Los Angeles Times

    Marilyn Monroe-Leonard Maltin

    The icon we cherish under the name Marilyn Monroe was in truth the inspired creation of a smart, voluptuous, star struck and self-motivated fantasist named Norma Jean Mortenson. A pure product of Hollywood, she abides across time as brightly as two other self-inventors, Charlie Chaplin and Cary Grant. Few things make an afterlife blaze more mythically than a sexual reputation—ask Cleopatra. Norma Jean paid a huge price to become Marilyn, yet here she is—still setting the bar high for all other would-be goddesses.Movie Icons is a series of photo books that feature the most famous personalities in the history of cinema. These 192-page books are visual biographies of the stars. For each title, series editor Paul Duncan has painstakingly selected approximately 150 high quality enigmatic and sumptuous portraits, colorful posters and lobby cards, rare film stills, and previously unpublished candid photos showing the stars as they really are. These images are accompanied by concise introductory essays by leading film writers; each book also includes a chronology, a filmography, and a bibliography, and is peppered with apposite quotes from the movies and from life.

    From the pink satin "Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” gown, to the pleated white dress from The Seven Year Itch to the revealing nude sheath worn to sing "Happy Birthday” to JFK, Marilyn created endless unforgettable looks. Before they were household names, she wore Ferragamo pumps, carried Gucci bags and wore the designs of Oleg Cassini, Norman Norell, Emilio Pucci, and Jean Louis. In an era of Peter Pan collars, poodle skirts, and repressed sexuality, Marilyn’s sexy style and ability to spot up-and-coming designers made her a fashion visionary. Marilyn in Fashion traces the evolution of her style, from wholesome sweetness early in her career, to sex kitten looks in the 1950s, to elegant sophistication in the last years of her life. The text details the designers of her ensembles, where she wore them, and their influence on fashion. Behind-the-scenes stories reveal how the star often worked closely with designers to create looks befitting the Marilyn Monroe image. Illustrated with hundreds of rare and never-before-published photos, Marilyn in Fashion fabulously traces the style evolution of the ultimate Hollywood icon.

    This riveting, headline-making, myth-shattering book, based on thousands of newly discovered documents, hours of newly available footage from her final film, and over 300 revealing new interviews, is a detailed and astonishing account of what really happened during the last fourteen weeks in the life of Hollywood's legendary sex goddess. Recreating the drama of a bygone era of glamour and intrigue, it presents compelling evidence that Marilyn Monroe was the victim of two conspiracies that, together, brought about her professional and personal downfall: an elaborate scheme on the part of a once-mighty film studio teetering on the brink of bankruptcy; and an even more sinister plot masterminded by America's First Family. Among the shattering, totally authenticated revelations: the searing details of Marilyn's affairs with John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, including her famous birthday song to JFK and her final series of rendezvous with RFK; how Marilyn was sabotaged by executives of 20th Century-Fox and psychologically shredded on the set by a predatory pack led by vengeful director George Cukor; how the cruel competition between Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor sealed Marilyn's fate with the studio bosses; the role the FBI, CIA, and Secret Service played in blanketing the scene of her death and in the disposal of her private papers and personal effects; and why the accidental overdose theory cannot stand. Just as affecting as these and other eyeopening new facts is the way that Marilyn herself comes to life again. Marilyn, confidently in love, not hesitating to phone her powerful lover when he was with his wife. Marilyn, the ultimate professional, an actress at the peak of her talent and beauty. Marilyn without makeup, fresh and funny and unspoiled. Marilyn, tormented by her past and her private demons, seeking escape in alcohol and pills, and release in her art. Complete with 16

    The film united Britain's leading actor, Laurence Olivier, with Hollywood's most glamorous sex symbol, Marilyn Monroe - and clashes between them entered film legend.For one glorious week, the world's biggest star sought comfort in the arms of the set's most junior employee. This is the frank, fresh and comic story of how Clark came to share Monroe's confidences - and her bed!This edition combines Colin Clark’s acclaimed 'The Prince, the Showgirl and Me' (191995) and his 'My Week with Marilyn' (2005).'More illuminating than the millions of words and pictures pumped out to expose or dish the dirt on the Monroe legend.' - Sunday TelegraphClark’s extraordinary experiences on and off set have now been turned into a major film starring Michelle Williams, Eddie Redmayne, Judi Dench, Emma Watson, Kenneth Branagh and Dominic Cooper.

