hitting streak in major league baseball.
Paula Strasberg was an American stage actress. She became actor and teacher Lee Strasberg's second wife and mother of actors John and Susan Strasberg, as well as Marilyn Monroe's acting coach and confidante.
Norma Jean & Marilyn is a 1996 American biographical drama television film directed by Tim Fywell, based on the 1985 book Goddess, the Secret Lives of Marilyn Monroe by Anthony Summers. The film stars Ashley Judd as Norma Jean Dougherty and Mira Sorvino as Marilyn Monroe. It premiered on HBO on May 18, 1996.
Sheree North was an American actress, dancer, and singer, known for being one of 20th Century-Fox's intended successors to Marilyn Monroe.
On the evening of August 4, 1962, American actress Marilyn Monroe died at age 36 of a barbiturate overdose inside her home at 12305 Fifth Helena Drive in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California. Her body was discovered before dawn the following morning, on August 5. Monroe had been one of the most popular Hollywood stars during the 1950s and early 1960s, and was a top-billed actress for the preceding decade. Her films had grossed $200 million by the time of her death.
Lawrence Julian Schiller is an American photojournalist, film producer, director and screenwriter.
American actress Marilyn Monroe's life and persona have been depicted in film, television, music, the arts, and by other celebrities.
Johnny Hyde was an American talent agent who developed the career of Marilyn Monroe.
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This Year's Blonde is a 1980 American television film directed by John Erman and starring Constance Forslund as Marilyn Monroe, Lloyd Bridges as Johnny Hyde, and Norman Fell. Based on the Garson Kanin novel Moviola about Monroe, the film was presented as part of a three-night TV special event on NBC titled Moviola: A Hollywood Saga.
Norman Mailer's 1973 biography of Marilyn Monroe was a large-format book of glamor photographs of Monroe for which Mailer supplied the text. Originally hired to write an introduction by Lawrence Schiller, who put the book package together, Mailer expanded the introduction into a long essay.
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The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe is a 2015 American biographical drama television miniseries on Marilyn Monroe. It stars Kelli Garner, Susan Sarandon, Emily Watson, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Eva Amurri Martino and was first aired on Lifetime on May 30 and 31, 2015. The miniseries is based on The New York Times bestseller of the same name by J. Randy Taraborrelli. It was nominated for three Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
Natasha Lytess was an actress, writer and drama coach.
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Blonde is a 2022 American biographical psychological drama film written and directed by Andrew Dominik, based on the 2000 novel of the same name by Joyce Carol Oates. The film is a fictionalized take on the life and career of American actress Marilyn Monroe, played by Ana de Armas. The cast also includes Adrien Brody, Bobby Cannavale, Xavier Samuel, and Julianne Nicholson.
Berniece Inez Gladys Miracle was an American writer, known for her memoir My Sister Marilyn (1994) about her half-sister, actress Marilyn Monroe.
James Edward Dougherty was an American police officer, the first trainer of Special Weapons and Tactics. He is best known as the first husband of actress Marilyn Monroe.
Gladys Pearl Monroe, also known as Gladys Pearl Monroe Baker Mortensen Eley, was the mother of American actress Marilyn Monroe. Born in Mexico, Baker grew up in the Los Angeles metro area. Her father died in 1909 after suffering from mental illness and alcoholism.