In her very last interview, (10 years after making "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,") Marilyn Monroe recalls the lack of respect studio execs had for her, but makes a point of mentioning co-star, Jane Russell: "I remember when I got the part in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Jane Russell, she was the brunette in it and I was the blond. She got $200,000 for it, and I got my $500 a week, but that to me was, you know, considerable. She by the way, was quite wonderful to me."
They got along well. Russell called Monroe "Blondie" and was often the only person on the set who could coax Monroe out of her trailer to begin the day's filming. "When we made Gentlemen Prefer Blondes together and I discovered that she was nervous about going on set, I finally went to her dressing room and said: 'All right, baby, come on set with me now, we've only got a few minutes.' And she said: 'Ooh'."
Jane Russell had gone to school with Marilyn's first husband, Jim Dougherty. She recalled when he came up to her one day and said, "I'd like you to meet my wife, Norma Jeane". Jane says, "It was Marilyn. She was a pretty girl, and later on I discovered that she was shy and sensitive," she remembers.
Jane never believed Marilyn committed suicide.
"Right before she died, she was planning to marry Joe DiMaggio, her second husband, again, and she had a new movie contract. So I don't think she killed herself.
Someone did it for her. There were dirty tricks somewhere".
1 comment:
I didn't know that the two were so close. It's so sad.
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