    Randy Taraborrelli comes the definitive biography of the most enduring icon in popular American culture. When Marilyn Monroe became famous in the 1950s, the world was told that her mother was either dead or simply not a part of her life. However, that was not true. In fact, her mentally ill mother was very much present in Marilyn's world and the complex family dynamic that unfolded behind the scenes is a story that has never before been told...until now. In this groundbreaking book, Taraborrelli draws complex and sympathetic portraits of the women so influential in the actress' life, including her mother, her foster mother, and her legal guardian. He also reveals, for the first time, the shocking scope of Marilyn's own mental illness, the identity of Marilyn's father and the half-brother she never knew, and new information about her relationship with the Kennedy's-Bobby, Jack, and Pat Kennedy Lawford. Explosive, revelatory, and surprisingly moving, this is the final word on the life of one of the most fascinating and elusive icons of the 20th Century.

    No one walked like her. No one talked like her. Sexy yet vulnerable, and unexpectedly talented, she was no ordinary screen goddess. Few really knew her. What others wrote, she called "Lies! Lies! Lies!"Here, at last, is Marilyn Monroe's account, in her own singular voice. It was June 1, 1962, her thirty-sixth birthday. Famed photographer and reporter George Barris had come to see Marilyn on the set of what would be her final, unfinished, film. They had met eight years earlier, became friends, and planned to do a picture book and autobiography. Now the time was right. For the next six weeks Barris photographed and interviewed the actress. "Don't believe anything you read about me except this..." she told Barris. And so she began to confide the truth about herself.Barris last talked to Marilyn on August 3, less than twenty-four hours before she was found dead in her apartment. At their last meeting, she was effervescent and eager to embrace life. "I feel I’m just getting started", she said. Barris firmly believes that murder, not suicide, caused Marilyn's untimely end and he could not bring himself to publish her thoughts or the haunting photos of that summer - until now."Marilyn: Her Life In Her Own Words" is a candid memoir enhanced by 150 black-and-white and color photos, many never before published. A highlight is "The Last Photo Shoot": where Marilyn appears luminous without makeup on the beach at Santa Monica and in a North Hollywood house. This moving book brings Marilyn Monroe back - beautiful, flirtatious, and sweet as a first kiss - for one rare and radiant farewell.

    Typecast as the original dumb blonde, she gained fame in classic movies like Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The Seven Year Itch, and How to Marry a Millionaire. She married America’s greatest sporting hero and then one of America’s most renowned intellectuals before wowing critics with her performance in Bus Stop. She won a Golden Globe Award for her role in Some Like it Hot and seemingly privately serenaded the President of the United States in front of tens of thousands at Madison Square Garden. This is the unseen and the beloved Marilyn—from her unhappy childhood to her tragic death—who is still touching the hearts of millions.

    To those who think they have heard all there is to hear about Marilyn Monroe, think again. Leaming's book tells a brand-new tale of sexual, psychological, and political intrigue of the highest order. Told for the first time in all its complexity, this is a compelling portrait of a woman at the center of a drama with immensely high stakes, a drama in which the other players are some of the most fascinating characters from the worlds of movies, theater, and politics. It is a book that shines a bright light on one of the most tumultuous, frightening, and exciting periods in American culture.Basing her research on new interviews and on thousands of primary documents--including revealing letters by Arthur Miller, Elia Kazan, John Huston, Laurence Olivier, Tennessee Williams, Darryl Zanuck, Marilyn's psychiatrist Dr. Ralph Greenson, and many others--Leaming has reconstructed the tangle of betrayal in Marilyn's life. For the first time, a master storyteller has put together all of the pieces and told Marilyn's story with the intensity and drama it so richly deserves.At the heart of this book is a sexual triangle and a riveting story that has never been told before. You will come away filled with new respect for Marilyn's incredible courage, dignity, and loyalty, and an overwhelming sense of tragedy after witnessing Marilyn, powerless to overcome her demons, move inexorably to her own final, terrible betrayal of herself.Marilyn Monroe is a book that will make you think--and will break your heart.

