February 21: Revue (Germany) puts John Florea’s photograph on its cover, showing a deeply tanned Marilyn wearing jeweled earrings and a bracelet, a jewel on the waistband of her elegantly-patterned li...
February 20: Marilyn is crowned California Artichoke Queen in Salinas, California. Holiday features Marilyn poolside in swimsuits.
February 18: Marilyn takes Isidore Miller to dinner at the Club Gigi in the Fontainebleau Hotel. They also see a cabaret show at the Minaret.
February 18: Marilyn draws up her first will. She bequeaths $100,000 to Arthur Miller, $25,000 to Lee and Paula Strasberg, $20,000 to Dr. Margaret Hohenberg, $10,000 to Xenia Chekhov (Michael Chekhov’...
February 18: A federal grand jury indicts Arthur Miller on two counts of contempt of Congress. Each count could mean up to one year in prison and a $1,000 fine. At Doctor’s Hospital, Marilyn begins tr...
February 17: Simone Signoret spends the night telling Marilyn about film work in France, and Marilyn behaves like a kid who’s delaying the moment for lights out, Signoret recalls in a memoir.
February 17: Hanson Baldwin of the New York Times reports: On two occasions troops rioted wildly and behaved like bobby-soxers in Times Square, not like soldiers proud of their uniform.
February 16: The Asphalt Jungle is previewed at the Picwood Theatre in West Los Angeles. Audience appraisal cards refer to the hot blonde and request, Let’s see more of the blonde.
February 16: Gladys confirms to Norma Jeane that Stanley Gifford is her father. Norma Jeane writes to Grace that she plans to visit Gifford, who she assumes will be pleased to see her. It’s something...
February 15: Inez Melson, Marilyn’s business manager, writes a memo about her conversation with Jo Brooks regarding Marilyn’s offer to host a party for Ella Fitzgerald, but Fitzgerald’s opening occurs...
February 15: De Post (Belgium) puts a very business-like Marilyn, dressed in a black suit, on its cover.
February 14: Marilyn is photographed with Sidney Skolsky attending the wedding of gossip columnist Sheilah Graham, who appears in several two-shots with Marilyn.
February 14: Chuck Moran sends Norma Jeane a Valentine’s Day card.
Embarking on each new biography is like beginning the world anew, establishing—once again—a network of contacts and conspirators, and inciting the enmity of countless cronies and court whores who do t...
Character actor Ernest Borgnine told a story about Walter Brennan that is typical of the man and his professionalism. Relatively new to motion pictures, but with a burgeoning reputation as an actor, B...
By way of preparing me for a visit to Paul Foot, Michael told me a story about the time Paul, then 14 and a public school boy, visited Jill and Michael at the Abbey Road home. He was shocked that Jill...
Brennan was as wily as many of the characters he played, which meant he finessed the constraints of the studio system, mocked studio bosses—even playing tricks on them—and took possession of his roles...
Brennan was also impressed with Lee Marvin during a scene in which Doc Velle offers his hearse to Macreedy as a getaway vehicle. Suddenly, Marvin appears and then nonchalantly walks over to the vehicl...
BY 1928, WALTER BRENNAN HAD APPEARED IN DOZENS OF UNCREDited roles as a customer in a store, a lunch counterman, a lumberjack, a yacht crewman, a cashier, a gangster, a pool hall shark, a ranch forema...
April 26: Marilyn attends the Newspaper Public Convention luncheon at the Waldorf Astoria. She is photographed with Hedda Hopper and J. Edgar Hoover.