I was beginning to feel uneasy about falling into the authorised biographer’s trap of becoming privy to secrets that could not be divulged. I could see that I was heading toward some kind of confronta...
I slept on a sofa bed in Michael’s library. Each night before retiring, I would go through a shelf or pile of books (his only filing system) filled with letters and reviews and notes. Every night brou...
I followed Michael upstairs to the living room, where Emma had prepared drinks. I know we have some other matters [Michael’s lovers] to talk to you about at some stage, he said, almost chuckling.
I am of the Samuel Johnson school of biography that adheres first to the truth as the biographer sees it, and not first to the feelings of others. What
Here is Johnson’s comment on writers’ lives in his exculpatory biography of his friend, the rogue poet Richard Savage: The heroes of literary as well as civil history have been very often no less rema...
For me, the most important thing is the overwhelming desire to write about a particular figure. That usually means I already have—even if I can’t articulate it yet—a vision of my subject. I have alrea...
For all Cooper’s fame and success, he was as insecure as anyone in Hollywood, where you were judged not by your body of work but by what you had done lately. He was a contract player, part of a studio...
February 9: In the company of Laurence Olivier, Marilyn calls a press conference in the Terrace Room of the Plaza Hotel to announce their joint project, The Sleeping Prince (later titled The Prince an...
February 5: The Los Angeles Herald and Express publishes Studios Push Beauties in Glamor Derby, subtitled All Want Queen Marilyn’s Crown. Marilyn is called Fox’s M-bomb.
February 29: Marilyn’s management contract with John Carroll and Lucille Ryman expires.
February 26: Grace signs documents to prepare for Norma Jeane’s release from the orphanage.
February 23: Marilyn and Joe fly to Hawaii on the first leg of their trip home to Hollywood.
February 23: Isidore Miller writes to Marilyn, I can’t tell you how much your trip to Florida meant to me. I don’t ever remember having such a good time! The guests of the Sea Isle Hotel can’t get ove...
February 22: Marilyn is photographed giving an interview to Elsa Maxwell, gossip columnist and professional hostess, at the Ambassador Hotel. Cecil Beaton photographs Marilyn in front of a Japanese wa...
February 21: Cinemonde (France) shows a heavier Marilyn (during the Some Like It Hot period) wearing a strapless back dress, with a v-shaped front that shows off her cleavage and long white gloves.
February 20: Time publishes Co-Stars, about the Monroe-Olivier matchup.
February 20: Orphanage report on Norma Jeane: Sometimes she seems anxious and then she begins to stutter. Norma Jean [sic] is also prone to coughing fits and frequent colds . . . if she’s not treated...
February 19: Fox approaches Elia Kazan about doing a film with Marilyn.
February 13: On its cover Se Og Hor (Denmark) features a shot of Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen) and Marilyn (dressed in a fur stole and low-cut dress) smiling over a large manuscript.
February 13: Marilyn and Yves Montand appear on the cover of Paris Match