    The coroner's report stated that her death was due to a massive overdose of Nembutal capsules. But what about the discrepancies between the official report and the eyewitness accounts and memories of the people who were there at the scene of her death—friends, her housekeeping staff, police officers, and doctors? And what about the forensic evidence that disappeared between the time of her death and the coroner's report being issued? Looking back at thousands of documents, many never before published, and interviewing dozens of sources, Matthew Smith argues strongly for a startling new version of events, as he paints a portrait of Monroe's day-to-day world toward the end of her life. The case he makes is based not only on the documents and on complete forensic evidence, but also on the secret, confidential tapes Monroe made for her psychiatrist in the days leading up to her death—tapes that reveal a woman in charge of her life and her fate, a woman looking forward to a busy, bright future. Here, in her own words from the transcripts of the tapes, are the most private, secret thoughts of Marilyn Monroe.

    

    *Includes some of Martin's most colorful quotes. *Includes a Bibliography for further reading. "If people want to think I get drunk and stay out all night, let 'em. That's how I got here, you know." - Dean Martin A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history's most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors' American Legends series, readers can get caught up to speed on the lives of America's most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known. Like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin is an American legend for his longevity and success across a garden variety of different platforms. Martin began as a nightclub singer, performed in a comedy act, starred in films, recorded hit albums, and capped his career by serving as a television host. In fact, there may be no star who was better able to transcend the different avenues of entertainment. Martin's success was made all the more amazing by the fact that he never had to change his personality or persona to find success in his different endeavors. From the beginning, Martin's public persona remained largely unchanged. He grew more famous and wealthy, but he always remained the smooth-talking Italian with the easy charm and the cool veneer. As Jerry Lewis noted in his memoirs about Martin, "Dean had this uncanny way of making everything bad look like it wasn't all that bad." If anything, Martin suggested that no matter the circumstances, people can always face their situation with leisurely charm. Martin's versatility is unprecedented even today, an era in which stars routinely alternate between film and musical careers. Martin was able to simultaneously work across different media at the same time; even after rising to fame as a singer, he continued to perform with Jerry Lewis and star in films. But after his film career took off, he continued to perform the crooning style of music that had made him famous and had long since been outdated. While other actors were forced to drastically alter their persona to keep up with the times, Martin's ability to fuse suave glamour with an everyday ordinariness ensured he didn't need to transform anything. Martin's life and career are often compared to his close friend and contemporary Frank Sinatra, and for good reason. Both came from proud Italian families, both were cohorts in the famed Rat Pack in the 1960s, and they each maintained success even late in their careers. However, Sinatra's career was filled with far more ups and downs than Martin, and his public image experienced highs and lows along with it. It's also somewhat ironic that it was Martin who Anglicized his name but remained a bigger Italian icon than Sinatra. They each began their careers as Italian crooners, but Martin maintained his style while Sinatra adopted a brasher, more "All-American" singing method. Martin never strayed far from his humble background, even as he became one of America's biggest stars. American Legends: The Life of Dean Martin profiles the life and career of one of America's most famous performers. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Dean Martin like you never have before, in no time at all.

    But the assignment and the girl were anything but ordinary. Schiller was a photographer for Look magazine and his subject was Marilyn Monroe, America's sweetheart and sex symbol. In this intimate memoir, Schiller recalls the friendship that developed between him and Monroe while he photographed her in Hollywood in 1960 and 1962 on the sets of Let's Make Love and the unfinished feature Something's Got to Give, the last film she worked on. Schiller recalls Marilyn as tough and determined, enormously insecure as an actress but totally self-assured as a photographer’s model. Monroe knew how to use her looks and sexuality to generate publicity, and in 1962 she allowed Schiller to publish the first nude photographs of her in over ten years, which she then used as a weapon against a studio that wanted to have her fired—and ultimately succeeded. The Marilyn Schiller knew and writes about was adept at hiding deep psychological scars, but she was also warm and open, candid and disarming, a movie star who wished to be taken more seriously than she was. Accompanying the text are eighteen of the author’s own photographs, some never previously published. Many writers have tried to capture her essence on the page, but as someone who was in the room, a young man Marilyn could connect with and trust, Schiller gives us a unique look at the real woman offscreen."In this short, splendid memoir, Lawrence Schiller offers us another cut on the scintillating diamond that is Marilyn Monroe. In clear honest straightforward prose, Schiller allows us to dwell in the heart of another time. He captures Marilyn, both in photographs and words, and in so doing he gives us intimate access into one of the great stories of the 20th century: the complicated cocktail of joy and sadness that goes along with both beauty and fame." —Colum McCann

    The real life and faith journey of Loretta Young -- her strong devotion to her Catholic faith and her passion for helping others in need.